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By Wagner, Grant, Bolland, Cooper, Dillon, Ezquerra, Gibson, Mc Mahon, Mitchell, Smith, Wilson
What to expect: Three of Dredd's most famous tales and a whole lot more besides...
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Review by Gavin Hanly
This is pretty much where I came into contact with the world of Judge Dredd. I can’t remember exactly when I started buying 2000AD, but it was around the time of Judge Death Lives, one of many classic tales collected in this volume of the ongoing Case Files – and one of the volumes which certainly ranks as an absolute must-buy.
Perhaps it’s the happy memories of starting out a long run of reading the comic, but as I come to review the collection, I’m struck by the number of still-classic tales here, many of which set up important precedents in Dredd’s world.
The collection starts out with a series of one or two parters under the collective name of Mega Rackets. Each of these stories allows Wagner and Grant to depict ever more bizarre crimes that could only take place in Mega City One. From the Body Sharks, where citizens use their loved ones as collateral to MC1’s cure for old age , stookie glanding, each of these bite size tales centres around the citizenry of Mega City One, often one of the best storytelling techniques used in Dredd stories. With Dredd on the case, each crime is brought to an abrupt end, but we are left feeling that this smattering of rackets is merely the tip of the iceberg.
 There's a real sense of ingenuity permeating all of these tales, and they still seem fresh today, or extremely prescient. In this regard, one of the most striking “rackets” is the Numbers Racket - where criminals obtain a series of numbers that control computers and allow the perps to hold companies to ransom. Given that these stories are about 25 years old, this really backs up recent claims that 2000AD can occasionally be prophetic, as anyone who has ever been the victim of computer hacking can tell you...
Elsewhere in this huge tome, there’s the introduction of the Hotdog Run, now a Dredd mainstay that has been used on a number of occasions. It's one of the first stories that really that offered an interesting insight into Dredd himself – with Judge Giant coining the phrase “old Stony Face” to describe him. Giant himself also sums up, almost perfectly (see left) the basic nature of Dredd himself - damned strict, but the man you'd want beside you in a fight - something all Dredd writers should have pinned to their computers as they sit down to write a script. Also in this tale, we see Dredd treated as somewhat curmudgeonly by his fellow judges, another trait that has particularly suited him down the years.
But the real meat of the collection comes in the form of 3 tales. The first is Judge Death Lives, the mini epic that introduces the four Dark Judges (well, three of them, anyway). It's a mini masterpiece sees the citizens of Mega City undergoing ever more gruesome deaths at the hands of the fiends, and is the first tale that really introduces Cassandra Anderson as a recurring major player in Dredd's world(once she gets out of the Boing). The story is best known for probably being Bolland finest ever work on the comic and, with Dredd’s face off against Judge Fear, giving us one of the single greatest comic panels of all time, in any comic, ever:
Bolland and his other long serving Dredd team member Mc Mahon make what would be their final contributions to the main Dredd continuity with the second main event – Block Mania. As I've mentioned earlier, Grant and Wagner often take particular pleasure in depicting the insanity of the Mega City citizens. How could they take this further? By sending the entire city stark staring mad, of course!
 The concept of Block Wars had already been introduced, where minor grievances set off violent clashes. However, now the judges join in on the fun while Dredd picks up the threads of a plot that had been simmering since Pirates of the Black Atlantic. We’re introduced to major villain Orlok, and we see that even if a character is beloved by the 2000AD readers, Wagner and Grant would have no problem dispatching them in one solitary panel...
Which really leads us to the main event – The Apocalypse War. This storyline is of particular significance because it’s the first ever mega-epic to have a single artist assigned to it. I have to admit, when I first read this, back in the day, I wasn’t particularly enamoured by Carlos Ezquerra’s artwork. It wasn’t quite Bolland enough for me – hey, I was young - but it was only when looking back on the storyline as a whole that I could really appreciate the achievement. 20+ episodes of consistently excellent art make the Apocalypse War a standout tale (and Ezquerra even immediately followed this up with some epilogues). As mentioned above several times, Wagner & Grant enjoy giving the citizens of Mega City One a good kicking. With their track record, it was only a matter of time before they decided to nuke them, and they do so in style, with large parts of the city being sent back to the stone age.
 The epic is impressive in its economy of storytelling too. We get everything from the breakdown in the city’s defences, the propaganda war to win over the parts that the Sovs actually want to keep, the effect of the radiation, the traitors in the justice system and the brutal end for collaborators (see left). It all culminates with an inevitable strike back and Dredd’s ultimate sentence on East Meg 1 – a moment that perfectly balances his heroism with his astonishing sadistic and fascistic tendencies. In one reading, the tale never seems to take a stop for a breath, and remains one of the best Dredd tales ever .
In general, the reproduction is pretty good throughout with some exceptions. Unfortunately, Bolland’s last Dredd story is the main exception to this and unfortunately succumbs to some terrible reproduction which is really hard to defend given the number of times it’s been printed before – hopefully this will be corrected in future print runs. But the whole thing is still more than worth the money, and the Apocalypse war reprint is flawless.
Of all the Case Files so far, this comes with my highest recommendations. For both new readers and old hands alike – an must purchase.
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