Publisher: 2000AD

Release Date: March 2013

Price: $19.99

Artist: Carlos Ezquerra, Kev Walker

Writer: John Wagner

Format: 192 pgs., Full-Color, Trade Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-7810-8099-3

Age Rating: Mature

ICv2 Rating: 5 out of 5

 

Anytime Marvel or DC Comics produces a weekly comic or an anthology, they often receive the lion share of media attention as the format is such a divergence from their regular, monthly distribution routine; however, 2000AD has been producing weekly anthologies for 36 years, featuring the iconic Judge Dredd and a host of other notable figures.  Although a recent development deal with IDW Publishing has garnered 2000AD, specifically Judge Dredd, greater exposure in American comic stores with the monthly Judge Dredd series (see "IDW Announces New 'Dredd'"), and a similar arrangement with Simon & Schuster has given 2000AD access to the lucrative brick and mortar bookstore market for its extensive graphic novel and trade paperback catalog, Dredd and the remaining cast of 2000AD serials still remain on the cultish periphery of the American comics scene.

 

The past few years, thought, have witnessed a gradual shift in this situation.  Collections such as the multivolume, ongoing Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files and the three-volume Judge Dredd: MegaCity Masters, as well as creator-specific editions--Judge Dredd: The Garth Ennis Collection, the Mark Millar and Grant Morrison driven Judge Dredd: Inferno, Frank Quitely's Hondo City Law, or Andy Diggle and Jock's Lenny Zero & the Perps of Mega-City One--have allowed 2000AD to highlight internationally-recognized writers and artists as targets for American consumption.  And, while the 2012 Dredd film may have been a missed opportunity by Lionsgate marketing to increase the character's visibility abroad, Dredd has slowly, but surely been making inroads in the US.  Now, with 2000AD's Judge Dredd: Origins, audiences have a full-color occasion to delve into and decipher the character's rich and vivid history.

 

As with many continuity-heavy, popular culture figures, particularly those within the superhero genre, a viable starting point is often the greatest challenge for new or occasional readers.  Collecting 32 stories originally published in 2007 and 2008, Judge Dredd: Origins is a model for publishers wishing to attract new and casual readers while simultaneously serving and exciting longtime, ongoing fans.  Although 2000AD had showcased and introduced the various players and environments involved in Origins in previous Progs (Judge Fargo, Rico, the Mega Cities, and the Cursed Earth), John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, Dredd's co-creators, are the perfect choice to revisit, reintroduce, and, most importantly, flesh-out these stories nearly 30 years after Dredd's initial appearance. 

 

Following the brief five-part story by Wagner and artist Kev Walker entitled "The Connection," which lays the narrative foundation for the entire collection, Wagner and Ezquerra immediately pitch Dredd into the heart of the Cursed Earth on a mysterious mission to locate the origins of a suspicious package left at the Hall of Justice.  While some audiences may question the need of an origin for Dredd--after all, a fascist police officer who utilizes brutal violence to dispense justice in a post-apocalyptic America would not seem to yield varied or compelling storylines--nothing could be further from the truth, and Origins itself is substantially more than the title leads readers to believe.

 

Leading a team of judges into the Cursed Earth, Dredd must deliver a ransom for information regarding the aforementioned package.  Wagner brilliantly utilizes this quest to introduce readers into the early years of the judicial system, particularly the life of Judge Fargo.  As Dredd's fellow judges learn about Fargo's history, so does the audience, which allows Origins a certain freshness and presence most origin stories and flashbacks simply do not possess.  Even in a moment of seclusion, when Dredd monologues about Fargo's true heritage, presidential corruption, the cloning projects of Rico and Joseph Dredd, and the Great Atom War, Wagner and Ezquerra incorporate modern action scenes interspliced with the unraveling events that led to the judges visiting the Cursed Earth in the first place.  While it may be a lot to process, Wagner and Ezquerra deserve merit for crafting such a well-plotted story with the appropriate beats to elicit moments of mystery, fear, humor, satire, and aggression for the reader.  The sequences with the young Dredd brothers experiencing their first taste of dispensing justice are enough to warrant attention.

 

Visually, Ezquerra's pencil and color work in Origins is amazing.  Fans of Quitely, Chris Burnham, Nick Pitarra, Boo Cook, and Geoff Darrow will delight in Ezquerra's illustrations.  Along with yet another solid narrative by Wagner, Origins will appeal to retailers and librarians with a comics and graphic novel collection as the quintessential starting point for readers. 

 

--Nathan Wilson