Judge Dredd Volume 5

Judge Dredd (IDW) #5

by Duane Swierczynski

Dredd's most vicious and unstoppable enemies - the Dark Judges - are clawing their way into Mega-City One, determined to transform it into a new city of the dead. But the only thing more horrifying than the Dark Judges' onslaught are drastic measures the Justice Department is willing to take to repel them!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia

Paperback

First published September 23, 2014

About the author

Duane Swierczynski is an American crime writer who has written a number of non-fiction books, novels and also writes for comic books.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining but this feels like you're reading only the middle part of a larger story. Which, in essence, you are and that's fine but as a book judged solely on its own merits it comes off a tad insubstantial.

[Edward Kaye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why not take a proven concept like the Dark Judges and water it down with tons of lame pseudo-Dark Judges? What a mess!

[Andrei · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overview: The Dark Judges, Dredd's newest and most ruthless foes, were introduced in the previous volume. Their goal is to kill everyone and bring Mega-City One to an end. To prevent the imminent annihilation of the judges and the population, drastic actions must be implemented.

Pros: Just the graphics.

Overview: My complaints began in the previous volume and will undoubtedly continue in this volume. I miss the days when Dredd had to deal with mere human criminals, but now his adversaries are demonic creatures or space creatures from other dimensions. The story had so many elements that it practically lost its taste. It's rather confusing.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The insistence on collecting these in such short volumes really works to the detriment of the story here. The story is very entertaining, but it picks up in the middle and stops in the middle; there's absolutely nothing self-contained about this volume. I'm lucky enough to have the next volume right here ready to go, but it's still quite annoying.

So: excellent book, terribly collected.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judge Dredd, Vol. 5 sees the Dark Judges really going to town in Mega City One! :D The Dark Judges as ever come across as extremely sinister as ever but in this story the lengths that the City Judges under Cal go to try and put them back in their place is as brutal! :D This gives the story a totally different feel to what has happened before as instead of routing for the Dredd and Judges it is Dredd and anyone he can get to help! :D This give Judge Dredd, Vol. 5 a very different feel but at the same time really advances the story line and leaves plot points handing like fruit on tree! :D

Judge Dredd, Vol. 5 art is incredible really catching the surreal atmosphere of the book! :D The panels shift brilliantly the really enhance the script! :D The while script and look of the book is a perfect match up and moves along at a terrific pace! :D

Judge Dredd, Vol. 5 is clever, observant, witty and real roller coaster ride! :D You never know which way the plot will go especially with all sides constantly taking things to the next levels and will keep you guessing all the way through brilliant and highly recommended! :D

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think that this story stood on its own, or that it would be a reasonable entry point to the series. If, on the other hand, you've been reading Judge Dredd for years, and know the earlier stories about the Dark Judges, the only tricky parts are the weird new Dark Judges introduced here, along with the way Judge Anderson is handled.
In the original Dark Judges stories, the whole point was that they were archetypes, kind of along the lines of the Four Horses of the Apocalypse. Expanding the roster, left us with things like Judge Fistula, or Judge Burroughs, who is a sort of giant mole...burroughs is supposed to remind the reader of burrows, right? Yeah, no, not a scary archetype.
On the other hand, the art is excellent, and the action is solid. There's even a continuation of the sentient butter story, so I had to give it a fourth star.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first read Judge Dredd I was a 12 year old schoolboy reading the first issue of 2000ad. If I was still that age I probably would have liked this book. It would have appealed to my youthful tastes, but I found it lacking as an adult. The story moved at a frantic pace with more action than substance and the artwork was a mish-mash of styles that I found uninspired and unappealing. This book tells a big story but bogs it down with too many subplots that are never fully explained and a Black Hat/White Hat vibe that doesn't work. I felt this book was little more than filler in the series and only served as a set-up for the next installment.

[Микола · Rating 3 out of 5]

не ясно, де проходить межа між використанням сюжетних технологій і знущанням над ними. як у американському ситкомі, колізії висмоктують із того, що трапилося в попередніх серіях. недолугий суддя, що кілька випусків тому потрапив у сплетіння неприємних випадковостей з клонуванням і серійним стиранням пам'яті, перетворюється на некроманта, що приводить у Мегасіті «темних суддів» з інших вимірів. можна змотатись на Титан і назад з допомогою пекельного телепорту, навідатися до blob ex machina, словом, залишається гадати, чи остання книга серії не завершиться весіллям.

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dark Judges has entered Mega City One. But they are not alone, for they have bought along a whole whose of alien Judges from other dimensions to also pass judgement on the City. Dredd, who has been sentenced to life on Titan, is informed of return of the Dark Judges and must get back to the city to save it.

When he returns and see how bad things are, he has little choice to but return to the Cursed Earth and request the help of the alien intelligence (from Vol. 2) to save the city.

[Tomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a bit surprised by the amount of dark judges there. and some of them were really unnecessary but it was done brilliantly. I am really surprised how much of the original judge Dredd can be found in this new run

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some time, I thought there were only 4 Dark Judges, but now I understand why there were a target of 13. Plenty more Dark Judges and body horror (and bloody humor) to come from their dimension! Plus, I still love the callback elements to keep the continuity happening.

[Edwardthebear · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like the first film, the whole IDW series tries to pack remixes of early Dredd storylines into too small a space, by this volume it's devolved into a cover band.
It's not a totally bad cover band, but when you've grown up with the originals it's a bit meh.

[Jesse A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not any worse than the other books in the series, which I absolutely love, just very much a middle volume. 5 stars as a whole but this volume in a vacuum only gets 4.

[Martyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did they just Disney/Pixar the Dark Judges? Collect the whole set!

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I wasnt sure about all the extra Dark Judges, but this turned out to be a pretty fun read.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine continuation of what began in Vol. 4.

[Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one took a strange turn but I'm here for it. A lot of new villains but it found a way to tie back to the previous stories.

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm continuing my journey through IDW's Judge Dredd run and this volume brings us the Dark judges. In the original series of 2000 AD there were four main Dark Judges. In this volume we get 13! Some are really creepy and some of them kind of funny. Dredd however is unable to hep the city as he has been sent to the moon as a criminal. However a mysterious Dark Judge holds the key to his returning back to the battle.

[Petr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dark judges rain destruction on MC1 and the story starts for me to be a lot more entertaining. It connects also some strands from the previous volumes and make them in retrospect nice setup work for this mayhem.