This book is trying to be deep, but it's really stupid.

"Just dream on creep, but just remember - that's all it is, a dream...America is dead.This is the real world."A series of stories confronting America the ideal (land of the free etc.) with Mega City One and the Justice system. The art of the first story is quite different from the other Judge Dredd comics, but the stories in the comic are good. I liked how the first stories switched perspectives between Dredd and Benny making it like a dialogue between the two about liberty, justice and America....

I was a massive fan of ‘2000 AD’, the comic that Judge Dredd first appeared in, as a kid. Every Friday I’d pick up my reserved copy from the newsagents and devour the often violent, always inventive tales within it. Unlike US comics, which tend to focus on one character or team, British titles like ‘2000 AD’ feature a number of different stories, told episodically each week. Of all the characters that appear in ‘2000 AD’, Dredd is the only constant, turning up each week to dispense ruthless just...

I absolutely despise this story arc. To me (and I realize this puts me in the decided minority), it not only marks the end of one of the great creative periods on any title, it also embodies everything that went wrong in comics in the early ‘90s. Gone is the black comedy and irony that made Judge Dredd not only an enjoyable read, but also a thought-provoking exploration of societal pragmatism and authoritarianism. Left in its place is a preachy, shrill (seriously, her name is “America”?) and sel...

My rating is just for the first story, America.

Told in flashback, the first story, "America", tells the tale of the narrator, Benny, and a girl who gets named America by her immigrant parents. But from young, they are already monitored by the Judges as troublemakers, especially the assertive America. While Benny stays quietly in the background, America grows up yearning for the democratic freedom of the US from before the time of the Judges. Benny and America drift apart; Benny becoming a rich entertainer, while America aligns with radical d...

America is a great read. I'm not a huge Dredd fan myself and don't really know the universe to some massive degree but this story is well written with a great message and interesting characters. It tells the story of Bennet Beeny and a lady named America, childhood friends who drift apart later in life. Bennet tolerates the justice system and makes an honest living while America becomes part of the Democrats, a faction who want to tear the Justice down and start anew, no more totalitarianism. Th...

Forget the Judge Dredd film, which was an abomination of the lowest order. Judge Dredd is one of the longest running British comic characters from the magazine 2000AD. Set in a near future world in which the Earth has been badly damaged in nuclear war and much of the planet is wasteland with the majority of the population living in ‘mega-cities’ of monolithic tower blocks and sprawl. In such a densely populated city with high unemployment, the Judge system is used to keep crime in check. The Jud...

'Justice has a price. The price is freedom.' As far as I know, this story is among the few that present the Judges in a bad light. There is less focus on shooting and punishing than on describing the oppressive regime enforced by the Judges. A strong democratic response develops, but the Judges have the power and jurisdiction to stifle it. Democracy is also criticized harshly, but ultimately there are some aspects of it that are desirable, like the way law is applied.The USA's Judges have replac...

Reads as an unfortunate defence of fascism, lacking the irony that makes Dredd stand apart.

Judge Dredd is the good guy. He is the hero, right?Wagner and Grant made it clear from day one that we really shouldn't be under any illusions as to what Dredd was. Yes, he would sacrifice his life to save a citizen. Yes he fought crime. Yes he saved the day... but this was a man who thought nothing of wiping out an entire city in nuclear fire. Dredd is a fascist. That is, frankly, that. Whilst there has been a gradual softening of Dredd over the years this is not part of that process. This is W...

One of the best stories published on the Judge Dredd universe, although I can't help but feel "America" is Dredd for people who couldn't get into Dredd or who flat out dislike the character/book. It's nice to see a side story of people living throught key events in the life of Mega City One, but the main story gets fare more credit than it should as a lot of it's themes had already been covered in the pages of 2000AD (In the classic dark comedy of Dredd as oppoused to the tragic tone presented h...

The world of Mega City One and the judges is fertile ground for comic stories. You’ve got millions of citizens, future tech, authoritarian cops - the perfect setup for everything from police procedural whodunnits to wacky sci-fi monster of the week romps. Add to that the idea that the judges are fascist stormtroopers who rule with absolute authority and you’ve got a blackly satirical swipe at contemporary politics that mischievously exaggerates our worst elements. Every now and then writers will...

A lot of people praise this story as one of the best in Judge Dredd's history, citing its dark tone and realistic writing. And that's all very well, but it's not really what I read the comic for. It's all the satire and black comedy I like, or failing that, the gonzo scifi action.So this one just kind of feels mundane. Like most of the Democracy storyline starting from the late eighties, America feels like ditching away the good stuff and instead taking the old joke too seriously. It's not my cu...

This is the audio version of the classic Judge Dredd story: America.The comic (visual) version is great and it deserves it place as one of the best Judge Dredd stories.The biggest requirement when moving something very visual to the non visual, is to provide meaning to the scene. If the comic, you can see what the panel is going to contain. That provides some extra context to the story.All of that is missing from these audio books. They literally read out the panel wordings and hoped that would

I read this the day it was announced that capital punishment for federal offenses had been reinstated. To therefore say that this novel is timely is, I think, an understatement. It looks at freedom and safety and what people (and The People) are willing to do secure one or the other. While the first part went as I expected, the next two held some surprises. All in all, I thought it was a great book for bringing up food for thought, especially the way America is today.4.5 stars rounded to 5.

Judge Dredd was always meant to be a mocking satire of the American justice system. In lesser storylines he comes across as a right-wing fantasy. But in the best of them, the satire is obvious. The thing about Judge Dredd: America is it was written in 1990 and it is so relevant to what's going on today.The judges are legalized judge-jury-executioners and we see their brutalizing effect on Mega City One through the eyes of a young girl named America (a bit on the nose, but it works) who grows up

The definitive Judge Dredd Story. What else do I need to say?

First and foremost, I don't think five stars is enough for this book. I won't be doing spoilers or giving you the plot of the book. You can get that anywhere. But, here's my opinion on Judge Dredd: America. For people who only know Judge Dredd from the movies, this is a very different kind of story. Even if you've listened to all the other fine audiobooks about the Judge Dredd world, this one's a bit different. It's more dystopian. It's a bunch of shorter stories, and it feels a lot more like Bl...

Wagner and McNeill's 'America', an instant classic when published, still holds up today as one of the key Dredd tales, exploring issues of power and control and civil disobedience as a manifesto - something Wagner rarely does. It goes to the heart of the Judges concept, it's jammed with iconic imagery and it's effective with a series of emotional gut punches too. The sequel, 'Dying of the Light' invokes the same world and evokes a lot of the same language, and is beautifully painted, but didn't