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The Daily Dredds Volume 2 Review
A Daily Dose Of The Law
Contributing Writer Tim Hayes grabbed his lawgiver and his lawmaster and took a look at Rebellion’s latest collection of Judge Dredd newspaper strips, Daily Dredds Volume 2…
Daily Dredds Volume 2
Writer: John Wagner/ Alan Grant;
Artists: Ian Gibson, Steve Dillon, Barry Kitson, Mike Collins
Rebellion
The 17 years of daily Judge Dredd strips that ran in the Daily Star starting in 1981 have never been exactly invisible – the Megazine has reprinted a bunch, and there have been some scattered softcovers along the way – but their collection into approved and comprehensive hardcovers puts them on a par with Rebellion’s other archiving efforts for its Mega-City folk, as well as preserving some of Britain’s newspaper cartoon history, something all too easily lost into oblivion.
Volume 2 covers July 1986 to January 1989, initially five days a week before moving up to six, all by regular Dredd creators and all in-continuity – a thick wedge of canonical stories, rattling along at a single-tier three-panel pace that feels like roughly 100 mph. No room for very much world-building, but a skeleton of expertly paced action beats from John Wagner and Alan Grant, fleshed out by punchy cartooning from Ian Gibson, Barry Kitson, Steve Dillon and Mike Collins.
Taking the form of a newspaper strip does a few notable things to Judge Dredd. Each story stretches over dozens of strips, but many of them are still at heart condensed little nuggets of sci-fi morality tales in Mega-City dress, distilling Dredd down into one of the character’s historical essences with zero wasted space or indulgent diversions. At the same time, the way that the creators embrace the short-form low-headroom format ties straight into the storied history of daily adventure strips from both sides of the Atlantic, arguably an even more seminal starting point for the character than the blood-splattered amped-up future-shockery. Mike Collins namechecks Jeff Hawke, Garth, and Modesty Blaise is his introduction, and their spirits sometimes lurk unseen around the edges here.
Mostly the strips just seem ineffably, irrefutably British. This book includes A Guide to Mega-City Law, a 74-day cycle of self-contained vignettes, diversions, asides, crimes and punishments, jokes and horrors, which stamps the rhythm of a gag-a-day strip onto a satirical political cartoon where everyone is armed to the teeth, and then threatens to add a bit of teasing ribaldry whenever Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson roars in and dismounts her Lawmaster. “Sexist jokes are frowned on,” a caption admonishes the reader while Anderson stands side-on. “However, here is one.” It’s possible the Dredd universe has never seemed more of a product of the United Kingdom than it does right here.
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