Judge Dredd: Pre-Emptive Revenge

2000 AD Audio #16

by Jonathan Clements

2114. Judgement Day Plus One. Billions of human beings and former human beings have perished in a nuclear holocaust that destroyed the zombie menace of Sabbat the Necromagus. In China's dangerous Radlands of Ji, Judge Dredd must begin the long walk home. All he has is a short-range radio, a chip on his shoulder, and a very reluctant travelling companion called Johnny Alpha.

Dredd is hundreds of miles from home, marooned with a mutant he can't stand. They've got unfinished business, but so have the vengeful survivors of the nuclear strike on Sino-Cit One.

Chronological Placement
This story takes place in September 2114

Genres: Audiobook, Science Fiction

1 pages, Audiobook

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Jonathan Clements is an author, translator, biographer and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Marco Polo, Mao Zedong, Koxinga and Qin Shihuangdi. He also writes for NEO magazine and is the co-author of encyclopedias of anime and Japanese television dramas.

Reviews

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad story, but the voice acting goes from awful (Dredd) to racist (the Sino/Hondo cast)

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story very much begins in medias res - Judge Dredd and Johnny Alpha have just saved the world from a zombie menace, and exactly what that zombie menace was and how Dredd and Alpha came to team up is left for the listener to deduce. I did find myself wondering if this audio references continuity that I'm expected to be aware of from a previous audio or from the comic, although ultimately, I was able to piece together quite enough to enjoy the story.

And it's a very enjoyable story. The highlight is really the interplay between Dredd and Alpha: these guys are not natural allies, and sparks fly between them quite entertainingly. The story also features an interesting twist on time travel - the way Alpha gets back to his own time is to give Dredd a message with his precise location, which Dredd will deliver to someone who will eventually give it to Alpha's employers in the future, who will use their time travel tech to scoop him up and bring him back. So when Alpha writes the message, and doesn't disappear, there are two options - either Dredd will betray him, or Dredd will never make it back alive to deliver the message.

There are some flaws - I guess that the Cold War-esque portrayal of the Chinese as fanatical Communist drones with crappy technology is part of the 2000 AD universe, but it feels dated now. (In fact, I'm made a bit uneasy in general by the way the Dredd audios portray Asian cultures, but there are a lot of things in the Dredd audios that make me uneasy.)

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best 2000AD audios I have listened to.
Simon Pegg as Strontium Dog is more than brilliant and he really should do more audio stuff as he really has a voice for it.
Witty and exciting story and the banter between Dredd and Dog works like a fucking charmer.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to comeAnother episode from Judge Dredd, nothing really interesting... Not Making a review. Only watch if you are going to watch the other two dozen or so...