30: By Lethal Injection

We're into the "Countdown to Necropolis" now as John Wagner moves all the final pieces into position before Mega-City One's darkest hour. This is a pretty plot-heavy two-parter that sees Kraken granted full Judge status, despite the fact that Dredd failed him before taking the Long Walk. John Wagner's refusal to take the simple option is great here - it would be so much easier and more obvious if Kraken was just a Judda who was plotting and scheming and pretending. But Kraken is conflicted, and does genuinely believe he's worthy of being a Judge. Wagner gives his internal monologue some gravitas here as he almost seems to be dazed, sleepwalking to his death.

Carlos Ezquerra is back and isn't flashy or too dramatic, but his depiction of Kraken preparing to inject himself with the lethal concoction is so impressive that it even makes the 2000AD cover for that Prog! It's always good to see Wagner and Ezquerra together.

But at the end of the day this is Wagner taking the lead with meticulous planning and storytelling. I've read that Wagner was possibly seeing Necropolis as his swansong with Dredd. It's not too much of a stretch to see where Wagner's head is at as he explores what Mega-City One does without Dredd. Dredd is gone, and the Justice Department seem ready to replace him very quickly with a potentially dodgy copy. It's a mark of confidence in the world-building, over a decade into Judge Dredd stories, that Wagner is comfortable to explore stories without the Lawman himself actually appearing.

A lot of the stories in this Volume are about Dredd's relationship with the City he loves. In this extended prologue, we start by exploring what happens when he's not around - and whether he can be replaced.

29: Nightmares

So we reach the end of another Volume. Nightmares actually takes place after the events of Volume 5, but I can see the argument for placing it here. It's the end of the story of Yassa and the Dead Man, which is the thread that holds Volume 4 together. It does unfortunately undermine the story told in Necropolis as we now know a fair bit about how that plays out, but I don't mind the individual Volumes being seen as essentially standalone. All these stories are decades old now, so telling them this way I think is largely not a problem.

We're firmly into aftermath territory yet again here, but as it's aftermath to a story I'll be reading again pretty soon, I'd rather focus on Yassa and Dredd. The ending of The Dead Man was horrific - Dredd had his memories back but Yassa's only reward for helping Dredd and Mega-City One was a violent attack that left him blinded and beset by hellish nightmares and visions. Things don't often go too positively in the Dredd universe, so it's a nice touch that Dredd remembers Yassa and ensures he is brought to Mega-City One.

This is Steve Dillon's first artwork in the run of the Mega Collection, and it works really well for me. It has some connective tissue with John Ridgway's artwork in terms of the sharp lines, but the colour is dramatic. I like how Dillon balances the flashbacks and new material, and makes them all feel of a piece.

Dredd's character journey over this Volume has been big. He's doubted the system, then left the City behind. This decision has dramatic consequences which will play out in Volume 5, and now he has to reckon with his doubts being correct but his call to take the Long Walk not being the right answer. There's a really nice moment where Dredd rescues Yassa from the kidnappers who had hoped to ransom him, and he quietly and gently assures the traumatised boy he'll be OK. Saving the entire City wasn't enough for Dredd - it had to be about saving the individuals like Yassa. Dredd doesn't get many gentle moments, so when they arrive they land hard.

That moment for me leads directly to Dredd's reckoning with the Justice Department. For him, the only way they can move forward with iron control is in partnership with the citizens. Dredd's insistence on a democratic vote circles back to Volume 2 and the stories that play out there. Despite the story order problems it presents, this is why Nightmares really needs to be here. By dealing with Yassa's personal fallout from his part in The Dead Man, Dredd is able to come to terms in some way with his own personal fallout. Yassa lost his eyes, while Dredd's were opened.

Yes, his doubts about the system were right, but he has to be part of the solution. And that solution means trusting people like Yassa and his family, not dominating them.

28: Tale of the Dead Man

So now we get the full story of The Dead Man, with the lead-up to Dredd’s decision to take the Long Walk. It brings together a range of story threads, some we’ve seen in the Mega Collection and some we won’t be seeing for quite a while.

