Judge Dredd is diving into the entrails of Ang Avi to try to make sense of what’s happening, when or where is he. He has been separated from Lolo, Quill, and Iggy who have been sent back to the lands outside. Some of them wait for Dredd to come back for them, some don’t wanna see him again. The pacing in this issue takes two different approaches. One is from Dredd’s point of view who is diving into the bottoms of the block, and the other one is from the girls who are trying to figure out what they will do next while outside. The contrast in the pacing works to raise the tension onto what’s happening to the feral girls in Dredd’s absence.

There is a small confusion on the opening narration of this issue; while it’s telling the reader that Dredd doesn’t want to find out what has happened to Mega City-One, which left me wondering what he’s doing in the first place? What is he going into the lowest levels of Ang Avi if not to find out what happened to it?

Art although consistent, there are some panels I had to double back on to figure out what exactly was happening. How did Lolo get to where she was going and bypass the guards? Now that Dredd has been removed from his iconic and contrasting uniform, he’s beginning to blend into the background of some of the pages and without that contrast, Judge Dredd #4 has the signs to start looking and sounding monotone. This was a definitive transitionary issue that promises to deliver more action more of the great thematic dialogue from the early installments. More mysteries are poised in this issue as The Judge seems to get more and more questions than answers the deeper he digs, and finds more lawless men controlling the city and its outsides with him being the only semblance of law and decency around. Judge Dredd #4 delivers enough to make me want for the next issue, but makes for weary if it doesn’t deliver on a bigger payoff.

[button btn_url="" btn_color="pink" btn_size="large" btn_style="default" btn_outlined="no" link_target="blank" link_rel="" icon_left="" icon_right=""]Score: 3/5[/button]

Judge Dredd #4 Writers: Ulises Farinas & Erick Freitas Artist: Dan McDaid Colorist: Ryan Hill Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 3/30/16 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital