Broken Frontier

Judge Dredd: Mechanismo collects all the tales of the Robot Judges in one handy tpb featuring material from the Judge Dredd Megazine 2.12-2.17, 2.22-2.26 and 2.37-2.43. The short format in the ongoing 2000 AD magazine often leads to concise and razor sharp focus on the storytelling front but often through necessity and space constraints, it needs to cut back on full page splashes and action sequences stretched over several pages. But have no fear, the Judge Dredd Megazine is here! The tales of Dredd can be shown in all the glorious action splatter fest that living in Mega-City One entices. As ol' stone face often says "Over 400 million people scattered over +50 000 blocks, all potential perps".

In Mega-City One the authorities reveal the latest thing in law enforcement, robot Judges built to serve, protect and – where necessary – execute. But for one particular street Judge this development in law enforcement is a step too far, and when the Mechanismo models start malfunctioning it’s up to Dredd to take them down!

There's an interesting underlying theme that writer John Wagner picks up on. The robots themselves are programmed with an underlying template personality of Dredd himself. This legendary lawman is often seen as a robot himself and it is this dichotomy that Wagner tries to infuse into the tales presented in this volume. It is the old human conscience versus robot efficiency tale and even in the future, they still can't get that emotion chip to work just the right way. Guts and blood and violence ensues, blimey. In the end, it is of course the human conscience that tempers the steel that drives Dredd and which is why the Robot Judges can never replace a good old fashioned flesh and blood judge. However, this is your madcap action driven tale so the story is not of the highest importance here, it is the road getting there.

And the road is smattered with corpses and robot parts. John Wagner shows a more constrained side of himself and lets the artist step into the spotlight. He infuses a few interesting themes like the Dredd template for the Robots, the human mind vs robot logic, Dredd's doubting of the Chief Judge who firmly believes in the Robot Judges programme etc. Wagner jiggles it all with care while never forgetting that this is an action tale spread out over many pages cue intense scenes of rogue Robot Judge n° 5 judging and executing people over several pages, drawn out shoot outs between perps and robot judges and fearsome cat and mouse games in the dark alleys of the Mega City between Dredd and the Robot Judge. The ending to the Robot Judges tale even sports a nice surprise where Dredd is true to being Dredd and he handles according to what he thinks is best for the city.

The art is spread out over the different chapters, corresponding with the publications in the Judge Dredd Megazine. Colin MacNeil handles the first chapter. He's an old vet at the game and his paintings work perfectly with Wagner's breezy script. MacNeil is offered plenty of space for his textured style employing soft colours with a lot of red and yellow to the cityscape and technology involved. His slightly cartoony figures and style of painting that handles sharp outlines ending in soft shapes and splatters reminds a bit of Simon Bisley when he's not too agitated. And just like Bisley, he's not afraid to implement colours outside of reality just to set a mood and get the juices pumping.

Peter Doherty takes over in the second chapter 'Mechanismo Returns' and he employs a painterly style that is much harder, using pen outlines filled with paint. His vision is a much darker vision and is a fitting follow up in storytelling terms. Where the first chapter still seemed like all would turn out well, here it all goes to Drokk! The gore is turned up and Doherty's hard line work in combination with his paints makes the Robot Judges even more of a menace.

For the third chapter Manuel Benet steps in with a definitely more British feel. His characters are more delineated and the painterly steel has a more historical feel to it. His figure work is much more realistic owing more to Frank Hampson than Simon Bisley. In keeping with that tradition, he is also much sparser with the gore. Although Robot Judge n°5 still keeps on blowing off hands, feet and faces of the citizenry, rarely do we see blood and guts flying about. It's all rather nice and spiffy. Though an expert draughtsman, the style pales a bit in conjunction with the energetic stylings of Doherty and MacNeil.

If you're looking for high octane sci-fi action in the largest city of the future infused with a droids vs humans theme, Judge Dredd: Mechanismo should be right up your alley. Lay on a rocking guitar track, switch off your brain and enjoy the ride!

Judge Dredd: Mechanismo by John Wagner and Benet, MacNeil, Ronald and Sullivan is published by 2000 AD. It is a 176 pages full colour trade paperback retailing for £ 13.99 and is available online and in finer bookstores and comic shops across the world.