Judge Dredd

As a first time reviewer, I browsed through the different categories for a while, before finding the comics section, and the almost complete lack of reviews for the great British comic 2000AD. Even more shocking (well, to my mind) was the absolute void in the Judge Dredd section!
I’ve been an on-off reader of 2000AD since the age of 9, when pocket money restraints meant missing out on every-other prog...soon enough my juvenile attention span lapsed, until the age of 15 when I rediscovered Judge Dredd in the “Judge Dredd Megazine”, a monthly magazine which I now gleefully buy each month. I’ve also parted with cold cash to buy some Dredd graphic novels, one of which is the subject of this review.
Judge Dredd: Goodnight Kiss tells a story of the death of a mutant colony in the irradiated wastes of the Cursed Earth, the subsequent backlash as it is revealed that the Justice Department of Mega-City One had a role to play in this and the scheming of Jonni Kiss, an assassin with a speciality for killing Judges.
The novel takes place in three different parts-the first is a tale of the revenge of the settlements only survivor who journeys to Mega-City One to take his revenge. This is a case of “great storyline, substandard artwork”-the artwork is in a different style to the other stories and it shows quite greatly. This story also sets up the main facets of the “main event”.
Another quite short strip introduces Jonni Kiss, a judge-killing assassin, receiving a contract to kill Judge Dredd. The artwork for this is really superb, with a great look at one of the East Mega Cities and the feared and Giger’s-alien-like Gila Munja assassins.
The final strip is one of my all-time favourites. Judge Dredd is attacked while on a routine patrol with another Judge and left for dead in the Cursed Earth. This strip sees Jonni Kiss unite with another tribe of Marshals to kill the man who judged their kinsman. The artwork on this strip is brilliant, so gritty and yet seemingly polished.
I recommend this book to anyone with a like of comics, especially the neo-Fascist world of Mega-City One.
Will Judge Dredd triumph? I’m sure you already know the answer to that, but go out and find this! It’s a great book, and not badly priced (£9.99) for quite a thick graphic novel.