This main story is from the perspective of the people fighting for democracy. Typical Dredd is told form the POV of Dredd and is over the top dark violence. It is a story of people fighting for democracy in a world gone bad. The main story is not the tone of a typical Dredd story.

I am with the other reviewers who say 'This is not Dredd' or 'This is Dredd for people who don't like Dredd'. It didn’t work.'Īmerica is often praised as one of the best Dredd stories but I have to disagree. I don’t know if it’s the best entry point for discovering Dredd- and even if it’s representative of the series- but it’s quite a good story on the need- or not- for democracy for the majority opposed to some enlightened elite. Collecting various stories revolving around the fight for democracy in MC1, it culminates with the longest one of the book, 'America', as much a tragedy than a political statement. And the book wasn’t very funny too.īut good nevertheless. I see the point but wasn’t expecting that.

I thought the Judges were the terrors of criminals, not of the entire population of Mega City One. Well, I didn’t expect the american- not british, my mistake- fascist state which laws he swore to uphold. (I’m pretty sure the aforementioned episodes were from the Judge Caligula storyline, which would explain my twisted perception of the book at the tender age of 13 or so) I've always been picturing Dredd as a kind of british Robocop with a poker up his arse fighting criminals without a smile in what would turn out to be outrageously violent- yet tongue-in-cheek funny- stories. My first Dredd book- if you expect a few episodes read in my early teens, not understanding what it was actually about- and it came out as quite unexpected.

Judge Dredd in America by John Wagner