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Judge Dredd - Big Drokkin' Treasury Edition

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    Nolando
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  • Judge Dredd - Big Drokkin' Treasury Edition



    Released by: IDW Publishing
    Released on: March 19, 2014


    This collection gets started by laying out “The Law According to Judge Dredd,” namely:

    Let the first law be that I AM the law.
    And let the second law be that what I say goes.
    And let the third law be that anyone who says different's a dead man.

    But the first story is about a mutant imposter who believes himself to be Judge “Joe” Dredd himself. It takes the real deal showing up and wiping them all out in order for justice to be re-established.

    The second story has Dredd teamed with an aging Judge Minty who's feeling more like he wants to be one of mercy and hopefulness. But after his slow reactions nearly get him killed he retires with full honors, taking “the Long Walk,” bring law to the lawlessness of Mutie-Land.


    Next is Monkey Business At the Charles Darwin Block, where evolution goes crazy in one block of Mega-City One, turning citizens into warring monkeys. A scientist living and experimenting in one of the apartments accidentally releases his airborne-transmitted discovery of reversing the evolutionary process (he decides monkeys over fish, naturally). So it's up to Dredd to head in and shut this all down. The monkeys, though, are wreaking havoc as they “discover” fire. And as he heads further into the building, he finds the closer he gets to the source of the outbreak, the more regressed and aggressive the members have become. But he eventually finds the scientist responsible, who's now a big blobby amoeba. Dredd lets the building burn down and arrests him, of course.

    The next story is of Tommy Zedd, a “zombie-keeper” at AGG Bio. The “zombies” have been created to be near human, used for testing cures of human diseases and susceptibilities. But Tommy soon gets emotionally attached and, thus, gets fired. He figures the only way to save them is to burn them down but Dredd catches him in the act and shoots him. As he dies, Dredd figures he was just getting back at his employers but Tommy knows differently…


    Dredd is next on a “crime blitz,” wherein they randomly select a citizen and search their entire residence. But Dr. Sweet is clean - too clean for Dredd, who has the doctor followed and soon finds he's been selling energy secrets to their enemies in East-Meg. After disrupting an exchange between Sweet and a Sov spy Dredd chases the spy out into the Black Atlantic, where a Sov-Blok ship has picked up the spy and is intent on taking Dredd out. But Dredd is Dredd so he manages to survive and tries to take the entire massive ship on by himself. But he's been exposed to too much of the toxic water and collapses. Sov doctor Rodnina saves him, since that's her job to do; but Sov Judge Molotov has other intentions. However, Dredd gets the doctor to get too close and, stealing her scalpel, plans his escape, fights off Molotov and his big goon, and arrests the entire ship, Dredd-style.


    We next get some backstory on Dredd as his niece, Vienna - daughter of his brother, Rico - is kidnapped by an old perp name Carmen. Dredd recalls what happened to Rico, a fellow judge that went bad, went to Titan but managed somehow to escape to settle the score with Dredd, leaving Dredd no choice but to kill him. Dredd then finds Carmen and Vienna, strapped underneath a swinging blade that's descending in time with her heart rate. Dredd, briefly trapped, manages to rescue her and capture Carmen but not before he reveals to Vienna what happened to her father. Later, though, she forgives Dredd and he, with a very heavy heart, asks her caretaker to try and convince Vienna to love him less since he knows his own fate will only end one way - and that would break her heart all over again.

    From that dramatic high point we move next on to the story of Uncle Ump's Umpty Candy - “the sweet that was too good to eat.” After seeing the citizenry going bonkers for this new candy the Judges find that Uncle Ump has created the greatest flavor in the history of mankind - and that, in itself, leads to an insatiable craving. Dredd gets the candy banned and the production shut down, enraging the citizens but, ultimately, saving them all from this new, crazy addiction. Later, bundled aboard a spacecraft, Dredd tells Uncle Ump that this is only way to save him and the rest of humanity, if he's believed to be dead and his secret lost forever.


    The authors get to play in the next story, wherein a blizzard gets out of Weather Control's hand and the story needs a villain so the creative team narrates transforming a nice guy, Bill, who plays Santa into a steel-clawed, open-brain-plate-wearing, gun-wielding, Santa-hating psychopath. He goes on the warpath but then the creatives introduce his love interest, Juliet, transforming her into a humdrum gal. They're to be married on Christmas but upon mentioning that holiday Bill guns her down. Dredd shows up and has to put him down and the whole scenario confuses everyone. But, again, the creatives know this is a Christmas story so they allow Bill & Juliet to transform back into their regular selves and “evaporate” from the ambulance. The Judges forget about them, they are married, and Dredd's left to dispense toys and suspend judgement for the night, wishing even his dear readers a Merry Christmas…

    This collection is an all-star kind of lineup for the original Judge Dredd comic, with a variety of stories covering the gamut of types that would become the staple of this line. The writers include long-time series contributors John Wagner (sometimes billed as John Howard) and Alan Grant (sometimes billed as T.B. Grover) with artwork from a bevvy of artists displaying the range on this series: Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Cliff Robinson, Ron Smith, Ian Gibson, and even 'pinup' of Judge Death by Brian Bolland. This is an excellent introduction to the character for those wanting to dive into the world of Dredd as well as a great volume of “the hits” for long-time fans of the series.
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