Judge Dredd 21 (July 1985)

Judge Dredd #21 There are some amusing disconnects with Ezquerra’s art and Wagner’s script. It’s like Ezquerra didn’t get the jokes… or if he did, he paced them wrong. Or maybe there’s just no easy way to illustrate jokes amid a story about a nuclear attack.

Wagner figures out a way to both have nuclear attacks but still keep the story on a personal level. There’s both kinds of action, usually with some talking heads scenes between the two opposing sides. The story doesn’t hold much water, but it’s just supposed to move and move it does.

Even though there are some horrific ideas, the issue doesn’t leave much of an impression. It just moves so fast, so towards its goal, there’s nothing else going on. Except in the last few pages, Walter the robot gets some attention again. It’s amusing enough stuff, but just a little too silly.

Even for John Wagner.

CREDITS

Writer, John Wagner; artist, Carlos Ezquerra; colorist, John Burns; letterer, Tom Frame; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd (1983) #20

Judge Dredd 20

Even though Carlos Ezquerra is an odd choice for a future war–Dredd co-creator or not, Ezquerra puts a lot of emphasis on the static parts of images instead of the moving, which is strange here–and even though Wagner goes overboard with some of the symbolism, it’s an awesome issue.

It’s the end of the world and Dredd is trying to keep it going. The action cuts between the Soviets, Dredd and company and general action. The general action is where Wagner does the lame jokes–usually related to a block’s name–and the rest has some real obvious anti-Soviet propaganda regurgitation. It’s amazing no one learned anything between the 1980s and the Dredd time period.

Still, Wagner and Ezquerra keep the situations tense and dire and the comic works out beautifully. It’s a plummeting elevator car more than a roller coaster.

Some nice humor throughout too.

Judge Dredd 20 (June 1985)

Judge Dredd #20 Even though Carlos Ezquerra is an odd choice for a future war–Dredd co-creator or not, Ezquerra puts a lot of emphasis on the static parts of images instead of the moving, which is strange here–and even though Wagner goes overboard with some of the symbolism, it’s an awesome issue.

Still, Wagner and Ezquerra keep the situations tense and dire and the comic works out beautifully. It’s a plummeting elevator car more than a roller coaster.

Some nice humor throughout too.

A-

CREDITS

Writer, John Wagner; artist, Carlos Ezquerra; colorist, John Burns; letterers, Steve Potter and Tom Frame; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd 19 (May 1985)

Judge Dredd #19 Wagner and Grant amp up the block war storyline, but turn it into a long investigation. Dredd is trying to track down the person responsible for the block war mania. It’s strange, once the suspect is identified, he also refers to the condition as block mania. It’s a small thing, but it does show where Wagner and Grant aren’t paying attention.

The investigation is exciting, with some very nice art from Smith and Steve Dillon. There’s enough content the issue feels very substantial, especially the way the story of the suspect goes. The cliffhanger is a good one and kind of cool to be the aftermath of a mundane investigation. It’s well-done, but it’s not as interesting.

So a good feature. Then the second, shorter story has Dredd stopping criminals while the people around them respond with apathy. It’s neat one.

The big story was far more impressive though.

B+

CREDITS

Writers, John Wagner and Alan Grant; artists, Ron Smith, Steve Dillon and Brian Bolland; colorist, John Burns; letterer, Tom Frame; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd 18 (April 1985)

Judge Dredd #18 Not a lot happens this issue–well, there’s a lot of block warring and very little the judges can do about it–but there doesn’t seem to be an overarching story. Except why everyone wants to fight in a block war. I was sort of hoping Wagner or Grant would lay out the battles with some connections, but they just hop around.

The blocks all have memorable names–everyone and everything in Judge Dredd has a memorable name–and the initial conflict does have some block vs. block motivations, but pretty soon everything goes crazy and they don’t much matter.

There’s a lot of good art from McMahon and Smith and the writers definitely keep the comic moving–not the easiest task as it’s a compilation–but it’s all action. There’s personality, sure, and some great details, but there’s not a lot of ambition (even measured, Dredd ambition) going on.

CREDITS

Writers, John Wagner and Alan Grant; artists, Mike McMahon and Ron Smith; colorist, John Burns; letterer, Tom Frame; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd 17 (March 1985)

Judge Dredd #17 The issue has two stories–one from Mills, one from Wagner, both with art by Ron Smith. The first story, Mills’s, has a regular citizen turning into a were-dinosaur. It’s kind of dumb, but Mills’s plotting of the story is fantastic. The way he starts external to the eventual characters and moves in–presumably from chapter to chapter in the original 2000 AD progs.

