Being a reviewer, I don’t always get to jump in at the first issue of a comic book run, and that is my situation here. I’m reading the fourth issue of a four-issue run on Judge Dredd: Anderson, Psi-Division by writer Matt Smith and artist Carl Critchlow. And yet, that shouldn’t matter. Instead of an exciting comic book conclusion, what I’m treated to is half a comic of an antagonist doling out exposition to the protagonist. It’s the old cheat: the bad guy talks so long that it gives the good guy an opportunity to get out of the situation. The good guy never is pushed to do something out of their limits or think on their feet, because the bad guy doesn’t amplify the tension. The good guy, in this case, is Judge Anderson, Judge Dredd’s sometimes psychic partner. Though, as the description of the book states, this is early in her career working in Mega-City One.

I don’t want to go off the hook and call Matt Fraction’s new book from Image Comics, ODY-C, triumphant, because it’s only one issue into its run. Who knows where the story will lead, but I will say it has me hooked and more excited to experience the series than most other books out there right now. I say “experience,” simply because that’s the only way to get something out of a book like this. It isn’t meant to be read like your typical, run-of-the-mill comic.

*Please note that this article is an opinion-editorial.


Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of hullabaloo from fans of Warner Bros./DC Comics about the TV universe being a separate entity from the film universe. I’m going to be clear about this: I haven’t seen Arrow, The Flash, Constantine, or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and I’ve only see two episodes of Gotham, which I really liked. One would think that would put me at a disadvantage talking about them - not so. I’m not emotionally connected to any of this. I look at everything here as a possibility, not as realities that I’m personally experiencing. I only know that fans really like most of these shows. Liking these shows means they really like the actors playing the characters.