Review: Judge Dredd Day Of Chaos: Fallout

Cover

I have a strange relationship with Judge Dredd. I love the concept and the characters. More often than not I love the stories. I really enjoy the tone and overall theme, political and social commentary, and the badassery that is Dredd. But (there's always a but) I own (and read) very few Dredd stories.

Why?! Don't know. Probably its a marketing thing (or lack thereof). When I buy a Judge Dredd book I can't put it down until the very last page (usually this is true), but after that I never hear any new news form 2000AD publicizing the next book. This turned into a (first world) problem when I stopped shopping at traditional brick and mortar stores.

The point here is, going into this book, I had no idea what Day of Chaos was. But this books does a good job summering it up for me. An enemy Mega-City (East-Sov) made a (successful) biological attack on Mega-City One. The majority of the population died and Mega-City One is in ruins. And everyone blames Dredd. This is the story of what happens next.

Actually its the stories of what happens next. Each chapter is a different story, with a different creative team. This could be the recipe for disaster, but it works here. 2000AD is used to manage several creative teams for their periodic format, and it shows. Sure there are a few fluctuation both in quality of the art and style of writing, but overall it works well.

In this book you'll get everything from whole blocks declaring independence, rouge judges, deserting cadets,  jealousy driven murder, xenophobia, and much more. Of course all this is seasoned with a (un)healthy dose of the old British ultra-violence we all love so much.

Do it

Dredd and his colleagues face-off against Mega-City One's most foul creeps. What most characterizes Dredd is his unshaken confidence and unbreakable morals. Well, both are put to the test several times, when he is faced with the ruination of his beloved Mega-City One and the degradation of its citizens.

Art wise this book is all over the place. Its easier to set a guideline for the writers to follow than it is to get artistic uniformity. There is one or two chapters where the art is bad(ish), the others is mostly about personal taste. Not much else to say, your eyes won't bleed out, but it could hurt to get a bit more consistency.

The smirk talks volumes

I've yet to buy a book from 2000AD that I didn't though I was getting my money's worth. Sure not all are master pieces, but all (thus far) have been ranging form entertaining to absolute awesome. This one is not on top end, but is almost there. Even if, like me, you haven't read Day of Chaos, this is be one of the most entertaining comics you'll read this year.


Publisher: 2000AD
Year: 2014
Pages: 240
Authors: John Wagner, Rob Williams, Michael Carrol, Robert Williams, Laurence Campbell , PJ Holden, James Harren
ISBN: 1781082715

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