The big showdown between Dredd and the monster happens in Old New York City, which looks a lot like seventies New York City (fire escapes, rooftops). It’s good Mega-City One has so many locations because the showdown wouldn’t look good in the futuristic settings… but tragically haunted man wandering rainswept New York? It works.

The second story has Dredd investigating a television game show. Wagner does a great job with both the mystery and the solution. The setup is rather imaginative too.

Excellent issue.

B+

CREDITS

Writers, Pat Mills and John Wagner; artist, Ron Smith; colorist, John Burns; letterer, Tom Frame; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd 16 (February 1985)

Judge Dredd #16 One of Dredd’s cases comes back to haunt him, with the sole survivor of a criminal family hunting judges. He’s a Cursed Earth mutant–with an evil super rat as a pet. McMahon draws them both very creepy.

And Wagner’s script plays up that creep factor. The villain is methodical, with Wagner showing his aptitude for the crimes. It creates a sense of foreboding, especially after the villain successfully assassinates a judge. Between the action itself (which Wagner immediately sets up as a big deal) and the eventual kidnapping of Judge Hershey, Wagner definitely implies this story–a collection of chapters from 2000 AD– has high stakes.

There’s a lot of action in the story too, with McMahon toggling between suspense and brawling. It’s an excellent longer story.

The other story, with Garry Leach on art, is short, to the point and successful.

Overall, it’s an excellent issue. Rather excellent.

B+

CREDITS

Writer, John Wagner; artists, Mike McMahon and Garry Leach; colorist, John Burns; letterers, Tom Frame and Tony Jacob; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd 15 (January 1985)

Judge Dredd #15 The issue has Wagner looking at various aspects of the future–block life, block wars, reasoning apes, what happens when a judge needs to retire–but none of them really stand out.

The first story, resolving the Judge Child storyline while Dredd deals with a block war, has art from Brian Bolland. It’s gorgeous, but too static, too constrained. Bolland doesn’t have any fun with the future, but he also doesn’t have any fun with his composition.

In contrast, Mike McMahon goes crazy in the other pages. There’s humor built into the panels and the composition is inventive. The McMahon stories–even Mills’s pointless ape one–come off a lot better; there’s something distinctive about them, whereas Bolland’s is purely functional.

Of course, Wagner’s handling of that first story is a lot more functional and less narratively playful than the rest.

It’s a mixed bag, but with some definite pluses.

B-

CREDITS

Writers, John Wagner and Pat Mills; artists, Brian Bolland and Mike McMahon; colorist, John Burns; letterers, Tom Frame and Tony Jacob; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd 14 (December 1984)

Judge Dredd #14 It’s a really weak issue. Both writers–Wagner and Mills–go as melodramatic and sappy as possible. How can Judge Dredd be sappy?

For most of the issue, Wagner focuses on Dredd’s sidekick robot, Walter. The joke with Walter is he is annoying and an issue of Walter stories seems a little too much. The Judge Dredd Christmas story, for example, is about as saccharine as Judge Dredd should ever get it but the subsequent stories take it even further.

In some ways, Mills’s story with Judge Rico’s return is even worse. Most of the story is told in summary with Mills focusing on tender moments from Dredd’s life. The ending is even worse. The difference between Wagner and Mills being Wagner makes Dredd sympathetic in the context of the comic, Mills tries to make him sympathetic overall.

Some nice art from McMahon but this issue is a stinker.

C-

CREDITS

Writers, John Wagner and Pat Mills; artists, Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland; colorist, John Burns; letterers, Tom Frame and Tony Jacob; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.

Judge Dredd: The Judge Child Quest 5 (December 1984)

Judge Dredd: The Judge Child Quest #5 It’s not a bad ending. It’s not a good one, but it’s also not a bad one. Writers Wagner and Alan Grant–one of them does a terrible job on the first half of the issue, with the resolution to the Angel family, where the writer goes overboard with exposition. Especially about Dredd’s judge training.

The Angel story, with McMahon art, is vaguely pointless. The second half of the issue resolves the Judge Child, but the first half is basically a western. There are a few good moments, but it’s all rather derivative of other, familiar Westerns. The writer doesn’t set up the setting well, which doesn’t help either.

The last half of the issue has Dredd fighting a robot army. It figures into the big plot, but it’s still okay. Again, there are a couple surprises.

It’s too bad the finale is so rushed. It definitely needed more pages.

B-

CREDITS

Writers, John Wagner and Alan Grant; artists, Mike McMahon and Ron Smith; colorist, Ian Stead; letterer, Tom Frame; editor, Nick Landau; publisher, Eagle Comics.