John Wagner

Colin MacNeil

Judge Dredd in America

A definite far cry from “Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham”. I described that book as fun because it was, but this story is as depressing as that was a blast to read. Both are excellent, but this one blows the other out of the water. These are the themes I like to see in Dredd, and I’ve heard this was always the most critically acclaimed story featuring the character. It’s a great tragedy, and it’s injected with politics that could shake anyone. No matter how you want to look at it, Judge Dredd is a fascist superhero. He’s an enjoyable character because we know he’s doing wrong, but this time around there’s nothing funny about him. For the first time here I’ve gotten to read Dredd’s own thoughts about what he’s doing. He’s not just a mindless law-giving machine, and he does have his own philosophy, no matter how, uh, “problematic” it really is. I don’t think I’ve seen this self-justification of authoritarianism so plainly in any media before, and yes, it was shocking. The whole story was intense, oppressive, and thought-provoking. I’ll be mulling it over in my head for a while, even though I know there are dozens of other books and movies that approach this topic with more subtlety. If subtlety is what you’re looking for, though, Judge Dredd is not for you. I’ll be binge reading some more of these comics soon, but I think this one will stick with me the longest. I’m still blown away. (Er, no pun intended).

Judge Dredd in America

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