JUDGE DREDD: IDW #12 'Into the Cursed Earth - Chapters 10-12'

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Two covers this month

Cover A - Nelson Daniel
Retail Incentive - Andrew Currie & Stephen Downer (how appropriate for this read)

The three parts are titled as follows,

Part 10 - Why Butter is Bad for You
Part 11 - Feeding Frenzy
Part 12 - Dredd Picks up the Check

I keep living in the vain hope that this will turn the corner and that I'll see light at the end of this relentless tunnel of horrors but this month we seem to be further away from that light than ever before!

[spoiler]It starts off with Dredd drowning/being absorbed/eaten by the Sentient Primordial Ooze but Dredd manages to trick this Odo like substance into freeing him and when it does are we in for a treat. By page three I was slapping my head in utter disbelief. The ooze starts to repair Dredd and when Joe feels as though he has had four or five sessions in the sleep machine, he questions the ooze and it tells him 'I TOLD YOUR ICKY GREY MUSCLE TO WORK HARDER TO HEAL YOU...' Not only did it heal his body but it repaired his uniform and his damaged helmet and then raised him out of its surface in a Superhero type pose

We move onto the Butter Lady, as she is preparing a load of young children (They may have been in last issue but I am not going to check but if not, where did all these come from?) to serve or be served to the Angel Gang. Dredd manages to take quite a while to walk the 10 metres to confront her and then he smacks her one and by now the kids out of the control of the ooze?!?!? The kids then throw her in the ooze and she is absorbed!

Next up, the Angel Gang, as they prepare to have their meal. During this the mutant with all the eyes, which are now eaten, manages to snap his wrist to enable himself to untie his bindings from the table. This break manages to repair itself straight after, which is rather handy!

Dredd marches towards the gang with the kids behind him and it looks as though Junior and Link are taken out by the kids, in the initial charge. On the next page I think Pa is taken down by them as well (bottom left panel) but it's badly displayed across the pages.

During this the mutant takes out the chef, who I think he places on the table to be cut up but that's done off page.

Mean now places his dial onto one of the SEVEN settings but before he can whack Dredd, Joe throws some ooze at him and that shows him how he became the deranged killer that he is. We see a pic of him as a bab,y with his mechanical arm on him. Obviously it is the arm he is wearing now, so how on earth he managed to do anything with that on him as a baby, God only knows

He's then ran over by the eyeless mutant in the Landraider type vehicle and loses his left arm in the impact. Who knows if he is killed from that but you would think so!

Dredd and the mutant now drive across the Cursed Earth, as the mutant can smell the trail left by the abducted elite of the city. They come across the new city and there to greet them is the Robot Myers. Myers tells Dredd that he will be the first inmate in their iso-cubes but Dredd tells the ooze (which he is carrying) that the robot is mocking its 'other' and throws it at Myers. All the mechanical kit in this new city fails now, who knows how.

Dredd orders Myers to give him the cure for the Long Fail Virus and he will let them survive. Myers agrees but Joe doesn't believe him and says that he and the rest of his so-called Court will be held in suspension until he returns to Mega-City One. Just before they depart the ooze asks how soon it will be before it sees its 'other' and the mutant has a wee sniff and says that 'This smells like trouble.'[/spoiler]

So we have major characters wiped out, or are they and numerous things just don't make sense at all. Still, I'm keeping the sales up, as I bought both copies.

I just feel that when this writer is taken off those duties then surely the strip will improve and then you will all join me and buy this

Just in case he is looking at this forum again, I have my handbag ready to raise

[Recrewt]

Hmmmm, this isn't making me want to buy it.

Has anyone heard anything more about that city of courts mini-series that is supposed to come out sometime soon?

[dweezil2]

I've been an apologist in the past, but #11 with all it's sentient butter guff was a real low.

Hopefully when Dredd gets back to Mega-City One things'll improve.

He'll I'm a glass half full kinda guy!   

[sheldipez]

The yanks are still lapping this up

Comic Vine - 5/5

This book remains one of the best action-comedies on the shelf and this issue does little to derail that reputation. It gives the reader plenty of head-tilting bizarreness that even when it veers a little too far off the trail, it always rights itself in the end AND the trip is always worthwhile. There are a few hiccups along the way, but nothing to seriously hamper the experience.

Unleash the Fanboy 4/5

The writing for this issue if fun, witty, and gross. It builds the tension of the the situation and delivers some nice work. I, personally, enjoyed the different characters that are introduced. The writing moves the story along in a way that is entertaining and time saving. I am not going to lie, this issue could have been really boring but because it was written right, the timing was executed perfectly.

[Albion]

I didn't think it could actually get worse but with the latest issue it has.
Issue 12 was truly one of the worst comics I have ever read.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

That is one dilemma, is it not!

I would like another writer, who can write, to take charge but if the Yanks are lapping this up, then I'm afraid that may never happen

Still, in the grand scheme of Dredd taking the US, I suppose I shall just have to become a Masochist.

[dweezil2]

That is one dilemma, is it not!

I would like another writer, who can write, to take charge but if the Yanks are lapping this up, then I'm afraid that may never happen

Still, in the grand scheme of Dredd taking the US, I suppose I shall just have to become a Masochist.

Yeah I'm kind of torn too.

I'm really glad that Judge Dredd is finding an audience in the US and IDW are going great guns with Year One, Mars Attacks Judge Dredd and Hopefully City Of Courts and Rogue Trooper, but old Dwayne needs to up his game!
I don't mind wacky for a while, but something more nuanced is needed to sustain the title.

[dweezil2]

Apologies: Duane!   

[James Stacey]

Dredd defeats the whole plot arc by [spoiler]spidermanning a robot with sentient love butter. [/spoiler] 
It's a bit like a long fail. Still, Mars Attacks Dredd #2 was good.

[Toni Scandella]

I collect Dredd stuff.  I even have the entire run of Lawman of the Future, both DC titles and everything both Games Workshop and Mongoose have put out to date.  I have all of the Dredd and Anderson prose novels. I bought Heavy Metal Dredd.  I enjoyed IDW's Year 1 series and am enjoying the Mars Attacks spin-off.

But this... I might stop getting this.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Call yourself a fan                

[James Stacey]

I'm fighting with Toni Scandella block. I've brought all sorts of crap Dredd over the years but this is serious gash.

[Dandontdare]

I gave up after two issues - and I'm waiting for the trades of the GOOD IDW Dredd stuff.

[Toni Scandella]

Those good reviews are baffling, sorry. Is this what passes for good comics in the US? Really?