John Wagner builds on his storytelling in The Shooting Match to tell more a slow burn story of Dredd coming to terms with his doubts, framed around taking rookie Cadet Kraken out for his assessment. As with that previous story, it’s clear that Kraken can outperform Dredd technically. Wagner cleverly plays with this, forcing the reader to question how much of Dredd’s negative reaction to the ex-Judda is just jealousy that he’s better.

This is highlighted by the introduction of Judge Morphy, who took Dredd out as a cadet and made him a full Judge. A blast from the past that Dredd actually likes and admires? There’s no way this can end well for Morphy. Dredd is forced to reflect on his own time as a cadet, and compare it to Kraken’s performance. Morphy’s eventual death then brings the reflection full circle - is it time for Dredd to be on the scrap heap as well?

We get two artists here, Will Simpson and Jeff Alexander. Their rich painted colours are both great, and in fact they complement each other so well I had assumed it was all one artist!

Now all the pieces are in place for Necropolis. Will Wagner’s complex and circular storytelling serve as a successful prologue to what’s to come?

27: A Letter to Judge Dredd

When John Wagner starts writing letters, you know things aren't going well. In Letter from a Democrat, Wagner took six pages to undermine everything the readers thought they knew about Dredd, the Judges and their domination over the City. In A Letter to Judge Dredd, Wagner takes six pages to undermine everything Dredd thinks about the Judges, their domination over the City - and himself.

In coming back to read this one again, I'd completely forgotten that the 10-year old who writes to Dredd is killed at the end. It's telling that I felt more this kid here in 1 episode than I ever felt for Nimrod over multiple episodes in Total War. The questions that Dredd is forced to face are undermining the very foundations of the entire series. Wagner takes the exaggerated, over-the-top nature of the series - and then takes it completely seriously from the ground level. And that's enough to shake Dredd's belief in everything.

Even knowing the decades' worth of stories that surround this tiny entry in the Dredd canon, it's still a quietly seismic moment for the series and the character that holds up today. Volume 4 has been an incredible read so far.

26: The Shooting Match

A one-shot from John Wagner, The Shooting Match is only about one simple thing. Dredd can be replaced - and maybe he will be. Despite having read a fair few Judge Dredd stories now, and even some other single hits from other 2000AD series, even re-reading some of these quick episodes I'm still amazed by how much story a master writer like Wagner can tell in only six pages.

Dredd and Kraken are facing a cadet training run together. Dredd starts off slightly stronger, edging the ex-Judda out in time and skill. But as the course continues, Kraken begins to edge Dredd out and eventually overtakes him. By the end, Kraken's score is perfect - beating Dredd.

This one moment encapsulates everything Wagner wants the readers thinking about. Dredd is ageing and tiring. He's the best, but he's fading. Kraken could be better than him. Kraken starts off not as good as Dredd, but ends up seeming better than him. In one episode Wagner outlines everything we need to know for the arc of the upcoming story. It's incredibly clever work, ably supported by John Higgins' colourful but atmospheric artwork.

25: Bloodline

I could have asked this question in a number of previous entries, but this seems like a good story to tackle it on. Does the Mega Collection's order of stories in the Volumes make it difficult to follow some of the plotlines? Without knowing the story of the Judda in Oz (Volume 31), I can only imagine this must be very difficult to follow.

I've read about 50% of the Mega Collection, and stopped when I wanted to start to read them and review them in Volume order. I'd read Oz already, and Necropolis as well, so I didn't feel too lost this time around. But the whole Necropolis storyline is John Wagner at his most complex and intricate plotting - having stories out of order is a challenge. I wonder if it would have been better to include The Dead Man and Necropolis volumes later in the run, in their place in the "Mega-Epics" Volumes?

I think in the end it doesn't matter too much - we learn more about Kraken and the Judda in stories to come, and Bloodline works for me mainly as another mood and atmosphere piece. John Wagner's decision to use the second-person in the narration is striking, and a very subtle hint that Dredd is literally dealing with a second version of himself (in some ways). The small moments of Dredd reflecting on his advancing age are nicely handled, and realistic.

