Review Tuesday- Dredd: Underbelly

After the 2012 release of the movie DREDD 3D, fans of Ol' Stoneyface were thrilled with the prospect of a film franchise. Stallone's flick from nearly two decades earlier was a let down, and this was surely something worthwhile as a going concern. Unfortunately the movie studio still doesn't agree. 2000AD went to work on a comic book sequel to hold us over. For now...

Dredd: Underbelly

Arthur Wyatt (Author), Henry Flint (Illustrator), Chris Blythe (Illustrator), Ellie De Ville (Illustrator)

The one-shot comic book sequel to the critically acclaimed movie.

Mega-City One, one year later.
In the wake of Ma-Ma’s death, other criminal gangs in Mega-City One are moving into the power vacuum, trying to fill the gap in the market left by the Slo-Mo drug. When a corpse dump is discovered in a rad-pit, the bodies are all revealed to be mutants. Could the dead be connected with an outfit smuggling illegal refugees into the city from the Cursed Earth? Judge Dredd once again teams up with Psi-Judge Anderson as they scour the underworld for the perps responsible, and bring them to justice!

That's quite a summary that they posted on Amazon. It doesn't really leave a whole lot for me to say about it. As a sequel, it's pretty good. They show some more tricks from the books that the Judges are capable of, while opening doors for the future of Dredd. 

Dredd 3D was a snap shot of the level of crime that can be achieved in merely one mega-block. UNDERBELLY reveals more about the world that Mega-City resides in. We get to see the residents of the irradiated waste-land known as the Cursed Earth, MUTANTS! They made reference to mutants in the movie, but now we see their misery. Disfigured, they are forced to attempt to survive in the inhospitable desert where anything and everything would love to kill you. Facing such odds, mutants take their chances and try to make their way into Mega-City for a shot at safety and a better life. What makes this story so depressing is that they go from bad to worse as they are trafficked into narcotics production until they drop dead.

This book reunites Judges Dredd and Anderson. It seems that they haven't had much interaction in the year since the events at Peachtrees. In fact, it seems that Dredd is more or less at odds with the Psi-Judge's methods.If this truly was a path that a movie sequel was headed, it leaves you wondering what direction are they planning for the future? In some ways it's very similar to the first movie. Dredd and Anderson go in and break up a new narcotics blight on the city. But adding in the plight of the mutants adds a new angle. Could an adaptation of the Cursed Earth Saga follow this? Might Dredd take the "long walk" in the next episode? Was there a plan for more than a trilogy? Was Judge Death ever considered for these movies? Or the Apocalypse War?  

Judge Dredd has nearly forty years of material so there's an endless supply of potential for the silver screen. But what's the use of wondering what might be? Read this one for now, as you will surely enjoy it and sign the petition for a Dredd Sequel!

Get it on AMAZON