Judge Dredd: False Witness #4 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: FALSE WITNESS No. 4, January 2021

Those fans of Old Stony Face able to successfully slog their way through Issue Four of “Judge Dredd: False Witness”, probably felt Brandon Easton’s narrative technically lived up to IDW Publishing’s pre-release boast that it contained a “shocking conclusion.” But whilst the San Diego-based company were presumably referring to their belief that the “award-winning writer” had penned a sense-shattering finale to his Teutonic tale of Mathias Lincoln going “toe-to-toe with Mega-City One’s most infamous lawman”, this comic’s readers were arguably highlighting its incredulous contrivances, erratic plot-threads and sudden inclusion of elements, such as the villain of the piece’s formidable super-strength, simply to give the book’s main cast something to do.

Indeed, it is genuinely doubtful that many within this publication’s audience could guess from one moment to the next what nonsense the American author was going to come with, as Judge Cassandra Anderson causes her prisoner to experience an anti-Christian religious reawakening using her mental abilities, Joe Dredd preposterously conjures up “a backup Mechanismo unit to follow us underground to escape detection” just as the Justice Department’s attack on Newton Block looks ill-advised, and Shannon McShannon develops the ability to literally punch this comic’s titular character straight off of his feet whilst he’s handcuffing her thanks to the treatment she’s receiving for venereal diseases..!?!

Disconcertingly however, this randomness and illogical penmanship does still lead to a couple of rather enjoyable action sequences, with artist Silvia Califano’s proficient pencilling of Dredd and Anderson storming McShannon’s robot-infested power base possibly proving to be the highlight of the book. Packed full of pulse-pounding laser beams, bullets and more metallic wreckage than you’d see on an episode of “Scrapheap Challenge”, there’s definitely plenty to entertain with this frantic gun battle, and it’s genuinely a shame that the fight is over almost as soon as it’s started; “For all their fascist bluster, Street Judges possess a freedom in being exactly who and what they say they are.”

Ultimately though, this twenty-page periodical’s script fails as a result of its deeply troubled ending which sees Lincoln inexplicably take his own life by jumping into a vat of toxic goo with a hand-grenade rather than face an Iso-Cube. Considering that this entire four-part mini-series has seemingly been about the illegal immigrant strenuously fighting for his very existence within the huge metropolis such behaviour seems erratic at best, and appears to have been included, along with the youth’s aforementioned abrupt religious zeal, just to give the tale something of a sting in its tail other than Judge Dolphy’s eventual arrest.

Story: Brandon Easton, Art: Silvia Califano, and Colors: Eva De La Cruz

Judge Dredd: False Witness #3 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: FALSE WITNESS No. 3, September 2020

Chock-full of contrivances and manufactured motivations, Brandon Easton’s narrative for Issue Three of “Judge Dredd: False Witness” probably struck most of its 2,400 strong audience in September 2020 as being a bit of a choppy mess. Indeed, whether it be “illicit plastic surgery centres” helpfully providing the Justice Department with a sub-dermal identification marker on their illegal “surgical subterfuge” so the surgeons can be readily traced, or Mathias Lincoln just happening to have an “override disc” about his person so as to conveniently commandeer a Lawmaster just as the Judges have him cornered, this comic’s script is literally riddled with disconcerting coincidences.

Perhaps this twenty-page periodical’s biggest disappointment however, is just how the Baltimore-born writer depicts Pendleton Snipe’s meteoritic rise from Eden Bridge refugee to super-rich media personality simply because the kid apparently had the ‘gift of the gab’. Having made his way across the Cursed Earth into Mega-City One it is not unbelievable to imagine the immigrant becoming involved in the distribution of contraband, and somehow scraping his way through a criminal organisation to the very top. But instead, this book’s American author would have his readers believe the adolescent merely ‘appealed’ to the better nature of an underground physician to provide him with “the full monty of body mods” after he handily “got the attention of the executive producer” of a television show one day..?

To make matters worse though, the recently deceased Snipe is suddenly revealed to be the long-lost brother of Technical Judge Dolphy, who also happens to have illegally entered the giant metropolis with Lincoln and joined the Justice Department using a false identity. This revelation is made even more fantastic when Mathias admits to swapping his final psych-evaluation with Bernita’s in order to fool Psi-Judge Franklin into thinking Dolphy was a suitable recruit; “They’re going to discover us! No, scratch that. They’re going to discover me!”

Perhaps therefore this comic’s one saving grace is Kei Zama’s ability to pencil the violence of the Twenty-Second Century, especially when Judge Dredd is busy bashing a surgeon’s security staff so badly they’ll need “two weeks of reconstructive facial surgery”, or punching Lincoln straight in the chops just as the fugitive thought he’d escaped the city. In fact, the Japanese artist’s layouts depicting the “organizer” gunning down a Mechanismo droid whilst hurtling through the streets on a Lawmaster is probably the sole highlight of this publication.

Writer: Brandon Easton, Art: Kei Zama, and Colors: Eva De La Cruz

Judge Dredd: False Witness #2 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: FALSE WITNESS No. 2, April 2020

Building upon this book’s shocking premise that Doctor Filth is trafficking children from the Cursed Earth so he can dissolve them in vast chemical tanks and “extract their mutant genes”, Brandon Easton’s penmanship for Issue Two of “Judge Dredd: False Witness” certainly brought home the horror of the post-nuclear world to his audience in August 2020. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a more grim fate for the hapless adolescent immigrants than the one which the television personality has in store for them once they arrive at Mega-City One and fall prey to his laboratory’s “nightmarish experiments”.

