Writers: John Wagner/Alan Grant
Artists: Carlos Ezquerra plus friends
Publisher: Titan (ISBN 1-84023-634-5)
Probably the best Dredd story in the world, ever?
This smart hardback edition collects the thirty-five episodes of Judge Dredd from 2000AD from many years ago, Block Mania & Apocalypse War. Only in 2000AD could you get a nine-parter storyline featuring death, destruction and the disintegration of law and order in Mega City One but was merely a prelude to the larger event of the Apocalypse War itself - 26 fast-moving, action-packed episodes ending with genocide by an extreme fascist.
What more do you need from a comic?
The storyline came about due to Wagner & Grant's general dissatisfaction with how other writers had gradually been pushing the boundaries of Mega City One outwards, meaning it ended up covering much of the Eastern US instead of the relatively small area it was originally intended to have. The simplest solution appeared to be to destroy those outlying areas and get back to basics, hence the War.
Block Mania is started by one man - the now infamous Orlok the Assassin - somehow (you'll find out in the book) he manages to infect all of the entire Northern Sectors with a virus which sends the citizens over the edge (well, even further over the edge than they were already), said sectors rapidly spiral downwards into insanity and violence, with Block fighting Block across hundreds of miles...the Judges send everyone there to contain it, send all their resources there, thanking Grud that the virus hasn't spread to any of the other Sectors...and then Block Wars begin in the Western...Southern...Eastern...and Central Sectors.
With Mega City One in turmoil, but Orlok finally in custody, stage two begins - a nuclear assault from East Meg One...followed by a mass invasion...the kidnapping of the Chief Judge and his brainwashing...and the introduction of possibly the best pieces of hardware ever, the Stub Guns. You want these puppies in your game of Doom, I'm telling you.
Through it all strides Dredd; he gets beaten to his knees, has broken bones but not broken spirit, and a seemingly impossible situation to get out off...which (of course) he does, and in the only way possible.
This book is full of cool moments - the launching of the TADS (Total Annihilation Devices) and what happens to them; the Stub Guns taking out Dan Tanna Junction; the actions of the East Meggers at the end when Dredd is on the warpath; and, possibly the most disturbing scene in a Dredd comic, the unrelenting and unforgiving murder by Dredd of millions of people. Do the ends justify the means? If you cheer Dredd on in his final actions would you also have cheered if Iraq had launched hidden nukes at Washington and New York in retaliation for the invasion? In today's society this book has added resonance impossible to predict when originally written in the 1980s - for once, a book that not only hasn't dated, but has become more relevant as time moves on.
Probably the best Dredd story in the world, ever? Crap, it IS the best.
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