Geek Culture Reviews

In the long shadow of comic book adaptations, Dredd stands as a lean, gritty, and faithful tribute to one of the most iconic antiheroes in comic history: Judge Dredd. Far removed from the neon kitsch and narrative misfires of the 1995 Judge Dredd film starring Sylvester Stallone, Dredd is a stripped-down, brutal, and grounded take on the lawman of Mega-City One. But more than just a hard-edged action flick, Dredd is deeply embedded in the lore and philosophy of the original 2000 AD comic series. Dredd is a film that doesn’t just adapt the character it’s portraying —it understands him. The being that would become synonymous with the faceless reality of justice first appeared within 2000 AD issue #2 back in 1977, and was the brainchild of writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra . Conceived during a time of political unrest and growing authoritarianism, Judge Joseph Dredd was a dark satire of fascism wrapped in the skin of a futuristic law enforcer. Set within Mega-City One, ...

V For Vendetta, a comic that inspired a hacker group, and became a manual to injustice and rebellion… For those of you who are not familiar,  V For Vendetta  is a 1980s comic book that was brought to life by  Alan Moore  and  David Lloyd.  Across the 10-part series,  Moore  tells the story of V; an enigmatic and mysterious antagonist, who’s sole purpose was to bring down the totalitarian government that’s currently governing the stories version of Britain. While the story can be seen as a simple story of good vs evil, it’s so much more. Just under the surface and you have a story that’s full of social injustice, elitism, freedom, the rights of people to simply live their lives, and so much more. It’s also a story who’s themes are becoming ever more realised as we head into our own future. With media bias, and government propaganda dictating how we live our lives, we’re closer now to Alan Moore’s dystopia than we were back when the enigmatic V made...

Geek Culture Re:Read Judge Dredd: America... America is arguably one of – if not THE  greatest Judge Dredd story. Originally published way back in 1991, it has become the definitive story for anyone being introduced to Judge Dredd and his world. Anyone who's read any of my weekly 2000 AD reviews will know that I'm a sucker for the more political Judge Dredd tale. The world of Judge Dredd is incredibly complex and seeing snippets of the internal politics of both the Justice Department and the system they're sworn to uphold is often quite interesting. There's been plenty of stories that feature this in some shape or form throughout Dredd's 45-year history. One's that spring to mind for me are The Small House, Titan, Apocalypse War , and  Origins, but there are many more. These quite often revolve around the notion that portrays the Judges as the fascist regime they are rather than a force for good. Instead of the usual high-energy ultra-violence tha...

Rob talks about Aliens/Predator: War. A 1995 graphic novel he once hated. But as tastes change have Rob's? Find out in this edition of Re:Read... Hello, and welcome to Re:Read. A series where I read some of my older graphic novels, and then moan about them. No, to be fair I'll probably praise them too. So with that let's talk about... Aliens/Predator: War Aliens/Predator : War is the second instalment to the 1990 series that started it all - Alien/Predator . The original series focuses on Machiko Noguchi and the ranch planet Ryushi. It's your typical Alien story of corporate greed, horror and back-stabbing. The added twist is, yeah, the Predator. While almost everything that Aliens/Predator sets up has since been retconned, rebooted, and retconned some more, the general story still holds up today. Even so that the original story was developed into a film by video-game film destroyer - Paul W. S. Anderson .  The AvP film was - for lack of a better word - ...