Judge Dredd #1

Judge Dredd #1
Released by: IDW Publishing
Released on: December 16th, 2015.
Written by: Ulises Farinas, Erick Freitas
Illustrated by: Dan McDaid
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The first issue of this latest Judge Dredd series, entitled Mega-City Zero: Part One - Terms Of Service, begins in a field. Dredd wakes up, confused that there's no noise, no traffic. He messages control but it's no use. He does, at least, have forty-five rounds left. He doesn't know where he is, but figures since there's so much vegetation it can't be the Cursed Earth. His coordinates say he's in Mega-City One but clearly this isn't the Mega-City One he knows.

So he goes through the last entry in his case log. He was called out to investigate the disappearance of 13,450 citizens. The Judges have no leads. Anderson can't get any sort of Psi reading. Back in the present Dredd gets something on his radio - someone is mouthing off to him, he thinks, and then he finds the source - a group of thugs taking out a guy they've accused of puppy kicking. They want to pluck out his eyeballs but Dredd stops them. The puppy kicker winds up dead, the three thugs, kids really, get arrested. Dredd but when he mentions Mega-City One they have no idea what he's talking about. “We are from the grass” he's told.

From there, a herd stampedes right past them, scores of people… some possibly mutants or human-animal hybrids, racing towards a tower that looks like it's made of the Earth itself. They call it Ang Avi but Dredd calls it a Mega-Block with no Mega-City. But there are Judges here, sort of, and they're not about to let this herd into Ang Avi, no matter how bad they want it. All Dredd wants is to find a holding cell for the perps, he asks the robotic Judges for directions but they see this as a Trojan horse style attack and respond accordingly, but Dredd is determined…

A fish out of water story inspired by Jack Kirby's Kamandi stories, this new series is off to a great start. The editorial in the back pages notes that they wanted to do something different with Dredd that would work for those who have been reading the character for decades and at the same time appeal to new readers as well. Well, mission accomplished. Long time readers will get a kick out of the way this story pays honest tribute to Dredd's history while those new to Dredd's world should have no trouble dipping their toes into the story. It's accessible and at the same time, it's interesting, it's unique within the pantheon of Dredd stories and it's got a genuinely wicked sense of humor to it (as all good Dredd stories do). There's a great mix of action and intrigue here and some interesting sci-fi elements worked in as well. Farinas and partner in crime Erick Freitas are onto something here.

Those familiar with Ulises Farinas's previous work on the character know he's one of the best things to happen to Judge Dredd in a long time and while he isn't handling the art chores on this run (though he is contributing some great cover pieces), Dan McDaid manages to knock it out o the park in his own right. The coloring work from Ryan Hill compliments McDaid's style and there's a lot of nice depth to their work here. The action scenes are appropriately chaotic in their look and the various characters that inhabit this story are well drawn and interesting to look at.

This is off to a great start, don't miss out.