However, such trauma is arguably as nothing when compared to the gaping holes within this twenty-page periodical’s plot and the Baltimore-born writer’s incredibly impotent version of the metropolis’ Justice Department. True, such glaring contrivances as the “professional provocateur” simply allowing Mathias Lincoln to freely walk out of his test centre despite knowing that Filth is chemically “turning humans into puddles of goo” and subsequently selling it to the rich as a life enhancement drug, certainly ensures that this comic contains plenty of pulse-pounding action once the good Doctor apparently realises his mistake. But why would someone as all-powerful as the industrial/entertainment megalomaniac possibly allow any person who had first-hand knowledge of his entire operation to simply leave his establishment alive in the first place..?

Similarly as jarring is the response of Chief Judge Logan to the Shannon McShannon show, whose broadcast is clearly inciting the conurbation’s citizens to rise up against the Cursed Earth immigrants. In the past, whether via a covert smear campaign, blatant set-up, or highly visible arrest, the Judges would debatably never allow such ‘trash-talking’ to continue; especially when it appears the so-called legitimate protestors are also being armed with some “off-world heavy deployment technology”. Yet Dredd’s superior is all-set to allow the madness to continue simply because he’s afraid “this is beyond our ability to control.”

Fortunately, the titular character does seem to be aware of the poor message his leader is sending to the increasingly agitated demonstrators, and having discovered a corrupt cell of judges aiding Filth’s efforts, he decides to tackle the problem head-on by blasting his way through the security robots of McShannon’s broadcast headquarters. This destructive confrontation is probably the highlight of the book, with the senior lawman literally punching an argumentative rich kid right out of his sneakers for impudently standing in his way.

Writer: Brandon Easton, Art: Kei Zama, and Colors: Eva De La Cruz

Judge Dredd Vs. Aliens: Incubus #4 - Dark Horse Comics

JUDGE DREDD VS. ALIENS: INCUBUS No. 4, June 2003

Firmly focusing upon the exploits of a seemingly ‘destined to die’ Joe Dredd, John Wagner and Andy Diggle’s script for Issue Four of “Judge Dredd Verses Aliens: Incubus” certainly provided its audience with ample evidence as to just why the senior street judge is Mega-City One’s toughest lawman. In fact, considering that Fargo’s clone has already been ‘fatally’ impregnated by a Facehugger before this particular publication even starts, it is difficult to imagine a more grimly determined incarnation of the Apocalypse War veteran than that presented to this comic book’s audience in 2003.

Fortunately however, unlike the much more emotional Judge Sanchez, whose hysteria at having an embryo embedded inside her body almost unhinges her mind, Dredd seems to take a sort of stoic comfort in the fact that he can still serve his city one last time by ridding the metropolis of the extra-terrestrial threat, as well as the presence of the nefarious Mister Bones too. This fatalistic philosophy makes Pat Mill’s co-creation arguably deadlier than ever, as he engineers a truly horrific, albeit fitting, death for the leader of the anti-Judge activists and mutants who have killed so many of his fellow law officers; “M-My pheromone tag! He’s crushed it --! B-Back! G-Get back! Please -- You m-must recognise me! It’s me -- D-Daddy-!”

Unsurprisingly, this twenty-four page periodical’s creative team also can’t resist setting up a somewhat ‘Ripley-like’ confrontation between Dredd and the alien hive’s queen. Packed full of pulse-pounding tension as the dying Judge declares his intention to gun the egg-laying monstrosity down where she stands, many of this comic’s readers were probably as slacked jawed as Sanchez is portrayed as being at the thought of just a couple of lawgivers taking down an entire Xenomorph XX121 nest. But the lawman’s desperate attempt to crush the aliens’ ruler beneath an unstable cement ceiling, whilst simultaneously trying to escape via an old subway station’s exit “sealed off with resin”, makes for a sense-shattering action sequence.

Similarly as successful is the writing duo’s ‘spotlight’ upon the guilt-laden Packer and her inner demons at having underestimated the deadliness of her pest control team’s current prey. Resolute to neutralise the “alien frenzy” once and for all under an unrelenting torrent of boiling lava, Dredd and Sanchez seemed determined to ‘die like a judge’ until the Verminator’s leader makes a highly memorable self-sacrifice using her jet-pack's fuel supply as a ready-made explosive, and engulfs the entire old Grand Central Station, and then some, with flesh-sizzling magma.

Writers: John Wagner & Andy Diggle, Art: Henry Flint, and Colors: Chris Blythe

Judge Dredd Vs. Aliens: Incubus #3 - Dark Horse Comics

JUDGE DREDD VS. ALIENS: INCUBUS No. 3, May 2003

Arguably consisting of just one long calamitous confrontation between the Grand Hall of Justice’s finest and more Xenomorphs than even James Cameron could crowbar into his 1986 science fiction sequel film “Aliens”, this “Dark Horse Comics” publication surely had its readers in 2003 absolutely spellbound. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine John Wagner and Andy Diggle penning a more pulse-pounding twenty-four page periodical than Issue Three of “Judge Dredd Verses Aliens: Incubus”, especially when it initially appears that Judges Ball and Simpson will need to bravely try to hold off an absolute torrent of the “highly aggressive endoparasitoid extra-terrestrial species” almost single-handedly.

Admittedly, this comic does experience something of a ‘calm before the storm’ moment, as Mega-City One recovers from having a huge crater “eaten away by the creature’s own body fluids” appear at City Bottom, and Packer’s proud Verminators mourn their recent losses courtesy of an unconvincing Resyk funerary ceremony. But Mister Bones and his mutated anti-Judge activists don’t allow such dialogue-heavy discussions to last for too long before blowing a hole straight into the heart of the Justice Department’s headquarters; "The charge is shaped to detonate without damaging the hive around us… And then -- the incubus will rise!”

