The Best of Judge Dredd

The cool thing about this book is that it can still be found in the bargain section of your local Barnes and Noble right now! For only $12 you get almost 2 dozen stories and nearly 300 pages of “I Am the Law.” You’ll notice on the cover that this book is titled ‘The Best of Judge Dredd’ and yet the cover doesn’t have the face of Stallone on it.

In this collection you get the very first appearance of Judge Dredd, you’ll learn his first name along with meet his brother ‘Rico.’ You’ll see Dredd take on the Angel gang, make his way through the Badlands of the American mid-west, and learn about how Dredd is an allegory for the evils of too much safety for the public means an actual loss of personal freedom.

What you will not get in this book are complete stories. On no less than 3 occasions, the action end with a ‘to be continued’ and a tiny blurb that the rest of the story can be found in the Complete Case files of Judge Dredd (various volumes.) Ugh- I hate that! Thankfully, there are still some very good tales that do come to a close in this book.

One tale that I thought I would hate was ‘America’ and in the end I was a fan of it! In that story, Judge Dredd is a minor character and you learn about how the lives of two kids ends up very different when one becomes an anti-Judge activist and the other a successful member of society’s elite. The tale is powerful, very well written, has a dynamic art palette and tone that is very reminiscent of Bladerunner and should be required reading for any graphic novel fan.

One last thing about this book that I did not like. Though there was a 2 page history of Dredd and the stories were titled, there was very little information about these stories. Yes, I know that just about every story in this collection came from the British import 2000AD. However, I don’t know which issue or what year the yarns came from. Also, there’s only a handful of stories that boast any sort of credits to the writing and art staff. I would’ve liked to have seen more of that.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and snatch up this book before it sells out. Just make sure you don’t break any laws trying to get it! You catch my drift, Citizen?

Worth Consuming

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.