PUBLISHER: 2000 AD | FORMAT: TRADE | RELEASE DATE: MAY 12TH (DIGITAL), OCTOBER 1ST (PRINT)
Judge Dredd takes on Sin City! No, not that one. A floating, judgement-free metropolis of illegal pleasures anchors itself outside Mega City one, to the repressed citizens’ delight. Judge Dredd is sent to keep order, on the tail of a notorious terrorist. As ever, The Complete Case Files holds much more than that, but the Satan’s Island arc will be the main attraction for Dredd fans.
Elsewhere, Dredd takes a trip to Atlantis and a ride down memory lane, back to his old apartment in Rowdy Yates Block. Rookies take a training exercise in the park, and gameshow contestants from Brit-Cit run afoul of Mega City One’s worst impulses. As long time readers will know, The Complete Case Files are only as good as what was running in 2000AD at the time, and this thirty-fifth book in the series finds Dredd in rude health.
Not physically, of course, as Dredd’s advancing age continues to come up again and again, both in ass-whuppings (the book opens with Dredd taking a massive beating from a mystery assailant) and the odd jabs from ‘friends’ and colleagues. Do we sense clone Rico (no, not that one either) as an eventual Dredd replacement somewhere down the line? Hard to say, but his growing presence here certainly suggests as much. Is the big man himself mellowing in his old age? Again, it’s hard to say, but this book finds him in surprisingly good humour – we even learn here that Judge Dredd is partial to the occasional bath!
A solid collection of one-shot stories bookend the excellent Satan’s Island, with reliably excellent artwork from Dredd artists old and new – including definitive Dredd-jockeys Ian Gibson, Cam Kennedy, Ian Gibson and the late, great Carlos Ezquerra. It’s not quite essential Dredd, but it comes close, and the hits far outnumber the misses. This is one of the most fun collections to date, and comes with a great variation in stories and action. We’d say Dredd’s probably earned a nice relaxing bath now.
