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Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection #56
Beyond Mega-City One
In the bleak post-apocalyptic world of the twenty-second century, mankind huddles in vast conurbations dotted across the globe, ruled over by harsh and uncompromising Judicial systems. From Brit-Cit to South-Am's Ciudad Barranquilla, Luxor to the Emerald Isle theme park, each nation has their own methods of enforcing the law- and when they receive a visit from Judge Dredd, they get a taste of Mega-City One justice!
198 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2016
29 people want to read
About the author
John Wagner
1,314 books191 followersJohn 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)
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 7, 2016
Bit of a relief to be back in the realm of actual Judge Dredd stories, instead of weird spinoffs set in odd corners of the Dreddverse - except we only barely are, because this is a collection of adventures in which Dredd is packed off to various peculiar corners of the globe.
We begin with "Atlantis", a typically exemplary Wagner & Grant four-parter that holds the distinction of being the first ever appearance of Brit-Cit and its Judges in its strip: it's pretty low-key but holds a special place in my heart, hailing from the exact time I first started buying 2000AD. Some nice sympathetic mutie action, too.
As usual it's all a bit downhill from there: Wagner is such a good writer, isn't he?. Garth Ennis tackles 22nd century Ireland in "Emerald Isle" via the rather silly idea that the entire country has been turned into an excruciatingly embarrassing leprechaun theme park, but while the gags do border on the absurdist (spud guns? Dredd obliterating St Stephen's Green under the wheels of his Lawmaster?) they do raise some smiles. And at least Ennis probably has a right to take the mickey out of his own country.
Not sure the same can be said for Morrison/Millar's visit to Egypt in "Book of the Dead" - it's all fairly predictable Curse of the Mummy's Tomb fare, choosing to portray Luxor as having returned wholesale to the ways of its Pharaonic ancestors instead of any kind of realistic future society. Which is all fair enough but suffers a bit from the writers sticking to their "unlikeable hardass" formula for scripting the character of Dredd, over 8 gruelling episodes of demigod-punching.
The collection is rounded out in a more modern style with two entertaining political thrillers from Gordon Rennie. Gulag skates a little close to being a retread of sections of The Apocalypse War, but hey, if you've worked hard to get into the position of being allowed to write Dredd strips, indulging yourself with a homage to the greatest ever story seems fair enough. And finally there's Regime Change, a bitingly topical-satirical take on modern "peacekeeping" initiatives and the real motivations behind them. Ciudad Barranquilla may not be the most interesting Mega-City to visit (not unlike MC1, but Latino, thus, er, obviously corrupt as all hell) but at least there's an effort to depict it as an actual place instead of a comedy-foreigner-populated cartoon.
The interview article at the end is interesting, because once again, as with Judgment Day, it's quite critical of aspects of the Dreddverse, going so far as to accuse many of the Dredd-goes-abroad stories of shallow racist caricature (hello there Our Man In Hondo!); continuing to give the impression that the Mega Collection isn't even trying to be a "very best of", so much as a broad overview, a showcase of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the just plain inexplicable. "Beyond Mega-City One" may not be on the all-time classic end of the spectrum, but it's a colourful and creditable addition to the range nonetheless.
We begin with "Atlantis", a typically exemplary Wagner & Grant four-parter that holds the distinction of being the first ever appearance of Brit-Cit and its Judges in its strip: it's pretty low-key but holds a special place in my heart, hailing from the exact time I first started buying 2000AD. Some nice sympathetic mutie action, too.
As usual it's all a bit downhill from there: Wagner is such a good writer, isn't he?. Garth Ennis tackles 22nd century Ireland in "Emerald Isle" via the rather silly idea that the entire country has been turned into an excruciatingly embarrassing leprechaun theme park, but while the gags do border on the absurdist (spud guns? Dredd obliterating St Stephen's Green under the wheels of his Lawmaster?) they do raise some smiles. And at least Ennis probably has a right to take the mickey out of his own country.
Not sure the same can be said for Morrison/Millar's visit to Egypt in "Book of the Dead" - it's all fairly predictable Curse of the Mummy's Tomb fare, choosing to portray Luxor as having returned wholesale to the ways of its Pharaonic ancestors instead of any kind of realistic future society. Which is all fair enough but suffers a bit from the writers sticking to their "unlikeable hardass" formula for scripting the character of Dredd, over 8 gruelling episodes of demigod-punching.
