Customer Reviews

Judge Dredd: The Complete America

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In the grim darkness of the near future Earth's survivors live in overcrowded mega cities always on the verge of chaos. The law is ruthlessly enforced by armed Judges who have the power to sentence criminals on the spot.

America Jara is born into this world but dreams of restoring liberty to the people of Mega City One. This is her story, and the story of Bennett Beeney, the man who loves her. The first half of the book covers their doomed love and has a pretty twisted ending. The second half picks up five years later and tells the story of her daughter. Through both stories Dredd and the other Judges rarely appear except as faceless, terrifying figures. It's hard to say much more without giving some of the twists so let's just say it's really good. It has all of the grim humor we want from a Judge Dredd story but with a lot more emotional power than the typical yarn.

The full-color art by Colin MacNeil is highly stylized but keeps itself realistic and consistent enough that it does not distract from the story. For the first half it is moody and dark and adds a lot. In the second half his art turns more realistic but is no less powerful.

Writer John Wagner says this is one of his favorite Dredd stories and it's easy to see why. It's really worth picking up.

EDIT - Despite the name this book is not longer 'complete'. There was another sequel picking up the story of America's daughter 10 years later. All 3 parts are collected in a book ISBN 978-1-905437-58-0 reprinted in 2008. Amazon has the wrong title for it, just calling it Judge Dredd.