The resultant battle between Chief Judge Hershey’s heavily outnumbered forces and the Xenomorph XX121 drones really is an incredibly thrilling experience, courtesy of this comic’s collaborative writing partnership intermixing sheer, blood-soaked carnage with moments of humanity every half dozen or so panels. Such a combination of action and emotion, like Charlie Shook refusing to join his Pest Control colleagues when the rest of the team decide to take up arms alongside Joe Dredd, is incredibly enthralling, and genuinely adds an element of fear for the audience when someone they know something about suddenly faces their gory end against the unremitting aggression of the savage extra-terrestrials.

Henry Flint and colorist Chris Blythe should also take a bow for imbuing this book with some truly staggering visuals. Stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the senior lawman’s last stand, each heroic human’s final moments are wonderfully pencilled onto their determined faces. Marinello being dragged down to his death, Butterman’s belly being eaten away by acidic juices, and even Judge Sanchez’s sheer terror at the slaughter around her, are all indelibly burnt into the bibliophile’s brain. Whilst few can surely have stifled a cheer when Giant is pencilled arriving in the nick of time with four gun-toting Mechanismo Droids...

Writers: John Wagner & Andy Diggle, Art: Henry Flint, and Colors: Chris Blythe

Judge Dredd Vs. Aliens: Incubus #2 - Dark Horse Comics

JUDGE DREDD VS. ALIENS: INCUBUS No. 2, April 2003

Bringing the titular character’s mano-a-mano confrontation with one of H.R. Giger’s Xenomorphs to a truly cataclysmic conclusion, John Wagner and Andy Diggle’s narrative for Issue Two of “Judge Dredd Verses Aliens: Incubus” must most assuredly have landed well with the mini-series’ audience. In fact, Old Stoney Face’s shoot-out with the “primal creature” at the Eisenhower General Hospital is arguably faultless, as the Apocalypse War veteran uses every weapon at his disposal, and then some, to finally kill the monster which previously had led to the deaths of “three people in thirty seconds” whilst hiding inside the building’s central ventilation shaft.

Delightfully however, simply because Mega-City One’s toughest lawman succeeds in his mission does not mean that this tremendous crossover title is over all-too soon, with the comic’s collaborative creators quickly shifting their focus away from the Justice Department’s meticulous investigation into just how Jimmy Godber “was breeding the aliens for pit fights”, and instead finally introducing this storyline’s lead antagonist, the facially disfigured Mister Bones. Shrouded in dark shadows and villainy, the former freebooter captain exudes menace in every panel he appears in, and quickly makes it crystal clear that he won’t be happy with any other result than the total destruction of the metropolis which sits above his Undercity-based secret headquarters; “Y-You’re sick, Bones! Rotten to the core! I don’t know why we ever got mixed up with you! You’re worse than the judges! Grud help them! Grud help Mega-City One!”

Also inserting plenty of dynamic tension and atmosphere into this twenty-four page periodical’s scintillating story-telling are Henry Flint and colorist Chris Blythe, whose combined artistry repeatedly imbues this book’s action sequences with plenty of punch and pizazz. Indeed, it’s hard not to feel the sheer terror Fisk must have been feeling when she realises the lethal alien she has been searching for is right behind her, or Maier’s sheer incomprehension at his horrific fate as Millar’s fiery corpse unerringly plummets straight towards him. In addition, the British penciller’s ability to crowbar in the odd moment of humour amongst all the bodily mutilation taking place is equally worth mentioning, with a cooing baby endearingly tapping a fearsome xenomorph’s chin as the alien’s slavering jaws hover above its crib debatably resulting in this book’s biggest chuckle.

Writers: John Wagner & Andy Diggle, Art: Henry Flint, and Colors: Chris Blythe

Judge Dredd Vs. Aliens: Incubus #1 - Dark Horse Comics

JUDGE DREDD VS. ALIENS: INCUBUS No. 1, March 2003

Published weekly in the British comic “2000 A.D.”, as well as monthly by “Dark Horse Comics”, this cross-company mini-series must have had both "Dredd-heads" and fans of the “Aliens” franchise drooling at the prospect of Mega-City One’s toughest lawman battling one of “nature’s most adaptive and deadly killing machines.” For whilst Old Stoney Face already enjoyed a history rich with such notable extra-terrestrial foes like the Kleggs, Trapper Hag, the Nosferatu and Raptaurs, all of them arguably paled into insignificance when compared to the cultural impact of H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph XX121; “Gotta warn them! They don’t know what they’re dealing with!”

Delightfully, John Wagner and Andy Diggle’s script for Issue One of “Judge Dredd Verses Aliens: Incubus” doesn’t disappoint either, providing plenty of pulse-pounding action straight from the book’s get-go as low-life Jimmy Godber desperately attempts to avoid a bullet in the head from the criminals he double-crossed, whist simultaneously trying to reach Eisenhower General Hospital for medical assistance. Readers familiar with the “highly aggressive endoparasitoid extra-terrestrial species” will know exactly what is coming next, but such foreknowledge doesn’t stop the Judges’ first encounter with a Chestburster from still being a wonderfully shocking experience for all concerned.

Just as impressive as the Alien’s introduction is the collaborative writing team’s establishment of Packer and her Verminators. Despite the pest controllers being quite numerous, and resultantly struggling to attain much ‘screen time’ within this twenty-four page periodical, each individual still manages to demonstrate their own distinctive characteristics, personal beefs and ambitions, before “humanity’s ultimate nightmare” begins to whittle down their roster.

Undoubtedly this comic’s biggest highlight however, has to be Joe Dredd’s exploration of a rental warehouse at City Bottom and the lawman’s sense-shattering slugfest with an adult xenomorph. Dynamically pencilled by artist Henry Flint, and riddled with enough Ovomorphs to make even the biggest fan of Pat Mills’ co-creation somewhat nervous as to his future, this action-sequence is packed full of some truly jaw-dropping moments of horror. Whether it be Brubaker taking a Facehugger smack in his face, Pitt losing her fingers to a splash of the extra-terrestrial’s deadly blood, or Gomer and Earl literally been dissolved where they stand by a torrent of concentrated molecular acid, Wagner and Diggle are utterly merciless in their dissolution of the Senior Street Judge’s ill-prepared squad.

