"Brainblooms”
Mega City One Year: 2099
Published 25th June 1977, 2000ad Prog: 18 (The Complete Judge Dredd 1 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.)
Parts: 1
Written by John WagnerArtist: Mike McMahonLetters: Jack Potter
Synopsis
Brainblooms, a botanical result of bio-organic gratings of plant and human, emit songs that can soothe any person with their human head form. In Mega City One they are also illegal to grow, and as Dredd confronts the latest source of the supply, a Mrs Mahaffy, she initially evades arrest by Dredd by using the Brainblooms to hypnotising him, almost becoming roadkill in the process after leaving Mrs Mahaffy’s garden. After Dredd snaps out of it, he rounds up the riot squad, loaded with riot roam that destroys the Brainblooms plot, and takes Mrs Mahaffy into custody.
Review
The first strip following a multi part series is usually on the lighter side, and Brainblooms is that in a nutshell. As Wagner is now at the helm, there is a notable shift already away from a comedic punchline at the very end, as they would consistently become more “I am the law” centric. A perfectly paced five-page strip.
Line of the strip - Dredd: “Yeehaa! here goes! That truck’ll squash me to a pulp! It'll take them days to scrape me off the road!”
Be back next time citizens for “Mugger’s Moon”
