5: Blood and Duty

With the Beeny family saga wrapped up (for now), we get a story that puts complicated family ties right at the forefront for Dredd himself. Vienna was introduced fairly early on in Dredd's 2000 AD run as his niece, daughter of his clone brother Rico. Dredd sent her away when he feared she was growing to love him too much, but she has now returned to clear the air.

The parallels with Bennett Beeny and his decision to enrol Ami in the Academy of Law are clear, and are nicely highlighted by including this story in Volume 1 of the Mega Collection. Bennett and Dredd both send their family away to protect them - and while Dredd never actually he states that he loves Vienna, it's clear that he has relatively strong feelings for her.

Colin MacNeil brings an effective muted style to this story - this is a family reunion that is not your typical one filled with joy and energy. The central conceit - basically Dredd missing his "daughter's" recital - is such a cliche that when it is filtered through the nasty and dark world of Dredd it becomes surprisingly effective. In two brief episodes writer John Wagner is able to bring a fair bit of depth to Vienna. Just as with Cadet (then Judge) Beeny, Vienna is clear-headed about her childhood and situation. A lesser writer would have had her yelling and screaming at Dredd, but her grim-faced departure is far more effective than histrionics.

At the end of the day, this story highlights what Dredd has chosen to give him by devoting himself to the Law. Again, this is clearly and succinctly told in the story without drama - he misses Vienna's performance, and then doesn't even see her as she returns to Brit-Cit. He has a moment's reaction, and then is back on the streets. There's a time for high displays of emotion, and I can love a bit of melodrama as much as anyone, but there's also something tragic about the quiet resignation of how this all plays out.

The title of this story gives Dredd a choice, and while Dredd seems to try and convince himself he didn't mean to get distracted by the streets, there was never going to be any contest between blood and duty.