The Best Judge Dredd In Decades: ‘Judge Dredd: A Better World’ Gets A Second Printing

Rob Williams, Arthur Wyatt, Boo Cook, Jake Lynch, and Henry Flint‘s brilliant and incendiary Judge Dredd tale, ‘A Better World‘, a tale of hope and genuine change in a world stagnated by the politics of its time, gets a second printing. It is THE essential Dredd of modern times…

As I tell you every week in the Weekly 2000 AD, this weekly anthology is the finest of its kind. And each and every week, its lead strip is Judge Dredd, now cataloguing the adventures of a future cop in a dystopian society where the rule of law is everything for coming up on 50 years. And frankly, it’s never been more prescient than it is right now, dealing with an America where democracy has fallen under the jackboot of fascism.

And one of the finest Dredd tales of recent years has been A Better World, written by Rob Williams and Arthur Wyatt and drawn by Henry Flint, Boo Cook, and Jake Lynch. It truly is the essential Dredd for these times, which, according to Kieron Gillen, ‘Goes for the throat, and then keeps on tearing,’ a quote I can only wholly agree with.

Well, the first print of the collection has now sold out its entire first printing and is returning with a second print very shortly.

‘A Better World‘ dealt with one simple question: in a world where the Judges have the whole of the law, could there be a better way? It was Accounts Judge Maitland who first asked the question, running the numbers and getting the staggering answer that there was a better way, a way that would lead to this Better World. The tales in the collection are Maitland’s tale, an epic Dredd tale running for several years, a slow build that ignites true change and all the inevitable and hideous consequences any true change will bring.

I’ll point you to my preview of ‘A Better World’ for a real breakdown of just how great, just how essential this Dredd tale is, but just to summarise…

Maitland’s investigations, her running of the numbers, her dogged determination to do the best for her city, have led her to the seemingly impossible solution, although a seemingly impossible solution that’s backed by cold, hard numbers, that the current Justice Department regime has been doing it all wrong all these years. Instead of the harsh jackboot, things would be a damn sight better in this world if education and social programs could impact the crime levels far more than the current regime.

She’s given one small sector to test her ideas. One small sector where her ideas prove, absolutely, that her theory works, where crime plunges thanks to her new initiatives. But when it comes to challenging the status quo of her world, Maitland will find that there’s powerful resistance to her dream from too many powerful people, both inside the Justice Department and outside.

To say it’s a powerful tale is underplaying it. This is hugely important, speaking a truth that’s as relevant to Maitland and Dredd’s world as it is to our own, questioning those in power and those who, through money and influence over the media, control the power. It genuinely is the finest of Dredd tales, powerful, relevant, emotive stuff that will go down in the annals of Dredd as a tale that really mattered.

Arthur Wyatt has this to say of the second print…

‘Back when we started work on this story. Rob and I thought we might be on to something special, and when we started seeing pages of art from Boo, Jake and Henry we knew that it would be special and hopefully a big deal. But I don’t think either of us anticipated how much people would connect with it. It’s especially gratifying to see so many people pick it up that haven’t read Dredd in a while – or even some people reading it as their first Dredd. I’m hoping they go on to read many more, including the forthcoming follow-up The New Future.’

And yes, I’m very, very excited to see The New Future, their follow-up to A Better World.

Rob Williams added this…

‘It’s good to see people have an appetite for cautionary stories about authoritarianism, narcissistic power grabs and the nefarious influence of billionaires on society. You’d worry that we get enough of that via the news feed at the moment. But fortunately you add the superstar art of Henry Flint and stick Judge Dredd in the middle of it and it sells. We’re delighted there’s been a second print run on A Better World’

JUDGE DREDD: A BETTER WORLD – Written by Rob Williams and Arthur Wyatt

Art by Boo Cook, Jake Lynch, and Henry FlintLetters by Annie ParkhouseOriginally published in 2000 AD Progs 2200-2203, 2250-2255, 2302, and 2364-2372Second print publishing soon from 2000 AD