Judge Dredd: The Judge Child Quest

Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection #34

by John Wagner, Brian Bolland, Mike McMahon

In Mega-City One, a violent city of the future, one man is The Law - judge, jury and executioner. That man is hard-bitten future cop, Judge Dredd, cornerstone to the UK’s legendary sci-fi comic, 2000 AD. A huge catastrophe has been predicted for Mega-City One, and only a special child who bears an Eagle mark can save the city from utter devastation. Dredd’s odyssey brings him up against the bizarre Brotherhood of Trash, the despicable Angel Gang (including the unstoppable Mean Machine) and Sagbelly, the giant toad! Featuring work by fan-favourite artists Ron Smith, Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland, this is a classic Dredd tale presented in its entirety for the first time in paperback.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

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

[Andy Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Dredd

Enjoyed this in it's original 6 month comic run a scary number of years ago and happy to see it is just as much fun now.

[Amelia DeHart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story started with the gun-toting, motorcycle-driving Dredd leaving the confines to Mega City-One to track down the titular Jude Child. At a later point, he's in a castle on the other side of the galaxy, fighting off an alien dragon with just his wits and a sword. I realized then that I genuinely couldn't remember any sort of drastic shift that ended up here, it all flowed so naturally.

This wasn't Dredd's first big story, but it's by far the most important. It fleshes out Dredd's world so much, and introduces so many iconic characters to the Dredd mythos like Angel Gang, Hershey, Judge Child, and more. It leads into more storieis then I can even count while being a great self-contained piece of cyberpunk fiction. It's not as deep as many other classic Dredd stories, doesn't dive into Dredd's character or the Judge system, but it's not trying to be. It's a fun, kickass adventure across a very strange and unique setting. Required reading if you want t get into Judge Dredd.

[Max Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Tsk, tsk! Bad case of JIGSAW DISEASE!"

So Judge Dredd is sent on quest. The member of Psi Division revealed in a vision that a certain boy needs to be found to be the future High Judge and save Mega-City One from unavoidable destruction. Dredd is given a spaceship, a small crew and he starts a journey through space to find the boy. The format the story ran originally dictates that a fairly sizable book is split into a big number of short stories each taking 6-8 pages maybe and not really tied together a lot of the time. That being said they're all entertaining. I particularly liked the one about the sinister space salesman that gets on board of Dredd's ship as a hitchhiker. And the one about the Garbage God and the Brotherhood of Trash. The art in the first part of the book is done by Brian Bolland of the Killing Joke fame and is excellent, highly detailed and in a great resolution. In fact I don't think I've seen before such thin ink strokes in comics. Wikipedia also helpfully says that this arc is from 1980, introduces Mean Machine, expands the Dredd universe and is the first work where Alan Grant is formally credited as the co-author. I wouldn't say it's a must read but I liked it nonetheless.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

The majority of this volume contains the titular - The Judge Child in which Dredd goes on an epic quest to locate a pre-cog mutant child who has been prohesised as the saviour of MC1. He has a whole host of adventures on the way including being sold into slavery, shrunk by a travelling salesmen, encountering a Lovecraftian toad god, a latter day Pharaoh garbage king, and of course battling the Angel gang. While these tales are very episodic, the end is always in sight - find the child who bears the mark of the Eagle. It's great satire and I really like Dredd here because although he is the hero he doesn't always come across so saintly - his treatment of poor Lopez and his irrational hatred of his moustache is really harsh.

The other story in this one is Dead Ringer - Dredd again on a quest to hunt down the clone of a comatose foreign president. Again he has all sorts of adventures including getting addicted to drugs, and fighting off horny Amazonian women.

Great fun from start to finish and I really like how well the two stories fit together. I also like all the homages - Dune, Lovecraft, 2001, Gulliver's Travels... it's all here done 2000AD style.

[Johnny Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long and difficult task finds Judge Dredd and a young Judge Hershey with a few others on an arduous journey to bring back the boy who is prophesied to be the saviour of Mega City 1. The Judge Child, one who may foresee the future and bears the mark of the eagle upon his forehead.
Everything gets in Dredd's way as he goes from the cursed earth to out of space in search of the one.
The we finish with a shorter arc about a clone doppleganger of a president that could stand in the real president's place.
However sending Judge Dredd to collect the civilian with no forewarning puts the fear into the man and he runs.
Even the innocent bystander fears the long arm of the law and in this case it shows how bad the Judges rule really is.