Writers: John Wagner & Andy Diggle, Art: Henry Flint, and Colors: Chris Blythe

Judge Dredd: False Witness #1 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: FALSE WITNESS No. 1, March 2020

Despite apparently wanting “to capture the essence of how he was portrayed in the early years of the 2000 AD comics”, Brandon Easton’s narrative for Issue One of “Judge Dredd: False Witness” arguably won’t please many of the Mega City One lawman’s oldest fans. For whilst Old Stony Face certainly plays a somewhat prominent part in this twenty-page periodical, the book’s spotlight is very much more focused upon the misadventures of Mathias Lincoln and his uncovering of a “horrific conspiracy stretching from the Cursed Earth to the city’s seats of power.”

Indeed, considering that for large swathes of this story, the “Glyph Award-winning writer of comics and television” does little else but present the background, thoughts, feelings and aspirations of his new character, a Justice Academy drop-out turned courier, it is somewhat surprising that Joseph Dredd obtains as much ‘screen time’ as the senior judge actually does. Such a disagreeable relegation to the side-lines really is this publication’s biggest frustration, especially when at one point it appears that the legendary lawman is going to have to track down his perp through “roughly fourteenth thousand kilometres interconnected tunnel lines”, battling all sorts of tentacled horrors on his travels.

Sadly however, such a promising ‘manhunt’ is quickly snuffed short by the Baltimore-born writer, who instead depicts Dredd uncharacteristically giving up the chase “a while later” and simply has him return to the sewer system’s street entrance outside Scalia Block empty-handed. Of course, for Lincoln to reach his extremely rich client and discover he’s carrying a container of Sulfuric Dioxide, the carrier clearly has to evade capture. Yet the manner in which the young man avoids both arrest and his spending time in the iso-cubes, seems as contrived as the punk’s first encounter with the veteran of the Apocalypse War, who Mathias far too easily defeats courtesy of a “low-grade flash-bang.”

Luckily, what this comic lacks in proficient penmanship it does contain in prodigious pencilling, with Kei Zama’s dynamic, action-packed panels predominantly proving a real delight for the eyes. Indeed, it’s a real pity that the Japanese “metalhead” isn’t given more opportunity to draw both Dredd and a pair of seriously formidable-looking Mechanismo robots, as the lawman has debatably never looked better; “You are all participating in an illegal demonstration. Disperse immediately! The next volley from the droids won’t be a warning shot.”

Writer: Brandon Easton, Art: Kei Zama, and Colors: Eva De La Cruz

Judge Dredd: Toxic #4 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: TOXIC No. 4, January 2019

Despite providing a finale which is a far cry from the “shocking conclusion” publicised by “IDW Publishing”, Paul Jenkin’s storyline for Issue Four of “Judge Dredd: Toxic” still must have pleased the vast majority of its 4,101 readers in February 2019, with its entertaining mix of graphic violence and over-the-top politics. Admittedly, the twenty-page periodical debatably contains one of the most contrived set-ups seen upon the streets of Mega-City One as the titular character discovers the “entire cavern system” making up “literally half the Spillover” is actually an English-speaking, peace-loving extra-terrestrial entity which only wants to keep the humans safely protected from the poisonous sewage running beneath the metropolis.

But once this lazily manufactured premise has been explained, the British novelist’s narrative gathers pace at a pulse-pounding rate, especially when the hostile metal-eating environment leaves the three lawmen woefully under-gunned against a raging mob of die-hard anti-alien fanatics. In fact, the “suicide mission” of some “sixty to seventy armed individuals neither “harbouring symbiotes” or “the necessary protective gear” to survive their “one-way ticket” is undeniably the highlight of this publication, with the bearded Judge Scammon proving a thoroughly intriguing addition to the Grand Hall of Justice following the loss of his Lawgiver and admirable determination to at least “draw a few of the intruders below” with nothing more than two handheld batons; “Remember your training: Hand-to-hand against any perps who break through the outer cordon.”

Likewise there’s some delightful interplay between Cassandra Anderson and the titular “old curmudgeon” once the grim-faced Senior Judge finally accepts the underground monstrosity is trying to save the scrubbers, and actually goes so far as to politely thank the gigantic species “for your service” to his people. The telepath’s quips as to Dredd being a “closet Empath” and his stern retorts concerning the female Judge’s sentimentally doubtless brought many a smile to the lips of this comic’s audience, and additionally proves a welcome reminder as to just why the two heroes from the Apocalypse War work so wonderfully well together as a crime-punishing pairing.

Sadly this book’s somewhat rushed and sickly-sweet conclusion does debatably result in “acclaimed writer Paul Jenkins’ first Judge Dredd story” ending on something of a low note; albeit Scammon’s miraculous resurrection following his ill-fated meeting with a laser blade wielding maniac does offer the possibility of future adventures featuring the fearless Noah. For no sooner have “the pugilists taken their blows” than the entire sprawling city’s noxious skies are almost instantly cleaned, and having caused so much prejudicial hatred Citizen Spencer Richards, undoubtedly modelled upon American President Donald Trump, is unsurprisingly revealed to have been carrying an alien symbiote of his own all the time…

The regular cover art of "JUDGE DREDD: TOXIC" No. 4 by Mark Buckingham & Chris Blythe

Judge Dredd: Toxic #3 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: TOXIC No. 3, December 2018

Packed full of more anti-alien extremism, block wars and citizen riots than many within Mega-City One’s metropolis limits can probably handle within the space of a few days, Paul Jenkins’ narrative for Issue Three of “Judge Dredd: Toxic” must certainly have quickened the pace of many readers with its combination of pulse-pounding violence, political machinations and a mammoth sewer-based monster. In fact, apart from a rather word-heavy sequence depicting Cassandra Anderson telepathically connecting with the surviving Blenders, the British screenwriter’s storyline for this twenty-page periodical is pretty much non-stop action; “Pull weapons and stay alert. I have a bad feeling about this place.”

