A review by fantasybooknerd01
Judge Dredd: Blaze of Glory by P.J. Holden, Patrick Goddard, Liam McCormack-Sharp, Al Ewing, Leigh Gallagher, Paul Marshall, John Higgins, Ben Willsher, Simon Fraser, Andrew Currie, Jake Lynch

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

4.0

Before Al Ewing was a shining star in the Marvel Universe, with the likes of The Immortal Hulk, he was an up and coming at 2000AD comics. 

Blaze of Glory collects a number of his Judge Dredd strips which showcase his biting satire, dark humour and gratuitous violence which were the mainstays of his tenure of the stoical lawman. 

 The book collects twelve different stories, all standalone tales, each one with different themes and settings. Sometimes Dredd takes the starring role, at others he is on the side-lines and is a mere bystander to the events happening on the page, for instance in the tale The Sex Olympics, which is a show that can be best equated as Strictly Come Shagging! 

The stories themselves are full of humour, pathos and irony that very rarely ever end well for the perp as Dredd meters out justice, Mega City One style. However, there is always the fair side of Dredd at play here, and at times he can be thoughtful in his decisions. The artwork by the various artists at work on the stories also has that undertone of poking fun. One prime example where this is showcased is in the Sex Olympics, where the main protagonist has been given a life changing diagnosis of chronic impotence, sits on the sofa, with a very prominent bowl of sex toys replacing a bowl of fruit in the foreground. 

There is a hard satirical edge throughout the stories, particularly the lead story ‘Blaze of Glory’ which quips at the great British tradition of having the James Bond films on rotation every Christmas. Blaze of Glory does its level best to have a go at the whole franchise by sniping at the lead character and his different facets 

There is a crossover in the book with another of Al Ewing’s characters, Zombo, which he worked on with creator Henry Flint, which in all honesty is just as batshit crazy as the Zombo strip itself. 

The artwork itself complements the stories, form the comic strip style of some of the stories, to the sepia-stained tale A Home for Aldous Mayo and the photo realistic panels of Blaze of Glory. 

Also of note are the letterers in each of the story. I never once lost the text throughout the books. There were good clear font styles in each of the stories which added to the narrative. I know that these mainstays of the comic industry rarely get mentioned, but they are just as important as the art and the story. And similarly, a shoutout to the colourists who have all added their individual style and vibrancy to the tales that makes the 2000AD comics a joy to read.