[Russio · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic of the genre wherein the steeliness of Dredd is exported to the rest of the universe as he searches for a crucial child who can save MC1 from a future catastrophe, who has been kidnapped by the crazy Angel Gang. Most of the humour comes from the warped worldview of Pa Angel and the irony on his unusual take on parenting. This is one of the serials of the character that will be most remembered, along with others such as the Chopper collection and the Dark Judges. All these early to mid 80s strips are the apex of the comic. Great stuff.

[BozCitac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the funniest books/comics/words-written-on-paper I've ever read! It's also full of beautiful imagery, but the added coloring in some editions only ruins it. Instead, the original black-and-white imagery with distinct contrasts fits the thone of the story much better!

[Al No · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing a run of classic mega-epics. TB Grover’s reign commences and there’s some fantastic Bolland/McMahon/Smith art. Features a (mostly) unconnected Megazine backup strip, but no essay this time.

[Dean Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic “quest caper”. Backup story is a bit dated in its humour and relegates the volume from 5 to 4.

[Jose Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una historia larga de Dredd. Va en busca de un niño que predice el futuro y lleva el símbolo del águila juez. Un viaje interplanetar entretenido.

[Eamonn Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Find the Judge Child!’ Those are the dying words of Judge Feyy, a pre-cog with 88.8% accuracy who has foreseen a ghastly war which destroys Mega-City One and leaves foul creatures to prey on the survivors. Only the Judge Child can prevent this! Owen Chrysler is the name of the Judge Child and on his forehead is a mark shaped like the eagle of justice. Records show that the boy and his family left Mega-City One four years ago to settle in the New Mutieland territories. Dredd goes off to find him but the boy is kidnapped by the Angel Gang and taken off Earth, so he and a small crew set off in pursuit. The crew includes Judge Hershey, who he seems to meet here for the first time, and Judge Lopez.

This quest takes them to a number of interesting planets. Lesser Lingo is a world where the rich can get their personalities put into a chip which is then implanted in a young body that they hire for a few hours at a time. In the Hadean system, the Judges encounter a living planet and it’s hungry. Then on to Necros, a sort of gothic horror world ruled by Murd the Oppressor. Xanadu is a distant frontier outpost, a wild west world that’s ideal for the final showdown. Of course, the Judge Child is a MacGuffin, an Alfred Hitchcock style plot tool to give the hero an opportunity to chase around having adventures. This framing device gives Wagner and Grant a chance to tour the galaxy and show off a variety of planets, as well as their own imaginative talents.

There’s a running joke about the 1970s style disco dancer moustache sported by Judge Lopez. Dredd doesn’t like it. ‘Don’t like to see a Judge with facial hair’, he notes in his log. There are also gags for an English audience about well-known television adverts in the ‘Battlefield 8’ segment. A good story is not just about the plot but about the extras the writer puts in to add soul. It’s these kinds of ruffles and flourishes by John Wagner and Alan Grant that makes ‘Judge Dredd’ such fun. There’s no telling who did what exactly because the story credits all give the pseudonymous John Howard as script robot. Unreliable online info suggests that most of it was by Wagner with Grant contributing near the end. It doesn’t really matter.

The art, on the other hand, is clearly credited and all of it is great. Brian Bolland’s work is the prettiest. Mike McMahon’s style is more unconventional but he does very good detail work and the slightly rough look is particularly apt for the gothic horror Necromancer sequence. If I had to pick a favourite it would be Ron Smith, whose art falls somewhere in between the other two and is not as neat as Bolland but just as detailed as McMahon. To be fair, he was the most experienced of the three with a career stretching back to the fifties. (Before that, he was a Spitfire pilot in the war!) It’s all great, even at this paperback size and a fine example of how good black and white can be.

A good chunk of comics at an unbeatable price but you do need good light to read it by. I found strong daylight best. These stories originally appeared in 2000AD progs 156-181. Art aficionados and older readers might prefer larger size reprints which are available in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 4.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite Dredd tale of the ones I've read so far. But it's still a great story. It was a fun, planet-hopping romp through the future galaxy in which Mega City One exists. But in the end, I missed earth more than I would have imagined.

[Paul Bendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the original in 2000 AD when it first came out but have long since sold my old comics. This is the pocket edition so the text can be a bit small at times. I really like the ending but won't spoil it for you!

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dredd hates a mustache.