Judge Dredd: The Complete Cam Kennedy, Vol. 2
Hardcover
Story by John Wagner
Art by Cam Kennedy
IDW Publishing
Release Date: April 15, 2014
Cover Price:$49.99

Scottish comics artist Cam Kennedy, whose work has graced the pages of titles as diverse as Batman, Star Wars: Dark Empire, and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., is once again the star attraction of IDW Publishing’s latest hardbound collection of the violent and satirical adventures of Mega-City One’s toughest lawman in Judge Dredd: The Complete Cam Kennedy, Vol. 2.

Coming nearly a year since the release of the first volume in the series spotlighting Kennedy’s artistic contribution to the iconic character, the stories (or “progs”) collected in The Complete Cam Kennedy, Vol. 2 feature such Dredd classics as “No Man’s Land,” “Big Deal at Drekk City,” “Beyond Our Kenny” (from Judge Dredd Megazine vol.1 # 1-3), and many more from Kennedy’s celebrated run in the pages of Britain’s famous comics anthology 2000 A.D.. Dredd co-writer Alan Grant provides an introduction for this volume.

Rogue Trooper #1
Written by Brian Ruckley
Illustrated by Alberto Ponticelli
Colored by Stephen Downer
Lettered by Tom B. Long
IDW Publishing
Release Date: March 5, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

Novelist Brian Ruckley (The Edinburgh Dead and the Godless World trilogy) has revived one of 2000 AD’s most iconic characters for the next generation of post-apocalyptic comic fans in the new series Rogue Trooper from IDW Publishing. Ruckley’s Rogue Trooper #1 is the writer’s first attempt at a serial script, and he has stepped into this format slowly and carefully in order to preserve the mystique of the title character.

Rogue, also known by his call sign “Blue,” is revealed for the first time in color in the ruined landscape of Nu-Earth, where he was created as one of an army genetically modified to breathe the poisoned air and endure dangerous levels of radiation. The last of a massacred unit of super soldiers, Rogue is convinced that he and his brothers in arms were somehow set up and ambushed. His mission now is to find out who might have been behind the ambush and why.

Judge Dredd #16
13 Badges, Part 3
Created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra
Written by Duane Swierczynski
Art by Nelson Daniel
Letters by Shawn Lee
Covers by Brendan McCarthy, Inaki Miranda & Eva De La Cruz
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 26, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

So earlier this week I was given a copy of Judge Dredd #16 to review. Being a fairly big fan of Dredd I was extremely excited to make this my first review and not fuck it up. The only problem is that I had already made arrangements to hang out with a friend of mine, Richard. Now, Richard is a fairly swell guy right up until you start talking about politics. Then he loses his proverbial shit”¦ And with Richard”¦ everything comes down to politics. Even comic books. Richard knocks on my door and walks right in as he always does, sits down on my couch, and starts blathering on about something he read on some forum only he and a few dozen of his Libertarian buddies apparently know about. While this is happening, I’m sitting in my cozy chair reading the issue and being fairly well happy about it.

Dredd #15 left us in a rather precarious place. Ol’ Joseph was being held in the Hall of Justice and was being interrogated by Cal’s men. And by interrogated, I mean he was having the living shit beat out of him like he was a uniformed piñata. So, I’m about 3 pages into the story and really enjoying Nelson Daniel‘s art (he has a superb usage of shadow vs. color to create depth in the panels that’s kind of rare these days) when Richard looks over, sees Dredd, and launches into a tirade about how this comic is a tool by the media conglomerates to desensitize us into accepting the police brutality and surveillance as it is today. If we all accept Dredd‘s future as inevitable then we won’t complain blah blah blah. I think he actually said “Sheeple” at one point. Richard could have gone on for an hour about this, and how it’s unfair that bitcoin isn’t more accepted, and I wouldn’t have given two shits because I was completely enthralled with this story and the fantastic panels on every page.

When Dredd hit movie screens back in 2012, it was a theatrical flop, despite being a stellar translation of the source material from the ongoing 2000 AD comic, Judge Dredd, and Karl Urban doing an awesome rendition of the scowling, helmet-clad law enforcer. The film did finally find its audience once it hit the home market via Blu-ray and various streaming services. That being said, with a movie that only recouped $35 million of its $50 million budget in the theater, we’re not likely to see a movie sequel any time soon, if ever.

However, the film has indeed received a direct sequel, just in comic book, and chronicles the criminal underworld moving in to fill the void left by the film’s antagonist, Ma-Ma, and her Slo-Mo drug. Originally released in serialized comic strip form in the UK via Judge Dredd Magazine, the series was collected as a one-shot titled Dredd: Underbelly and was set to be released in the United States in January 2014 via new publisher, Rebellion, which was created specifically to bring this book to the United States.

Dredd
Netflix | Amazon | Epix | iTunes | Vudu
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Pete Travis
Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey
Lionsgate
Originally Released: July 11, 2012

Dredd, the most recent adaptation of the hero/antihero Judge Dredd, who made 2000 AD the amazing comic book it was, was easily my favorite movie of 2012. Dredd is above and beyond that of the appalling version featuring Stallone in the 1990s, and though it has some faults, it comes with some of the most stunning cinematography effects and visuals, along with an exciting action chronicle that keeps your attention.

For those unfamiliar with the lore of Judge Dredd, sometime in the distant future, the human race is recovering from some kind of apocalyptic event involving radiation. The surviving society in the remains of the United States gather together in megacities, originally established to remain sequestered from radiation, but since expanded to gigantic proportions with a massive population density.