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Sunday 16 August 2015

Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two Review (Douglas Wolk, Ulises Farinas)


Judge Dredd takes part in a Judicial Exchange Program, temporarily relocating to the West Coast to Mega-City Two. They do things a little differently there - instead of sentencing, they choose to fine perps, raising money for the city. Here Dredd’s given a non-lethal gun (instead of a Lawgiver), a car (instead of a Lawmaster bike), and a camera crew who’re filming him for a reality show. Why? There’s actually a reason given right on the last page which is one of the worst reasons you’ll ever read (not to mention, the end - that’s when you decide to let the reader in on why Dredd’s doing any of this!?), but mostly there’s no reason because Douglas Wolk is a terrible writer. 

Instead of a story, random stuff just happens. Dredd chases after some perp because that’s what he does, he goes undercover for a Mad Max-ish biker group for no reason, he fights a monster shrimp, goes to (an even more) nightmarish Disneyland, and meets Pug Dredd (daawwww, he’s adorable!!). Who knows what the drokk is going on but I do know it is mighty boring stuff! 

Ulises Farinas’ art is VERY much like Geof Darrow’s (The Matrix artist) in that it’s highly detailed. I’m a fan of Darrow’s so I liked it though I’ve never seen Farinas’ art before so I’m not sure if this is how he usually draws or whether he was channelling Darrow for some reason. It’s weird that in the background of one panel, a skywriting plane writes “I am sorry Geof Darr...” though. 

Good Judge Dredd comics are few and far between and Mega-City Two definitely ain’t one of them. It’s badly written and all over the place plot-wise but the art sure is pleasant to look at. Still, I wouldn’t say it’s worth checking out.

Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two

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