Warlord Games Unboxing - SJS Judge Gerhart - 2000 AD - Judge Dredd

Let me welcome you to another Warlord Games Unboxing. This is the SJS Judge Gerhart kit from the  Rebellion x 2000 AD x Warlord Games wargaming game for Judge Dredd.

Here are the details of this fantastic kit.

Now more than 75% Cyborg, Alex Gerhart was an up‐and‐coming star in the sinister ranks of the Special Judicial Squad. Unfortunately, like so many of his colleagues, he had an unhealthy obsession with Judge Dredd. Not only had the venerable Judge been instrumental in exposing the worst excesses of the SJS under Judge Cal, he also represented the one thing that the SJS could simply not process: an incorruptible Judge.

For several years, Gerhart pursued a vendetta against Dredd to uncover some transgression, no matter how small. While investigating the death of a Tek Judge, he unsuccessfully tried to force Dredd to admit having a guilty conscience about the 350 million citizens who fell to the Chaos Virus, a bio‐weapon unleashed by Sov agents in revenge for Dredd destroying East‐Meg One.

Ultimately Gerhart’s obsession with Dredd would cost him dearly. He saved Dredd’s life by taking the impact of a missile meant for his nemesis. He simply could not let Dredd die before guilt was fully proven. Gerhart’s self‐sacrifice saw fully half of his shattered body being replaced by cybernetic parts.

Contains 2 resin models, 1 on foot and 1 mounted

Buy direct from Warlord Games - https://us.warlordgames.com/collections/judge-dredd/products/judge-dredd-sjs-judge-gerhart (Tell them I sent you and that they should sponsor me, ha)

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Comic Review 244 // Judge Dredd: Small House by Rob Williams & Henry Flint

Nice to be back among the streets of MC-1. I originally read this back in 2019, but I never reviewed it for some reason. Why did that happen? But it gave me what little excuse was needed to re-read it. Found at my local library, so let us dive in.

Title: Judge Dredd: The Small House

Author: Rob Williams

Artist: Henry Flint

Blurb: The critically-acclaimed and fan-lauded latest Judge Dredd tale which sent shockwaves through the universe and Mark Millar called “one of the best runs ever!”

Everything is at stake and no-one is safe – in the critically-acclaimed storyline from Rob Williams and Henry Flint, Judge Dredd and his team of hand-picked allies finally takes on the nefarious Judge Smiley, Mega-City One’s behind-the-scenes manipulator – but who will be left standing at the end? And with tensions with Chief Judge Hershey at breaking point, has Dredd finally met his match?

Format: 96 pages, Paperback (buy via Amazon: Affiliate Shop - thanks for the support)

Review

As a long-time reader, you can't read a Rob Williams' Dredd story without having this feeling of building dread. He is being sneaky in his stories and hinting at something in the shadows working against Dredd and possibly MC-1, but what is it or better yet, who? This story is bringing this all to a head and seems to be finally closing this arc (maybe).

The tale begins on Titan with a survivor of an early Rob William story - Judge Sam. If you haven't read Titan, I highly recommend it, and you could say this is the beginning adventure of the arc. Judge Sam hails from Brit-Cit and is a brilliant Architect. With too much free time on Titan, Judge Sam has noticed a more like a web pattern. This web of actions across the globe all lead to MC-1 and, more importantly, to the Grand Hall of Justice. Wanting to unravel this mystery, Judge Sam requests a transfer to MC-1 and becomes a street judge hoping to discover more.

Now I don't want to ruin it with spoilers, so I must stop there with the plot. But inside this story, we get Judge Dredd, Judge Giant, SJS Judge Gerhart, Judge Sam and Wally Squad Dirty Franks working together. It's like a dream team! We also finally discover the origin story of Dirty Frank and boy it does not disappoint!

Ultimately this is a classic conspiracy tale that can be enjoyed as a stand-alone piece, but also very enjoyable to see all the loose strings tied up. The artwork, unsurprisingly, is fantastic. Henry Flint is my favourite Dredd artist of the modern line-up. He just knows what works! Backgrounds are detailed but not distracting, his characters show their age, and I wonder how he does it, but he can portray the persona of a character purely through art. The story this writer/artist combo has produced over the years has been some of my favourites in the series, and I can't wait to get more of their work soon!

There is one line you see a lot about this tale, but it sums up the conspiracy perfectly:

“There is a house, you know. A small house. And it has no doors. There is no way in and no way out. Yet someone lives there.”

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Comic Review 156 // Bad Manners by John Wagner and 2000 AD

I love knocking some titles off my TO BE READ pile of shame. This comic was brought over to Canada nearly 6 years ago and has sat waiting to be read ever since. Bad Manners collects three stories together tracking the final year of Judge Manners career. It tracks how the Justice Department s flawed in many different ways and shows the cracks appearing in a broken system.

The short series starts with the title piece Bad Manners. All the stories are written by John Wagner so you know you are in for a ride, but damn is this a dark opener! We follow a Juve who unluckily for him cross path with a Judge who is handing out a harsh side of justice. Soon this Judge is terrorizing the Juve and beating the crap out of him. Fearing for his life whilst still believing in the Justice Department the Juve reaches out to Judge Dredd for help. Unfortunately, Judge Manners discovers the call to aid and frames the Juve as a drug dealer, killing him in a failed arrest attempt. The artwork by John Burns is beautiful and really adds to the dark moody feel of the piece. This is a great opener.

We follow this up with a title called Flippers, once more John Wagner takes the lead, with the artistic skills of Wayne Reynolds. Before we get fully into this tale I should mention that Judge Manners is a bit of character in this story. He has at best five lines but does continue to show his character and a Tech Judge is becoming suspicious of his story. But with Judge Dredd around you know something will happen. Instead, this story follows a pair of judges who have taken their teamwork to the next level. Having discovered a child is on the way the pair attempt to steal money and flee, but sadly they are caught by Judge Dredd, moments from freedom. Overall a good story, interesting to see that Dredd really was obvious to them right up to the end. If they paid more attention to the world around them they may have escaped.

The final tale of this collection is called Rotten Manners - written by John Wagner and artwork by Paul Marshall. Once again Judge Manners has crossed paths with Dredd. With Manners being reassigned out of his old sector for unproven excessive use of force. Whilst on a routine patrol Manners discovers a guy handing out democracy fliers and gives him a beating, unknowingly leading to the perps death. As the case is discovered, Dredd remembers Manners being in the area and finally calls him for his corruption. Facing a one-way trip to Titan (a Judge Prison), Manners chooses to face off against Dredd. In an interesting turn of events, Dredd refuses to fight Manners, not wishing to grant him an easy way out. But as Manners draws his gun other Judges in the area gun him down, bring the reign of Manners to an end.

Overall this was a great read! It shows how all the perfect qualities of a Judge are actually only a short step away from a sociopath. It shows how the fear of the Judges can affect everyday people and worst of all it shows how those with the most power can abuse the system to the extreme. I feel this is a very valid view point of justice in general and shows the continuing flaw in the system.

I hope you enjoyed it? Feel free to comment below or seek me out on one of the many social platforms that I hang out on. Here is a quick LINK (Solo bio link) to my details. Cheers to reading this.