The collection is rounded out in a more modern style with two entertaining political thrillers from Gordon Rennie. Gulag skates a little close to being a retread of sections of The Apocalypse War, but hey, if you've worked hard to get into the position of being allowed to write Dredd strips, indulging yourself with a homage to the greatest ever story seems fair enough. And finally there's Regime Change, a bitingly topical-satirical take on modern "peacekeeping" initiatives and the real motivations behind them. Ciudad Barranquilla may not be the most interesting Mega-City to visit (not unlike MC1, but Latino, thus, er, obviously corrupt as all hell) but at least there's an effort to depict it as an actual place instead of a comedy-foreigner-populated cartoon.
The interview article at the end is interesting, because once again, as with Judgment Day, it's quite critical of aspects of the Dreddverse, going so far as to accuse many of the Dredd-goes-abroad stories of shallow racist caricature (hello there Our Man In Hondo!); continuing to give the impression that the Mega Collection isn't even trying to be a "very best of", so much as a broad overview, a showcase of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the just plain inexplicable. "Beyond Mega-City One" may not be on the all-time classic end of the spectrum, but it's a colourful and creditable addition to the range nonetheless.
September 2, 2017
Another mixed bag in the Mega Collection. The first and the last two stories make the this issue of the collection worthwhile. The middle stories are appallingly bad. The Mark Millar/Grant Morrison scripted Egypt story being the most egregiously sloppy of the bunch. The Ennis written tale was amusing but rather forgettable.
July 1, 2025
Starts strong (Atlantis), dips a bit (Emerald Isle) then falls off a cliff with Alan Moore’s Scottish Tribute Act and their chum. Some fine art from McCarthy, Dillon and Adlard.
February 7, 2016
This anthology collects together stories of Dredd visiting cities outside of Mega City-One.
In Atlantis Dredd has to work with a Brit-Cit officer to solve murders occurring in the equivalent of the channel tunnel. Emerald Isle has him team up with the Irish police against terrorists trying to protest about the the tourist theme-park Emerald Isle becoming a parody of the once great Ireland. In Book of the Dead Dredd does a cultural exchange with the Egyptian police and gets chased by a mummy. Gulag has him facing the Soviets and in the final story Regime Change he's sent into South America (Cuidad Barranquilla) to act as a peace keeper.
Normally I love the Dredd stuff and having him as a foreign diplomat should be comedy gold - Dredd not being known for his tact. However I didn't find any of the stories here particularly interesting. I think the biggest issue for me is foreign stereotyping. Emerald Isle addresses this in that their terrorists are protesting against the parody stereotyping of the Irish but they do it by killing people with potato guns and then IRA style bombings which ironically make them fall into the stereotypes they are protesting against.
My personal favourite was Book of the Dead - simply because I loved the idea of Dredd being chased by a mummy and the artwork was great - however it does reinforce every Ancient Egypt cliché you hope to name.
Over all I found this one a bit dull. It's still Dredd and it's still entertaining, but didn't engage me as much as a lot of other stuff out there.
In Atlantis Dredd has to work with a Brit-Cit officer to solve murders occurring in the equivalent of the channel tunnel. Emerald Isle has him team up with the Irish police against terrorists trying to protest about the the tourist theme-park Emerald Isle becoming a parody of the once great Ireland. In Book of the Dead Dredd does a cultural exchange with the Egyptian police and gets chased by a mummy. Gulag has him facing the Soviets and in the final story Regime Change he's sent into South America (Cuidad Barranquilla) to act as a peace keeper.
Normally I love the Dredd stuff and having him as a foreign diplomat should be comedy gold - Dredd not being known for his tact. However I didn't find any of the stories here particularly interesting. I think the biggest issue for me is foreign stereotyping. Emerald Isle addresses this in that their terrorists are protesting against the parody stereotyping of the Irish but they do it by killing people with potato guns and then IRA style bombings which ironically make them fall into the stereotypes they are protesting against.
My personal favourite was Book of the Dead - simply because I loved the idea of Dredd being chased by a mummy and the artwork was great - however it does reinforce every Ancient Egypt cliché you hope to name.
Over all I found this one a bit dull. It's still Dredd and it's still entertaining, but didn't engage me as much as a lot of other stuff out there.
September 9, 2016
A good collection of tales for the writers of Dredd to play around wih racial stereotypes as Dredd takes cases or is sent to the different cities outside his juristiction.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews