Review by Roy Boyd

The Complete Case Files 40 kicks off in style with a twelve-part story by Dredd’s primary writer and co-creator John Wagner with artist Henry Flint (sample art). ‘Total War’ features old-school Dredd tackling terrorists who have planted nukes throughout Mega-City One. This is one of those now all-too-frequent events that kills beleaguered citizens in their millions, though there’s still room for family drama featuring Dredd’s niece, Vienna, and another relative of sorts.

In ‘Christmas with the Blints’ Dredd’s on the trail of the Angel of Mercy, a serial killer that’s escaped his clutches before. The third Wagner tale in a row is ‘After the Bomb.’ Jason Brashill’s cartoony art sits uneasily with all the gore, though it’s an enjoyable three-part story.

Gordon Rennie writes the next two stories. The first is ‘Visiting Hour’, featuring Rico (the new, young Dredd clone, not the evil-twin) and Vienna, again. The second, ‘The Searchers’, references the Marie Celeste. A common mistake, as the infamous ship was actually the Mary Celeste.

Wagner writes again and D’Israeli’s stylised art shines in ‘Horror in Emergency Camp 4’, great horror in which Dredd pursues a shape-shifting alien (another foe he’s encountered before). Dead babies and gruesome murders are doubtless partly responsible for the book’s Teen+ rating.

Back over to Rennie for the four part ‘Missing in Action’. Dredd rescues an Apocalypse War veteran in a heart-warming tale with splendid art by an old master, Ian Gibson. Gibson, whom we’ve perhaps suggested is past his best, proves us wrong here. Boo Cook’s art for Rennie’s five-part ‘Descent’ is disturbingly organic, and a perfect match for this story. Dredd meets another old enemy – a recurring theme – in Mega-City One’s undercity. Dredd, who has been everything from a werewolf to a zombie, is (briefly) turned into a hellish vampire beast. The poor man’s DNA must be a mess!

And that’s it for the 2000 AD section. The Megazine section is all single-part stories, bar the opener, the two-part ‘Bite Fight’ by two Johns: Smith and Burns. You’re in safe hands with Burns, and he doesn’t disappoint with this action-packed tale of illegal fights. It features an appearance by Devlin Waugh, the vampire demon killer (i.e., he’s a vampire that kills demons) with his own strip in the Megazine. It’s good stuff.

The next two stories are short, but among the book’s best. ‘Meat Patrol’ is a slice-of-life (or death) story with Dredd joining a meat-wagon crew collecting corpses. Rennie does an outstanding job of filtering in humour, pathos and character, and he’s well matched by Simon Coleby, whose style suits Dredd’s gritty world. ‘2%’ is a cracker, with Alan Grant’s smart script loaded with explosive violence and bone-dry wit. Newcomer Shaun Thomas’ superb artwork channels Bisley and Sienkiwicz in equal measure. He changes the nose-guard on Dredd’s helmet, and one suspects he isn’t the first artist to look at the Ezquerra-designed outfit and think WTF?!

‘Son of the Man’ and ‘Fat Christmas’ bring things to a close. The latter is one of the book’s more lightweight stories, which is ironic, as it’s a story about Fatties.

In conclusion, this is another great and varied collection, with a couple of lengthier tales to sink your teeth into. There are numerous callbacks to old characters, enemies and events, though the writers and artists continue to develop the Dredd family dynamic.

Finally, they’ve dropped the ‘Judge Dredd’ logo and the story title from each tale. Again.