JUDGE

“Year One” comics have a tough job. They must stick to a hero’s fundamentals, but differ enough to show how he develops into a familiar character by the end. They also have to serve double duty as jumping-on points for new readers and continuity-friendly stories for old fans. Happily, “Judge Dredd: Year One” #1 is up to the task. Writer Matt Smith and artist Simon Coleby have clearly put a lot of time and effort into keeping the gritty, slightly antisocial feel of the original “2000 A.D.” strips, while showing enough about Dredd and his world for a new reader to get on board without being lost. The plot revolves around a sudden outbreak of psychic manifestations among the youth of Mega-City One, but Smith keeps it grounded in Judge Dredd’s street-level world: when the kids of 2080 AD get psychic powers, they use them to beat up bullies and steal cash. There’s none of the world- or universe-spanning quality of some of the “Judge Dredd” epics, at least not yet, and this fits the small