Holiday Gift Guide: DREDD

When it comes to the holiday gift-giving season, comic book readers are notoriously difficult to shop for. I mean, most of us are down at the shop buying our favorite stuff every single week, so when the time comes for people who like us to get us something we want, well, a lot of times we already have it. That’s why we’re stepping in with a public service, bringing you comics-related items sure to make the season brighter, whether you’re browsing for a gift or just looking for something to drop hints about so that you don’t get stuck with a random assortment of back issues again.

If you're in need of a stocking stuffer that will ensure you have a profoundly violent Christmas (in a good way), then there are far worse ways for you to spend $10 than a copy of Dredd on DVD. And most of 'em will get you six months in the cubes, creep.

ITEM: Dredd

CLASSIFICATION: DVD plus Digital Copy

AVAILABILITY: $9.49 on Amazon

I wasn't initially going to recommend Dredd for the gift guide, but then two things changed my mind. First was that this movie is awesome. I absolutely loved it when I saw it in the theater, and thought it was one of the more enjoyable entries in this massive renaissance of comic-inspired movies that we're living through right now. And second, maybe more importantly since we're getting down to the wire for Christmas shopping, it's ten bucks.

That's cheap enough to make it easy to take a risk on, which means that it can make a pretty interesting gift for different kinds of friends and family. I usually wouldn't recommend getting comics-related stuff for your non-comics friends -- there is no worse evangelist for a medium than someone who's really into it and keeps giving it as gifts to people who could never care less -- but a Judge Dredd-inspired action movie with a hook that works even when you divorce it from everything about the comic makes this a special case. If you've got someone who just likes action movies and enjoyed Die Hard or The Raid, or who digs classic Sci-Fi action like RoboCop or Total Recall (you know, the good one), then there's a hook here for just about anyone.

It may not make them come running back begging for copies of 2000 AD or anything -- though if it does, I think that qualifies as a Christmas Miracle -- but they'll get a great movie with some of Karl Urban's best scowling work to date. And if enough of you buy it, we might just get that sequel I want.