Created when Bolland pointed out the lack of female characters in Dredd’s world, she’d progress to her own series. Cassandra Anderson’s personality is the antithesis to Dredd’s dour intensity, an individuality permitted those with psychic ability. The best known work in this volume is the introduction of both Judge Death and Judge Anderson in a stunning three chapter tale drawn by Brian Bolland. It’s Ron Smith who illustrates a good Pat Mills tale of the ghastly result of drinking dinosaur blood. Some ideas lacked that longevity, but the Aggro Dome where citizens work out their aggression, and Umpty Candy, so good it’s addictive, both deliver solid Mike McMahon illustrated stories. Otto Sump, the ugliest man in Mega-City One turns up, there’s the revelation of what lies beyond the sea shore, followed-up in the next volume, and in East-Meg there’s the ideological opposite of Mega-City One, although Wagner makes it clear it’s the same product re-packaged. The concept of the City Block housing tens of thousands, most of whom never leave the premises during their lifetime formed the basis for the more recent Dredd film. Throughout the stories here Wagner introduces themes and ideas that he’d mine again and again to great effect.
John Wagner is again the primary writer, and the opener is both heartbreaker and conundrum with the welcome return of artist Ian Gibson’s distinctive style to Dredd. As The Cursed Earth and The Day The Law Died had occupied over a year of publication, editorial edict demanded greater brevity, and the longest stories reprinted in this volume only run to four chapters.
Given the way Judge Dredd’s continuity breaks down, this is a comparatively slim volume presenting the shorter stories compressed between two epics.
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