The Law In Order: Fungus

Remember swine flu or before that mad cow disease? Well, this is like that but with the homeless dregs of society as the carriers of the contagion. Rather than round them up and burn them as Judge Burdis suggests, the Justice Department shake their helmets and try a different tack by engaging the public. Judge Burdis, meanwhile decides to load incendiary rounds into his Lawgiver and go down to the Big Issue office. You know, just to make sure…

The last Welshman is rounded up…

DATELINE:
August 2104 (Progs 275-277).

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?:
John Wagner and Alan Grant bring the pain while Carlos Ezquerra pops some cits.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT (IN ONE SENTENCE)?:
Former mayor Jim Grubb brings a fungus disease to the city.

WHO’S THAT IN THE HELMET?:
Chief Judge Hilda McGruder issues a city-wide broadcast to find the mushroom men, actively lying to the victims.
Med Judge Kildare dies after infecting himself with the spores. His sacrifice provides vital info to Dredd on the lifecycle of the disease.
Judge Porteous identifies the first victim as Jim Grubb. That’s pretty much all he does.

IT’S CULTURAL, INNIT?:
Kildare is doubtless named after Doctor Kildare, the titular medic of the popular 1960s TV series starring Richard Chamberlain.
Fred C. Dobbs was a character in the book (and film) The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre.

WHAT’S THE ART LIKE?:
A nice circle panel and some solid work from Ezquerra makes this a good and smooth read.

HOW MANY LINKS?:
As a procedural tale this works well and there’s a fascinating look at how the Judges deal with a contagion that has city wide implications. This is a lesson that will come in handy in fighting the Chaos Bug in the futu-, oh, wait…no it won’t. Four links.