Judge Dredd: Democracy Now

Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection #2

by John Wagner, Alan Grant, John Higgins (Artist)

Massive crime, unemployment and 400 million inhabitants led the citizens of Mega-City One to abolish democracy and install the Judge System. Vested with the power to deliver instant justice, the Judges functioned as judge, jury and executioner - and the toughest, meanest lawman was Judge Dredd.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Science Fiction

Hardcover

First published September 17, 1992

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

[Damon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The humour becomes a bit darker in this one. Wagner addresses the dark side of democracy in a future were security and order have suppressed and removed any freedoms and human rights of the citizens. In this future there has never been any recourse to the law as dictated by the Judges. Now the Judges seek to legitimize their rule by any means necessary. Obvious parallels can be drawn between the referendum in this story, written twenty years ago, and the recent presidential elections in the US.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it difficult at times to comment about a book which is part of a series so I can see reading the Mega Collection is going to be a real challenge since there are 80 books from the archives of 2000AD and Judge Dredd.

So what about this book then = well this carries on from the ground work set by the previous book (America). Yes there are character references here but it is not critical to have read the book to understand the situation and the potential for trouble. In fact I think this is how the series was intended - you are able to read one book or other without having read the others but it does help you spot the references and experience the back stories that are being presented.

this is the case in this book - where the democracy movement is growing in force and numbers to the point something has to give however the results are shocking in more ways than one.

For me this takes me back to my university days in so many ways - the artwork the language even the action it is all here and all as I remember it - and yet the stories read so freshly - I was only really able to read the stories for a few years and yet the story of Dredd goes on to this day. I wonder what the further volumes have to say?

One final thing to say - I have the books in the chronological order not the published order since the series was set as a bi-monthly release the publisher intentionally jumped around the series so even though Goodreads states number 12 it is in fact number 2

[Philip Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much more serious tone to these stories which focus on the democratic movement in Mega City One. The opening "Letter From A Democrat" was a sea change from previous larks, a powerful story with terrific art by John Higgins. In the following stories Dredd is an out-and-out villain, framing the innocent and crushing legitimate dissent. I preferred these tales to the over-hyped "America" but still struggle with Dredd as a fascist bully rather than hardline hero. There's a slight softening in his outlook as the collection progresses but I prefer to see Dredd tackling monsters rather than embodying one.
While I'm on, am I right in reading it that the referendum featured was rigged? It's never explicitly stated but would explain Dredd's support and immediate heavy handed response.
As you were, carry on.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best parts of this collection show how horrible the Judges and the system they hold up are.

Letter from a Democrat, Revolution, Better the Devil You Know and Politics feel complementary and show both the brutal squashing of dissent at any cost and the mostly apathetic citizens.

Raider was an uninteresting story with lovely art, particular the final page.

I found SABs totally uninspired and dull, similar deal with Direct Action - maybe I just don't like sky surfing?

John Cassvetes is Dead is a good little idea but I felt very apart from 2000 AD and terribly on the nose.

The collection ends strong on the more recent Mega-City Confidential, which is sort of a Snowden leaks situation in the Meg and comes back to the themes from the opening stories.

Overall, the middle stories bring it down but there's so much good stuff here that establishes the system as a nightmare brutally enforced by the Judges that I enjoyed it regardless.

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most interesting story arcs in the history of Judge Dredd. Wagner and Ennis build up a really good thing.
Although the ending isn't all that surprinsing. But still, stuff with great art.

[Luis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpectedly good, with mostly beautiful art, this volume meshes very well with the previous one, America. Carries on from that story, although it could be read independently, and keeps the same dark undertones.

[Giles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The volumes of The Mega Collection can be divided into two categories: the self-contained epics along the lines of Necropolis, Doomsday & Oz and shorter stories brought together along thematic lines. Democracy Now is one of the latter and perhaps the strongest in the collection. This consolidates stories from as far back as 1986, all the way up to the present day and the quality is consistently high. It's also more intellectual than the average Judge Dredd fare, and almost totally bereft of the strip's characteristic humour.

