Comic Review: Judge Dredd- Volume One IDW

The Judge Dredd train is still rolling! I am slowly building up speed and excitement for more upcoming Warlord Games Judge Dredd miniature-game projects I am working on if you haven’t already, please consider checking out my YouTube channel, Adventures with Peps, as I track my progress in building my corner of Mega-City One.

A by-product of all this is that I want to read everything, Dredd. That includes the IDW verse, as they have some excellent ideas, so I am bravely dipping my toes back in. I will honestly say that the few I have read haven't been great so far, but I am always willing to be proven wrong. With this in mind, let us head into Judge Dredd's Volume One IDW.

Let's start with IDW, the company; as it has to be discussed, they don't work like classic 2000 AD. Their sole purpose is to make Judge Dredd enjoyable for the US market. This means a more DC/Marvel-looking strip and fewer jabs at American culture. It also seems like Dredd acts a little bit different from the norm. This has the effect of either people loving it or hating it. It does seem to split the groups I am a member of. So far, I have found them to be a bit of a miss unless they are working with a classic tale, in which case all they do is colour it and change the comic size. I feel Americanizing it makes it lose some of its sparkle.

The plus side to this volume is that it seems to all be written by the same person, Duane Swierczynski. This means one of two things - 1) If I like the opening tale, the chances are high I will enjoy the entire volume, and 2) If it starts weak, I fear it will not grow on me. With that, my intro is now complete.

Review

Okay this was fun. It's different from the Judge Dredd I'm used to, but the stories are just off the wall and have that JD-crazy edge. Up first, Mega-City 1 looks good; this has to be pre-wars, pre-Cal and pre-chaos day. The city almost seems to be clean, and plenty of Judges are on the scene. The opening story hints at a growing droid rebellion that is starting to grow in power and causing trouble throughout Mega-City 1. I loved the high-up level of a block having a specially crafted tree that produces and grows fresh fruit every 5 minutes, but I loved it more when the tree malfunctions and the fruit started exploding, causing absolute chaos :) This is an idea I wish to explore in my own setting.

Most of the stories are straightforward and lead into the next, which is the bonus of just one writer working on the plot. The plot is straightforward enough, with us following a Droid and a weird Clone story. The clone story is funny; a gang of doctors are cloning people and then threatening to torture and kill the clones unless the original citizen pays a ransom. This is a mind-bending idea. Do you not care about your clone? Do you care? What if you save them? Then what happens? Who is the original? I seriously don't know what I would do. This story also involves a twist as it seems a judge, Judge Tarjay, was cloned. The ending twist to the tale in this volume ends with Tarjay being framed and escaping into the city to be continued in volume 2.

Highlights - The world, I know Duane didn't create it but he does well at bringing it to life. There is no actual intro. You are just dropped into the middle and get on with it. The stories all link nicely without any real issues. It's just a well-written story arc.

Lowlights - Needs the 2000 AD humour. I’m not sure if it will turn up in the later volumes or if it was a choice made by IDW. I know our British humour doesn't always translate well in the States, but I feel this will definitely be a straight-edge Dredd.

I actually enjoyed this. I am interested to see where it goes. I now have Volume Two on the reading list, so check back soon. Have you read this? Let me know in the comments. Cheers.