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.

Dredd star Karl Urban took a moment while at Emerald City Comic Con to urge fans to sign a petition and like the “Make a Dredd Sequel” Facebook page. Urban has not been ashamed to admit his love for the severely overlooked 2012 film in which he starred as the titular character. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics.

You can read more about the push for a sequel, find out where you can help, and watch the video of Urban urging fans below.

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.

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.

The release of the undeniably awesome Dredd last September failed to kick some box office ass. But its tremendous sales on Blu-ray and DVD proved you can’t keep a good masked lawman down for long. You just gotta love Mega City-One’s toughest cop; he’s been blasting his way through absurdly violent – and often just plain absurd – comic book adventures for 35 years and has yet to lose a step, kept alive and charging hard thanks to many top-notch creative teams. One of the artists who made their name on Judge Dredd is getting a very special tribute courtesy of IDW Limited as Judge Dredd: The Complete Brian Bolland will soon be released in a special deluxe hardcover limited edition.

You can check out images from the book here below.