Villordsutch reviews Judge Dredd Megazine #351…
More action and adventure in the future-shocked world of Judge Dredd! Dredd sniffs out corruption in the Cursed Earth burial pits in ‘Dead Zone’ by John Wagner and Henry Flint; Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson enforces her brand of justice in ‘Lawless’ by Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade; and the citizens’ unrest is reaching flashpoint in the Dredd movie sequel ‘Uprise’ by Arthur Wyatt and Paul Davidson.
Welcome Perps to the Judge Dredd Megazine #351 review, continuing from last month’s milestone issue all of our stories are continuing on and we have no new starters. Lucky for you last month was pretty drokking good!
Judge Dredd carries on with his rather macabre murder investigation in “Dead Zone”. As Dredd begins his interrogation of the attendees of the Chaos (Plague) Memorial Interment Facility to gather further information into the whether Mr. McPhee died of his own causes and jumped down the flight of stairs or was pushed at the hands of somebody else, it’s rather great to see Dredd be a detective in this issue. Digging around in the background is the Facilities source of income and the ultimate cause of McPhee’s doom, The Radlanders and the robbing of the dead.
Slowing down the pace, in swaggers “Lawless” with Marshall Lawson and we get to meet our “Corporate Cog” Aldis Brotherly – the man with the money in the town and the power to make things happen. Lawson, using her posture alone, le’s Aldis know how she feels about him and his position in life. Then from one meeting at the top to another at the bottom as the Marshall is called to break up a fight over a legit claim of salvage. It’s well-drawn and while not an overly gripping read, it’s just enough to place a slight smile across your face throughout the tale.
I had my complaintsthat “The Man from the Ministry” didn’t really have much in the way of meat last issue, but here we certainly dom, from past secrets to alien gun fights and hidden British rockets. It’s a regular “Boys Own Adventure” (I’m not aiming to insult here) we even have a punch in an alien face delivered with the line, “Last time I punched a chap that hard, it was some Yank bomber pilot who wouldn’t stop talking through the film.” I was grinning like a Cheshire Cat at that point.
Wrapping up with Dredd, “Uprising” Part 2 sees our sequel to the Dredd movie continuing with the unrest in the Spit growing steadily stronger as the Law attempt to keep their distance, stepping in when needed and being met with the usual contempt. When “local boy done good” Charlie Wolfus is asked to attend and help quell the protesters it suddenly goes drastically wrong for the Judges. “Uprising” is turning out to be a slow burning, rather interesting tale where I’m seeing the Judges in a different light, from the bother-booted attitude to a more intelligent force.
Tale of the Month
Once again it goes to Judge Dredd and the gruesome “Dead Zone” written by John Wagner with art from Henry Flint. Not only is story rather disgusting to look at, but fantastic to read too. Dredd is being a detective and with the odd object recently discovered, this story is now going somewhere I didn’t expect. So now to the shops or online with you and pick up your Judge Dredd Megazine #351 you disgusting Mek-lovin’ Mutie!
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published August 21, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