Happily however, this publication’s invigorating tempo doesn’t mean that its plot is simply a series of straightforward set-pieces contrivingly crowbarred together. For whilst the cold-blooded shooting of Mister Pheta literally just before the “so-called body modifier to the stars” reveals the identification of the person behind the extra-terrestrial symbiotes is perhaps a little unoriginal, the subsequent vehicle pursuit through the busy streets of Judge Dredd’s super-sized city-state, complete with a “complimentary guide service” by the taxi’s robot-driver, is as scintillatingly scripted as its witty dialogue is reminiscent of the Johnny Cab ride during Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 American science-fiction action film “Total Recall”.

True, the Prism Award-winner’s decision to include “just a droid called Steven” interviewing the leader of the Anti-Alien League, and a clear stand-in for American President Donald Trump, does arguably seem a little too forced what with Mister Spencer Richards doing little else but spout his distasteful “wear your prejudice as a badge of courage” political nonsense for eleven excruciating propaganda-fuelled panels. Yet even this tongue-in-cheek depiction of the “uncontrolled Nazi sympathizer hearkening back to the dark days of the mid-twentieth century” is quickly overshadowed by the titular character’s claustrophobic excursion down into the Spillover alongside “the most on-point, brown-nosing, hyper-achiever we’ve ever had in the system”, Judge Scammon.

Disconcertingly, what does debatably let this comic down though are Marco Castiello’s breakdowns, which seem to lurch from the somewhat scratchily-sketched Pheta and the rich man's “sanctioned, sprayed or neutered” pets to the artist's much clearer dynamically-drawn depictions of Anderson firing her lawgiver from the roof of a fast-moving taxi car. Indeed, in many ways the apparent inconsistency of this book’s interiors makes it hard to imagine that the Italian was its sole penciller and Vincenzo Acunzo his solitary co-inker.

The regular cover art of "JUDGE DREDD: TOXIC" No. 3 by Mark Buckingham & Chris Blythe

Judge Dredd: Toxic #2 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: TOXIC No. 2, November 2018

It’s arguably quite clear, considering the feel and pacing of his script for Issue Two of “Judge Dredd: Toxic”, that writer Paul Jenkins “bought the very first issue” of “2000 A.D.” and subsequently “tore most of my skin off by applying biotronic stickers” from the science fiction anthology comic’s second edition, for whilst the lifetime fan’s storyline focuses upon an all-too real modern-day dilemma involving “the benefits of immigration and the chaos caused by anti-immigrant sentiment”, there is a definite palpable Seventies feel as to how this book’s pulse-pounding proceedings pan out. Indeed, with the exception of a wordy-heavy conversational piece between the titular character and an enraged Citizen Smed, as well as a somewhat sedentary interrogation of “Ol’ Harkie”, the Wizard Fan Award-winner almost relentlessly throws his audience into the thick of the action without seemingly worrying about whether it has any rhyme or reason.

Admittedly, such frantic plot pacing really does make for a roller-coaster of a read when a violent protest at the Spillover, “Mega-City One’s highly toxic sewer system”, suddenly somehow threatens to dissolve large portions of the futuristic metropolis in ultra-carborane acid. But the chemical ‘chain-reaction’ behind this underground-based mass disaster is debatably never properly explained within the narrative, especially as to just how the emergency will cause the conurbation’s population to start permanently breathing toxic air. Luckily however, it does undeniably make for an engrossing experience courtesy of artist Marco Castiello pencilling some terrific, volcanic-looking geysers of flesh-melting gloop erupting throughout the twenty-page periodical and the recruitment of “some of the old Alpha and Delta series janitorial droids to assist in the Spillover while the situation comes under control.”

Judge Joseph Dredd too seems to much more closely resemble the "tough cop" originally envisaged by co-creator Pat Mills than the more ‘heroic’ lawman disconcertingly depicted in contemporary comics. Whether the veteran Street Judge is busy cold-heartedly executing an already “good as dead” perpetrator “observed in the commission of multiple crimes”, chastising his colleague Scammon for recklessly “saving my life” by risking his own and taking a bullet in the arm for his trouble, or firing his lawgiver so as to intimidate citizens who “are violating multiple ordinances, including unruly assembly”, this particular incarnation of “Old Stoney Face” really is as mean as the situation is dire; “A Judge’s duty doesn’t diminish based on circumstance, Anderson. You know that.”

The regular cover art of "JUDGE DREDD: TOXIC" No. 2 by Mark Buckingham & Chris Blythe

Judge Dredd: Toxic #1 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: TOXIC No. 1, October 2018

Publicised as Paul Jenkins’ “first shot at Judge Dredd” by “IDW Publishing”, this twenty-page periodical’s plot probably didn’t provide its audience with quite the spine-chilling shenanigans John Gallagher’s marvellously grotesque variant cover illustration foreshadowed. In fact, the “celebrated” British writer’s narrative for Issue One of “Judge Dredd: Toxic”, which disconcertingly heavily bogs the reader down with a politically-fuelled piece about anti-immigration and the aggressive prejudice of Mega-City One’s citizens, doesn’t even feature any sort of gigantic ghoulish-looking mutation whatsoever, and instead seemingly relies upon the shock inclusion of a Donald Trump lookalike leading an Anti-Alien League protest as its main adversary.

