Judge Dredd #2 (Dec 2012)

JUDGE DREDD #2
Dec 2012
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist ("Cover Me"): Nelson Daniel
Artist ("The Good Parts"): Brendan McCarthy
Cover (A): Zach Howard
Cover (B): Greg Staples
IDW Publishing, colour, $3.99 print, $1.99 digital

Just the two variant covers this time. Both involve Dredd putting a bit of (day)stick about. Zach Howard's cover (pictured) has Dredd on the back of his Lawmaster bike. There's blood under his wheel, blood on his stick; and if that stubble on the famous chin is anything to go by, he's been at it a while now. Cover B, by British artist Greg Staples, has Old Stony Face in front of a sign telling the reader that lawbreakers will be punished, daystick raised and about to make good on that promise. Both are worthy efforts and capture the character well, but again, it'd be nice to see the cover have more to do with the story.

Duane Swierczynski continues his tour through Mega-City One, and is only too aware that there's a lot to get through. He doesn't waste time here; in this issue he takes us through another handful of important facts about the city. The blocks, the block wars, corrupt judges, and Psi-Division all get their moments here; and though it's easy to resort to massive info-dumping, Swierczynski is tastefully restrained. Four short captions and then the reader's thrown into the thick of it. Accusations and identical counter-accusations are flung around, spider-legged sanitation droids run amok. Hang on. More robots? Oh, yes. We're not done with those yet, folks. Dredd also turns the eye of suspicion on Myers's con-apt droid; a nice bit of misdirection. Although the droid doesn't set Myers up, that would have worked pretty well too; especially in the light of last issue's 'Protection Racket'.

This episode has two main action sequences, with more time given to focus a bit more on the characters. Nelson Daniel seems more in his element this time; he keeps pace with the story nicely. The Block War's depicted with a kind of gleeful craziness worthy of Ian Gibson or early Kevin O'Neill, with a nicely unsettling gear shift to the horrific when Judge Myers is in danger of being recycled by a sanitation robot.

Chris-Chan turned his life around and joined the Judges

The other sequence, with Dredd being shot at while searching for the person framing Myers, is lovely stuff. A page of decompressed gorgeousness in which Dredd is knocked from his bike, rolls, recovers, draws and returns fire. A terrific piece that is paced brilliantly, but sadly let down by the fact that the shooter was left with Anderson on the page before. It's not a plot hole per se, just a transition that leaves a critical point vague. An extra panel or two, just to properly tie off the last scene and allow some time to pass before this would have made all the difference, I think, turning a merely great scene into a perfect one.

As I read and re-read these issues, and indeed the ones following it, I find I ought to pay a bit more attention to any clues that are left lying for the reader to pick up. After all, Swierczynski writes crime, and his scripts doubtless instruct the artists to leave the odd tip. So let's look at the issue of Myers acting as cover for the rogue judge Thompson. The main thing we see is how Myers is heterochromatic. Are the eyes a reliable indicator of psionic possession, perhaps? Dredd seems to think something's amiss when he recalls Myers's different-coloured eyes.

The characterisation in this issue is pretty well done, especially when you look closely. There are some nice humanising touches here. Dredd shows concern for his welfare, and even decides to investigate him discreetly when his suspicions are piqued rather than simply sic the heavy-handed SJS on him. Myers even gets away with calling him Joe; not a common occurrence! This is something we've seen in the British run. While Dredd presents the appearance of a near-robotic dispenser of justice, there are always traces that despite his training he is still a human being: his growing awareness of his age, his unflinching belief in justice, and the way that can end up at odds with the letter of the law. The rare moments when he allows himself to show compassion. Finding the right balance between taciturn, faceless fascist bastard and actual hero is tricky, but Swierczinski shows signs that he gets it: Thompson is very much set up as a judge on a power trip. This gives me good reason to be optimistic about this series.

