Yeesh! I haven’t written a decent story covering any actual comic books in almost two years. Well I’m trying to get back on track with one of the oddest crossover mini-series to hit the shelves since Predator v. Magnus Robot Fighter. This storyline wasn’t too hard for the publisher to achieve because IDW publishes both titles; I’m guessing Topps no longer controls the gory Mars Attacks! jazz and 2000 AD always has an American surrogate for their Dredd stuff.
Anyway, I had to get this because I’ve been a Judge Dredd fan from the Eighties. When I saw the cover of the first issue, I laughed, “Those Martians are soooo dead!” If the Xenomorphs (the creatures’ official name from Alien) couldn’t kill Dredd in 2003, the Martians can only piss him off at best.
The story is set in the always bleak yet darkly funny Mega City One (the Martians don’t have a setting of their own to merge) and kicks off with small timer Crusty Smalls taking over the city’s mafia with some Martian assistance. Elsewhere, Dredd is investigating why crime has dropped 40 percent in a Sector 301. While shooting up Don Mumbletti’s club and goons, he gets attacked by several Martians. Due to their gruesome appearance, Dredd figures they’re mutants from the Wasteland but the weapons they used against him are more powerful than anyone on Earth has. Dredd enlists the series’ other iconic character, Psi-Judge Anderson, to probe Don Mumbletti’s mind to find out what’s going on, plus it’s impossible understand the gangster’s speech. Anderson discovers that the Mafia has allied themselves with more than just “out-of-towners,” these possible mutants are from space set to destroy all life on Earth.
It wouldn’t be a Judge Dredd comic without the trademark swears like “Grud on a Greenie” and Drokk,” or the little in-jokes about America. I think the critics who hated either movie adaption failed to take into account the source material which the comic faithfully maintains.
As for the Martians. I’ve never liked them much. Tim Burton’s movie was just a messy hodgepodge of three-by-five cards being passed off as characters which should’ve been expected, their source material were just trading cards. Letting Judges Dredd and Anderson kick their asses was more satisfying than Slim Whitman albums.
The trade paperback is highly recommended for Judge Dredd’s limited fan base in America. For others, it’s a nice, quick, amusing read since the Martians are probably more familiar.