Saturday 11 November 2017

15: Direct Action

In terms of placement within the Mega-Collection, Direct Action feels like its a direct response to my small issues with SABs. Overall, its the same story. Dredd and the Judges take down some democratically-minded citizens on skyboards. But where SABs felt a bit too clean-cut, "Direct Action" packs some real punch.

The first point of interest is a juve who calls herself Mercy Shakespeare, and thinks she is the daughter of famed skysurfer and Dredd nemesis Chopper. She's actually an orphan who has "adopted" Chopper as her father, but has something like his skill with a board and a very similar attitude to authority. Writer Gordon Rennie doesn't hammer home any point or meaning with her inclusion, but given this is well after he last encountered Chopper, I get the sense that Rennie is using Mercy to reinforce to Dredd that this battle will never really end. No matter what the Judges do, no matter how much of a necessity Dredd believes they are, there will always be citizens who fight back. Chopper may not be a perp he has to worry about anymore, but here's a juve literally taking on his legacy.

But despite the effective introduction of Mercy and her interactions with Dredd, it's two deaths that really signal this is not just a simple case of "catch the crooks". The first is a rookie Judge Dredd sent in to infiltrate Mercy's juve gang, and the second is a juve that Dredd takes out with a sniper rifle. These are both pretty shocking moments that aren't overplayed with melodrama, but clearly have an affect. It's one of those moments where we have to remind ourselves that Dredd is the lead character of the series, nominally the "hero", and he's just gunned down a child - bluntly dismissing her as a "Judge-Killer".

It's those sort of uncomfortable moments that make you realise how this series is still going strong over 40 years after it started. There's always complications and grey areas to pursue.

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