Comic Review: Judge Dredd Deviations by IDW

Recently, I've been reading a lot of IDW Judge Dredd comics. Though sometimes fun to go through, they have largely missed the mark for me. Which is a real shame. I can’t imagine the shock of swapping from IDW to 2000 AD; it would be so jarring for the reader. It also seems like IDW is a dumbed-down version of Judge Dredd. But maybe that is just my opinion.

I’m hoping this one-shot might help reset my feelings. Written by John McCrea, the idea of this is to deviate from the main tale. In the original scenario, Judge Dredd cured Mega City One's Werewolf problem and then cured himself of a bite he had taken. Yet in this one shot, Judge Dredd is not cured and becomes a werewolf, meaning the cure never succeeded!

But even as a Werewolf, Judge Dredd can't stop being a Judge and manages to contain the wilder wolf side through pure willpower. After a telepathic connection with Judgeg Anderson, it is discovered Judge Dredd wishes to take the Long Walk rather than be caged in an ISO cube; like most things in Mega-City 1, a new craze forms around Judge Dredd, with citizens dressing as wolves to protest for Dredd's freedom (Quite the enjoyable panel). Soon, Chief Judge McGruder has no choice but to allow Judge Dredd to take the long walk into the Undercity (where he was bitten initially).

Now down in the Undercity, Wolf Dredd teams up with another long-walk Judge, and together, they track down and end a group of renegade Robots. In the combat, Wolf Dredd's newest ally is injured and starts losing blood fast. Wolf Dredd is forced to bite the Judge in order to save him, and together, they become a pair of crime-fighting werewolves, and here ends the tale.

Not sure what I think. It was a good 'what if' tale, fast, to the point, with good enough (not great) artwork. The ending seemed corny and rushed, and Judge Anderson's appearance seemed forced, just to have the character in the story. But like I said, it's quick and easy, just like this review.

Cheers for stopping by!!