Luke Owen reviews the comic book sequel to Dredd…
In the wake of Ma-Ma’s death, other criminal gangs in Mega-City One are moving into the power vacuum, trying to fill the gap in the market left by the Slo-Mo drug. When a corpse dump is discovered in a rad-pit, the bodies are all revealed to be mutants. Could the dead be connected with an outfit smuggling illegal refugees into the city from the Cursed Earth?
It’s fair to say that 2012’s Dredd took a lot of people by surprise. Many felt burned by the mid-90s big screen effort and the movie’s untimely release meant that it came out shortly after The Raid, a film which it shares a lot in common with. As such, not many people saw it. However as word of mouth spread, the movie started gaining some traction with DVD and Blu-Ray sales climbing and the Release a Dredd Sequel campaign growing bigger with each passing month. Releasing a sequel has been a hard battle due to licensing issues but 2000AD took it upon themselves to put together a sequel comic to satisfy the cravings of those who loved the movie.
But is it any good?
Dredd: Underbelly certainly captures the tone present in Pete Travis’ critically acclaimed movie and script writer Arthur Wyatt really settles you back into this world by keeping it familiar. It feels like an official sequel and not some lame cash-in trying to capitalise on the movie’s success which is quite refreshing. Similarly, Henry Flint really emulates the look of the movie as well as the likenesses of Karl Urban and Olivia Thrilby while at the same time putting his own stamp of style on things. Throwing yourself into someone’s vision can’t be easy, but Wyatt and Flint manage to keep their head above water in terms of look and feel. The story itself is pretty simple and the execution is good, but there is a major flaw with the comic.
It’s sad to say, but Dredd: Underbelly feels like it’s treading the same water as the film and is quite underwhelming. While it is unfair to compare the two, Dredd: Underbelly has a bad case of sequel-itis in that its copying the successful formula of its predecessor while not trying anything new for fear of failure. Beauty is a clone of Ma-Ma, Psych is a clone of Slo-Mo and, ignoring the mutant trafficking sub-plot, there isn’t much new on offer. Furthermore, the characters of Beauty and the Beast are so underdeveloped that they never feel like a genuine threat to either Dredd or Anderson. The comic would have succeeded in being its own entity if it had focused on the trafficking element or followed the movie’s set up of corrupt Judges, but it was probably easier for the creators to copy and paste what had come before it. Doing corrupt Judges would have been a predictable road to go down, but at least it would have been different.
The comic employs a standard narration which serves it well and Wyatt wisely doesn’t give the voice to Dredd who is only given a few necessary lines (one of the movie’s strong points), but if you apply Urban’s gruff tone to it then it could read like Dredd’s words. Wyatt doesn’t give it a decisive character which can feel a little jarring. He also short-changes the audience by reducing Anderson (one of the more interesting elements of the movie) to a side-role with not a lot to do. It’s a common problem with one-shots to try and cram so much in, but Dredd: Underbelly feels awfully rushed.
Dredd: Underbelly is not a terrible comic and it would be harsh to call it ‘disappointing’. It sort of falls in the middle-ground between being faithful enough to the source material but not adventurous enough to stray and try something new. Had it been a full series and not a one-shot, it may have fared better. Fans of the movie should get a kick out of returning to this world, but they may feel slightly underwhelmed when they get to the other side.
Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published January 29, 2014. Updated November 8, 2019.
