Preview: ‘Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 47’ – More Of The Law In Order, More Of The Best Way To Read Dredd

The entire Judge Dredd saga, in order, in full. capturing all the essence of the character. It’s truly the finest way to experience Dredd.

Well, this was published last week, meaning this preview is terminally late. Apologies. There’s been a dash of moving house, a touch of dealing with AC playing up, and a dash of so much else. But anyway, it’s here now, so let’s dive into things, taking it rather fast this time I’m afraid.

The basics of the joys of the Complete Case Files are as usual. I’ve said all this before, but it’s truly the best way to really enjoy all that Dredd has to offer. There’s a real risk with Dredd (I know, I’ve done it myself many times) of just concentrating on all those classic epics and ignoring the smaller tales. Yet it’s in those smaller tales that you truly get a flavour of everything that matters in Mega-City One. You get the feel of the City and its residents, see what life’s like for them (easy answer, it’s shit, it really is – you try living in a City ruled by a fascist Law Department where you’re every move is observed, your most minor indiscretions punished.

So yes, this is another Case Files where there’s no mega-epic going on, just the day-to-day grind of Mega-City life.

Here’s the 2000 AD blurb to give you a feel for this one….

‘In the wake of the events of Tour of Duty, the backlash continues as Mega-City One acclimatises to the new mutant laws. Integration isn’t easy and one man stands as the thin blue line between the norms and the muties – that man is Judge Dredd.’

Yes, we’re now in the world where the City is meant to be a welcoming place to the Muties – but it was never going to be as simple as simply passing the law and imagining the City would welcome in the mutants with open arms.

Noticeably, this is a Complete Case Files that’s not dominated by John Wagner‘s writing. Just the five stories in here, across both the Prog and the Megazine. He’s joined, quite ably, by a group of fine writers, including Al Ewing, Pat Mills, Gordon Rennie, and Ian Edginton. Having said that, the longest tale in here is The Ecstasy by Wagner and Paul Marshall, which is where we’ll start.

It’s everything you would want in a long-ish Wagner tale, a slow build-up, leading into a bit of classic procedural Dredd, all about a seemingly unkillable assassin and a mystery box that entrances all that open it. Like I say, it’s that classic Wagner-written Dredd procedural, the sort that we need to really celebrate as the great man slowly winds down into semi-retirement.

Going back to the very beginning of the volume, we have Al Ewing and Simon Fraser giving us the great Mutopia, a tale of Muties in revolt, already sick of the conditions they find themselves putting up with.

The Mutie gang’s holed up in a diner, with Dredd and his fellow Judges outside, assessing just what to do. And here Ewing opens with a little dissent amongst the ranks…

… and ends with the Cits of MC-1 proving, yet again, at their worst, they’re deserving of everything the Judges mete out to them. It’s just the start of several excellent short Dredds that Ewing has in here. He may not have done all that many Dredds in his time at 2000 AD before going out to find his fame and fortune elsewhere, but the ones he did were invariably damn fine.

Over in the Megazine, Ewing gives us Magic Bullets, surely a contender for one of the absolute classic modern Dredds, Magic Bullet, with the added bonus of the incredible Colin Wilson on art duties. 21 pages of tight, controlled Dredd, all about that magic bullet, but also giving us its own moments of exploring all the weird and wonderful the Mega-City has to offer us, before heading off into classic Dredd procedural territory. Briliant stuff.

Talking of writers who don’t get to play in Dreddworld too often but do a fine, fine job when they do, there’s Ian Edginton giving us High Spirits with artist Dave Taylor, a great little four-parter where Edginton explores Aetherworks, the alien outsourcing franchise that, over many, many years, he’s been building a bigger story around, one that’s still going even today. There’s playing the long game and there’s playing the really long game.

Well, here’s where it all starts, with Edginton introducing the alien money into MC-1, something Dredd’s instinctively distrustful of, with plenty good reason. He and Taylor also introduce the rather incredibly cool Judge Lamia, Exorcist Judge, into this one…

She’s another character Edginton would return to a few times, always good to see her, but here she makes that spectacular entrance, one of those immediately classic characters you just want to see more of. And you will, in time. Such is the way of Edginton’s Dredds.

Hell, you even get a Christmas tale in here, from the oft confusingly numbered end of year Progs they did around this time. So, One For The Boys, by John Wagner and Henry Flint, came in the end of year 2000 AD 2009 (not to be confused with the 2000 AD Prog 2009 that would come out in 2016.) It’s got Wagner on the script and Flint on the art, so you just know it’s a good ‘un.

And so it is, a suitably MC-1 Christmas, opening with the death of a Santa, and continuing with a gender terrorist plot for Dredd to break up. Again, a classic little tale, the likes of which you only find in these Complete Case Files.

So anyway, as with all these Dredd Complete Case Files, there’s so much on offer in this latest volume, all of it doing that thing of building the history, best seen in-between the big epic tales. It’s a series that you can easily just pick up the latest volume and easily just get into things, drop into Dredd and just enjoy the ride – and it’s always a fine old ride.

JUDGE DREDD: THE COMPLETE CASE FILES VOLUME 47 – Written by John Wagner, Pat Mills, Al Ewing, Gordon Rennie, and Ian Edginton. Art by Simon Fraser, Vince Locke, Henry Flint, Paul Marshall, Ben Oliver, Carl Critchlow, Nick Dyer, PJ Holden, Dave Taylor, Colin Wilson, Mike Collins, and Cliff Robinson. Colours by Gary Caldwell, Chris Blythe, Eva de la Cruz, and Len O’Grady. Letters by Annie Parkhouse.

Originally serialised in 2000 AD Progs 1611-1643, Judge Dredd Megazine 278-283, and 2000 AD Prog 2009. Published in 2008 and 2009.

Published by 2000 AD on 21 May 2025

Now, just a little of what you can expect inside this latest Complete Case Files…