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Released by: IDW Publishing
Release on: January 22, 2014
Part 2 of the “Badges†story finds Dredd being unfairly investigated by the Special Judicial Squad for some possible connection to rogue-killer judge Tarjay.
The story here opens, though, by showing the “skill†Tarjay has acquired of being able get inside someone's head and transport them to an alien hellscape. This becomes important later on in the story as Dredd's psychic-abled partner, Anderson, tracks down Tarjay while Dredd is being held for questioning.
During Dredd's inquisition he and Anderson are in constant mental contact, continuing the investigation, with Anderson narrating her every move. But to the SJS chief inquisitor Dredd is as impassive and emotionless as ever. Even the SJS agents monitoring the interview don't have any idea of Dredd's extra connection. Eventually, then, Anderson is able to track down Tarjay who's lying in wait for her - or, more specifically, he was hoping for Dredd. Soon, though, he's got her in his alternate dimension and she divines his endgame - just a little too late…
As soon as he loses his connection to her Dredd knows he has to get out of this interview. Which he does in pure Dredd fashion. But as the guards start to pile on it appears that all help for Anderson is soon to be lost.
This issue also includes another Dredd-world short story. This one, titled Perp Walk, deals with a thief called Bunker who's serving a 30-year sentence in an iso-cube. But as a student of “mystic arts†he's able to work on separating spirit and body in an attempt to escape his prison. He spends years perfecting this out-of-body technique so that it can last long enough to trip the release to his cell, return to his body, and once whole again Bunker can flee. But the amount of time necessary to do that turns out to be too long for the spirit to return - leaving Bunker's body as a corpse and his spirit trapped forever. As the Judges come to realize what he's done they know that prison is now compromised so they shut it down, trapping Bunker's spirit there for eternity.
Well-paced and appropriately Dredd-gritty this issue from Duane Swierczynski continues in the same welcome vein of homage and new stories for the iconic character of future justice. Nelson Daniel's artwork also echoes nicely with tones from the original comic and making something new out of Mega City-One as well. Very entertaining for old and new fans alike.
