Griffin Mauser
Citizen Jury
Memorandum: Judge
Dredd: Mega City Two #1
000001
To Citizens Wolk, Farinas, Hill, Long, Tipton, Wood
Gentle Citizens:
Regarding Judge Dredd: Mega City
Two #1
I could not be more delighted! I like this Dredd: no
sarcasm, all the tough and a Mega
City straight out of Luc
Besson! I think you have hit the judge in the lawgiver!
Judge Dredd in a second Mega City,
similarly gigantic and overwhelming but with a vastly different philosophy
toward the law. This is gonna be great!
What seems crazy is that Dredd will perform exactly as expected within the law
and this new city
will turn out to be much like home, at least as it applies to Joe and his
job. And, even better, he’s going
undercover (I don’t remember him ever doing so before)! I can hear the gravel in his voice; Joe talks
as he should, his tone, his patterns, the essence of Eastwood and Keitel. And
he’s serious. He is the straightman.
Back in DC’s Legends of the Law, Joe Dredd actually made the only
sarcastic remark I have read. I had to
quit reading it. Dredd is never
sarcastic; this is why when he tells a perp, “report to the iso-cubes”, perps
do. It’s Dredd’s world that obfuscates,
exaggerated and threatens. Dredd is the
axis of the law and never moves. I like
what you’re doing!
Farinas is in his element it
seems; if he has half as much fun drawing this stuff as I have reading it, I’m
sure he feels a little guilty. From his
Darrowesque splash page (Mr. F, I have seen every line and read every sign) to
closeups, Farinas controls the detail to match the shot. Not afraid to draw a characters, hm
thirty-two characters in that frame, but not married to crowds or detail.
Sequences of plot are simple and straightforwardly presented without seeming
empty and just around the corner will be another slice of frenetic Mega-City
pie! And it’s just gonna get better! Already Farina’s figures are more
individual than his beautiful work on Catalyst. And so much more to see!
Hill’s color work manages to
create the garish decadence of Mega City Two without losing the signal in the
noise. Deft manipulation of a screaming
loud palette, use of tonal gradations, and special effects like the flashback
and television “filters” evoke the garish color of the old Eagle books, shows
off Farina’s linework and makes perfect visual sense.
Citizen Tipton, please maintain
the Dredd characterization, continue the historical and literary information
about the Dredd books. I now have an
idea how much Dredd I want to find. IDW has impressed me with its respect for
and dedication to existing properties.
You guys really take the high road with your works and it shows. Thanks for bringing such a good Dredd back to
the table.
So there you are guys, All you
have to do now is get even better. Don’t
screw it up!
Citizen Juror Griffin Mauser
Mega City
Weird
Austin Texas