Once again, Swierczynski divides the issue into two stories, allowing him to sow some more plot seeds. As before, it's not so much that he sets a character up to recur later in the primary plot (although Anderson is here again), but rather to establish a theme and foreshadow its later relevance. Thank Grud for that, because ass pulls (forgive the TV Tropes reference) always bother me. In 'The Good Parts', we see how some perps can get around the potentially plot-killing Psi Division. By using drugs to modify their own memories, killers avoid sending out tell-tale psychic signals that stand out like a sore thumb to a simple psi-scan.

He did say he'd keep an eye out for her.

This drug use was mentioned briefly in 'Cover Me' and is depicted in detail here with Brendan McCarthy's art. An experienced art droid, and something of a comforting presence in the midst of all these other names that are new to me. I remember his work mainly from the 1987-88 epic 'Oz' (he created the outlandish uniforms of the Judda) and the wonderfully trippy 'Report to the Chief Judge on the Accidental Death of a Citizen' (Judge Dredd Annual 1987) His style is ideally suited to the mind-bending nature of this story. The bizarre lighting effects, the vivid colours that wouldn't be out of place in a Doctor Strange strip, the near-psychotic blandness of Jane's expression when not plying her murderous trade: McCarthy's style is well suited to this piece. What would have been a mere 'amnesiac murderer' cliché (Anderson even describes Jane's situation as a film noir cliché) is redeemed by using the story to lay foundations for a crucially important device in future issues, and to explore Psi-Division's talents. Admittedly I have the benefit of hindsight here, having read the stories in advance, but it's nice to see the world-building in progress.

Oh, wait a minute. I'm missing something else, aren't I? Two female characters in one story? It's time to apply the Bechdel Test! Jane is a serial "man-killer", implying gender is a deciding factor in the choice of her victims. However, this is handled in Anderson's narration rather than the interplay between the two characters. The subject of their discourse is Jane and Anderson's efforts to establish her identity and her guilt or innocence. I'm minded to give this a pass. Being somewhat new to criticism, though, I'm sure a different interpretation could be made. Do please weigh in on the comments.

Well up to the standard set by the previous issue. McCarthy's art is a treat. 8/10.

Judge Dredd #1 (Nov 2012)

JUDGE DREDD #1
Nov 2012
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Artist ("Ripe"): Nelson Daniel
Artist ("Protection Racket"): Paul Gulacy
Colourist ("Protection Racket"): Leonard O’Grady
IDW Publishing, colour, $1.99 digital

Oh god. Four variant covers. Four. I’m not a fan of variant covers so I shan't dwell on this. They look okay; some nice action poses, but only cover A (half-head shot of Dredd with red goop on his visor) bears any relation to what actually happens inside, so I'll say I like that one best. On with the comic.

Since newcomers might be scared off by 37 years of continuity the clock's wound back to 2100 and the readers get a chance to acclimate before the craziness really starts to kick off. We don’t see Dredd until about seven pages in: for the first third of the book, not so much as a glimpse of a helmet. That’s the first sign that crime writer Swierczynski wants to do Dredd right. As resident 'Dredd's Comportment' columnist Douglas Wolk observes: its most important "character" is its setting.

Bless his little servos.

Violent mugging; outlandish fashions; charmingly goofy robot designs: welcome to Mega-City One, pop. 800,000,000. The workforce is 99% robotic: robots are central to both this issue's stories and indeed the first major story-arc. Swierczynski takes us in with a slick, near-effortless manner; and Nelson Daniel has a pretty good grasp of what's required of him. He draws a good robot too: the sewer droid is adorable; right from the stroppy expression on its face-screens to its tiny little wheels. One can see the fun he had with that character.

Sadly, when it comes to action scenes, Daniel seems to blow hot and cold. Some of his panels look a bit rigid and thus at odds with the high-octane pace that one might expect from Dredd. On other times his mood seems a bit off; when a robber decapitates a bystander, it looks like it's played for laughs. That's not necessarily a bad thing in itself, Dredd's famous for its black comedy but there's grittiness and horror too. Having a guy's head fly straight upwards in a humorous way when it's lopped off seems a little jarring, a little (dare I say it?) nineties. Still, Nelson Daniel's hardly the first artist to play it this way, it's only one panel and it's early in the run. We'll let that slide. I'll come back to it later, perhaps.

