3 out of 5

An odd throwback to have occurred on the IDW side of Dredd, doing a “What If” style sendup of a classic 2000 AD Dredd tale – Cry of the Wolf – that’s admittedly totally accessible enough (Joe is a werewolf! …Done, you’re caught up) but also is presented in a ‘you had to be there’ way.

Which is really my only criticism of this John McCrea outing, even had it been written contemporaneously: limited to one issue, there’s only so much John can do with his spin – which posits that Joe stayed a wolf – and it’s tons of fun, but also requires some story context of other characters and non-wolf plot elements that emotionally / stakes-wise fall flat. Given more space, I imagine that could be smoothed out; without that, perhaps keeping the focus squarely on Joe could’ve helped.

So it’s kind of weightless, and just following a thread without much “deviation,” but that doesn’t prevent the book from being a lot of fun, and from that being evidenced through McCrea: balancing an impressively detailed, steady style with his more expressive side, the pages are very animated, and full of character.