Will Simpson's black and white artwork is striking and lends and almost noir sensibility to the story, and I really love his painted work for the opening colour double spread of each of the two episodes.

Bloodline serves to reintroduce Kraken, highlight Dredd's length of time serving the city he loves and lay the foundations for the epic story to come. On all those counts it works well.

24: The Dead Man

It's hard to know what to add to the collective analysis of The Dead Man that hasn't been written before, and better. Even coming to this story almost 30 years after it was initially published, it really is as powerful as the conventional wisdom suggests. Yes, the twist ending can't be as effective as it must have been back in 1990, but the story is much more than just where it ends up.

Probably more than any other story I've covered on this blog so far, The Dead Man is an exercise in atmosphere and mood. When I think about the story, the overall plot isn't what sticks with me so much as John Ridgway's black line artwork that seems to have been etched onto the book in front of me; the sweeping vistas of the Cursed Earth; the sparse dialogue and the narration that grows in dread and despair as the episodes slowly build to the climax.

Knowing that The Dead Man is Dredd doesn't diminish the story, it clarifies it. The Dead Man was always about Dredd. Wagner strips Dredd down, almost literally to the point of burning his skin to the bone. No Lawmaster, no Lawgiver, no Judges. Who is Joseph Dredd when he doesn't have any of those things? The answers are telling. Still focused and determined to reach the truth, despite what it might cost. Concerned for innocents and with a sense of decency, but he is unable to protect Yassa from harm. To be honest, the story becomes far less interesting in episodes 12 and 13 as we revert back to "another episode in the continuing adventures of Judge Dredd". Dredd and Yassa wearily trudging through the stark landscapes, probing deeper into the mysteries of The Dead Man are riveting. Dredd fighting off Nausea and Phobia with arch dialogue is fine, but nothing we haven't seen before.

The Dead Man works to refresh our view of Dredd. Wagner cleverly uses the conceit of the story to look into Dredd's role as a character. Judge Dredd is a completely known quantity. He's a future cop, following the rules, cubing criminals and with very few layers below what we see. The Dead Man is a complete mystery, utterly unknown. We know nothing of his history, his motivations, his values. Rediscovering those things is electrifying to read.

There's a confidence here to Wagner's writing that is still palpable decades later - a writer at the height of his creative powers. The concept here is absolutely rock solid, even if it hadn't had been revealed to be Dredd! A mysterious stranger with no memory but the skills to protect people from dark supernatural threats? That's an incredible series on its own, and Wagner casually just discards it to set up a fantastic twist in the ongoing Dredd storyline! It's bold, brave and dramatic.

I mentioned it briefly earlier but it needs calling out again - John Ridgway is the absolute equal star of this tale. I'm biased as a Doctor Who fan, as Ridgway's work is synonymous with some of Doctor Who Magazine's most iconic tales from the 1980s, but I've never seen better work from him than in here. The hard and unforgiving landscape is reflected in his stark black lines, and it draws the reader in to the unforgiving story that plays out.

The Dead Man is a true classic, and one of my absolute favourites as a reading experience.

23: Horror in Emergency Camp 4

We get our first real all-out horror story for Dredd here, at least in terms of the Mega Collection. There's something about Dredd and horror tropes that works really well. Dredd's blank-faced refusal to engage with the stereotypes and just take the monsters down cuts against many of the cliches of the horror genre. On that score, Horror in Emergency Camp 4 is mostly a success. The emergency camp setting is atmospheric and fits in well with the aftermath of Total War. It allows us to see the food shortages, societal decay and opportunistic crime that naturally follows big disasters.

John Wagner uses the story to point out that the real monsters in these situations are actually the humans who prey on their own kind. Nosferatu, the vampire-like monster on the hunt for blood, is largely just following its biological requirements and is also far from its own home. As usual, Mega-City One citizens don't have to be pushed too far to do the wrong thing in their own backyard.

Wagner also attempts to make this a "rematch" of sorts, with Dredd having encountered Nosferatu before. We haven't seen him in this order of reading of course, and I genuinely can't remember if that first encounter is in the Mega Collection at all!

