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Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two #5

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    Nolando
    Senior Member

  • Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two #5



    Published by: IDW Publishing
    Released on: June 4, 2014


    This final issue of the story brings Dredd back to control central in Mega-City Two, his Internal Affairs investigation just about at its end. There are just a few loose ends to tie up…

    [DROKK! SPOILERS INCOMING!]

    Dredd and MC2 Judge Nguyen bust in on another Judge, trying to get more information as to who is ultimately at the heart of the whole conspiracy Dredd's been investigating, a “perp-smuggling ring” where Meg-One's criminals are being released from their iso-cubes and into MC2. This Judge confirms the name of Slump being potentially behind it all so, with cameras rolling, they all head off to Lawcon, the huge, global gathering of all Judges.


    As the event kicks off, Nguyen and Dredd go their separate ways as Dredd has his own panel to attend. MC2 Chief Justice “Bulletproof” Kennedy starts the convention off with a bang, by “unveiling” the return of Judge Santos. Dredd is confused as he saw the real Santos die earlier and Kennedy explains it's just another in a long line, to keep up appearances and PR. So Dredd confronts him with what he's found and Kennedy is impressed. Chief Justice Goodman from Meg-One shows up then and the two leaders discuss legally making such exchanges. But, Clarence notes, there's just one player left in MC2 from the illegal version of that activity, going by the name of Slump.


    Kennedy takes Dredd to his panel and announces to the world the production using Dredd's recent visit videos - a new show called Justice Force. It also features a kids' tie-in show, showcasing the talents of Pug Dredd [Note: I'm getting a pug and naming it this today.]. Awww! But while Kennedy's announcing this Dredd notices a marking laser honing in on the Chief Justice and, to save him, Dredd shoots him in the side, spinning him out of the way of the deadly explosive which still detonates and kills/maims many in the panel's exhibit hall.


    This makes all the attending Judges freak out and start blasting each other. Dredd dives on top of Pug Dredd to save him(!). Dredd hops into his car that's a prop on his stage and chases after the would-be assassin, driving all over MC2 and providing a great one-shot huge, detailed image of that portion of the city. Dredd naturally disables the getaway car, coming face to face with Slump at last. Slump, a former Judge himself, tries to get Dredd on his side but, as usual, there is only one side of the law that matters to Dredd.


    Kennedy and Dredd's film crew arrive on the scene in their hoverpod, picking Dredd up. He immediately directs them to hover in front on an incoming cargo train which he promptly causes to detonate, thanks to the “floating explosives” trick he learned earlier from Kennedy. The massive explosion goes out on the live feed so Dredd explains that the train was basically a huge weapon, meant to wipe out a huge part of MC2. Kennedy thus seizes the moment to stress the importance of the Judges and gains the spotlight again. This leaves Dredd to return to Meg-One a bit more anonymously. As he's readying to leave MC2 he gets a call from Chief Justice Goodman who explains why he was chosen for this mission, as they knew they needed someone to stop this huge bomb. But that person was going to become an unwilling celebrity so, of course, they picked Judge Dredd and, to ol' Joe, it's all in service to the city he's sworn to protect…

    This series by Douglas Wolk is a fun departure of sorts for the stone-faced lawman. Utilizing the “fish out of water” premise, Wolk's able to poke fun at both Dredd's stodginess as well as the “meta” consumerist culture and Southern California to boot. Ulises Farinas' artwork is an acknowledged heavy nod to Geoff Darrow which fits perfectly for showing off the grotesque excess of Mega-City Two. But Farinas also keeps the characters nice and cartoony, to further define this world as differently as possible from Dredd's traditional haunt of Meg-One. It all comes together fabulously and is a highly entertaining addition to the Judge Dredd line of stories, to be certain.
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