Admittedly, that isn’t to say that this twenty-page periodical lacks a genuine ‘monster’, as its titular character’s investigation into Clifton Chud’s surprisingly well-developed corpse soon reveals the presence of an extra-terrestrial life-form hidden away amongst the disagreeable-looking scrubbers of the urban sprawl’s Spillover. However, this tiny, “intelligent… species” with “an advanced intellect and a possible psychic connection with the host” actually appears to radically benefit the humans with whom they form a mutually agreeable symbiotic relationship, and certainly don't appear to want anything more than to be peacefully left alone in the sewer works.

So amiable an alien arguably means that the Prism Award-winner must instead turn his attention towards making someone else the supposed ‘villain of the piece’ and dishearteningly it soon becomes clear that “Old Stoney Face” has been cast in that role, as the future lawman is penned acting like a ‘real jerk’ around Judge Anderson during the telepath’s interrogation of the “off-world entities”; “You don’t like anything, Dredd. How about you let me do the talking, and you just go grimace in the corner, okay?” Indeed, this entire comic portrays Fargo’s clone at his robotic worse, impatiently discussing an autopsy with Coroner Levine, recklessly threatening to have the Spillover “pop like a blister” simply because he hasn’t thought through his demand of wanting “every scrubber in this sector assembled on the lower ops deck in ten minutes”, and childishly whining to Chief Judge Hershey that despite all their potential advantages the “undocumented illegals” shouldn’t be granted immunity because “they broke the law.”

Debatably this book’s biggest disappointment though, is Marco Castiello’s scratchy artwork, which seems particularly unsuitable when applied to Mega-City One’s lawmen. Dredd’s famous chin is especially inconsistently drawn unless pencilled in profile, whilst Scammon’s bedraggled red beard looks as if he’s spent the past year or more literally walking across the Cursed Earth and certainly reveals just the “sign of vanity” which saw Judge Lopez ‘unwillingly’ consume the fatal Oracle Spice during “The Judge Child Quest”.

The regular cover art of "JUDGE DREDD: TOXIC" No. 1 by Mark Buckingham & Chris Blythe

Judge Dredd: Under Siege #4 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: UNDER SIEGE No. 4, August 2018

Despite bringing the titular character’s pulse-pounding gun-fight deep inside Patrick Swayze Block to its high body-count of a conclusion, it’s probably likely that a fair few of this mini-series’ readers weren’t entirely satisfied with Mark Russell’s disconcertingly all-too sickly sweet ending for Issue Four of “Judge Dredd: Under Siege”. For whilst the twenty-page periodical’s script seemingly resolves every plot twist the comic has conjured up during its short-lived run, including a shockingly straightforward fate for the courageously defiant Mayor, the fact that Mega-City One’s toughest lawman is actually knocked unconscious moments before its finale is rather disappointingly disorientating.

Admittedly, Old Stoney Face’s perplexing absence does provide this book’s well-defined supporting cast with plenty of ‘screen time’ with which to shine, as Judge Beeny makes a remarkable recovery from having previously been shot from behind so as to take down Tallyrand’s remaining mutants, and Tiger Whitehead utilises her knowledge of a lawgiver in order to kill the two former Kidney Hut collection agents who were threatening to make good on their promise to harvest her internal organs without an anaesthetic; “Any last words before we collect?” However, it’s hard to accept that without these interventions, the man who both crossed the Cursed Earth and later helped bring down East Meg One during the Apocalypse War would’ve been lethally laid low by a pair of bearded bully boys equipped with nothing more than a humble hand-held taser gun…

Similarly as head-scratching is the Eisner Award-nominee’s belief that having spent the best part of this narrative hurling a seemingly endless army of heavily-armed mutants against the local residents in a murderous attempt to control the multi-storey building, this story’s main one-eyed protagonist would simply decide to suddenly amble down some stairs to its entranceway and just walk outside alone carrying his ‘dirty bomb’. Considering just how much time and manpower Tallyrand has already invested in his homicidal plan, it might make some sense for him to launch his flagging forces into a final head-long dash into the metropolis and detonate the explosive device that way. But not debatably to have Max Dunbar pencil him calmly walking through the savage ‘kill or be killed’ chaos surrounding him onto a quiet street and then be utterly torn apart by the formidable spray of a lawmaster’s automatic weaponry.

The regular cover art of "JUDGE DREDD: UNDER SIEGE" No. 4 by Max Dunbar

Judge Dredd: Under Siege #3 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: UNDER SIEGE No. 3, July 2018

Providing plenty of ‘screen time’ for this mini-series’ main antagonist, Tallyrand, “the leader of a band of mutants determined to invade the city”, Issue Three of “Judge Dredd: Under Siege” undoubtedly provided its readers in July 2018 with an entertaining mixture of pulse-pounding action and ever increasing tension as the uneasy alliance between Mega-City One’s foremost lawman and Patrick Swayze Block’s residents is stretched to breaking point. In fact, the edgy aura of mistrust between the two opposing forces is perfectly palpable by the time the eye-patch wearing mutant drops fifty of the citizens’ “friends and relatives” to their grisly deaths, and Judge Beeny is cowardly gunned down from behind by one of the hapless hostages’ father; “I’m sorry. My daughter is up there.”

Such a shockingly bloody moment however is only the tip of the sense-shattering iceberg for this twenty-page periodical’s script, with Mark Russell genuinely managing to encapsulate just why ‘Old Stoney Face’ is the “longest-running character” for the British magazine “2000 A.D.” by demonstrating the titular character's undefeatable "teatherball” skills one moment, as Joe impressively traps a dozen abseiling attackers with one of their own number, and then seconds later saves Tiger Whitehead’s life courtesy of lumping a double-headed terrorist with a large fake chicken leg outside Ersat’s Meats. In addition, these action-packed sequences are also imbued with precisely the dark humour Dredd’s audience have come to expect, with arguably the comic’s highlight depicting the judge accepting the surrender of a rat-faced foe only to inadvertently drop him into an industrial grinder when more mutants fire upon the pair.

