Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files: v. 18 [Paperback]

He's got it! By Garth, he's got it! Welcome to an extremely historically-interesting volume of the future lawman's adventures - from my perspective, this is the one where Garth Ennis suddenly figures out how to write `Judge Dredd'.

That may seem a bit of a cheeky remark, but it's actually intended as a compliment. Even reading at the time, and not being a fan of Ennis's take on Dredd (I like his work much better in retrospect) I remember a sustained run of one-shots that genuinely felt like Ennis was really honing his craft. Week out, week in, something almost indefinable just seemed to click and we were delivered a string of excellent little 6-pagers, such as `A, B or C Warrior', `Ex-Men' and the brilliant `Unwelcome Guests', which provides us with one of the truly iconic moments of Ennis's oeuvre - "Where were YOU on Judgement Day?" We even get the only PJ Maybe tale written by anyone other than Wagner, in which Dredd gets to finally fulfil one of his long-time fantasies.

True, there's the odd wobbly relapse into the less successful, parodic aspects of Ennis's run: `Blind Mate' and `The Magic Mellow Out', for instance, both come across as pointless and dated. And yes, the art throughout is a bit inconsistent and leans towards the overpainted pseudo-Bisleyisms that so epitomise 90s 2000AD. But this is forgivable when we have real triumphs like the moving `Last Night Out', with stark stylised art by Brett Ewins, or the John Burns-assisted `Raider', in which another member of Dredd's increasingly infamous class of '79 surfaces on the wrong side of the law. Whilst it'd be hard to pretend Ennis ever wrote Dredd himself with the depth and complexity John Wagner gives the character (it'd be hard to argue anyone writes any 2000AD character with the depth and complexity Wagner gives Dredd), Ennis had by this stage certainly got Mega-City One and its crazed citizens down pat, in a way that Gordon Rennie would also eventually master many years hence.

And the Megazine content? Well, there's a few one-offs by both John Wagner and Alan Grant (separately), the highlight being `Resyk Man', blessed as it is with some glorious art by the late John Hicklenton. But for the most part, the Meg is all about Wagner's `Mechanismo'. The central idea is that Chief Judge McGruder wants robot-judges to be the future of law-enforcement (she'll have odder ideas - cybernetically-controlled dunesharks in `The Hunting Party') but Dredd's having none of it. Predictably, the robots go wrong, and in the sequel one of them escapes. By Wagner's standards, it's a bit of an obvious concept with no real surprises or swerves in-store, but it scores on two counts. The first is the art of Colin MacNeil, whose colourful, chunky designs are a joy to behold - Peter Doherty does art on the sequel and acquits himself well, but his delightfully crumpled style isn't the most obvious fit for a tech-heavy tale. The second is the way the story introduces some slow-burning tension between Dredd and McGruder, which becomes an extremely important plot thread for the future of the series, and which does indeed take a few unexpected swerves.

So Ennis has found his voice, Wagner is busy laying long-term plot foundations, Case Files 18 as a whole is a definite improvement on 17 - everything's going great guns, right? Well... not quite. Y'see, there's a fairly innocuous (albeit completely terrible) strip in this collection called 'Happy Birthday Judge Dredd'. It is written by Mark Millar, and is the proverbial tip of a particularly rubbish iceberg whose full girth will become apparent in Case Files 19 & 20. Batten down the hatches and splice the mainbrace, folks - this one's a last hurrah before the choppy waters ahead...

I must be getting old. The classic Dredd stories such as The Apocalypse War, Judge Child Quest, etc were true classics with Dredd being strict, tough but overall fair and following the rule of the law.

The later case files retain little of these classic tales, although there are still the odd good story. From this collection Mechanismo is the best of the bunch - it's similar to RoboCop in theme with robot Judges being brought in to police the Mega City due to the death of so many Judges in recent tales (mainly Necropolis). It's a good story and shows what makes a good Judge.

There are a few other tales of interest in there - Raider being another decent example, but most don't have the re-readability of the golden era.

As you would expect, the pages are all in full glossy colour - eight different artists make up this case files and the art is mostly adequate.

Probably one only for the Dredd die hards and collectors (I've got them all, and that's the only reason I still buy the newer books tbh).

Firstly can't fault the price or condition of this purchase. Though it was a few days later arriving than appeared in the shops. But hey, that's the price for saving money.

This is one of the first Dredd books that came after I stopped reading the original comics. I can see why now. Garth Ennis, whilst a great writer, just cannot write Dredd.

If you have bought Mechanismo already (yup, that's me!) be aware that this volume contains Mechanismo Part 1 from the Megazine.

And it's all colour which pushes the price up - all fine if it services the artwork and story, but a lot of this volume uses fill-in or third-rate artists that if you compare to the likes of McMahon, Bolland or Dillon, will make you cry.