Judge Dredd is busy with a string of homicides. Seven crime syndicates hit across four sectors in eight days. The homicides are quick, brutal, messy, and to the point. They’re making a statement. At every crime scene, they leave one person alive to tell everyone it was a guy in a mask with a voice like a garbage grinder. Dredd’s got a description, but he will need a lot more than that in 2,000 A.D. #2345. Writer Ken Niemand continues a story with art by Tom Foster. Next, a few people deal with a bad dog in “Maxwell’s Demon,” by writer David Barnett and artist Lee Milmore. And finally, Ramone Dexter has a rather important meeting with writer Dan Abnett and artist Tazio Bettin in Azimuth. 

Dredd’s target has also been pursued by someone he warned. She didn’t get out of Megacity One when he told her to, and now she’s in trouble. He warns her against trying to do so again. Elsewhere, a dog announces that all information wants to be free. Its eyes glow light purple in the green haze of the alley. Then it lunges in for a throat. A demon with the powers of an infomancy engine possesses it. And in Azimuth, Dexter Ramone is learning his way around a strange city. All its inhabitants refuse to believe that there’s a world outside the city. He’s off to seek an audience with Lord Trinary...one of the New Flesh who rules over the city.

Niemand keeps the pacing very tight and precise in his Dredd story. As happens now and then with Dredd, the supporting characters can come across as more interesting than the title character. Dredd’s target seems a lot more interesting than he does this week. Barnett’s horror gets moving in its third chapter as it concludes that an attack by info zombies had great potential for satire, but Barnett’s too interested in developing the horror. Abnett works a certain kind of magic through a simple dialogue that reveals just a bit more about the world of Azimuth.

Milmore’s visuals for the info zombie story look pretty sinister in places. The glowing purple LED-style lighting shooting out of the eyes feels intensely creepy in a fun closing chapter for Barnett’s story. Bettin delivers on a bit of the drama in the Azimuth chapter. Bettin’s got some beautiful architectural renderings of Azimuth. An isometric drawing of the structure outside of Lord Trinary’s palace looks like a trippy M.C. Escher rendering. Very cool. 

The anthology takes a quick break from the usual next week for what appears to be an issue of one-shots aimed at more of an all-ages crowd, which should be a weird experiment for the anthology. As it is right now, the series is weighted heavily in a classic cyberpunk format. A brief escape from that might be fun.

Grade: A