Comic Review: Dredd - Urban Warfare
It feels like the best way to finish off the week. Dredd - Urban Warfare is the follow-up comic to the movie tie-in series. It comprises three short tales: Ma-ma and Underbelly, which I have already reviewed, and this third tale, Uprise. So head to the iso cubes for ten years and let us jump in.
Publisher: IDW Publisher
Title: Dredd Urban Warfare
Writer: Arthur Wyatt // Matt Smith
Artists: Henry Flint // Paul Davidson
Pages: 101
Cover: Henry Flint
Fluff: The complete comic-book sequel to the hit movie DREDD.
JUDGEMENT TIME!
The twenty-second century. America is an irradiated wasteland. Within it lies a city built on the ruins of the old world – Mega-City One. With eight hundred million people living in chaos, only the men and women of the Hall of Justice can maintain order. Juries. Executioners. Judges. The toughest of them all is Judge Dredd – he is the law!
Written by Arthur Wyatt (Orlok: Agent of East Meg One) and featuring the stunning artwork of Henry Flint (Zombo) and Paul Davidson (X-Men Legacy), Urban Warfare continues the adventures of cinema’s hottest future cop.
This collection also features the jaw-dropping origin story of the criminal Ma-Ma featured in the Dredd movie, written by Matt Smith (Judge Dredd: Year One).
Review
Made up of multiple stories: Ma-Ma & Underbelly, I reviewed these earlier this week, so read those posts!
Uprise: This story is set in The Spit, a strip of habitable land between two reclamation zones. The structures of the old world that is slowly getting covered by the new. It's an area of high crime and even higher poverty. A place where the old world struggles to hang on while the mega corporations move in to build fresh. The Judges of this area have lost the support of the locals, and to make matters worse, a rookie destroys the local leader’s car, leading to widespread riots.
As the riots spread throughout the area, Judge Dredd arrives to lend a hand. But in the classic Dreddverse story arc the local leader is assassinated by an unknown assassin and fake news is spread stating that he was hired by the Judges. Leading to the riots escalating further. Soon the Judges are losing control, and the call is made to bring in the robot auxiliaries.
This sets us up for the second half of the tale, and as the story unfolds, you see the manipulation of the justice systems and how the megacorp is organizing all the crimes and riots to bring about the fall of the Spit. It is up to Judge Dredd to find out the danger and save the Strip.
Review:
There is nothing groundbreaking to the story. It is pretty straightforward. What you do have is a tightly written and believable storyline with a straightforward villain. The artwork is the true hero of the tale, and I can't wait to see more of the Dredd movie comics soon. A solid read, 3 out of 5.
