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Judge Dredd
Hondo City Law: Way of the (Cyber) Samurai!
Hondo-City is the Japanese equivalent of Mega-City One; a large, sprawling urban mass policed by Judges. Culturally, however, it is totally different. While on the forefront of modern technology, the Hondo-citizens remain tied to the roots and customs of feudal Japan, including the way in which the women are treated as inferior to the male populace. Though the Samurai-like Judge-Inspectors are seen to be in charge, the Yakuza crime Syndicates still have a hold on power. Here is a slice of Hondo-City law…
160 pages, Paperback
First published August 16, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 6, 2016
Hondo-City is the Japanese version of Judge Dredd’s Mega City One. Dredd’s Japanese stand-in? Inspector Aiko Inaba and her mentor, the Ronin Judge Shimura.
I picked this one up out of pure nostalgia. I used to read all the variations of 2000AD when I was a kid in the 90s and came across the story Babes with Big Bazookas in an issue of the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1996. Sure, the scantily-clad ladies probably cemented my memories of this comic at the time but I remember loving the art too though it’d be years before I knew the name Frank Quitely.
Revisiting it 20 years later (oh god) and Quitely’s art is as stunning as it was back then. He also draws a Shimura strip I’d never seen before which also looked great. Really all his 2000AD work was exemplary, Missionary Man being a fave. The man is such a natural artist.
It was also good to see future Batman artist Andy Clarke putting in some great pages in a couple of stories here. Very clean, dynamic lines, controlled and beautiful - it’s easy to see why DC snapped him up sharpish.
Writing-wise, there’s nothing special here. John Wagner writes the opening story from the late 80s which has this broad, clipped faux-Japanese narration that bordered on racist - lots of use of the word “honourable” and stereotypical apologising. Ugh. Robbie Morrison pens the other stories and they’re ok (certainly better than Wagner’s weak effort). Criminals want to kill people, Judges stop them, repeat several times. Formulaic forgettable stuff that kid-me would’ve - and did - love. Older readers though aren’t gonna be that impressed with such light fare.
Hondo-City Law’s worth a look if you’re a Frank Quitely/Andy Clarke fan like me and want to see their pre-Big 2 early work, otherwise I wouldn’t bother.
I picked this one up out of pure nostalgia. I used to read all the variations of 2000AD when I was a kid in the 90s and came across the story Babes with Big Bazookas in an issue of the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1996. Sure, the scantily-clad ladies probably cemented my memories of this comic at the time but I remember loving the art too though it’d be years before I knew the name Frank Quitely.
Revisiting it 20 years later (oh god) and Quitely’s art is as stunning as it was back then. He also draws a Shimura strip I’d never seen before which also looked great. Really all his 2000AD work was exemplary, Missionary Man being a fave. The man is such a natural artist.
It was also good to see future Batman artist Andy Clarke putting in some great pages in a couple of stories here. Very clean, dynamic lines, controlled and beautiful - it’s easy to see why DC snapped him up sharpish.
Writing-wise, there’s nothing special here. John Wagner writes the opening story from the late 80s which has this broad, clipped faux-Japanese narration that bordered on racist - lots of use of the word “honourable” and stereotypical apologising. Ugh. Robbie Morrison pens the other stories and they’re ok (certainly better than Wagner’s weak effort). Criminals want to kill people, Judges stop them, repeat several times. Formulaic forgettable stuff that kid-me would’ve - and did - love. Older readers though aren’t gonna be that impressed with such light fare.
Hondo-City Law’s worth a look if you’re a Frank Quitely/Andy Clarke fan like me and want to see their pre-Big 2 early work, otherwise I wouldn’t bother.
May 5, 2014
This review originally appeared on my blog, Shared Universe Reviews.
I’ve never read anything by Robbie Morrison but I’m glad I’ve read this. I’ve been a Judge Dredd fan for a short while now, ever since I picked up The Complete Judge Dredd Case Files volume 1 which is a huge black and white collection of the earliest Judge Dredd stories. It’s a fascinating read, I really enjoyed it. The dollar per page ratio is excellent and made even better by the talent of the artists involved and the fact that it’s a slab of comic history. It was also with that collection that I discovered the writing of John Wagner, co-creator of Judge Dredd. Anyway, as a whole this also served as my introduction to 2000 AD (I was going to say to British comics but I honestly don’t think I’ve read any titles outside of 2000 AD). Since then I’ve read Nemesis, D.R. and Quinch, the Judge Death collection and a few others I can’t think of because they’re packed away in boxes and I can’t see them.
