Comic Review - Judge Dredd Lawman of the Future 09

Following the exciting introduction of Judge Death, I raced on to issue 09. The cover is intense, showing Judge Dredd versus Judge Death in a killer’s embrace. Judge Death looks crazy badass, but the real shocker is the tagline of “Meet PSI-Judge Anderson”. Not only is Judge Dredd getting some support, but it will be the outstanding PSI Judge herself. The rest of the cover is the classic lineup, prizes to be won, great artwork and a new story.

The tales in this issue are Block War, Judge Death and Job Selling. After the opening page, we are introduced to PSI Judge Anderson and her case files. Once again, this is not the most in-depth telling of her character (running theme, sadly), but at the bottom of the page is some gang slang that I feel hints towards what is going to be seen in the comic.

Judge Death Part 2 - Eek! I'm excited for this one. Judge Dredd is pretty much at Judge Death’s mercy and is only saved when reinforcements arrive. Having believed to have destroyed the host body, Judge Dredd takes the body's remains to the PSI division, and we finally meet Judge Anderson. Whilst this happens, a survivor’s body is transferred to the local medbay, but why does the doctor believe this survivor is dead? Argh!

What a three-part story. This is unheard-of territory for the magazine. Secondly, why is Judge Anderson hardly in it? Give me more, Judge Anderson. A great opening story that has a good amount of creepiness to it.

We are then treated to the filler pages, a competition, a few adverts and the exit polls of previous issues. Then we get some info on the Angel Gang from the Film, alongside a two-page poster of Mean Machine. It's all pretty standard. So let's move on.

Block War - The opening panel is intense, featuring Judge Dredd and Judge Hersey in the middle of a five-way city block war. The lead-up to the block war is pretty simple. The city housing department has decided to build five city blocks (The Jackson Five) and house the roughest members of society there; they hope to curb all crime in this way. Well, it didn't work, and soon the blocks were a mess and block war was declared between the rivals. Into the fray come the Judges, hoping to bring the blocks back under control, using heavy-handed violence and some knock-out gas. The tactic works on four of the five blocks, seeing them surrender to the might of the law. Only Micheal Jackson's block remains lawless, but this comes to a swift end after Judge Dredd smashes his way through the top floor killing the leaders with excessive use of an H-Wagon (think flying tank).

This was a classic Judge Dredd storyline, full of over-the-top violence and action. I loved seeing this verse version of the H-Wagon. It looks menacing and brutal, which it should.

Then, we finish with the standard page of readers’ letters before the final Tale - Job Selling. The mega rackets are conning innocent citizens into believing they are heading to a well-paid job. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting citizen, that job is as a slave in a mutie mine located in the Cursed Earth. Of course, once Judge Dredd finds out, it all comes to a violent end!

Great issue with all three tales delivering a great read. Of course, the Judge Death tale is the best, but the other two are great representations of Mega-City 1 life and are worthy of a read. Now, onto issue 10.