Judge Dredd #20

Published by: IDW Publishing
Released on: July 9, 2014

Part four of the American Way of Death story begins with Dredd taking the Council out to The Cursed Earth. They believe that Dredd's promises of a being found here that can help them fight the Dark Judges is now just a tactic to kill them all and take control of the city himself. But they seem to forget who Judge Dredd truly is and what Mega-City One means to him…

[SPOILERS - AGAIN WITH THE DROKKIN' SPOILERS]

The council members can't believe their eyes when the alien entity (as best as it can be described) “communes” with Dredd. Meanwhile, back in the city, in the chaotic Sector One, Harvies-body-entrapped Pachoda is trying to fight the mental power of the gouging judge and losing. But then Pachoda-body-entrapped Judge Harvies comes to her aid, learning from Dredd to use Hot Shot to drive back the death judges. Harvies believes in some greater consciousness of humanity and truly wants to help now - plus, he loves the buff creature that Pachoda has turned his body into while stuck on the prison moon of Titan.

Back in the desert, Dredd tells the alien entity that it's “beloved” is under attack and needs their help. It responds in kind and then recedes from Dredd. The council is bewildered, thinking him lost completely but they also don't cotton to his plan of bringing this entity into Sector One to help them save the city. That is, until the entity begins to swarm around the council members' legs, convincing them of the right course of action. They all head back to Meg-One then - well, all except Judge Cal and his men since Dredd needs room in the transport for the alien entity…

Harvies and Pachoda split up to take on two of the death judges, with Pachoda-body taking on the Collective massive being and Harvies-body taking on the destructive, mole-like Burroughs. But both foes prove far more than they can handle, with the Pachoda-body seemingly destroyed under a mountain of rubble, sending Harvies-body into a mania. Judge Death is overseeing all this and believes the tide has finally turned in their favor, allowing them to proceed into the neighboring sectors.

But then Dredd and the council members return and begin fighting back. The entity begins working on some of them as well but then the space-time anomaly that put Dredd back on Earth grabs the council, leaving Dredd little choice but to follow them. He loses contact with Control but is unsure where he is...until he hears a familiar voice of someone he thought was lost.

Duane Swierczynski continues his excellent updating of the Judge Death story here and Nelson Daniel's artwork keeps pace well. This whole story has been a blast and I'm continuing to look forward to how they'll bring it all together.