Carlos Ezquerra, co-creator of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog, is a legend in the comics world. This collection of Ezquerra's modern work, in glorious full-colour, is a must-have for the comic book fan.
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)
A mixed bag of stories, with an opening group of Dredd, and a closing group set in the cursed Earth. The first tackles a block that takes advantage of recent catastrophic events and Judge shortages to try and become independent via high explosive.
The next is a multiverse jumble that brings in villains that succeeded in killing Dredd in their own world to do the same. A chaotic greatest hits effort that manages to come together.
The next two aren’t great. ‘The Girlfriend’ is problematic as hell, with a rich family buying a realistic-looking robot girlfriend for their son to have his creepy way with. The problems only get worse from there. A very low point, followed by a story that is one extended, puerile fart joke.
The final five stories follow Judge Koburn, a Judge based in the cursed Earth. The posting is an implied punishment, and we meet more of these Judges and see their frontier version of judgment when dealing with crime gangs, muties, and a man so damaged by the cursed Earth that Judge Death ‘blessed’ him, and created a pilgrim aiming to cleanse the rad-lands of life. An overall entertaining collection, albeit with a couple of low points.
Carlos E. Is the co creator of one of the most enduring characters to come our of British comics, judge Dredd. In these stories, Dredd faces all kinds of evil, but not all the stories are Dredd, some are about a cursed earth judge, and his adventures are dang good as well.
Not quite what I expected. Pulp, grimy and dark were all as I imagined. I didn't expect such interesting Sci-Fi and political overtones in each short story, which was a major appeal. Would read more.