Underbelly somewhat falls under the awkward category of a tie-in/sequel copying the original’s formula. The comic focuses on a new drug that’s hit Mega City One (it even hits the “bigger and better” trope when one judge explains that the new drug “makes slo-mo look like candy”) and the Judges have to crack down on a female drug lord. Thankfully there are some twists thrown in that keep it from being a carbon-copy (and justify the longer page count). Unlike the movie, Anderson’s role is rather limited; at first it seemed like an odd choice, given that she was the viewpoint character in the film, but it makes sense that after the film, she isn’t needed to tell the story. It’s disappointing though, since the two best beats (one comedic and one dramatic) are Dredd’s reactions to Anderson. The best layout is a two page spread showing the Judges on a raid. The background is a layout of the building, showing the Judges working their way through the guards, with panels and arrows pointing to the map and giving detail to when and what happened in each location; it’s like an R-rated take on Family Circus. The spread looks fine in digital, but it’s probably worth picking this comic up in print just to see the full scale of the assault. The characters look great, but the comic suffers from being a movie tie-in. With a few exceptions, Anderson looks enough like actor Olivia Thirlby that it’s passable, but Dredd is given a chin the size of a tower block. It makes Dredd intimidating and would be an interesting design for a regular Dredd comic, but it’s not Karl Urban’s chin. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
