Villordsutch reviews Judge Dredd – Day of Chaos: Endgame…
Mega-City One is at the mercy of a terrible act of retribution, thirty years in the making. The Chaos Bug has been released and the weakened Justice Department are finding it increasingly difficult to remain in control. As Judge Dredd searches for the perpetrators of this heinous act, another fearsome faction is added to the fray…Fear, Fire and Mortis – the Dark Judges!
Judge Dredd – Day of Chaos: Endgame by John Wagner is the closing book to Day of Chaos: The Fourth Faction [check out the review here] which in-turn is the sequel to the thirty year old classic The Apocalypse War. Those that haven’t clicked back to read the review of The Fourth Faction, I shall quickly say I enjoyed the book, however I constantly compared it to Apocalypse War – unfairly or fairly – and because of this it never actually lived up to the original spark from which this fire burns. Yet still it was enjoyable and Wagner and the numerous artists left me waiting to see what was to be delivered in these closing pages; with the three of the Dark Judges gracing the front I’m already interested.
As Carter and her sister deliver more premonitions about Yurges, the Chaos Bug creation and also the oncoming plague, drones are sent to investigate one of the locations in Siberia, mentioned in the sisters visions, it’s here a lab is discovered and Dredd leads a crack squad in to rescue to Yurges family and hopefully destroy the Chaos Bug before its release; however we discover the base has been vacated leaving only the Yurges dead son and a number of corpses. Whilst Dredd is out of the city the corrupt Judge Wile hands over a number of Judge’s names to an unknown man and he himself set’s off to brutally murder both Psi-Cops Carter and her sister, leaving Dredd without any leads to what may be coming.
We arrive on the shores of Uvs Nuur, Mongolia and Borisenko is handing out the capsules of the Chaos Bug for the carriers to ingest before they arrive at Mega-City One. Returning to Mega-City One and even though they Chief Judges are aware of the oncoming plague they still intend on going through with the Mayoral Elections, which is getting even more bizarre, with candidates getting married, being murdered or just saying, “Clump!”. As the carriers of the plague begin to enter the city by different methods, the chaos begins as Blocks and Hospitals are hit by nerve gas attacks which kill thousands of citizens and send even more into panic. Our victims begin to pile up as the carriers begin to integrate within the city. As the chaos grows the Statue of Judgement is destroyed in a rocket attack, and then when all are distracted the three Dark Judges are set free upon Mega-City One.
Once again Judge Dredd – Day of Chaos: Endgame is a good book, however it isn’t unfortunately a great book. There is a lot of action going on and it is chaotic for Dredd and Mega-City One, but as soon as Mrs Yurges reveals the Chaos Bug isn’t as apocalyptic as everyone thinks, it is this sort of dampens the worry of it all. To add a bit of salt into the wound the Dark Judges were more of a prat fall within this tale than three bringers of doom, clearly without Judge Death they are the Dark Stooges as PJ Maybe tricks them rather easily into incarceration.
Aside from these negatives, John Wagner has given us a good book and watching the chaos unfurl around the Judges – on the street – is a sight to see. Seeing the Statue of Judgement come tumbling down as the cards are being played to blind justice is truly brilliant; along with this nobody is able to be the hero – at the last moment – to save our two young cadets from the corrupt Judge Wile. Again I’m seeing this as the follow up to The Apocalypse War, which I remember powerfully, and I just don’t think these two books will be lodged in my mind thirty years down the line.
This being said I can’t take away the fact that Ben Willsher, Henry Flint, Leigh Gallagher, Colin MacNeil and Edmund Bagwell are fantastic artists, with all delivering some excellent Dredd imagery here. Each do a brilliant job, as expected, at bringing Dredd and his universe to life.
Both the Fourth Faction and the Endgame were two good Dredd stories, it’s just a shame they had the bar of The Apocalypse War to reach, though a good attempt was made by both, they just fell short.
Rating: 7/10
Judge Dredd – Day of Chaos: Endgame is currently available to purchase from 2000AD here.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=Bk0vOUI3iFU
Originally published October 14, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
