Comic Review 87 // Complete Case Files 11

Feels like an age since the last Complete Case Files which was back in October 2019. I'm excited to get back into the timeline and find some inspiration for terrain and characters. Published in 2000AD PROGS 523 - 570 and set in the Year 2109 till 2110. Let's jump in.

Story Breakdown

Story - Pit Rat - Whilst investigating a Rat fighting ring Judge Dredd discovers a new strain of rat, one that is bigger stronger and smarter than the average Mega-City One rat. Fearing that this new breed would spread Judge Dredd investigates and discovers a pack of them and calls in pest control.

Highlight - Justice Department discovered that the rats are a healthy meat source and start breeding them for food.

Story - The Raggedy Man - An injured Judge Dredd is discovered by a Helltrek group and is loaded on to a wagon. Who could have injured the Judge Dredd? Well, his current name is The Raggedy Man but he once was Judge Izzard.

Highlight - The ending. So many questions left unanswered! Where did the bolt come from? Would he have gone crazy on his own? What is Black Scab?

Story - Simp - A new craze is spreading across MC-1 SIMPING! This fashion trend has one rule: There are no rules. You can dress in anything you like and the more crazy looking you are the better you are at Simping. Nobby is new to the Simping game and attempts to Simp it up at his wedding, this, of course, does not go as he plans and leads him into the path of Judge Dredd!

Highlight: Nobby's canoe pants getting caught in a bus door and dragging him down the highway. A great funny tale for sure.

Story - Reasons to be Fearful - Guz Hardy is a vid host on Know your Rights. A nightly show where normally Guz would smear the Judges and call them out on issues such as bullying, fearmongering and being tyrants. This all changes when the Justice Department decides to the Fear Ampilifcation Beam or FAB ray on Guz. It causes the victim to see scary visions and suffer mental stress during attacks. He is soon told by a shrink (an undercover judge) that the visions happen due to his mind believing that he is lying about his beliefs in the Justice System and the only way to stop them is to start being nice about the judges. Of course, he believes this and that night on his show he only has praise for the Judges.

Story - Fairlyhyperman - Move over Judge Dredd MC-1 has a new hero. Heralding from an exploded world Fairlyhyperman has come to MC-1 to fight crime with his Fairly good powers. After introducing himself Judge Dredd, Fairlyhyperman ends up on the wrong side of Judge Dredd and the pair face off multiple times with Dredd losing the faces off. That is until Dredd discovers the right crystals to use and shoots down Fairlyhyperman and send him off to the cubes.

Highlight: Complete and utter rip off of Superman and I love it. Great story.

Story - Revolution - The Democrats are moving once more in MC-1 and this time they have Chief Judge Silver worried. The Chief Judge tasks Dredd with shutting them down and lets Dredd lead the way on rulemaking. Under Judge Dredd's leadership, the judging team start to undermine the figureheads of the movement one by one. Some they post rumours about how they assisted the Sovs in the war, whilst others they kept stood for hours on end in the interrogation rooms exhausting them before the big march. Soon the actual protest march starts but the support is lacking and with a few well placed undercover judges the Justice Department soon crush the march completely.

Highlight: Great final panel about how the Judges won't this battle but the war is not over. I love seeing how the tyrant justice system stands up to democracy. They have a true fear of it and the idea of losing power terrifies them.

Story - PJ Maybe - The introduction to one of the most renowned serial killers to ever stalk the streets of MC-1. We get to join in the discovery of the first of many victims and the fact that PJ Maybe kills purely for fun and enjoyment. I can't wait for more stories to arrive about him.

Story - Alabammy Blimps - The Brit-Cit ambassador's transport has been attacked and crash-landed in the Alabama Morass. Of course, Dredd leads a team the rescue team and is soon knee-deep in swamplands fighting the fauna. Whilst this happens the poor ambassador's day gets worst and worst, after being "rescued" by a local redneck group the ambassador and his rescuers are attacked by the Alabammy Blimps a cannibal tribe of women folk who love eating rednecks.

Highlight: Judge Dredd entering a one on one fistfight with the Queen of the Alabammy Blimps. It was a real clash of the titans.

Story - Return of Death Fist - Stan Lee the only man to have ever beaten Dredd in a fight is back in MC-1 and Dredd is now looking for revenge or is he looking to prove the law can't be beaten. Having tracked Stan Lee down Dredd challenges him to a fight that is filmed and broadcast live across MC-1 allowing everyone to see the action.

Highlight: The artwork by Kitson is great and detailed and really shows off Dredd's increasing age and scar damage.

Story - Corporal Punishment - A young boy reports his parents to the Judges and following their interrogation the boy ends up in complete control of the household. After weeks of abuse, the parents one day leave on a Helltrek into the Cursed Earth leaving the annoying youth behind. A real filler piece of no real value.