These tales tackle issues of individual will, privacy, institutional corruption, the limits of search & seizure and the value of pacifist resistance. The astonishing thing is that almost all of them pitch Justice Department as malevolent. To subvert democracy the Judges will eavesdrop on citizens' most intimate moments, use blackmail, kidnap and employ agents provocateurs. Rogue elements inside the department will even attempt murder to keep control.

Gone is the compact between citizens, or for that matter readers, and the Judges that liberty must be curtailed in exchange for security. Here the department is laid bare as self-serving, petty and partial.

A special shout-out to the editorial team that put this together. The easy route would have been to reprint these stories by publication date, earliest to most recent, but here they are grouped thematically. The Devil You Know is, of course immediately followed by Twilight's Last Gleaming but we also get two sky surfing stories back to back, a pair of Garth Ennis authored tales and a lovely brace at the close from Colin Macneil that were originally published a full 25 years apart.

"Let this be a lesson to you...Democracy's not for the people"

An essential read for fans of the Mega City.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Judge Dredd - this anthology pits the "Orwellian Boot" of totalitarian law enforcement against notions of democracy and personal liberty in a largely uncaring society where Plato's 'the price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men' is all too evident.

I particularly liked the Fahrenheit 451 inspired "John Cassavetes is dead" in which judges bust an old man for possession of banned literature and Dredd asks the question why such trivial material is banned. Also loved "Direct Action" for its wonderful use of language - the skysurfers speak 'skyjive jibberish' a kind of slang reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange. Also in here is the chilling "Mega City Confidential" which highlights the Big Brother aspect of the justice department.

Nothing is 'new' in this one - Democracy Now takes all the dystopian literature greats and plunders them shamelessly - saying that the end result forces the reader to ask a lot of difficult questions, but its quite heavy and lacking in the humour of some of the other Dredd stuff out there.

[Johnny Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, let's make the Judges in want of a better word-BAD! What happens when the people of Mega-City 1 have had enough of being bullied, controlled and to live in fear of the Judges and its harsh system they push for democracy, Judges out bring back the old way, Police, Judge and Jury.
A vote, Dredd himself actually decides to push for the referendum believing the citizens will choose right by the Judges, without them anarchy and chaos upon the streets. But that's not to say Dredd and the system don't 'nudge' things to their way. Digging up dirt on candidates, minor things but enough to discredit or put them in for a spell in the Iso-Cubes.
A city where the Judicial System is border lining that of Big Brother from Orwell's 1984 it gets to the point that I would feel scared for the citizens.
It's dark, it's political, for once you can't always root for Joe Dredd yet you know full well it would be total Hell if there were to be no more Judges. Makes you ponder if you were a citizen what would be worse?

[John Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

a rather topical collection off the mega collection covering democracy versus fascism, survalience state versus the rights of the private citizen all told through the eyes of the rather mad citizens of Mega City 1

[Dean Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not all the stories gel seamlessly but this is a well put together selection of the political themes that often emerge in the long running Judge Dredd series. Grand.

[Mark Cain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid Dredd story that follows up from America and Necropolis

[Ray Ellis]

Volume 2 of the Mega Collection (not no.12 as some lists suggest - its a partwork, so published out of sequence). This continues the democracy theme begun in vol.1 and continuing through to vol.5. This one doesn't contain any long epics, but 10 shorter, sometimes linked, stories on the theme of democracy. The first 4 show the rise of the democracy movement. What jars slightly though is that Dredd is seen as very hardline in the first 2 and yet promoting a referendum in the third. Inbetween has come the whole Necropolis and Dead man stuff that would explain that change of heart. But we won't see those until books 4 & 5. Fun fact: The referendum story (choosing between judgement and democracy) was published in 1992, the year that white South Africans voted to end apartheid. After this, the fifth story unexpectedly jumps back in time for no very obvious reason. Stories, 7, 8 & 10 are on the theme of surveillance culture. Story no. 9 (John Casavetes is Dead) is a Farenheit 451 type story from a much earlier period. At the end is a feature on politics in 2000AD. The stories are all great and all of them contribute to the theme of democracy. But they would develop that theme far more coherently if this anthology placed them in the correct order and maybe explained what went in some of the gaps.