Interestingly, the Eisner Award-nominee’s narrative also proves equally as enjoyable in its explanation as to what happened to the two Kidney Hut goons who once abducted Tiger’s young brother. Sentenced to exile in the sewers beneath the gigantic accommodation tower by its new ‘Mayor’, the “cute little collection agents” now work for Tallyrand and appear perfectly willing to advise the smooth-talking villain as to precisely where he needs to detonate a dirty bomb if he wants it to “spread debris for miles over dozens of sectors across Mega-City One.” Wonderfully pencilled by Max Dunbar, Eighteen and Twenty have clearly had some significant adventures of their own and look set to be about to enjoy their revenge upon the people who abandoned them to their fate beneath the metropolis’ surface when their employer offers to “turn Swayze Block over to you” once the mutants have won.

Writer: Mark Russell, Artist: Max Dunbar, and Colorist: Jose Luis Rio

Judge Dredd: Under Siege #2 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: UNDER SIEGE No. 2, June 2018

Mark Russell’s treatment for Issue Two of “Judge Dredd: Under Siege” clearly shows the Eisner Award-nominee taking up the “chance to step into the role of sci-fi social commentator” by focusing far more upon the fall of Patrick Swayze Block into an insular, self-serving community than it does Judge Beeny’s firefight with attacking mutants. Indeed, in many ways this twenty-page periodical’s narrative is all about Tiger Whitehead’s exploitation at the hands of Kidney Hut, and her young brother’s subsequent rescue before the organ harvester’s body-armoured bully boys can remove it, rather than a story about Mega-City One’s greatest lawman defending a band of his metropolis’ hapless citizens from the multi-limbed machinations of the Cursed Earth’s mutated denizens.

Fortunately however, that doesn’t mean that “the author of God Is Disappointed in You” hasn’t penned an enthrallingly entertaining tale, as his plot-thread involving the examination of “fine print” and giving a corporation your liver “when someone turns seventy” proves itself to be a disturbing, disconcertingly engrossing read which in some ways arguably harks back to the horror of Malcolm Shaw’s April 1977 “2000 A.D.” story “Frankenstein 2”. Certainly, it’s not hard to cheer Gilberto on as the (then) young man desperately engages a pair of the corporation’s mean-spirited internal collection agents with a hand pistol in order to give his purple-haired friend an opportunity to both find the infant Jerome and “destroy all the records for Swayze Block.”

For those within this mini-series’ audience more interested in the exploits of its titular character though, such advantageous abuse of the underprivileged by greedy, money-making executives, are impressively also interspersed with action-packed insights into Judge Dredd’s current battle against the building’s invading host. Hauntingly illuminated by Whitehead’s “light jacket”, these pulse-pounding panels not only show the lawman at the very top of his game, as he dispatches numerous heavily-armed mutants courtesy of the various settings available on his lawgiver, but also manage to convey the sense of unease between the judges and their lawbreaking allies, “a small local gang, under the command of an enigmatic man known as The Mayor.”

Perhaps this book’s only disappointment is therefore some of Max Dunbar’s pencilling, which whilst top notch and sense-shattering when used to convey all the dynamism of the publication’s pitched battles in the near darkness of a church and shopping mall, strangely lack that ‘something extra’ when depicting family life within Tiger’s household and the sterile environment of the Kidney Hut offices.

The regular cover art of "JUDGE DREDD: UNDER SIEGE" No. 2 by Max Dunbar

Judge Dredd: Under Siege #1 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: UNDER SIEGE No. 1, May 2018

Purportedly a “relaunch” by “IDW Publishing” of their “Judge Dredd” series, this opening instalment to Mark Russell’s four-part storyline “Under Siege” initially appears to be little more than a simple re-imagining of Alex Garland’s screenplay for the 2012 science fiction action film “Dredd”. But whilst this twenty-two page narrative is certainly set within the familiar, claustrophobic confines of a locked down housing block, and soon pairs the titular character up with a female street judge, the similarities between the two story-telling mediums stops there, as “the critically acclaimed writer of DC’s The Flintstones” pens a sense-shattering script involving multi-limbed mutants, an invasion from the Cursed Earth, and more ghastly green raw sewerage than any person could ever possibly want to smell…

To be fair however, even those elements within the Audie Award-nominee’s treatment which do bear a remarkable resemblance to the forty-one million dollar-making motion picture still provide plenty of punch, with doubtless some of this title’s readers possibly wishing Old Stoney Face’s initial intense fire-fight inside Patrick Swayze Block with a gang of genetically-mutated, heavily-armed criminals was actually how director Pete Travis had started his theatrical release; “I came up here to do a classroom visit. The next thing I know, I’m ambushed by mutants.”

Of course, there’s also a fair amount of exposition crammed within this publication’s pulse-pounding panels, as one of the habitation building’s residents brusquely describes the strato-scraper’s demoralizingly bleak history to his strong-chinned rescuer once he has been freed of his bonds. Yet rather than slow things down, the American author’s fascination for “the urban planning aspect of Mega-City One” and his infectious desire “to explore [it] in this series” allows the comic’s story-telling to actually increase its breath-taking pace by using the mutants’ ability to traverse through the city wall’s sewerage system in increasingly large numbers to ‘ramp up’ the pressure upon Judge Dredd’s dynamic decision-making.

Fortunately, all of these scintillating shenanigans are dynamically-drawn by Max Dunbar, whose ability to unobtrusively pencil Joseph with the occasional humorous moment, such as when the veteran lawman ‘brains’ a triple-knife wielding mutie in the back of the head with a child’s play brick, really helps bring the comic book’s cast to life. Indeed, the Canadian artist’s penchant for sketching the senior judge flying through the air, whether to avoid a fatal blow or to unleash a torrent of “standard execution – rapid fire”, is terrifically well done and one of this magazine’s undoubted highlights.

