12: Politics

A one-shot that serves to underline the lengths the Judges will go to in order to quash democracy, "Politics" sits a little strangely in this Volume. It was originally published well before "The Devil You Know" and "Twilight's Last Gleaming", but is presented just after in the Mega Collection.

It actually serves to undercut those stories a bit. Dredd's point throughout both of those stories was that the citizens might not like the Judges, but at least they know that they'll be upholders of the Law. This entire story suggests that the Judges, with Dredd as a main participant, regularly conduct shady undercover operations to remove people who have committed no crimes.

It's not entirely clear why they feel the need to come down so hard on an actor who seems to be doing more promotion of her movie than democratic principles. The subterfuge leads to a great image of the Judges being gunned down, including Dredd, and there's a certain amount of "shock" value in the treatment of the poor actor at the end.

Overall it's fine as a quick hit of Dredd, but doesn't fit fantastically well with what we learn about the Judges in other stories.