Sweet Justice: Selected Short Stories from the 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Annuals

by Neil Gaiman, Peter Milligan, Dan Abnett

Featuring stories by New York Times best sellers Neil Gaiman and Dan Abnett, along with hit comics authors Mark Millar, Peter Milligan, Alan Grant and more, this amazing collection brings together nine thrilling and unusual short prose stories from the 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Annuals and Specials. Never seen outside of those pages until now, this ebook presents these hard-to-find tales in one collection.

Features Judge Anderson, Judge Hershey, Judge Dredd and a roster of Mega-City One's unconventional characters.



Judge Anderson: The Scream - Peter Milligan
Diary of a Mad Citizen - Alan Grant
Judge Anderson: Exorcise Duty - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
I Was a Teenage Perp! - Alan Grant
Judge Hershey: Sweet Justice - Neil Gaiman
Judge Anderson: Dear Diary - Peter Milligan
Radical Cheek - Peter Milligan
Judge Anderson: The Most Dangerous Game - Mark Millar
Roll On Justice - Ian Rimmer

Genres: Science Fiction, Comics, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy

87 pages, ebook

First published November 20, 2011

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

JUDGE ANDERSON: THE SCREAM By Peter Milligan, Judge Dredd Annual 1987 ☆☆☆

‘I’ve only been going three hours and I feel beat already,’ said Anderson as the two men stomped out of the room. ‘Some of these he-man Judges really get up my nose.’ ‘Know what you mean,’ said Judge Carter, yawning. ‘Take Monk. Some of the boys have got a saying about Monk.’ ‘What’s that?’ ‘They say he’s as tough as Old Dredd.’

Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson on the hunt for an alphabet serial killer.
Not bad at all and I loved old Dredd cameo, but you really not need Sherlock Holmes to guess who is the murderer here.



DIARY OF A MAD CITIZEN By Alan Grant, 2000 AD Annual 1986 ☆☆☆☆☆

I opened my living room window and clambered up onto the ledge. It was a long way down to the ground: 89 storeys. Nobody could possibly survive that drop. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and prepared to jump... ‘Hold it, Citizen!’ I whirled, to see the impressive figure of a Judge framed in my living room doorway. ‘Attempted suicide is a serious offence.’

A common-joe starts suffering from future-shock and delusions after getting beaten by some juves.
An hilarious Mega-City One tale, told from the pov of a deranged mind, by Judge Dredd's co-creator Alan Grant.
A great starting point if you are new to the setting,.



JUDGE ANDERSON: EXORCISE DUTY By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, Judge Dredd Annual 1991 ☆☆☆☆

‘Empathically, I’m not reading much.’ Troughton shot her a grimace. ‘Neutral Zone mediplex. Ninety thousand civilians cremated in a nanosecond, thanks to a stray nuke.’ ‘Any speculations, McKern?’ asked Anderson. The big man was lost in the shadows. ‘Sounds like a casebook Revenant Node. A concentrated mass, representing thousands of souls traumatised in the same moment. Could mean we’re in for a busy night.’

A nice short creepy tale about sacrifice, last respects to pay, and forgiveness to ask for starring Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson.



‘I WAS A TEENAGE PERP!’ By Alan Grant, Judge Dredd Annual 1983 ☆☆☆☆

I remember the day I broke my first law as if it was yesterday. In fact it was yesterday. I was cruising the Block Plaza with Willy the C, both of us just hanging out and looking cool. I was wearing my new glitter kneepad, so of course I was attracting more than my share of admiring glances from the other citizens in the crowd. That’s what put Willy in a bad mood and started all this trouble.

Another hilarious Mega-City One tale about young lawbreakers, kneepad craze and robo-ducks by Alan Grant.
In the end I was laughing a lot because I was imagining the two main characters with the faces and voices of Ted and Marhall from the How I met your mother tv show.



JUDGE HERSHEY: SWEET JUSTICE By Neil Gaiman, Judge Dredd Annual 1988 ☆☆☆☆☆

They travelled up in the elevator in silence, until Hershey said, ‘That thing on your chin. What’s it for?’ ‘It’s a beauty patch. They’re very fashionable. In Brit-Cit.’ ‘“A Judge,”’ quoted Hershey from memory, ‘“should be clean, upright, and stern. No more. We are not in a beauty contest.”’ ‘Judge’s Manual?’ She shook her head. ‘Dredd.’ ‘Oh.’

Stephen King meets (litterally!) Terry Pratchett in an hilarious alien sugar Brit-Cit mistery starring Judge Hershey.
Ten stars.



JUDGE ANDERSON: DEAR DIARY By Peter Milligan, 2000 AD Annual 1988 ☆☆☆☆

I see myself at the end of the day, smiling. But now I can see myself lying on the floor, bleeding. You’re getting confused again, Anderson. Don’t you think it’s a little unlikely that you’ll end the day smiling and bleeding? In my book, those two phenomena have always been mutually incompatible.