I’ve picked up smaller Dredd collections and in one of the stories by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar there were Judge from other Mega Cities around the world! What?! Cool! Then I saw this collection at my local comic shop featuring Judges from Hondo-City with an excellent cover by Frank Quitely and inside art by Quitely, Andy Clarke and Neil Googe. For a reason unknown I didn’t pick it up but it’s been in the back of my head ever since and finally I ordered it. As always, it sat on my shelf for a little while and I’ve finally read it. It was good and the art was very good.
The first story is written by John Wagner and painted (I think) by Colin MacNeil and they introduces Hondo-City and their city Judges. The story is mostly forgettable except for the fact that it’s narrated in broken English which seems like a poor decision on Wagner’s part.
The rest of the stories are written by Morrison. The second and third are drawn by Frank Quitely and the art is excellent. Again, the story is more interesting than the one by Wagner. Morrison and Quitely introduce Judge Shimura and Inaba, a Judge in training. By the end of this first story Shimura becomes a ronin and Inaba becomes the newest Hondo-City Judge. The third story is about models who are also criminal and Judge Inaba takes them down. The most noteworthy elements of these stories is the art by Frank Quitely. Don’t get me wrong, Morrison’s stories are good and well scripted but the art is just that excellent.
The next two stories are drawn by Andy Clarke who has a very clean and very detailed art style. His style my even be too detailed since some of the characters looked stiff in certain panels. It’s not simply scratchy lines to give the illusion of details though, its actual detail. I know this is a poor appreciation of his art but I’m not quite sure how else to describe it. It’s very good, though, so focus on that.
Neil Googe draws the last story. It’s probably Morrison’s weakest story in the collection. It has robots, stuff blowing up, and good times. Googe draws it very well though. I’m not a big fan of his style. I’ve only read one other book drawn by him, Welcome to Tranquility written by Gail Simone, but if I remember correctly his art was not nearly as cartoony and manga inspired as it is here. Not’s not a bad thing though, he art styles fits for a story set in Hondo-City especially because he doesn’t go over the top with it. It’s clean and coloured quite brightly which gives the whole thing a bouncy feeling.
Hondo-City Law does present a very nice variety of art styles and panel presentation though, which was quite nice to see. Since most of the stories are written by Morrison, you get to see just how much impact an artist has. The differences found in the art of Quitely, Clarke and Googe is fascinating. I have my favourites but they are all worthy of praise.
I have to talk about Quitely’s art for a moment. He’s one of the best comic artist and there are two reasons that are demonstrated in two stories he illustrates. He’s so incredibly dynamic. His characters look fluid and fleshy in a heightened reality sort of way. Some people do not like this fleshy look but I do. His characters look like they are in movement and it’s nice to see such freedom of movement in sequential storytelling because we see too much stiff poses and pin up type are in genre comics. It’s an action comic and Quitely’s art reflects that. He’s also one of the best artists when it comes to integrating sound effects on the page. It’s not just slapped on; it’s part of the art. It’s integrated directly into the action. There are some strong visual examples of that here in his early work. Unfortunately, it’s not something I’ve seen much of in his mid to late nineties work in American comics. The only other book I can remember him doing this is in is the opening arc of Batman and/& Robin (confirm!) which is a shame because I can’t think of any other artist that does it half as well.
The execution of each story is very good, especially those drawn by Quitely and Clarke. The most interesting part of this collection is the discovery and the development of Hondo-City and its characters, specifically Inaba and Shimura. It’s not a Judge Dredd collection, past the first story the focus is not on him though he is present in nearly every story. Inaba is a really interesting character and I’d like to read more stories about her in the future. Shimura is also interesting and they have a very interesting dynamic. Morrison had a good idea to develop the mythos of Hondo-City and its Judges and to stay away from Judge Dredd who’s already been in hundreds (probably more like thousands) of stories by now.
I’ve never read anything by Robbie Morrison but I’m glad I’ve read this. I’ve been a Judge Dredd fan for a short while now, ever since I picked up The Complete Judge Dredd Case Files volume 1 which is a huge black and white collection of the earliest Judge Dredd stories. It’s a fascinating read, I really enjoyed it. The dollar per page ratio is excellent and made even better by the talent of the artists involved and the fact that it’s a slab of comic history. It was also with that collection that I discovered the writing of John Wagner, co-creator of Judge Dredd. Anyway, as a whole this also served as my introduction to 2000 AD (I was going to say to British comics but I honestly don’t think I’ve read any titles outside of 2000 AD). Since then I’ve read Nemesis, D.R. and Quinch, the Judge Death collection and a few others I can’t think of because they’re packed away in boxes and I can’t see them.
