At the risk of getting back on topic,
While I too was/am sad about cadet Moon sacrificing herself to save Dredd (which is certainly what seems to have happened, even if Williams later shows that she surived and is rescued, and golly I hope he does that), I guess I have to credit Williams with just writing the story as a thing in itself.
Seems to me the gist is 'what's a foe Dredd hasn't faced before - I know, nature, in the guise of a giant grizzly bear'. And when you have an artist lined up whio is going to absolutely kill that scenario, you run with it. And as a standalone story, it makes sense that Dredd can't just 'win' in the end, he has to lose something, and the idea Williams mustered for that function was a promising cadet (other options could have included: letting a perp get away; giving up some kind of secret weapon to a perp; making a deal with the Sovs - or something?). Anyway, he went the emotional route, which only works if he makes us care about the cadet in question, and judging by the response on this thread he achieved that in spades!
For sure we long-term readers could interrogate the fact that there's a LONG history of 'promising young cadet = black or woman', but in each one-off instance it works, I guess?
All that said, my main reaction on the final page of this mini-epic was grumpy rather than sad.
While I too was/am sad about cadet Moon sacrificing herself to save Dredd (which is certainly what seems to have happened, even if Williams later shows that she surived and is rescued, and golly I hope he does that), I guess I have to credit Williams with just writing the story as a thing in itself.
Seems to me the gist is 'what's a foe Dredd hasn't faced before - I know, nature, in the guise of a giant grizzly bear'. And when you have an artist lined up whio is going to absolutely kill that scenario, you run with it. And as a standalone story, it makes sense that Dredd can't just 'win' in the end, he has to lose something, and the idea Williams mustered for that function was a promising cadet (other options could have included: letting a perp get away; giving up some kind of secret weapon to a perp; making a deal with the Sovs - or something?). Anyway, he went the emotional route, which only works if he makes us care about the cadet in question, and judging by the response on this thread he achieved that in spades!
For sure we long-term readers could interrogate the fact that there's a LONG history of 'promising young cadet = black or woman', but in each one-off instance it works, I guess?
All that said, my main reaction on the final page of this mini-epic was grumpy rather than sad.