Review Tuesday: JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES 10

Next up with the Dredd novels:

JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES 10

is a compilation of the Dredd comics from 2000 AD Progs, numbers 474 - 522. Under this cover you have the years 2108 through 2109. Cover art (above) by Steve Dillon.

In a post-apocalyptic world, the US is reduced to two of Mega-Cities, containing nearly 500 million citizens each on either coast. To speed up the legal process a policing force of JUDGES enforce the law. One Judge will, on the spot, be Judge, Jury, and if it fits the crime, Executioner. We get to follow the adventures one of the most feared and by-the-book Judges, Joseph Dredd, as he does his job upholding the law.

This edition of the case files includes:

• The Law According to Judg3 Dr3dd
• The Art of Kenny Who?
• The Urge
• The Fists of Stan Lee
• The Secret of Atlantis
• Pinboing Replay
• The Peeper
• Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
• Bodysnatcher
• Phantom of the Shoppera
• Tomb of the Judges
• Battle of Chester Dogg (Ron Smith)
• The Witness
• A very DREDD Xmas (Stony Face actually SMILES!)
• The Taxidermist
• The Beating Heart (cover art came from this story)
• The Comeback (Jaxon Prince)
• The Genie
• Dredd UN-MASKED!
• Navel Maneuvres
• Night of the Ripper
• The Interrogation
• The Blood Donor
• 10 Years On / Who is Whitey?
• What if Judges did Ads?
• So you want to be a Judge?
• I, Beast (Bonus)

As well as an assortment of one shot deals and other quick adventures. 

I think I was caught by surprise by several things in this compilation. The artwork is all over the place. From very clean, to odd and even crude. Some of the stories were well crafted while some were just lacking. 2000 AD always had a revolving door of artists and some guys got to take a single swipe at old stoney face and didn't really seem to embrace it. Dredd smiles in the Xmas story and Ad bit. given both were What If? kinda stories, but it still didn't seem natural! However, turning Poe's Telltale Heart into a Dredd serial seemed perfectly natural, as did adapting the Phantom of the Opera. 

The introduction of the Brit-Cit judges in The Secret of Atlantis was interesting. Rather than being very different from Mega-City One judges (like the Sov-Bloc), they seemed to be cut from the same fabric, only with slicker Lawmasters and huge dunce-cap-like helmets.  

He's smart. He's tough. He's the LAW! He's so by-the-book that he makes you laugh at times. Great stuff! A definite MUST READ! Get to it, citizen!

Find it in Kindle format:

AMAZON

Or paperback:

AMAZON