It's a great shame that the "Dredd" movie never had a sequel. There's was such a wealth of lore to draw from. Especially the unforgettable villain Judge Death. But alas, Hollywood. At least we have comics to fall back on. Well, sort of.
This is one of at least two graphic novels which attempts to follow up on the movie. Well, sort of. Although the uniforms, bikes, and buildings resemble the movie, Dredd and Anderson now look nothing like Karl Urban and Olivia Thirlby, I'm guessing because the comic publishers would have had to pay those actors to use their likenesses. Pity.
The appearance of the Dark Judges in this volume is a first appearance, not taking into account earlier comic lore. That's fine and as expected. Unfortunately, the story told here doesn't hold a candle to the original, nor do the reimagined appearances of Fire, Fear, Mortis and Death (despite the cover art, this is not what Death now looks like). The story is very rushed and condensed, and the ending fails to satisfy.
The volume contains two stories, and it's the shorter of the two that's the better one. It tells the fate of Ma-Ma's traumatised technician from the movie.