AUTHOR: MICHAEL CARROLL | PUBLISHER: 2000 AD | RELEASE DATE: APRIL 4TH

 For a guy who’s been dead nearly forty years – a mere 30 issues into 2000 AD’s now gargantuan run – disgraced former Judge Rico Dredd has managed to build himself quite the legacy. Even today, he remains one of Dredd’s most iconic foes, alongside such long-standing perps as the Dark Judges and Angel Gang. And yet, in spite of the character’s popularity, he’s stayed dead to this day, popping up only in flashbacks, nightmare sequences and alternate universes to torment clone brother Joe Dredd. We know he went bad and we know of his years on Titan, but how well do we really know Rico Dredd?

Here to fill in some of those gaps is Rico Dredd: The Titan Years, a collection of novellas by Michael Carroll, which detail the 20 years Dredd’s twin spent on the prison planet (or moon) of Titan. Previous short stories have done a great job in adding a little texture to Mega-City One and its history, making the most of the breathing room afforded by the format – and The Titan Years is no different. Through Rico’s first-person narration, Carroll lets readers get to know the character like never before, painting a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a man far more complex and rounded than just ‘Dredd’s evil twin.’

Or is he? We knew the story of Rico Dredd and his Mega-City One crimes, but The Titan Years has Rico acknowledge that downfall and his part in it, justifying his motives in a manner which leaves one wondering whether Dredd’s clone might actually have a point. Like some of the very best Judge Dredd stories, it leaves readers questioning the lines between justice and punishment for punishment’s sake. But as the ultimate unreliable narrator, there’s an enormous bias to Rico’s story, as he paints himself as the hero of his adventures; a flawed but misunderstood man fighting back against a deeply unfair system. This comes full circle for the book’s end, which ties directly into The Return of Rico and smartly acknowledges the half-truths and rose-tinted exaggerations Rico may have made along the way.

But best of all, The Titan Years works not only as a 2000 AD prequel book, but also an exciting, deeply fascinating and compelling prison story on its own merits. Dredd has been allowed to visit Titan intermittently over the years, but nothing quite compares to experiencing the colony through the eyes of one of its prisoners. It’s Judge Dredd alright, but filtered through the gritty misery of Oz; a sci-fi Shawshank Redemption minus the redemption.

Over the course of 20 years and these three stories, Rico Dredd emerges as such a compelling protagonist that it’s almost a shame we didn’t get to see more of him once he got back to Earth. But then, Joe Dredd never did let a little thing like family stand in the way of the law.

How well do we really know Rico Dredd? He might spin a cracking yarn from his prison nightmares, but that depends entirely upon how much you trust the man’s word.