Judge Dredd Megazine #417 review

Judge Dredd Megazine 417
Publisher: Rebellion
Writers: Michael Carroll, Ales Kot, T.C. Eglington, Chris Roberson, Dan Abnett
Artists: Karl Richardson, Mike Dowling, Boo Cook, Andrea Mutti, Phil Winslade
Colourists: Matt Soffe
Letterers: Annie Parkhouse, Simon Bowland, Jim Campbell

Judge Dredd: Plunder part 3
The latest part of this story is an action-filled romp as we see Dredd fighting off pirates with the help of fellow Judge Guthrie and some prisoners. It’s brutally realistic, which is when Dredd’s at his best in my opinion. I loved the fight scenes here, particularly the main one between Dredd and the leader of the pirates. There’s some simplistic backgrounds but the detail on the characters featured here is amazing. This is the finale of the Plunder storyline and it’s a damned good one. I’d recommend picking this book up based on it alone.

Devlin Waugh: A very large splash part 3
Next we have the latest from Devlin Waugh. In this chapter we see the camp vamp analysing (and critiquing) a gruesome murder. Of course his partner and his talking, demonic dildo help him out in his investigation and it’s that perfect mix of brutality and humour that we’ve come to expect from Mr Waugh. This was an awesome read that ramped up the suspense after the previous two parts before leaving us on a cliffhanger. I can’t wait for the next part.

Blunt 3: Part 3
There's a lot of part 3's in this issue. Anyway, in the newest segment of Blunt we see our main cast being interrogated about the events last issue while unbeknownst to them a hostile mutation is slowly making its way towards their ship. It’s a passable chapter but it’s a bit on the quiet side. Hopefully when we next catch up with Blunt and the crew there’ll be a good payoff to the setup done in this issue.

Zombie army: Last rites part 2
The Last rites storyline continues in this megazine issue and it’s fun even if it’s a bit on the basic side. Dr Schweiger and his team found themselves surrounded by the undead at the end of the first chapter and here we see them attempting to save their skin. It’s an entertaining enough chapter, especially if you enjoy action and it does a good job of setting up future issues while building the readers suspense.  

Lawless: Boom town part 3
Finally we have the latest chapter of Lawless. Here we’re shown the town of Badrock from the point-of-view of a nine year old boy who’s just moved into the town. Even though he’s new to the area he still senses something isn’t quite right about the place. It’s a suspenseful read and the writing from Dan Abnett is top-notch. He really manages to accurately capture the sense of apprehension that always comes with moving to a new area. One other thing I have to praise Abnett on is how he manages to make the young boys thoughts and dialogue sound authentic. A lot of writers, even the best ones tend to struggle to write children. They end up writing kids that sound too mature for their age or we get a scenario where the kids sound like cartoon toddlers. Abnett strikes that nice balance and it makes this storyline so much more enjoyable. By the end we’re left on a to be continued as Lawson and her crew set out to save some Judges in distress. I love Lawless and I really can’t wait to see what happens next.

In summary, this was a great issue. None of these chapters are the start of new stories but they’re easy enough to understand and use as a jumping on point. The artwork is beautiful, particularly in the Lawless and Devlin Waugh strips and the stories were all fairly interesting and entertaining. This months magazine is definitely worth the read.