Luke Owen takes in the first issue of IDWs Judge Dredd: Year One…
The Long Hard Road” begins here! In an all-new adventure from Joe Dredd’s early days as a Mega City-One Judge, writer (and Eagle-award-winning 2000 AD Editor) Matt Smith presents a tale where “all the young juves, carry the news,” only in this case, the news is delivered with a lethal blow!
There is always something that doesn’t sit right with me about having Dredd living in the IDW landscape. That’s not to say that IDW treat their properties badly, but 2000AD’s most iconic character has not always had nice treatment outside of his British safe haven. However with former 2000AD editor Matt Smith behind this new series I knew he would be in safe hands. Having now read the first issue, I question why I ever worried.
Judge Dredd: Year One #1 is the first part in the story of Joe Dredd’s first year as a Mega City-One Judge and the trials and tribulations that come with the job. In particular, the rise of the psychics. Smith starts off the issue with beautiful narration (as one would expect from a Dredd comic) which is supported very well by Simon Coleby’s artwork. Much brighter than I am used to from the character, but a very welcome view. The story then moves at a very good pace as we get some decent backstory which sets up for a good conclusion. It’s not a groundbreaking Judge Dredd comic and you won’t be blown away by it, but it’s certainly not the most insulting thing you will ever read.
You can see that Smith has a lot of love for Dredd as he gives him the minimal amount of dialogue and lets Coleby make him look cool with visuals. His art style also lends itself very nicely to the more visceral and violent sections of the book – one of which in the middle of comic is almost tragically beautiful. Again, it’s nothing really new or earth-shattering (it is however bone-shattering) but it works so well with the story and visuals.
I would argue that, while Dredd and his fellow stars don’t have masses amounts of dialogue, certain pages can be quite text box heavy. Some panels in particular are overshadowed by the narrationwhich does take away from any brilliant visuals that could be enjoyed. But this is more of a nitpick than anything else as the pair do get the balance more or less spot on.
This is a great start to the series as I really enjoyed Judge Dredd: Year One #1 and I look forward to future issues. I wouldn’t tell anyone to drop everything to go and buy it, but Dredd fans will get a kick out of it and it doesn’t shut out any new readers who might be interested in finding more about the character.
Luke Owen is one of the co-editors of Flickering Myth and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @CGLuke_o.
Originally published March 21, 2013. Updated November 6, 2019.
