Tag Archives: Judge Dredd

Camelot 3000 (1988)

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“But no need to stand on ceremony. You may call me King Arthur!”

This book is a collection of the first comic book maxi-series, as claimed in the introduction by Don and Maggie Thompson. The series was written by Mike W. Barr who is probably best known for his writing on various Batman titles such as Batman and the Outsiders, the Year Two story in Detective Comics and the Son of the Demon graphic novel. The art was by British artist Brian Bolland who is more often associated, these days, with fabulous cover art but also worked on early Judge Dredd stories for 2000AD and DC’s The Killing Joke.

It is the year 3000 and Britain is under attack by relentless aliens from the solar system’s tenth planet. In it’s hour of need, King Arthur, it’s greatest defender, is reborn. His first act is to restore Merlin to his side followed by the reincarnations of his knights of the Round Table. They discover that Morgan le Fay is behind the alien attacks and so old conflicts are renewed.

I bought this book because it is one of the few examples of a comic series illustrated by Bolland whose work I love. Unfortunately the story did not match my expectations. For a comic that was DC’s first for mature readers, it felt very immature – let’s mix Arthurian legend with the future and an alien invasion and it’ll be cool. It seemed very thin and being stretched over twelve issues did not help. This book has not aged as well as some of it’s contemporaries from the mid eighties. It doesn’t help that a number of later comics, such as Fables, deal with the updating of mythological or fantasy characters much better.

But I came for the art and the art was good but it didn’t blow me away in the same way that his covers can do. Partly this is because it does not have the same detail as his work in black and white does – Bryan Talbot is another good example of someone whose work I prefer in black and white because so much more goes into it. I was also expecting more due to the problems that I know plagued this book as regards to deadlines however I don’t feel that it necessarily shows in the finished page. So all in all a bit of a disappointment – maybe you had to be there to appreciate it.

Young Death: Boyhood of a Superfiend (1992)

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Quote:
Yessss, I too wasss a boy oncce – though of courssse I wasss far from normal, even then …

 

This book collects the twelve part story from the first volume of the Judge Dredd Megazine, the anthology comic from 2000AD set in the Judge Dredd universe. The story was written by Judge Dredd creator John Wagner. The art was the first introduction of Peter Doherty to a wide audience. Doherty has continued to illustrate stories in 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine but does not seem to have done much beyond this.

Set after the Necropolis story line in 2000AD, this story explores the early life of Judge Death as recounted to an unfortunate Mega-City journalist. Young Sidney is a sociopath in the making whose world view is reinforced by his father – a sadistic, psychopathic dentist. On turning his father over to the judges for a series of murders, Sidney joins the judges and refines his world view in which crime is committed by the living and so the living should be punished. Upon graduating he discovers two death cultists who help him complete his vision by removing the paradox of his continued living while sentencing others to death for the same “crime”.

I love Judge Death stories for two reasons. First of all they tend to feature an appearance of psi-Judge Anderson who I adore. Secondly he is, in many ways, the ultimate villain for Judge Dredd in the same way that the Joker is for Batman. I think that there are many similarities between the Joker and Judge Death: the fixed rictus grin; the disregard for human life; the dark humour associated with the characters. The humour in this story ranges from the lightly comical, in the shape of Death’s extremely short-sighted landlady, Mrs Gunderson, to the extremely black exploration of Sidney’s childhood environment. Although this a very good story, I have never been convinced that it was really necessary. I am happy to accept the Dark Judges for what they are and the detailing of an origin does little for my perception of the character – it is hard to imagine ever feeling sympathy for any of the Dark Judges and the choices they made. However, it is still a classic story that is worth reading if you like your humour on the black side and for the art of Peter Doherty.