Judge Dredd #24 Review

Judge Dredd #24

Written by: Duane Swierczynski
Art by: Nelson Daniel
Published by: IDW Publishing

Issue 23 of Judge Dredd, the penultimate in the Black Light District story arc, ended with the tantalising scenario of Judge Dredd facing off, alone, against the Dark Judges. Dredd himself, a wanted man, fled from his own colleagues into the sealed off Sector One.
Dredd24IntThis issue, since the reader is anticipating the fight of Dredd’s life against Judge Death and co, begins with the captured Chief Judge stuck on the prison moon of Titan, in a perilous predicament of his own.

Thankfully, we do not have to wait too long before we join our protagonist. Things are not going well for Dredd, the Dark Judges not only outnumber him, but they also have dark designs on his life, he is of use to them as a means to escape the sealed off sector. As with the prior issues in this story arc, Judge Anderson provides Dredd some much needed, psi-help.

The Black Light District issues have proved to be good entertainment, the plot has been worked to good effect and each issue has built to a satisfying conclusion. Duane has done a sterling job on capturing an authentic Dredd vibe in the books and the issues read well, the pacing of the book is very competently handled, so that you are pulled along to the natural conclusion of the Black Light District.

The art in this issue is very consistent from Nelson Daniel, Dredd, Anderson, the Dark Judges, are all rendered very well. The panel composition is nicely managed in this issue, which falls into the 2000AD ethos of having every panel being visually interesting – no dead space, which is pretty close to what Nelson has achieved this time out.

As the story progresses, we are given breadcrumbs for a further development following the sub-plot of the Chief Judge stranded on Titan; the ending phase of the book gives a somewhat telegraphed but that is forgivable in terms of the overall impact of the book. The ramifications of the ending should mean that there’s absolutely no rest for Judge Dredd in issue 25.

Overall score: 7/10