A Memento-style mistery tale in Mega-City One starring Cassandra Anderson.
Not bad, ending rised final vote one star.



RADICAL CHEEK By Peter Milligan, Law in Order: Judge Dredd Annual 1990 ☆☆☆

Dredd pulled me to my feet and dragged me away from the boutique, then he threw me against a wall and pushed his face so close to mine I could see my reflection in his visor. My reflection looked as good as ever. It’s nice to know you can still count on some things.

A funny tale about fashion, mobsters, mind control and crime.
Sadly Max Normal never been a fan favorite character of mine.



JUDGE ANDERSON: THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME By Mark Millar, Judge Dredd Yearbook 1992 ☆☆☆☆

Few Judges dared break up the riots. None would enter the Scot-Blocks at night – there was even a rumour that Judge Dredd himself had whistled and driven past a fight between two drunken Scotsmen. It’s said that even he was afraid to confront them, but this was only a rumour. It probably wasn’t true.

An hilarious tale about degenerating sport rivalries between two city-blocks starring Anderson and Psi-Division.
Four silly sick stars.



ROLL ON JUSTICE By Ian Rimmer, Judge Dredd Annual 1990 ☆☆☆

Calling the Lawmaster a motorbike was like calling its rider a policeman. It radiated authority and power, from the Justice Shield on the front wheelguard, to the tip of the twin exhausts at its rear. In between, the Notron V8 KT23 engine, silent now, waited to roar the rule of law through Mega-City One’s streets once more.

A young holiday-cover mechanic called James Bond at his first day of work decides to take a ride on Judge Dredd's Lawmaster.
It's not going to end well for him.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Sweet Justice’ is an interesting but not entirely successful read. What makes it fun is that it features prose short stories set in the ‘Judge Dredd’ universe. For anyone who doesn’t know, Dredd is a long-running British comic book character. A brutal lawman who patrols the violent streets of the sprawling future metropolis Mega City One. What makes it less fun is that the quality of the stories is mixed to say the least. Rather than being new tales, the contents of this slim volume were all taken from the pages of various ‘2000 AD’ and ‘Judge Dredd’ annuals from the 1980s and 1990s. (Explainer: in the UK comic books tend to publish an annual each winter – a hardback collection of new strips and other materials featuring popular characters from the comic).
This collection features stories by writers whose names will be familiar to Dredd fans (Alan Grant, Peter Milligan), one from Mark Millar (‘Kick Ass’) and one from Neil Gaiman. They focus on characters other than Dredd (who appears as a bit player, if at all), with stories devoted to Psi Judge Anderson, Judge Hershey and to citizens of Mega City One.
It was the last of these that I enjoyed the most. Alan Grant turns in two very funny shorts written from the perspective of down on their luck inhabitants of the metropolis. They’re amusing, clever and provide an interestingly different perspective on things. Most importantly, they make sense as prose rather than comic strips. The same isn’t true for the others stories, even the best of them. Gaiman’s creepy and occasionally very funny ‘Judge Hershey: Sweet Justice’ has some great ideas, but would have been better in comic form.
Just as I did when I read stories like this as a kid, I couldn’t help feeling that the main purpose of these stories was to fill a few pages in the annual without the additional expense of having to pay for the artwork as well as the words. It’s certainly interesting to see writers playing around with a different form, but my advice for Dredd fans would be to stick to comics.

[Ruby Ridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, I just did not like this collection. If it was not for "The scream" this would have been a One Star book.
The authors have collectively taken Mega City and the fearsome judges and turned the whole thing into a kind of Ponyville, do they think this is what children want? As for "The Most Dangerous Game", it reads like a third grader wrote it. None of my brit friends have heard of Harry Lauder or most of the other references. I could go on criticizing this collection for example the ridiculous fashion story or the series of unfortunate events in the park but I won't.
Don't read this - Hell, watch the Sylvester Stallone movie, it is truer to the concept than this.

[Sheridan]

For those wondering which stories are reprinted (probably a total of about half the text stories which were published in the annuals).
Judge Anderson: The Scream by Peter Milligan
Diary of a Mad Citizen by Alan Grant
Judge Anderson: Exorcism Duty by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
I Was a Teenage Perp! by Alan Grant
Judge Hershey: Sweet Justice by Neil Gaiman
Judge Anderson: Dear Diary by Peter Milligan
Radical Cheek by Peter Milligan
Judge Anderson: The Most Dangerous Game by Mark Millar
Roll on Justice by Ian Rimmer

[Sean Goh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read, Gaiman's short is very.. characteristic.

[RND · Rating 2 out of 5]

Your mileage will vary but as short, sharp jabs of Dredd fiction these'll do.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can't beat classic 2000AD, yes you can, classic Judge Dredd. OK so these stories may not feature old stoney face as the main character - Judges Hershey & Anderson are - but he puts in appearances and hey, its MC1, what's not to love.

[James Rhodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag to be sure, however Grants' stories still stand out for sheer bizarreness a pop cultural commentary.