4 out of 5

As with the previous Restricted collections – compiling annuals and specials appearances of Dredd – one of the strengths of reading it as a bundle is experiencing the breadth and flexibility of the character and world. This can seem an unfair bit of praise versus the Case Files, where sometimes that same variability makes for an uneven read, but I think the weekly prog, when collected – past its first several years, when the world and characters are more established – bounces between serials and one-shots in a way that can really highlight the stuff that works versus what doesn’t, not to mention the generally shorter page length – 6 pages for a prog thrill versus, often, 8 or more in the specials – simply giving less room for storytelling. And with a weekly turnaround time, that can be tough to master. 

Even if you use the less frequent, longer thrills in the Megazine for comparison, there you have a need to still establish something of a consistent tone, plus occasional links to whatever’s happening in the prog. 

The annuals and specials, then, are freed from all of that. Beyond having an understanding / appreciation for the character, the strips can be anything. 

And this collection typifies that almost to the extreme, focusing on an almost elseworlds style of Dredds, and crossing the decade long gap when the annuals ended (1995) and picked back up again (2005) – the “dark” era through to the Matt Smith-edited rebirth. Plus what we might consider bonus pages: a whole bunch of text + McMahon art from, I think, the Dice Man book, which was – also I think – an RPG Dredd book, with the stuff here scripted by Wagner. These pages are a fun, and surprisingly dense, dive into world lore and characters and tech breakdowns, done in the cheeky style of a brochure or catalogue, and for longtime readers, underlines how much of this mythology was actually already part of the comics, and not just created wholesale. 

Of course, as with any compilation of such varying art and tonal styles, some of this is really hinky and maybe even unreadable from a comics perspective – like just way too experimental, without being mindful of presenting a followable story – and the last few elseworlds tales start to read like the well is dry, just palette swapping Joe into different genres. 

But: it’s overall an engagingly, expressively creative read, freed up from most ongoing plotty elements or weekly / monthly constraints, while generally remaining true to the Dreddverse.