Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 21

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files + The Restricted Files+ The Daily Dredds

by John Wagner, Dan Abnett, Alan McKenzie

Mega-City one: the future metropolis bustling with life and every crime imaginable. Keeping order are the Judges, a stern police force acting as judges, juries and executioners. toughest of all is Judge Dredd. From encountering another 2000 AD legend – Rogue trooper - to Dredd’s disgrace and arrest, this is another slab of future law enforcement!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopia, Crime

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2013

About the author

John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since. He is best known for his work on 2000 AD, for which he created Judge Dredd. He is noted for his taut, violent thrillers and his black humour. Among his pseudonyms are The best known are John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter. (Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Christopher M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Judge is back to business as usual after a rough patch. Most of this volume is the Wilderlands epic in which an accident strands a disgraced Dredd and a mismatched group of survivors on the inhospitable planet Hestia. The art is wildly inconsistent as it hops between the monthly and weekly editions, but the story wraps up all kinds of ongoing threads within an exciting survival/murder mystery plot.

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is split up into two sections. The first half of the book is the usual collection of quirky Dredd stories; accident prone criminals, a promising time travel story that goes nowhere, the strikingly drawn and gripping Conspiracy Of Silence which sets up a future story but ultimately has trouble standing on its own, the entertaining but disposable Cursed Earth monster yarn Bad Blood, goofy one-offs Moving Violation, TV Babies and A Guide To Mega-Speak, a misjudged tone for a Judge Death two-parter and the Rogue Trooper crossover Casualties Of War.

The second half of the book is devoted to the excellent Wilderlands epic, a story which has Chief Judge McGruder sentence Dredd to Titan for perjury, only to wind up seeing him lead a group of crash survivors off the solar system's tenth planet Hestia instead. An episode which begins with the return of the Mechanismo program (robotic Judges) readers could be forgiven for groaning as they expect it to be the most recent rehash of a previously successful story, but soon find themselves pleasantly surprised at the way it unfolds. It is not an entry without flaws, but overall the mix of great action, sci-fi, political intrigue, the introduction of the introspective and likable Judge Castillo, dazzling artwork and an intriguing new setting make it one of Dredd's finest episodes yet, or at least one of the best in a very long time.

With a couple of exceptions, the first half of Case Files 21 is standard, plodding Dredd, but the second half is a bright reminder of what Dredd can be at its best. Readers who have faded away from engaging with more recent Case Files may want to consider this a great point for re-entry.

[Darik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh thank GRUD, Dredd's back in good form!

This collection is a solid selection of Dredd yarns, most penned by the returned John Wagner, and including the big Megazine crossover "The Wilderlands"-- which sees Dredd stranded with shipwreck survivors on the planet Hestia, and resolves both the lingering Robot Judges plotline and the Chief Judge MacGruder plotline.

It... is... GOOD. I dunno if I'm just starved for quality writing on this book after slogging through Garth Ennis's run, but this whole volume felt like a breath of fresh air. "Wilderlands" makes some solid points about imperialism, ecology, and the dangers of automating decision-making without ever losing its thrilling edge. Hell, even the stand-alone progs have their deliberate, satirical bite back... and a couple of 'em are written by Dan Abnett, so you KNOW they're rock-solid!

I am officially back on the Dredd-train.

[Chris Browning · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is good, and sometimes actively very good indeed, but the art is terrible and sometimes actively very, very bad indeed. Wilderlands is a perfect example - narratively it’s fine, but Ezquerra attempts to make the landscape garish and horrible to look at and while doing so makes the comic sometimes actively unpleasant to read. The whole volume struggles with this - the stories are never terrible but the artwork feels like a sort of existential panic at the dawn of digital art and results in just mucky, muddy looking pages. Even the more classically painted issues seem off - there’s a page by Mark Harrison where Dredd’s chin looks like some sort of huge ripe fruit for no apparent reason. It’s all over the place

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this mostly for the Wilderlands serial which appeared some time after I stopped collecting 2000AD. I was always fascinated by it, since it was another tale of Dredd and a bunch of hapless supporting characters travelling through a relentlessly hostile landscape that kills most of them in various gruesome ways, a 2000AD staple. The red palette of Ezquerra's epsidodes are amazing, how come it wasn't also used in Trevor Hairsine's? Anyway, fun stuff.

[DoNotDoxMe Goodreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This case file has a bit of everything. Judge Death. Rogue Trooper. Assassination conspiracies. The book closes with a multi prog long story with Dredd trying to keep crash survivors alive on a hostile planet while they're stalked by a murderous saboteur.

[Daniel Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This case files collection features some great stories, including one long story with the long serving Chief Judge McGruder bringing back the Mechanismo for another try. Friday, AKA Rogue Trooper, also makes a visit to Mega-City One.

[Mat Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the disappointing case file 20, this one is a return to form. Wagner is back writing and we get the usual suspects doing the art. There is one epic story and a multitude of entertaining progs. Just when I was out, they pulled me back in!

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the volume where I stopped reading 2000AD back in the day, the WIlderlands story just drained my enthusiasm. And... still not great.

[Rachel Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Farewell Chief Judge

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good collection of stories. From shorties to epic of Wilderlands. With a great deal of Esquerra art.
A really good edition.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a classic Dredd, but good solid stuff. Good blend of comedy, action and long term storytelling.

[Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilderlands arc was fun.

[Alan Fricker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hugely better than the last installment. Extended off world story with plenty of chief judge mcgruder

[Allen Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really strong

The Mechanismo story climaxing here is nearly a throwback to those classic epics like Block Wars, really strong reading here.

[Alfred Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wilderlands started to grate on me a bit near the end - felt like a humourless version of Cursed Earth although I enjoy the progress made with the actual Judge characters.

[Paul Finch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biggest story in here; indeed it takes up almost the entire volume; is Wilderlands which is the the story, incidentally, that was running when I first started buying 2000AD. This is the first time I've read it in it's entirety, since I came in late (and missed all of the episodes printed in the Judge Dredd Megazine, because my paper round money didn't stretch to buying TWO comics)and I have to say that it works much better when you a) know the backstory, b) read the whole story and c)don't have the attention span of a young teen with, well, a really short attention span.

In all, a definite step up from the last couple of casefiles, due mainly to the return of John Wagner to the regular scripting gig, but still not quite up there with the best of them. That will come though, and the series will surpass even it's golden age, once Wagner settles back into his groove (and the last remnants of his various short lived replacements have been dragged out of the drawer they'd been hidden in and burned off.) I'm looking forward to reliving some glory days.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume really sees the series back on top form. The Mechanismo judges make a return, Wagner is firmly back as regular writer, Ezquerra's art is on fire, there's even a Rogue Trooper crossover at one point. The main event is probably Wilderlands, a story that ran concurrently in 2000AD and the Megazine. All parts are included here and it reads a treat (I don't recall ever reading it at the time so must have been during my own Dredd wilderness years).