Judge Dredd Prog 2183: Combat Ready

The all-ages takeover issues of 2000 AD are a fun time, but I’m admittedly not the target audience for these books in a very noticeable way. However, that being said, the Combat Ready story we find in prog 2183 finds an important element of relevance in its usage of Dredd lore to help tell a purely entertaining story.

Getting to know a younger version of Joe Dredd is always something that will be interesting to see. This prog kicks things off with an immediate reference to Dredd’s ongoing competition with his clone brother Rico (yes THAT Rico!) and while it seems like typical standard training, we are seeing the foundation for both the character that we know and love as well as events such as the return of Rico and even the epic Robot War. Sure they are basically harmless callbacks, but they still happen in a really exciting way.

The sometimes playful banter really lends itself to the all-ages direction of the story and gives the story a more lighthearted tone than you might expect. The artwork caters more to the action elements than it does the all-ages aesthetic, but it’s easy to appreciate and consistent in execution. There isn’t much to complain about other than the layout getting a bit too busy for such a short story. We’ve seen Annie Parkhouse doing great work on letters for quite a while in 2000 AD progs now and this issue is yet another example of quality lettering that adds to the flow and pacing of the story.

As a predecessor for what’s to come, Judge Dredd prog 2183 utilizes the series’ history and lore in an exciting way to provide some interesting insight that fans are likely to enjoy. It’s not particularly consequential by any means, but it does seem to have an understanding of Dredd lore and that’s where the prog really finds its stride. If you are a fan of the Dredd and particularly the classics, no matter your age, there is definitely something here for you!