The variant cover art of "JUDGE DREDD: UNDER SIEGE" No. 1 by Alan Quah

Predator Vs. Judge Dredd Vs. Aliens #4 - Dark Horse Comics

PREDATOR VS. JUDGE DREDD VS. ALIENS No. 4, June 2017

“Dark Horse Comics” have kept very quiet as why this comic book series’ finale was ultimately delayed from hitting the shelves for a staggering eight months. But considering just how much ground John Layman’s script covers within the confines of just twenty-two pages, it was quite possibly due to the former “Wildstorm” Editor and artist Chris Mooneyham desperately trying to storyboard an alien invasion of Mega-City One and its subsequent (surprisingly swift) downfall all in the space of a single pamphlet.

Indeed, considering that Issue Four of “Predator Vs Judge Dredd Vs Aliens” depicts the Archbishop Emoji’s apocalyptic death cult being massacred by Doctor Niels Reinstot’s “xenomorph-infected man-animal hybrids”, Judge Dredd’s extensive hunt for the lethal extra-terrestrials and creation of an uneasy alliance with the Yautja, as well as the lawman’s discovery, successful penetration and explosive destruction of the creatures’ subterranean hatchery, it’s incredible that the Milwaukie-based publisher didn’t decide to simply extend “Splice And Dice” to include at least a fifth instalment… As it is however, this concluding chapter’s narrative moves at such an incredible pace that it disappointingly turns what should have been a cataclysmic rematch between H.R. Giger’s lethal creations and the future metropolis’ finest into just simply yet another in a long line of hostile invasions which is all-too readily defeated by a couple of judges; “Control, this is Dredd. Alien organisms have been eliminated.”

Fortunately, despite the terrifying tempo of this “ultimate science-fiction crossover”, Layman still manages to provide a few moments of magic within his narrative, and cause a couple of surprises along the way too, such as the bug-eyed “self-proclaimed geneticist” coldly killing his psychic partner-in-crime, the “robo-messiah”, and later transforming into the “ugly, mother spugger” queen, Intercivus raptus regina, by self-injecting himself with the DNA serum he had originally concocted for Cassandra Anderson. Similarly, there’s plenty of fun to be had watching the Mega-City One judges and predators battling it out side-by-side, as they are literally swarmed by adult aliens and scuttling face huggers.

Whatever the cause for this magazine’s postponement, Chris Mooneyham’s pencilling shows no sign of haste, and instead delivers plenty of thrills with his gorily graphic illustrations of citizens being literally torn to shreds, and a wonderfully envisaged egg-laying alien monarch. In fact, the comic book artist’s drawings of an unshaven Dredd blazing away at his enemies one moment, and then angrily sticking a big finger in the face of the formidably tall Yautja in the next, was arguably worth the wait for this title’s culmination alone…

Script: John Layman, Artist: Chris Mooneyham, and Colors: Michael Atiyeh

Judge Dredd: Deviations #1 - IDW Publishing

JUDGE DREDD: DEVIATIONS No. 1, March 2017

Penned very much in the same vein as “DC Comics” “Elseworlds” series, or “What If?” by “Marvel Worldwide”, this twenty-four page periodical essentially contains “a Judge Dredd story where the always amazing John McCrea asks what Mega City One would be like if its toughest lawman had never recovered from that time he was briefly a werewolf” as depicted in the classic “2000 A.D.” multi-part tale “Cry Of The Werewolf”. In fact, to begin with, “Judge Dredd: Deviations” actually replicates the events of the 1983 narrative by initially duplicating Old Stoney Face’s confrontation with the Undercity’s White Wolf and having the senior lawman defeat his supernatural foe by skewering the albino beast with a piece of metal railing.

It is at this point however, that “Howl Of The Wolf” makes something of a disconcerting detour from its source material. For despite former Judge Prager returning a furry-infected Joseph back to the huge city-state, the comic’s audience quickly discover that medical researcher Cassidy has unfortunately been “killed by one of the beasts” and his curative research has inconveniently been destroyed in a “a drokkin’ mess” of a fire.

Such a supposedly dramatic divergence appears actually somewhat unspectacularly contrived considering that these new developments aren’t even illustrated by the Freelance writer/artist, and therefore rather ungraciously lead to the titular character being strangely sentenced to life imprisonment straightaway by the very the Judges he’d so recently fought alongside during the lycanthrope outbreak; "Okay, keep him locked down… Start looking for a cure again.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Dredd doesn’t remain within captivity for long though, thanks to Karl Heinz-Pilchards-In-Tomato-Sauce Clayderman’s performance of “the greatest musical symphony of all time” and inadvertent devastation of the nearby Isolation Cube block with an earthquake. But so opportune a release, the lawman’s ‘unique’ ability to fully marshal his werewolf instincts and subsequent sanction to return to the Cursed Earth as a ‘free agent’, seems arguably far too convenient a storyline for so usually brutal a futuristic comic book series; especially when Chief Judge McGruder knows he’s literally just ripped the Weatherman to pieces in order to silence the citizen’s ability to control the city’s “freak weather conditions”.

To make matters arguably worse, McCrea’s storyline seems to become even more 'surreal' once Prager is reunited with Joe during a fire-fight against a homicidal Robot Army and demands his savage one-time captive purposely bite him so as to similarly infect his immune system. It’s certainly hard to imagine any Judge willingly taking such a drastic risk to become a ‘lawcanthrope of the Undercity’, even if they had “lost a bit of blood” and were ‘out of ammunition.’

The regular cover art of "JUDGE DREDD: DEVIATIONS" No. 1 by John McCrea