This is the first art from D'Isreali in the Mega Collection, and while I appreciate the technical effort from the artist it doesn't quite work for me. The cartoon-like lines and colouring just don't seem the fit the horror story that's being told, at least for me. I know more is to come from D'Israeli, and I'm looking forward to seeing it work with more broad and comedic stories.

22: The Searchers

Another Gordon Rennie one-shot exploring the aftermath of Total War, with Judges Dredd and Guthrie out in the Cursed Earth looking for survivors who fled the nuclear detonations. I think I actually enjoyed this one a fair bit more than Visiting Hour however. While Rennie felt constrained there by having to deal with the complex family connections between Dredd and Vienna, here he is able to tell a very simple story about a single Mega-City family that fell victim to the crazy events that continually afflict the Big Meg.

Rennie's stark story rams home the oft-made point that a true win is very hard to come by in this world. Nothing is solved or fixed here. A family are killed by scavengers in the Cursed Earth, and then the final surviving member has to be taken out by the force meant to protect them - the Judges. Just one among millions. The only lesson Dredd can pull out of it is to get tighter boots, focus on the job and move on.

What really kicks this up a notch for me though is Carl Critchlow's artwork. I really love his scraggly lines and textures, which seem to fit particularly well for the Cursed Earth setting. I'm looking forward to seeing more of his artwork in further Volumes.

21: Visiting Hour

The aftermath of Total War continues with a quick one-shot that picks up Vienna's story after she is nearly killed, and watches Dredd put Nimrod out of his misery. I have a soft spot for these short, character-driven pieces, and I've always liked Vienna as a character. Her background and situation are about as melodramatic as possible, yet there's a core of strength, resilience and straightforwardness that belies her desire to escape the Fargo bloodline.

This short episode mostly unfairly suffers from having to continue the subplot from Total War, which just didn't work for me. Vienna's anger at Dredd doesn't really ring true here - yes he initially refused to deal with Nimrod, but he did not ask Vienna to get involved, and actively tried twice to get her to leave the city.

We get a similar plot to Blood and Duty, with Dredd once again unable to see Vienna as he has work on the streets. I like Gordon Rennie's work, but I don't think he quite nails Vienna's character here when compared to John Wagner in that story from Volume 1. But the ending sums up Dredd's unconventional family - confused and distant, and with Dredd unable to be who Vienna might like him to be.

20: After the Bombs

As we'll see with future epic turning points in Volumes to come, John Wagner likes to explore the aftermath of big events in Mega-City One. After the Bombs follows up the carnage of Total War by touching on how long and slow the clean-up after the nuclear blasts is, and wraps up the loose ends of the terrorist organisation itself by obliquely showing Dredd and the Judges take down the remaining leaders.

As usual, Wagner doesn't choose the obvious route to do this. After the Bombs takes one of the leaders of Total War, Gaia Innocenti, gives her amnesia and a sudden ability to see the future, and then puts her at the pointy end of a very, very cranky Judge Dredd.

The story itself is pretty dark and brutal, and this is backed up by Jason Brashill's smooth, cartoony renderings - almost like some sort of ultra-violent Pixar movie. The art isn't exactly to my taste, but Brashill is clearly enjoying himself with some of the over-the-top touches.

The ending is pure Judge Dredd, and another grim reminder that although we were forced to side with the Judges as they faced the nuclear destruction of their entire City, they are not the good guys. The final page where Gaia's shrapnel, the "antenna" that allowed her to see the future", is forcibly re-inserted so that Psi-Division can make up for their failure to foresee the events of Total War is nasty stuff.

Total War strayed a little more into "good guys versus bad guys" than is usual for John Wagner. After the Bombs feels like a subtle course-correction, with some sympathy evoked for one of the leaders of the terrorist organisation that killed millions of people, and another reminder what lengths the Justice Department will go to in order to stay one step ahead.

