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Dredd - The Hunting Party
Judge Dredd - The
Hunting Party
by By John
Wagner, Henry Flint, Sean Phillips, Trevor Hairsine, Calum Alexander Watt, Jason
Brashill and David Bircham
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What to Expect:
Dune sharks, small town Cursed Earth weirdos, and dark secrets from Mega City
1
Review by Alex
Frith
17th November 06
In the Hunting
Party, Wagner revisits two classic stories from Dredd's past - 'the Cursed Earth',
and 'the Hotdog Run'. With the appearance of Dune Sharks in Mega-City 1, he's
also referencing 'Wilderlands', when these creatures first appeared. The presence
of Judge DeMarco elicits the occasional reference to events in 'the Pit', and
'Beyond the Call of Duty'. And in the course of the book, we also learn a little
bit more about President Robert L Booth and Chief Judge McGruder. In other words,
this epic is steeped in Mega City 1 history. But this is an epic written by the
mighty John Wagner, so continuity is simply not an issue. Anyone with a passing
familiarity with Judge Dredd can read and enjoy this book - although it may whet
the appetite to learn more about Dredd's world.
It seems very likely
that this story was chosen for reprinting just now because it ties in to the current
'Origins' epic. The tie-ins are pretty minor, so it's hardly essential reading,
but if you're enjoying 'Origins', then you'll almost certainly like 'the Hunting
Party', too. There's a little bit of messing around with dune sharks - great gliding
beasts with tiny eyes and endless rows of teeth, beautifully rendered by Henry
Flint, who doesn't shirk the opportunity to show people getting bit in half, or
impaled in various places. There's also mad robot villain Dr Bolt, a creation
I'd all but forgotten, but one who I'd now really like to see again. (Hey, he's
a robot, of course it's possible)
The bulk of the
collection features several stand-alone tales of mayhem in the Cursed Earth. By
this stage in Dredd's career, writers and readers alike have visited the Cursed
Earth enough times to know what to expect. Wagner doesn't even bother with trying
to set up townsfolk who seem trustworthy but turn out not to be - that's pretty
much a given. Instead, he delivers classic redneck movie madness, and lets us
watch them unfold. We have cannibalism, human sacrifice, killer children, bounty
hunters and evil ferrymen with glowing eyes. And we have Judges and Cadets fighting
their way out of trouble. Wagner excels in this kind of uncomplicated storytelling;
storytelling where you can see what each character is doing, watch gun battles
and fistfights unfold in a way that makes sense, rather than showing unstoppable
heroes.
Best of all, there's
plenty of room alongside the violence for character development. And that's what
Hotdog Runs are all about - both for the cadets involved, and more importantly
for the reader. Who lives? Who dies? Who gets sent home to Academy, who gets fired?
Nothing new to this formula, but Wagner works it extremely well. And I think you'll
be surprised by the answers to those questions (well, I was, and I'd already read
the story when it was in the original Progs!)
Another strength of
Wagner is to allow his artists to have fun with their stories. You can tell that
individual artists were picked for each story arc. Henry Flint is the busiest
in this collection, with the first and last segments featuring those toothy dune
sharks and dopey-eyed Dr Bolt. He also gets to have some fun with giant spiders
in the woods. Sean Philips only has a single five-page story, but it's key as
he's the one to design the four cadets on the Hotdog Run. His episode is a masterclass
in scene-setting as we watch the six Judges ride off into the barren Cursed Earth,
alternately grim-faced and over-excited. For their troubles, Flint gets a short
but funny interview at the back; Phillips gets a couple of pages of character
design sketches, and an interesting set of thumbnails for his episode. The other
artistic stand-out for me is Jason Brashill, whose 'Camp Demento' story is a hilarious
mish mash of teeth, bullets, sound effects and ugly children.
All in all, this
is as good an introduction to the world of Dredd as you could ask for. Don't buy
it for a scintillating plot, but do buy it for an easy and entertaining read,
embellished with some fun art, and a chance to see Dredd from all sides - leader,
hardman, bastard, compassionate and above all, fair. As we've come to expect from
these trades, the printing and repro quality is extremely high, we get some neat
page breaks between mini-arcs, and all the relevant covers are reprinted in the
back. Nice.
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