Make a DREDD Sequel!

By John McCubbin on Tuesday, November 11th, 2014

There are many, many sequels that should never have seen the light of day, with many terrible films getting a follow-up purely on Box Office taking. It’s this that has spurred me to do something slightly different with this edition of Fanboy Recommended, as I campaign a cause close to my fanboy heart. Though I’ll be giving many reasons why Dredd is a film that all comic fan need to watch at least once in their life, I will also be giving a brief history of the character, as well as stating why he deserves a sequel.

Origins

Judge Dredd has been around for the better part of 40 years, having been created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra in the pages of 2000 AD Prog No. 2 which was released in March of 1977. Since then Dredd has became the staple character for 2000 AD, starring in most of their Prog’s, as well as his own series, Judge Dredd: Megazine. He’s also crossed the pond to feature in American comics, having a crossover with Batman, Aliens and Predator, as well as find a stable home at IDW as of late.

Armed with his Lawgiver (which hold six different type of ammo, being encoded to his palm print) Judge Dredd has became the most feared Judge in Mega-City One, with there being few that don’t recognise his name. The Origins of the Judges themselves is also an area that a potential sequel could focus on, with the events of 2000 AD Prog No. 1505-1519 and 1529-1535 showing how the Judges rose to power. In addition the possibility of showing Dredd’s early years as a Judge could also make for an interesting concept, showing how he became the most feared Judge ever.

Urban Law

A lot of fans would love nothing more than to forget the 1995 Judge Dredd film starring Sylvester Stallone. Taking the world that John Wagner created and turning it into your typical futuristic world, Judge Dredd certainly missed and hit the wall. Having one of the biggest names in ’90s action you’d think that they’d do the character justice, but with the likes of Rob Schneider accompanying him it turned into a rather poor comedy. Despite this I personally don’t detest the film, as though I was fuming at the choice to have Dredd remove his helmet, it was somehow watchable.

Putting that aside however Dredd is a vastly superior film, as where Judge Dredd failed to capture the true essence of Mega-City One, Dredd more than made up. Showing the world in it’s urban glory, the film gave a very gritty look to the dystopian world that was truly awe inspiring. Karl Urban himself was also a far superior Dredd, as though I always had high hopes that he’d do the character justice, he more than exceeded my expectations. Dredd also sports a wonderful female support in the form of Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson, as well as a brilliant villain in Ma-Ma, as portrayed by Lena Headey. It also sports some amazing action, having a Die Hard like pace, and amazing 3D effects.

Dark Judges

Another reason that they need to make a Dredd sequel is the fact that we’ve yet to see the character’s greatest foes on the big screen. I am off course talking about the Dark Judges, and Judge Death himself. Having chosen to go with lesser known villains for the two films that have been out, non comic fans have missed out on the chance to see these sinister characters. Ma-Ma may have given us a strong villain for the last film, but given the fact we got the terrible Rico Dredd it would be a crying shame if the Dark Judges never grace the silver screen.

But what other reasons are there to put the Dark Judges in a Dredd film? Bar the fact they’d add a completely different kind of dread to it (see what I did there) they’d also give Dredd something out of his wheelbox, as so far we are given the impression that all Dredd has had to fight is your run of the mill criminal (whether gang lord or not). The Dark Judges themselves would also give something for the citizens of Mega-City One to fear, as due to their opinion that all life itself is a crime, punishable by death, it’d allow the usually disgruntled citizens to get behind the Judge’s and Dredd himself.

In a Nutshell

But why should they finally Make a Dredd Sequel? First and foremost it finally gave us the Judge Dredd film we desperately deserved. Having had to live with the rather poor Sylvester Stallone outing for so long, fanboys were elated to get such an awesome film, and when you think of all the terrible films that have been given a sequel it just saddens me that Dredd has still to receive one. But what do you my fellow fanboys think? Should they make a Dredd sequel? Or should the iconic character be left in the pages of comics? If you do however feel there needs to be a Dredd sequel, then sign the official 2000 AD petition, like their Facebook page and follow their twitter account, @DreddSequel.