Ron Smith (13) (1924–2019)

Most of this collection is The Apocalypse War saga, which is, dare i say it, pretty boring. Whilst both sides are cartoonish the satire isn't really laid on, which means that its kind of white propoganda when it could have been an absolute cracker of a takedown of both Bolshevism and western imperialist values. Instead it's an overlong war epic where megadeaths and deliberate targeting of civilians are tossed out by both sides without any commentary at all.

Enjoyed this, have never read the Judge Child completely before, there were loads of episodes in the middle that I hadn't read so that was a pleasure. Most of the rest i have experienced before and are classics, we're into proper satire and good stories.

This second volume of collected Judge Dredd strips from the pages of 2000 AD is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it includes "The Cursed Earth" cycle, possibly the greatest adventure in the history of the character. "The Cursed Earth" features spectacular artwork from the amazing Mike McMahon, and a Pat Mills script that is almost as good. Unfortunately, the rest of the contents of this volume represents mediocre work at best, both in terms of lackluster artwork and story lines that are either show more just plain dull ("The DNA Man") or bloated and tedious ("The Day The Law Died"). Still, Mike McMahon's work on "The Cursed Earth" is truly something to behold... show less

As Mega-City One tackles the aftermath of the Apocalypse War the Judges must tackle both a city in turmoil, opportunistic criminals, shanty towns full of refugees, and out of control space-condos to name a few challenges. While there’s no long-form epic Dredd tale in this collection, it's series of shorter self-contained two or three part tales are a good representation of the general tone of the series in the early 1980s.