Judge Dredd: The Citadel

by John Wagner, Dan Cornwell (Visual Art), Colin MacNeil (Visual Art)

The explosive and revelatory Judge Dredd graphic novel, re-examines events of the popular Judge The Apocalypse War from a new angle.

The Apocalypse War rages and Judge Dredd leads a squad of Cadet Judges into battle, launching an assault upon The Citadel, where Sov forces have set up base. But now, 40 years later, former Cadet Judge Winterton, on the day of his execution, will tell the truth about what happened during the Apocalypse War, why the mission was subsequently covered up, and the secret that Judge Dredd himself has been hiding for the past 40 years.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

128 pages, Paperback

Published July 19, 2022

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 Sarll]

Not many creators still deliver the goods after 40+ years on the same character; Sim went a bit odd before reaching half that on Cerebus, and while you could point to strip cartoons for examples, most obviously Charles Schulz, even Peanuts had periods of formation and coasting either side of its imperial phase. And true, it must help immeasurably that John Wagner hasn't been writing Dredd solidly for all that time, being able to hop on and off as and when he has a Dredd story he wants to tell. But even so... And so perhaps we shouldn't be too disappointed when, as in the title story here, he turns in something that's perfectly readable but doesn't really amount to as much as was trailed. Something which also held true of Origins, so maybe the real lesson is that he shouldn't be lured by the urge of digging back into Dredd's past so blatantly. In short: a blatantly untrustworthy narrator insists he knows a big secret about the Apocalypse War, which ultimately, even if taken at face value, turns out not to be something that would shake any reader's conception of Dredd very much. But the journey there has enough of Ol' Stoney-Face being stony-faced and fucking Sovs up that one can't resent it too much, certainly not compared to US comics which promise Big Revelations! Nothing Will Ever Be The Same Again!!! and then take eight issues of meandering nonsense to bring out something a) stupid, b) which will get reversed in 18 months or generally c) both.

More successful, because they're not being expected to do anything except be solid weekly Dredd stories, are Removal Man (a black farce in which a hitman who strives to be unobtrusive nevertheless draws the attention of the ultimate lawman) and Now That's What I Call Justice, ostensibly a satire of listicles and true crime obsession, but which ends up making a far more satisfactory callback than Citadel to Dredd lore past, and one which you don't even need to know for the story to mostly land and emphasise the sheer monstrousness of the set-up. So yeah, Wagner has still got it. Just please don't burden the man with the expectations of Events.

Since writing the above, I've read the Comics Journal's review of the collection, expecting to have a good chuckle at them snootily missing the point, because in my head that's what the Comics Journal generally does unless you're doing black and white autobiographical comics about having a cry-wank. Turns out they're pretty much in full agreement with me, which should make me happy that they get it for once, but because this is the 2020s, more makes me worry that I'm wrong.

[Malcolm Fraser · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag. I didn't like The Citadel. The unreliable narrator is a great trope but the problem is that it reduces Dredd to a caricature by removing his authentic voice. It just didn't work for me.

The two backup stories are both excellent though. The Removal Man is a great procedural with my favourite Dredd artist, Colin MacNeil.

Now That's What I Call Justice has 3 different strands and is confusing to follow at first. But when it comes together I found it really affecting. It's stunning to watch Wagner pull on story threads he laid down three decades ago. I read the original Democracy arc as it was published, thirty odd years ago. There's something genuinely sad to see that story still ruining lives in the Mega City.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know what *secret* Judge Dredd was hiding 40 years after the infamous Apocalypse War, but this story from a new view was compelling, also checks out with Dredd's character... until an extra view was given with extra context.
Oh, wait, this has 3 stories in it! The 2nd, "The Retreival Man," sees an expert assassin do a near-impossible mission with a slight hiccup, but things keep escalating and kept worsening his own situation with unintendedly hilarious darkly funny moments.
The 3rd acts like a "Top 10" countdown show of a disturbing sort. It surprised me that it would throw in both an Apocalypse War reference AND a Dr. Strangelove homage in the same moment!
This collection has a lot going for it.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is three stories of Judge dread in one volume. The title story is the first one and then there are two other ones that are separate stories, but are just as good. I noticed that the theme of the three were very horrific gruesome deaths of the characters which was sort of different from a lot of of the Stories that have been in the past. I enjoy such dread and I think the character is very interesting however it seems like they are falling back on older stories like the apocalypse war and trying to keep stories going from something they’ve done almost 10 or 15 years ago.

[Nial · Rating 5 out of 5]

A whole load of fun!

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wagner writes the best Dredd and clearly sees the future. This time that future being the current Ukraine.

[Sam Goyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of three stories: The Citadel, Removal Man, and Now That’s What I Call Justice. The first is definitely the best. Dan Cornwell’s art is amazing.