I’ve picked up smaller Dredd collections and in one of the stories by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar there were Judge from other Mega Cities around the world! What?! Cool! Then I saw this collection at my local comic shop featuring Judges from Hondo-City with an excellent cover by Frank Quitely and inside art by Quitely, Andy Clarke and Neil Googe. For a reason unknown I didn’t pick it up but it’s been in the back of my head ever since and finally I ordered it. As always, it sat on my shelf for a little while and I’ve finally read it. It was good and the art was very good.
The first story is written by John Wagner and painted (I think) by Colin MacNeil and they introduces Hondo-City and their city Judges. The story is mostly forgettable except for the fact that it’s narrated in broken English which seems like a poor decision on Wagner’s part.
The rest of the stories are written by Morrison. The second and third are drawn by Frank Quitely and the art is excellent. Again, the story is more interesting than the one by Wagner. Morrison and Quitely introduce Judge Shimura and Inaba, a Judge in training. By the end of this first story Shimura becomes a ronin and Inaba becomes the newest Hondo-City Judge. The third story is about models who are also criminal and Judge Inaba takes them down. The most noteworthy elements of these stories is the art by Frank Quitely. Don’t get me wrong, Morrison’s stories are good and well scripted but the art is just that excellent.
The next two stories are drawn by Andy Clarke who has a very clean and very detailed art style. His style my even be too detailed since some of the characters looked stiff in certain panels. It’s not simply scratchy lines to give the illusion of details though, its actual detail. I know this is a poor appreciation of his art but I’m not quite sure how else to describe it. It’s very good, though, so focus on that.
Neil Googe draws the last story. It’s probably Morrison’s weakest story in the collection. It has robots, stuff blowing up, and good times. Googe draws it very well though. I’m not a big fan of his style. I’ve only read one other book drawn by him, Welcome to Tranquility written by Gail Simone, but if I remember correctly his art was not nearly as cartoony and manga inspired as it is here. Not’s not a bad thing though, he art styles fits for a story set in Hondo-City especially because he doesn’t go over the top with it. It’s clean and coloured quite brightly which gives the whole thing a bouncy feeling.
Hondo-City Law does present a very nice variety of art styles and panel presentation though, which was quite nice to see. Since most of the stories are written by Morrison, you get to see just how much impact an artist has. The differences found in the art of Quitely, Clarke and Googe is fascinating. I have my favourites but they are all worthy of praise.
I have to talk about Quitely’s art for a moment. He’s one of the best comic artist and there are two reasons that are demonstrated in two stories he illustrates. He’s so incredibly dynamic. His characters look fluid and fleshy in a heightened reality sort of way. Some people do not like this fleshy look but I do. His characters look like they are in movement and it’s nice to see such freedom of movement in sequential storytelling because we see too much stiff poses and pin up type are in genre comics. It’s an action comic and Quitely’s art reflects that. He’s also one of the best artists when it comes to integrating sound effects on the page. It’s not just slapped on; it’s part of the art. It’s integrated directly into the action. There are some strong visual examples of that here in his early work. Unfortunately, it’s not something I’ve seen much of in his mid to late nineties work in American comics. The only other book I can remember him doing this is in is the opening arc of Batman and/& Robin (confirm!) which is a shame because I can’t think of any other artist that does it half as well.
The execution of each story is very good, especially those drawn by Quitely and Clarke. The most interesting part of this collection is the discovery and the development of Hondo-City and its characters, specifically Inaba and Shimura. It’s not a Judge Dredd collection, past the first story the focus is not on him though he is present in nearly every story. Inaba is a really interesting character and I’d like to read more stories about her in the future. Shimura is also interesting and they have a very interesting dynamic. Morrison had a good idea to develop the mythos of Hondo-City and its Judges and to stay away from Judge Dredd who’s already been in hundreds (probably more like thousands) of stories by now.
November 1, 2021
Bazooka Babes is a highlight. Didn’t care so much about the non-Dredd stories, as this mostly focuses on other characters. Still enjoyed the cool art and cyberpunk violence.
June 4, 2022
I expected more. The first story is racist, but thankfully the remainder are not. I’d add another star for this collection if the first story were omitted.
July 31, 2015
Great stories about the former country of Japan now called hondo city in the era of Judge Dredd, this series reprints stories from 2000ad and the Judge Dredd megazine. The first story is a judge dredd story but introduces hondo city in a story called our man in hondo by John Wagner & Colin MacNeil, shimura & babes with big bazookas by Robbie Morrison & Frank Quitely, & 3 other shimura stories by Robbie Morrison & Andy Clarke.
What can I say beautiful art, cool stories and the chance to see what some mad British creators envision the future of dredd's japan to be? Zarjaz!
What can I say beautiful art, cool stories and the chance to see what some mad British creators envision the future of dredd's japan to be? Zarjaz!
July 10, 2012
Andy Clarke is one damn amazing artist!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews