Case File
Dredd dodges ape attacks as he attempts to find the source of the evolutionary emergency.
Ol’ Stoney Face
Dredd does his best to avoid citizen deaths, as it’s not their fault their genome has been sent in an accelerating reverse. He’s pragmatic about stopping the enzyme, and tells the firefighters to just let Charles Darwin Block burn down once everyone that can be rescued is evacuated.
The Big Meg (and Beyond)
Even rapidly de-evolving, citizens of the Big Meg don’t miss a few opportunities to try and turn things to their advantage. Cosmo Corleone sets up a banana toll on the stairs (Dredd pays by shoving the fruit in the ape’s mouth); and Judith Dobble starts a brief new citizen craze of throwing anything she can get her hands on down at the Judges.
As the enzyme spreads, its effects become worse. Many of the citizens continue far back along the evolutionary path and end up regressing to “lower animal stages”: basically human-sized lizard monsters (“All they craved was flesh!”).
It’s not clear whether all the de-evolved people rescued from the Block recover – a caption just tells us that MC-1 scientists will be working on that “for a long time to come”.
The Law
Even the Judges aren’t immune to the enzyme. We see Judges Nestor, Martin and Carsonovitz begin to ape-out (just so they can do the see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil gag that is legally required in any ape-based story).
Creeps
Professor Fribb didn’t intend any of the chaos he’s caused, but he certainly causes quite a bit of it. As he’s right at the heart of the enzyme’s spread, he goes the furthest back on the DNA voyage and ends up as a “giant amoeba” – a squidgy mass of flesh with a couple of eyes.
This story probably isn’t winning any awards for scientific accuracy.
Block Mania
Charles Darwin Block burns to the ground.
Rap Sheet
Despite being reduced to little better than a pile of snot with eyeballs, Fribb is still heading to the cubes.
Resyk
It’s implied that many of the residents of the Block who had evolved too far back were not rescued before it all burned down. We see Dredd take out the Flying Hendersons, a family acrobatic troupe that de-evolved down to flesh-hungry monsters (“There’s no saving these poor devils!”.
Verdict
Lots of fun with a premise that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Dredd arresting the pitiable remains of Professor Fribb at the end is great.
Daily Dredd 