Tour of Duty: Mega-City Justice

Judge Dredd

by John Wagner, Robbie Morrison, Rob Williams

Dredd has been exiled from the city and taken up a posting in the Cursed Earth, overseeing the construction of the mutant townships. Meanwhile, back in the metropolis the corrupt acting Chief Judge Martin Sinfield continues to strengthen his powerbase. But neither of them could’ve predicted that psychopathic mass murderer PJ Maybe would become involved in the political machinations that will affect the very future of Justice Department...

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction

200 pages, Hardcover

Published March 29, 2017

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

[Alex Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judge Dredd has been reassigned out of Mega City 1 into the Cursed Earth, as a punishment by the new Chief justice Sinfield, to help building townships for the recently exiled mutants, expelled by Sinfield as he continues to amass power. Dredd, who was pivotal in allowing mutants to settle within the Big Meg, this is a bitter pill, but Dredd commits to this assignment, creating a functional community and its own law enforcement. Dredd has to deal with the dangers of the Cursed Earth, gangs, mutants, and monsters. However Mega City 1 calls him back. Chief justice Sinfield had been hit by not one, but two medical emergencies, that only through unusual circumstances he survived. Thinking that these aren't just unlucky coincidences but attempts on his life, Sinfield brings in the judge that he essentially exiled and one that’s forced the Justice Department to investigate his conduct – Dredd.

This was one I just grabbed out of my pile of unread volumes. This seems more like the end of a story arc or at least one away from the end, so I probably should have read the other first, but the story caught me up well enough to bring me up to speed and I didn’t feel lost while reading.
I enjoyed this one. There’s a lot to like. A nice mix of Cursed ~Earth gang and mutant stuff, return to mega city one for some political and investigation drama and a return of a fan favourite PJ Maybe who I always found to be a fun character.
It highlights the core of Dredd; he maybe be a violent enforcer for an authoritarian regime, he won’t bend from the truth, that’s his core. But you start to see another side, where he is genuinely working hard to help the recently exiled mutants from Meg 1nl build functional communities in the cursed earth, and his resentment that his idea of bringing mutants into the city has been overthrown by Sinfield when Dredd was instrumental in forcing Judge Hershy to adopt the policy, against her wishes. The mutants here serve a decent parallel to issues on racism, exploitation, and refugees, not perfectly but enough to carry the message over (despite mutants being used as both cannibalistic monsters and innocent beings varies widely in Judge Dredd comics, sometimes changing from page to page).

There’s some decent action in the book, and the number of different art styles really match the tone of the mix of stories here well.

The one criticism I might have been that it does tend to leap over the place a bit much, from Dredd policing the cursed earth on the first third, to jumping into Mega City 1 again for a mix of political drama and a criminal investigation into assassination attempts. This is more down the conclusion of at least two separate plot lines.

The return of PJ Maybe is a nice addition, as I've always liked his character. The fact that he is a mad murdering psychopath but also a decent mayor shows just how much of a mess mega city one is. His addition in the story is more a catalyst rather than the main driver of the plot, but he fits in well and the story is better for it.

I enjoyed this volume. Enough brash, violence for anyone who likes reading Judge Dredd but enough drama and intrigue to help give more substance to the overall story. Maybe reading the series in the correct order would have been a better option, but I easily managed to follow what was going on and what had happened previously.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dredd's been relegated to the Cursed Earth to oversee mutant resettlement issues. Meanwhile back in MC1 - Sinfield is acting chief judge having drugged his predecessor out of office and is undoing all the mutant legislation Dredd introduced. He comes unstuck however when he threatens Mayor Ambrose who is none other than the psychotic mass murderer P J Maybe. Maybe tries to assassinate Sinfield and Dredd is on the case - a wonderful irony since he has cause to hate Sinfield more than anyone.

This one is Dredd at its finest - plotty, satirical and ironic with top notch art. P. J. Maybe is one of the best characters in the Dredd universe - both humorous and an evil genius. I love how despite being a mass murderer he is also probably the best mayor the city has ever had. Pit him against the corrupt judge Sinfield and you have a tense and exciting conflict before you even add Dredd and the mutant issue into the equation.

This one kicks off with a few shorts first to introduce the mutant issue - particularly liked invitation to a hanging. All are solid though get overshadowed by the following main Maybe/Sinfield arc.

Overall I adored this one from start to finish.

[Martin Nisbet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The front half of this collection is a bunch of one shot Cursed Earth stories set when Dredd is in charge of building the mutie townships outside MC1. Invitation to a Hanging is my favourite of these in both the story twist and the art. Then comes the two part arc of The talented Mayor Ambrose and the titular Mega City Justice which are both page turning dips into Dredd's doubts over the Justice system and the irregularities of Chief Judge Sinfield's grab for power. It also helps that PJ Maybe sits at the heart of both of these, in MC1 you can never keep a good psychopath down for long.

[Johnny Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good collection that shows in the latter half a much more mature Dredd strip featuring the politics of in house department and how even Justice Hall can be crooked and malignant. Even mirroring the now this works as it starts with the anti-mutant stuff from before and Dredd in exile because of his now lenient views or slightly more liberal views on the mutants within the city. Now as you read you look at the brutality of everything happening and you think this is like the world-UK and US etc and the prejudice against foreigners. Makes even ol' stone face question his past ethics.

[Bob Solanovicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, none of the Mega Collections I bought disappointed. Neither did this one. I can't image reading Dredd that's not written by John Wagner, to be honest. There are one or two writers who could do a decent job, maybe even better than decent, but none of them will ever understand or be able to develop this character as Wagner does.

[Philip Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was Dredd on top form, thrilling, witty, satirical and pitch black. Nobody melds these elements as well as creator John Wagner and the art work here is consistently good, the highlight being Carlos Ezquerra's customary brilliance..

Despite stupidly reading this book out of sequence, it still made good sense. The plot concerns evil Chief Judge Sinfield, the "mutant issue" and serial killer PJ Maybe. The latter is also Mega City One's current mayor...and a surprisingly good one. The dark content is shot through with trademark humour, often supplied by Maybe and his Swedish sex droid/sidekick Inga.

I like this run as Dredd is v. much the hero, his uncompromising approach tempered with compassion. He is surprisingly liberal when it comes to the mutants, albeit in his zero tolerance bad ass way. Great stuff.

[Al No · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Megazine strips suffer from a lack of Wagner but everything picks up when he returns. Some cracking art again.