Story - Killkraze - Westworld meets Mega-City One. Killkraze a fully automated and safe zone where people can re-enact some of the most dangerous eras of Earth's history. Periods include World War Three, 1920's and the wild west. Here people use fake bullets to fight each other and robot actors. That is until one wrong error sees the guns loaded with real ammo!

Highlight: To control the space zone the judges turn on gravity dropping everyone hard onto the ground...priceless.

Story - OZ Parts 1 to 6 - The main story of the book along overdue multi-part story picking on the character Chopper (see casefiles 04). Since being arrested at the end of Supersurf 7 Chopper has been in the ISO-Cubes. But now three years later it's time for that all to change. Fearing the protests it is decided to transfer Chopper to a more secure location, during this the crowd surge and in the confusion, Chopper escapes. This is Chopper's big chance at a comeback and proves he is the best by entering Supersurf 10. The only problem is this year the competition is in OZ.

Highlight: Getting to ride along with Chopper through the skies of MC-1 and the Cursed Earth. A nice fun read and a great build-up to what is about to happen.

Story - OZ Parts 7 to 8 - The Judda. Whilst MC-1 is distracted by Chopper, Tek Division comes under attack by some multi-coloured, funky looking Judge wannabes. These guys are strong and use what looks like shock sticks to attack their targets who are all Judges. Unfortunately for them, they try to take down Dredd. In a short one-sided fight Dredd bests, the Judda sent after him using his boot knife, sadly Defoe is attacked whilst on the toilet and is killed and MacNamee is burned alive. While Dredd's dead Judda is examined it is discovered that he is the genetic match of Chief Judge Fargo, ex-Judge Rico and Judge Dredd!

Highlight: The artwork is great. The story is weird and so many questions!

Story - OZ Parts 9 to 13 - Back to Chopper and the Pacific ocean. Chopper is running out of power for his board and a mean storm is blowing towards him, things are truly looking rough. But with a strong possibility of Chopper making it to OZ, Judge Dredd is sent over to become the welcome party.

As news breaks out about the storm many believe Chopper is dead and his fellow surfers hold a funeral for their lost friend. But he is far from dead and finds what seems to be an abandoned ship, but upon landing Chopper discovers the robot chef. Believing his luck is turning Chopper starts charging his board and enjoy a freshly cooked meal. But nothing is never that simple and it turns out the Robot chef has a few fried cells and that this one has actually killed the crew and is using them to cook the food! Of course, Chopper defeats this hurdle at the coast of damaging his board and has to use the boat to cross the ocean and use the time to repair his board. But soon Chopper is just off the coast of OZ and receives a warm welcome from down under, well nearly everyone. Of course, Judge Dredd spoils the fun and tries to arrest Chopper and almost succeeds until once again the crowd turns nasty and forces the OZ Judges to put Dredd under house arrest!

Story - OZ Parts 14 to 19 - Turns out Judge Dredd's house arrest was a ruse to make him an easy target for the Judda. When the Judda struck Judge Dredd and the OZ Judges were ready and managed to capture one of the Judda alive. Following intense interrogation we discover the truth of the Judda - they are in fact the clones of famous MC-1 Judges created by Morton Judd. Still failing to discover the whereabouts of their base Judge Dredd puts on the Judda teleporter and beams straight into the snake's nest. Discovering an entire city of Judda, Dredd is outgunned and way too far underground. As he attempts to escape he finds his way blocked and in an attempt to communicate with the outside world he hooks his tracer and to bat and sets it free. Now captured Dredd faces down Judd, whilst outside Dredd's bat alerts the Oz Judges to his location in Ayers Rock. Soon fighting breaks out in Ayers Rock and the Grand Hall of Justice, but in a classic Dredd move, a well-placed nuke brings the fighting to an end.

Story - OZ Parts 20 to 26 - Remember Supersurf? Well, it is two hours away by part 20 of this epic story arc and we are treated to a real race. Having defeated the Judda Dredd gives Chopper one final chance to race but promises to wait at the finish line to arrest him and if Chopper runs he promises to kill him. The race itself was high octane and also has an equally high body count. Ultimately Chopper comes second and facing 23 more years in iso, he decides to flee into the Radlands. As Dredd sights, his gun his aim is blocked by the winner of Supersurf and Chopper flees into the Radlands of OZ. Is this the last we will see of Chopper? I seriously hope not.

And with this, the case files are over. This was a fun, solid read and a very strong case file with only one semi-weak tale - Corporal Punishment, which wasn't terrible it was just obviously a filler. I highly recommend this book if you are on the fence of reading Dredd comics. The artwork was great especially during the Return of Death Fist. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and please do take the moment to follow my blog.