COMICS: Duane Swierczynski To Write New JUDGE DREDD Ongoing For IDW Publishing

Earlier this year, IDW Publishing revealed plans for a new Judge Dredd series. However, at the San Diego Comic-Con earlier today, they confirmed that it will be released this Novemeber with the creative team of writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Nelson Daniel. As the 2000AD character returns to the big screen this September with Dredd (starring Karl Urban), the series will serve as an introduction of sorts to American comic book readers. "I'd like IDW's Dredd to feel like a transgressive sci-fi black comedy police procedural -- like 'Law & Order,' if, say, Jerry Orbach were a violent inflexible fascist," Swierczynski told Comic Book Resources. "Someone who readers can't help but root for, since he's up against overwhelming odds in a city gone insane."

"The possibilities are exciting as hell, especially when you factor in future tech," he added when talk turned to the storytelling possibilities. "I'm finding inspiration in the lawless Dillinger days of the early 1930s, when emerging technology inspired both cops and bandits to elevate their games. When the bandits started using race cars for getaways, the cops responded with faster pursuit vehicles; shotguns were met with machine guns; organized criminal gangs were met with wiretapping and most-wanted lists. With 'Dredd,' I'm asking myself: what kind of games will cops (that is, judges) and robbers be playing 100 years in the future?" The series will apparently feature untold stories from the early days of his career (surely making it a far more accessible read fr new readers) while it will also include back-up tales which, "tell a self-contained crime story from the POV of various Mega-City One perps and creeps." This new Judge Dredd comic book will not be connected to the film, while it also appears unlikely that it will fit into the continuity of the 2000AD series. Are you looking forward to this accessible series featuring the character? Sound off with your thoughts in the usual place.