Another day, another slice of borderline canonical Dredd. This time, there is a bittersweet quality to the artwork. However, Orlok had the dubious pleasure of reading this one while on a very bumpy ferry ride and he was determined not to die. Not because he wants to live forever, but because he was damned if this was to be the last thing he ever read …
DATELINE:
September 2100 (2000AD Annual 1979).
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?:
Fuck knows who wrote it, but the art is a Brett Ewins and Brendan McCarthy.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT (IN ONE SENTENCE)?:
A spate of vagrant murders brings Dredd to a suicide arcade.
ANY LAW LORE?:
Synthi Caff is now illegal (though Dredd is seen to drink it in other stories). Perhaps Dredd’s overreaction at Walter is him suffering withdrawal.
Judges carry wads of cash to pay off informants.
The Big Meg has more crime than other Mega Cities.
Dredd’s security pass is A14472.
Dredd gets in a “Who the drokk are you, Tin-Face?”
ANY TEETHING TROUBLES?:
The Time Stretcher is again mentioned as a type of incarceration.
WHAT THE DROKK?:
The opening shot of Dredd has him showing a lot of chest off. Is this Andrew Currie’s work?
Dredd seems to spend a lot of time sitting on his arse in his apartment instead of being on the streets.
Dr Panic establishes an arcade to prove that he is better than humans, so why does he just kill tramps and criminal lowlife?
Dredd apparently holsters his gun before entering the arcade, forcing him into a fistfight he loses. Why would he do this?
When Walter tries to serve Dredd Synthi Caff Dredd doesn’t try to arrest him.
During the face-off with Judge Bolt, Dredd’s gun changes hands.
Bizarrely, Dredd has to outdraw Bolt and has five seconds to do it. Despite this he has his gun out already (so it isn’t a draw at all) and is waving it around for ages.
WHAT’S THE ART LIKE?:
The look of Dr Panic is great and has a flash of what we will later come to expect from the artists and their various collaborations.
HOW MANY LINKS?:
The script is littered with bad dialogue and some of the plot holes are gigantic. Even the art cannot save it; one link.
Everything Comes Back To 2000AD 