Essential Judge Dredd: Tour of Duty Book 1: Tour of Duty 1: Volume 7

I first read this story when I picked up the first rebellion edition back in 2010 (2010! It feels like only a couple of years ago!) but chucked it out when I decided I was too 'mature' to still be reading comics. Apparently I was wrong, as I regretted the decision & picked up this version as soon as it was released. And actually it's much better quality than the the older edition, particularly the paper stock, so was definitely worth it.Tour of Duty is an epic & impactful story which caused lasting changes to Dredd's world. Mutants have always been cast out of Mega City One & forced to live in the Cursed Earth wasteland, like a more extreme version of Trump's wall. But Dredd's encounter with the Fargos in Origins have made him think twice about the morality of it, for the first time in his life. Reading it back now, Dredd reminds me of Ned Stark - ready to stand up against any odds for what he thinks is right but in doing so, causes way more chaos than he expects. So when he forwards a motion to the Council Of Five to have mutants legalised - and after a few setbacks, surprisingly gets it passed - he finds most of Justice Dept. & the citizens against him. This leads to riots, hate crimes & other unexpected consequences.While the second volume is more like a single story, this one is a series of interlinked tales which connect to the mutant issue in different ways. It isn't always immediately obvious how - for instance, when we're introduced to Judge Francisco, who dispenses justice live on MC1's biggest reality TV show, there isn't a mutant in sight. In the meantime, mutants are blamed when Total War resort to kidnapping, Edgar puts Dredd on the trail of corruption within the highest echelons of Justice Department & newly-qualified Judge Beeny investigate a couple of bizarre murders where the suspect is none other than PJ Maybe.This is an excellent volume. All the stories are written by Wagner & fit together to form a satisfying whole. As usual, each tale features a different artist who all do an excellent job here. A classic Dredd story which deserves the Essentials treatment.