19: Total War

So after years of build-up and small-scale violence killing dozens, Total War take things far beyond anything that could have been suspected in Volumes 1 and 2. In a lot stories, there are moments, events, choices of storytelling that are so big they can obscure everything around it. It's hard to look critically at this story without moving past the three nuclear explosions and the millions dead that form the shocking heart of what we're reading.

Writer John Wagner knows this, and each time the bombs go off, he lets artist Henry Flint take up multiple pages with blinding light and blackened carnage. The story pauses and takes a horrified breath, just as the citizens of Mega-City One not caught in the actual blast do. There's an audacity to this storytelling that still sets the reader back a step.

Yes, Wagner and others have done this kind of thing before in terms of original publication, but it's the first one we get in the order of Mega Collection Volumes. Even if they're now less shocking than they originally were, in an era of "world-shattering" and "game-changing" events that are rebooted and reset in most other series, it's still incredible to think this is one story, one continuity - what happens here matters to the story, and will continue to.

I'm looking big picture here, because zooming in reveals that the details aren't quite as good here. The story is a pure action thriller, a countdown against the terrorist bad guys. There's a tension here that works well, and Wagner is direct and straightforward in showing how Dredd and the Judges face the challenge. There are some other highlight moments, such as Hershey announcing the Judges will stand down in the face of more detonations. Even though we know it's a ploy, it's still effective. But the mechanics of the story aren't new or portrayed in interesting ways.

The Vienna and Nimrod subplot also jars with the main action, and doesn't really seem to go anywhere, or tell us anything new about Dredd or his relationship with his "family". But with so many stories in the Dredd universe, I'm OK with looking at ones like Total War in terms of its impact, and its atmosphere. On both of those points, it's a powerful story.

18: Terror

There are a lot of obvious parallels and callbacks to America in Terror. A lot of it is Colin MacNeil's moody painted artwork; the similarity between Zondra and America Jara; the bombings of terrorist group Total War. At the heart is a tragic love story entangled with violent terrorism that can have no happy ending.

But there's also more here than just a rerun of an old classic. Terror is about setting things up for the dramatic and explosive events of Total War, so needs to remind us about the terrorist group and their modus operandi. Doing it by reflecting "America" also gives us an idea of how Dredd and the Justice Department can't seem to definitely end this violent group despite their hardline efforts.

There's a cynicism and weariness floating over this story. America was America and Beeny's story, with Dredd and the Judges as dark forces tearing them apart. We saw their childhoods, their love story and its bitter aftermath - and through their daughter, their future. Zonda and Castinello have a love story here, but with none of the depth. John Wagner seems to be deliberately echoing his past classic, and uses the big ideas and themes there to make a larger point - for Dredd, nothing's changed. Despite everything that's happened since America, Dredd is still facing Total War and their blunt force tactics.

Worse, there can be no relief. Just as America Jara felt forced by her circumstances to join Total War, Castinello felt he had no other option. The system of harsh law enforcement can do nothing but create more broken people prepared to throw bombs. America can only continue to be echoed in the series.

17: Mega-City Confidential

John Wagner turns to the journalism-expose genre, with Colin MacNeil providing a masterclass effort in artwork that looks like a dark-hued and somber thriller movie. The idea that the surveillance we saw in SABs has now extended to an even more insidious and all-pervasive state is obvious but still effective, and we get another example of how far the Judges are willing to go to preserve their power.

One of the things that really stood out on reading this last story of the Volume is just how far Dredd has come as a continuous series. This Volume contains a story like Mega-City Confidential from 2014, mere pages away from 1986's Letter from a Democrat - and its a stark juxtaposition. Confidential is smooth, confident and polished. This is a series that knows what it's doing and is doing it with precision. The artwork is crisp and clear, Colin MacNeil still growing and sharpening his style.

But while it's fascinating to look at the differences between Dredd's early days and his present, it's impressive that he's still dealing with the same concerns. What are the rights of the citizens of the Big Meg? What is worth sacrificing to be safe - and is being safe a guarantee even with your freedoms curtailed?

By this point in Dredd's history the Judges are dealing with the fallout from multiple disasters, and have far less time and inclination to worry about those questions.