2 out of 5

This is the most American Dredd possible. …That’s not a compliment.

Not only does writer Mark Russell not seem to get what makes Joe a unique character, and MC-1 a unique setting, he doesn’t seem interested enough in the material to give either a sense of identity at all, resulting in a faceless 4-issue run of good guys vs. bad guys action. That action is competent, with big and bulky art from Max Dunbar, which kind of fulfills the m.o. of this Dredd-by-way-of-Gears-of-War remake, but that doesn’t bump the comic into must read territory, whether you’re looking for an American take on a very British book or not.

The main story fits a template Wagner, or any Dredd writer, can feel free to use: a call to go to a particularly problematic block, and then Joe and others get stuck there. The residents are particularly Judge unfriendly, forming a very unofficial version of Cit-Def, but after discovering a common enemy – an invading crew of mutants – Joe and the block leader grudgingly pair up.

This is all acceptable, but there’s no subtlety, cleverness, or commentary to the proceedings, which features tons of grunty violence, but much more offensively: tons of Joe shooting people and then saying a one-liner. He’s a supercop here – there are no stakes; and our villain is similarly templated to a cackling, take-over-the-world type.

Russell tries some casual, timely political nods here and there, but it’s as empty as the characterizations; either he truly didn’t get the material, or this was strictly work-for-hire, and he didn’t have the time or energy to do so.