Chop! Whee! Insert humorous musical riff.

Still, when he's good, he's good. Every artist has shortcomings, he will improve as he grows into the role. For any panel that seems a little lacking in dynamism, there's at least two where it's present in abundance. RoboCop-faced security droids fall under a hail of armour-piercing rounds. The Paradise Machine, a robotic tree that grows genetically-enhanced fruit at high speed, overloads and showers all and sundry with exploding fruit pulp. Lovely stuff!

As for the characters, we have Dredd and two other judges: Myers and Tarjay. Both become important recurring characters, but naturally there's more attention given to Dredd as he has credentials to establish: Dredd is courageous, pragmatic, doesn't let go once his suspicions are roused and doesn't flinch from resorting to using Hi-Ex rounds to blow a case open. Myers is of a similar age to Dredd, a bit more restrained, and has less time for the hints that something more sinister is afoot (robots saying they have no owners, for example). Unlike Dredd he has no desire to make a rod for his own back: the job will create enough trouble without one looking for more. There are a million cops like him, just trying to get through their shift. It is perhaps his misfortune to be working with a zealot like Dredd. Tarjay is younger, "the kid" according to Myers, and not so quick to react; he gets tasered in his throat for his trouble. Not much to work with yet; we just see him carted off in a med-wagon, but as we'll see later on, Swierczynski likes to plant seeds, and Tarjay shall prove fertile ground indeed.

Gulacy and O'Grady take over the art duties for the second feature, "Protection Racket". Set during the ongoing incident at Zuckerberg block's Pleasure Mall, the story has the feel of a side-quest to it; a way for Swierczynski to go off on a tangent and plant plot seeds for later harvesting. As we'll see in future reviews, this seems to be a favourite trick of his, and he uses it to good effect. Once again. robots are the order of the day, this time in the shape of a fembot fatale, who, sick of being exploited, manipulates her owner into murdering an old acquaintance turned looter. It's a nice self-contained piece that hints at there being something a bit more sinister to all this robotic misbehaviour than a simple malfunction. Another good bit of design here, by the way; T-3000 is gorgeous to the point of fetish fuel, resembling a cross between the robots in the film of "I, Robot" with a bit of RoboCop's armour plating (albeit styled for a gynoid). The body language is terrific and adds to the noirish feel that Swierczynski gives the character.

The only real issue I have with the art in "Protection Racket" is the depiction of Dredd's uniform; and really that's just a petty nitpick. Obviously a strip with as many artists as Dredd’s had is going to have a lot of different interpretations of the same basic costume. That’s a thing to be accepted and even celebrated. But all the same, on the last page we see a gold-lined stiff collar, a chest strap connecting the shoulder-pads… and a resemblance so close to the Stallone film uniform so blatant that really it’s got to be a wind-up. Kudos, Mr Gulacy: a masterful bit of chain-yanking there. Please don’t do it again!

One small problem common to both stories concerns the robots' word balloons. White text on a medium-to-light grey gradient background. A bit hard on the old optics there, chaps! Perhaps black text would work better there?

On the whole, a promising first issue. 8/10.

Hello, Borag Thungg and Welcome.

Let's cut to the chase. This blog has a very simple brief: to review IDW's Judge Dredd series. There's not a lot else to say, really; I've been reading comics (mainly 2000AD) for thirty years. I'm very much a fan of Dredd as written by John Wagner, but I thought I should give this stab at the American market a chance. This isn’t the first time Judge Dredd’s been published in the States, of course. There was an 18-issue DC comics run to coincide with the Stallone film, and IDW’s run came in to coincide with the Karl Urban film.

I'm late. A year and a half late coming to this series, in fact, and really that’s just because of Judge Death. Just like the Daleks: if it terrified me as a kid, I have to have a look. When I found out that he and the rest of the fearsome foursome were coming, along with another nine dark judges in tow, well, mission accomplished. Interest piqued.

But first, let's see the rest of the series. See how well it builds up to the event.