Judge Dredd

by John Wagner

In a violent Third Milennium Earth, Judge Dredd, the most powerful keeper of the peace, is wrongly accused and sentenced for murder just before he discovers that he is a clone who was genetically designed to be the perfect lawman. Original. Movie tie-in.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

250 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since. He is best known for his work on 2000 AD, for which he created Judge Dredd. He is noted for his taut, violent thrillers and his black humour. Among his pseudonyms are The best known are John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter. (Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Ethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Structurally superb but too inconsistent to be truly great. Sets the groundwork for something really good but the characterisations and pacing feel off. A great effort and still worth checking out for the storytelling.

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While an improvement over the movie it still suffers from some over the top clichés which befell Sylvester Stallone's Judge Dredd.

[Donald Trump · Rating 2 out of 5]

Low Energy!
** 2 Stars.

[Éric Kasprak · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm one of the few who actually loved the movie with Stallone, I saw it on the first day it came out at a midnight showing and I still loved it today. So when I read the novelization I was already sold and I like the book very much. Having the images from the movie in my head matching the action on the pages helps a lot in making up for some of the bare-bones writing found in the book. Nonetheless, I like the story, some elements are a little bit more flesh out and the general pacing is pretty good. Probably not a good Judge Dredd novel if you did not like the movie, but if you did, it's a good yarn.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1430202.html

I've never more than skimmed 2000 AD but was aware of the basic set-up of Dredd's world; I have not seen the 1996 movie starring Silvester Stallone. Difficult to, er, judge what Barrett's input to the final product is (he did not write the screenplay) but I felt that I missed the broad sweep of scene-setting which is necessary in a novelisation of this kind; no real sense of landscape or background. There are some nice inserts from a future historian commenting on the story as past history, including one (perhaps despairing?) piece near the end complaining that it is all made up. Barrett also wrote the novelisations for the Dungeons and Dragons movie and Barb Wire, but I will not rush to acquire either.

[Mikepottz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The futuristic world is bleak, crime is abundant and a special breed of lawmakers are getting on the dangerous streets and are police, jury and executioners all in one and know as judges. A legend amongst the judges and infamous amongst the scum judge dredd is the epitome of law and justice. He will be thrown in turmoil by his cloned brother and have to save Mega-city from mutant clones from his evil brother of ever being born. Limbs will be ripped off the body by old robots and the judges weapons will explode through flesh sending pools of blood in the air.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 1 out of 5]

This tie-in novelization didn't brought anything that the movie (the old one) didn't show with the sole exception of the inbetween journal entries every fifty pages, or so.

The book didn't gave any character any more characterization than the movie.

As I said, the only good thing was the journal entries. It gave some information about Judge Dredd, it's companions, society and the future.

Should you read it? Nope. See the movie.

[Victor Orozco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright. My father and I enjoyed the movie and found the criticism of the movie to be unwarranted. I know that there are many fans of the original comic book movie that dislike the movie. I understand the original writer helped out in this novel getting rid of some of the actors ad-libs and script rewrites.

This adaptation was slow and a bit uneven. It made me want to watch the movie more only because I found the book boring. C-

[Pappy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out decently enough, but kept changing its tone. So little of it could be taken seriously because of the jokes.

I did like that it was a bloodier, more expanded version of the film, but the book fails where the film fails: by calling this Judge Dredd. The character and he representations of he character here and in the movie don't match. Is it enjoyable? Sure. But it's not as good as the real thing.

[Vincente]

This book was pretty good. It takes place on earth in the future where violence now rules. Judges now are also police who are the overall law in the city. The most famous and feared judge. . . Judge Dredd has been accused of murder and sent to prison. Little did he know that he was a clone. overall he fights to clear his name and bring overall justice.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as a kid. I bought it when the movie came out in mid 90's. I ended up re-reading it recently as I bought Judge anderson novel. This is a great novel adaption for a pretty good action flick. Highlights all the scenes and dives into some inner thoughts and more background as movie to novel adaptions should.

[Worthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

*cough* Money *cough

[Joey Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly imaginative and satisfying adaptation of a guilty pleasure of a movie.

[Pradeep Badatiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok

[Donna Michaels · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great. I've seen both movies and I think this adds a lot to the mythos and the backstory. Sweet dystopian sci-fi with lots of action.

[Danny Broome · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a word for word, writing of the movie starring Sylvester Stallone.

As a fan of the movie, I still really enjoyed this book. But there is no room for imagination, if the movie has been seen.

[Antonio · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT ADAPTATION OF THE MOVIE. WORTH A READ!