I do like Al Ewing, and this one was my favorite of the Year One novels so far. That's saying something, because they were all entertaining.

The main character here was mostly Rico Dredd, Joe was only in a few scenes. I haven't read very much about Rico yet, so I enjoyed the grinning supervillain thing he had going on here.

I also liked the main perp, an old-fashioned robber/con man kind of guy who's in a tight spot and looking for a huge score. I'm not sure if the story about the stadium is original to this novel (it sounds like it probably is), but it's fantastic. And the event they wind up trying to rob sounds like it was at the beginning of the fatty craze. Hearing someone describe a "fatty" to someone else via dialogue brings that ridiculousness back home again.

I have yet to be disappointed by a Judge Dredd novel, but the Year One series has been especially great so far. ( )