Frank Burns reviewed I Am the Law by Michael Molcher
Outstanding
5 stars
Long time on this one. TBF there were a lot of self care re-reads in this period because I wanted to take this in chunks and ruminate on each chunk. If you have an interest in the intersection between art and the arc of history then this is an important book. At first glance, yes, an ostensible children's comic written by guys whose brief was to pump out pages for late 1970's kids seems like an unlikely candidate to not only be prescient but so long lasting. This book covers all of that, and more. For those who read the comics as kids, the history of the Dredd character and it's development is worth a buy of this book. How Dredd the strip held up a mirror to the modern carceral state is the real depth here. This is meant as a scholarly work (I think) but it is written …
Long time on this one. TBF there were a lot of self care re-reads in this period because I wanted to take this in chunks and ruminate on each chunk. If you have an interest in the intersection between art and the arc of history then this is an important book. At first glance, yes, an ostensible children's comic written by guys whose brief was to pump out pages for late 1970's kids seems like an unlikely candidate to not only be prescient but so long lasting. This book covers all of that, and more. For those who read the comics as kids, the history of the Dredd character and it's development is worth a buy of this book. How Dredd the strip held up a mirror to the modern carceral state is the real depth here. This is meant as a scholarly work (I think) but it is written in an engaging style nonetheless. Whilst this is written by a fan it isn't shy of pointing out where there might have been things that were not done well (race, in particular). Dredd was never my favourite 2000AD jam mostly because it made me feel a little uncomfortable and it didn't have a resolution arc like so many of my preferred characters from the comic (Mills work on Nemesis being a good example of this). Reading this book and seeing how on the nose it was explains that unease to adult me that maybe went over the head of 7 year old me. 5 stars up there. If this kind of thing tickles your pickle then just buy it already.