Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03

(Collects Prog’s 116-154)

After three nearly back to back long arcs of varying quality, Judge Dredd returned triumphantly to its original format with the best short stories the series had ever seen. I’ve heard criticisms that Judge Dredd is too much of a softy in these stories, many of them end with him being merciful, or at least feeling sorry for the criminals, I disagree with these critics, read between the lines and you’ll find that it feeds into a cohesive story very well. Judge Dredd just got over being accused and hunted down for murder, he even had to fight against a corrupt chief justice, this volume shows Dredd, for the first time questioning the law he serves and showing a little mercy, a little compassion, it doesn’t last forever, and it’s never specifically stated that it is a result of the day the law died but I believe it is.  

Easily the weakest prog in this collection is Vienna, a story which establishes Judge Dredd niece Vienna into continuity and then erases her from existence the moment the comic ends, entirely because John Wagner realized that with Dredd’s brother Rico on Titan for twenty years a four-year-old niece is quite impossible

Some Truly great moments happen if you get passed the continuity

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City block 1 does the most world-building of any story within, establishing the massive meg buildings with thousands of residents, and so much contained within each one that a resident could potentially live and die without leaving their block.

The Blood of Satanus is fun and squeezes in some more dinosaurs for my inner 10-year-old to cheer about.

The highlight of the volume is easily the Judge death arc. A lot is packed into these four prog’s, the story is complex, the action is sufficient the world building is top notch, It Concurrently introduces arguably Dredd’s best villain, Judge Anderson and the entire Psi-judge division. I would go into detail but it’s so top notch that I recommend all to read it for themselves.

Judge minty the star of my favorite judge Dredd fan film to date reviewed here is introduced in this volume and so is the long walk. Overall this Volume began using the shorter progs for exactly what these 5-page stories should be used for, quick bits of worldbuilding, establishing settings and concepts which may be used later in longer form.

I would still love a Judge Minty spin-off,
1/2 Western+1/2 Cursed Earth Hellscape= Awesomeness

Along the way is some of the best art we've seen yet for Dredd, it is much more consistent this time around, this honestly is the most consistent case file yet, This volume uses the short nature of progs for exactly what they should be used for, short bursts of world-building to show us important pieces of the world which don't need a whole arc, yet, the amount of future planning and callbacks to these early progs later on is always stunning.

          Tune in next week for my review of Volume 04, It brings in a large arc which this volume sadly lacked while also collecting great short progs along the way.

4/5 for the complete case files 03

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For those interested in snagging 03