Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Library

      John Yohe
      November 21, 2006
      Meth Addict
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • What Looks Good for 12/2/15: Marvel and DC

      John Yohe
      November 30, 2015
      Big Two, What Looks Good
    Recent
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • Collecting Profile: Jack O’ Lantern

      nguyen ly
      October 31, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • "The Night Has Teeth" An Interview with Sarah deLaine, Artist of Image Comics' "Little Girls"

      John Yohe
      February 26, 2019
      Image, Indie, Interviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 4.5

      X-Men: First Class Review

      John Yohe
      June 6, 2011
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Scott Reed: I Am Overman!

      John Yohe
      January 14, 2008
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade: Valiant Masters: Bloodshot

      John Yohe
      April 3, 2015
      Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Boom for 6/10/15: Righteous!!

      John Yohe
      June 10, 2015
      News, This Week in BOOM!
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • Review: "Intro to Alien Invasion"

      John Yohe
      September 16, 2015
      Books
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  • Collecting Profile: Transformers
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Reviews

Review: ‘Hondo City Justice: Revenge of the 47 Ronin & More’: Gives Readers Buddy Super-hero Action in Judge Dredd’s World

John Yohe
July 16, 2014
Reviews
Review: 'Hondo City Justice: Revenge of the 47 Ronin & More': Gives Readers Buddy Super-hero Action in Judge Dredd's World
3.0Overall Score
Reader Rating: (0 Votes)

Hondo City Justice is another collection of mostly unrelated short stories that originally appeared in the British Judge Dredd Magazine and 2000 AD (where Judge Dredd originally appeared, way back). The idea takes the Judge Dredd world and imagines what life would be like on the other side of the planet, in future Japan. With some guest appearances by Judge Dredd to give some continuity and legitimacy, Hondo City feels more interesting and real than Mega City One.

The unifying thread for these stories is the setting. Hondo City — a huge sprawl including the cities formerly known as Tokyo and Kyoto — and, mostly, the character Inspector Inaba, a female Japanese Judge. Though she’s not always the main character in the stories, I find her way more interesting than Judge Dredd.

The strength of these stories, by writers Robbie Morrison and Steve Parkhouse, is in the characters, and in the fact that there are multiple characters. The first story especially gives us Judge Inaba and Judge Dredd teaming up with a former-Judge-turned-ronin, Shimura, to form an actual team. In fact, the story is mainly Shimura’s, but Judge Dredd works a lot better with a foil, or as a foil, to characters that actually show emotion. There’s an actual dynamic.

The later stories involve Inaba, with her female partner, Cadet Judge Junko Asahara—who, despite the Japanese name, is a blonde white woman, and who, despite have Phoenix-like abilities, just isn’t as kick-ass as Inaba. But at least there’s a buddy-buddy/teacher-student dynamic, something to help propel the story between fight scenes.

The art is, of course, and as always with the 2000 AD stuff, the best thing about the collection, due to the skill of the various artists, but also to the setting itself: Because we’re in future Japan, we get some nods to ancient Japanese culture, with samurai armor, swords, floating lanterns (one lovely scene with these) and some old school martial arts fights. Also some nods to more recent Japanese culture, with some manga-y backdrops, Akira-ish weaponry and vehicles, and cool bad guys, including a big lizard named Godzarro.

Aside from an excuse for some cool futuristic fight scenes, there are some interesting details and plot points, that don’t get resolved or even receive that much panel space, but are intriguing seeds for future stories: in the first story, “The Harder The Come,” written by Morrison, the bad guys form an alliance of mutants and monsters that live in the area, formally China, called the Radlands. The reason for the alliance? A corporation in Hondo City is planning and executing a rebuilding of, and expansion into, the Radlands to relieve overpopulation — supposedly — but also making money at it. The ‘bad guys’ are actually just resisting forced colonization and imperialism. They are, in short, trying to protect their homes. Not that Dredd or even Inaba stop to consider this.

The good guys, including Judge Dredd on a visit over from Mega City, are defending the head of this corporation, and this anti-corporation thread is used, or at least mentioned, in later stories, a little. If a writer were to take on this idea, that might help the Judge Dredd stories transcend the basic shoot’em-up format. What I mean is, what happens when/if the Judges realize they’re protecting corporations and not the people? Will their samurai code hold up? Or will Judge Inaba, and even Judge Dredd, eventually end up as ronin, warriors without a master?

Judge Dredd has a cult following, so to give this collection three stars is blasphemy, I know, but I continue to think 2000 AD stories place their art way over their storylines, which tend to be short, though these stories are way better than the last Dredd collection I reviewed.

Is Hondo City Justice graphic novel high art? No. Is it a good fun romp through futuristic Japan with a kickass female Japanese protagonist? Sure. She even makes me want to say (dare I?)—Dredd who?

Share On:
Tweet
140 Character Reviews 7/16/2014 Lots of the comics were read. Many of them were great. Some were not so great.
Daytripper, A Life Examined Chapter Three: “Finding the Oasis”

About The Author

<a href="http://comicsbulletin.com/byline/john-yohe/" rel="tag">John Yohe</a>
John Yohe

Born in Puerto Rico, John Yohe grew up in Michigan, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon. He has worked as a wildland firefighter, deckhand/oiler, runner/busboy, bike messenger, wilderness ranger, and fire lookout, as well as a teacher of writing. A complete list of his publications, and poetry, fiction and non-fiction writing samples, can be found at his website.

Related Posts

  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    Daniel Gehen
    December 14, 2020
  • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

    Daniel Gehen
    December 3, 2020

Latest Reviews

  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    Daniel Gehen
    December 14, 2020
  • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

    Daniel Gehen
    December 3, 2020
  • 4.5

    TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

    Daniel Gehen
    October 29, 2020
  • 4.5

    Micro Review: Commanders in Crisis #1

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    October 12, 2020
  • 3.0

    Review: GHOST WRITER Fights the Spectre of Unevenness

    Daniel Gehen
    September 3, 2020
  • 3.5

    Review: Strange Skies Over East Berlin

    Yavi Mohan
    August 11, 2020
  • DRAWING BLOOD: A Hyper-Stylized, Fictional Autobiography

    Ben Bishop, Brittany Peer, David Avallone, Drawing Blood, Kevin Eastman, Tomi Varga
    August 9, 2020
  • 3.0

    Alien: The Original Script #1 – This One’s For The Fans

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    August 7, 2020
  • Singles Going Steady: Why? Lettering!

    Daniel Gehen
    July 28, 2020
  • 4.5

    X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #4 is a Finale of Moral Questions

    Daniel Gehen
    July 22, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders