Review by Roy Boyd

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 43 features ten stories, seven from 2000 AD, and three from the Judge Dredd Megazine.

Gordon Rennie writes fast-paced detective story ‘House of Pain’ (36 pages). Art duties are split between Ian Richardson, who channels Alan Davis, and PJ Holden, whose style is very different but equally impressive. ‘Jumped’ (24 pages) is action packed and exciting from John Smith and Simon Fraser, with Orlok the assassin reaching out from beyond the grave to threaten Dredd’s city. Rennie and Holden then team up again for ‘Sanctuary’, an undemanding horror short.

Simon Spurrier writes the fourth and fifth stories. In ‘Neoweirdies’ artist Paul Marshall does his best, but it’s incoherent and in years past would have been better drawn by Ian Gibson. In ‘Versus’ Spurrier attempts a tale with minimal dialogue, but confusion ensues. However, kudos on an excellent ending, and Pete Doherty’s art is always good.

‘The Connection’ (30 pages) exists largely to set up later events, but with John Wagner writing and Kev Walker’s impressive artwork, you’re in for a treat nonetheless.

At 100 pages, ‘Origins’ is the book’s longest story, and has been issued as a separate graphic novel. It makes sense that this particular story would be told by Dredd’s creators, Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra (featured art). It’s the tale of President Booth, the final US president, and the man who started global nuclear war. Dredd, who normally makes Dirty Harry look chatty, transforms into something akin to Roland from Stephen King’s Dark Tower: a storyteller of considerable skill. The plot demands he tells the tale, as he played a pivotal role in events surrounding the creation of the Judges by Fargo , Dredd’s clone father.

When Dredd and his team are the focus of the story, it’s a Cursed Earth tale much like many others. When it’s not, it’s a lot of politics, which could be boring but isn’t. This is partly because Wagner always delivers, but also because readers have waited decades to hear this story. The cliffhanger ending, with ten year old cadets Joe and Rico facing off against the US Army, is exciting stuff indeed. Unusually for this series, the story ends (or doesn’t) on a ‘to be continued’, and concludes in Complete Case Files 44.

Spurrier’s final tale – ‘Splashdown’ – opens the Megazine section with a satisfying mix of action and politics. The art is handled with aplomb by Laurence Campbell (pencilling), and Kris Justice (nominative determinism, anyone?) inking, a working arrangement rare in Dredd stories.

‘Regime Change’ (40 pages) is another Rennie story, with Inaki Miranda pencilling (Justice inks again). Dredd leads a multi-national peacekeeping force into Ciudad Barranquilla, the notorious banana republic. The story’s clever, with enough excitement to offset the political machinations, but the art takes some getting used to. It’s very American superhero, and Dredd is possibly larger than he’s ever been, like someone squeezed Hulk into a Judge’s uniform.

The latest entry in the ‘America’ saga, ‘Cadet’ (30 pages) provides a strong ending. America Beeny, who shares a name with her pro-democracy mother, is now a cadet investigating elements of her parents’ deaths, and she requests Dredd as a co-investigator. Another tightly plotted tale from the master, Wagner, with Colin MacNeil shining on art.

A lot of politics feature, although you don’t need a degree in backstory, and few light-hearted stories, so this volume perhaps isn’t as varied as others. However, we’ve waited years for a Dredd origin story, and so far it’s been worth the wait. Most of the other stories are entertaining and polished too, making this yet another worthy addition to this series.