BOOK REVIEW – WALTER THE WOBOT – Judge Dredd – The Complete Case Files Volume #1 2000 AD 1977 onwards.
Walter The Robot, or Wobot, as he calls himself in his Jonathon Ross / Elmer J Fudd lisp, is a friend (fweind) and servant to Judge Dredd, the formidable law enforcer of MegaCity One. While Dredd’s stories are mostly serious, Walter’s are much lighter in tone, as the Wobot does the judge’s laundry and has a few adventures of his own. Dredd rarely appears in Walter’s self-contained stories, though Walter did appear in some early Dredd adventures, but he was eventually dropped as being too frivolous for the darker edged tone 2000 AD were adopting. This is a shame, as some of Walter’s own escapades are fun.
Initially helping Dredd in an early robot war adventure, and earning some begrudging respect from the Judge, Walter generally looks after the Judge’s house and cleaning needs while Dredd is at work.
Walter is quite stupid and given to taking things literally. He decides to go swimming and finds a building labelled with Pool. He immediately dives in and discovers that he has smashed a pool table in a snooker hall, as it was not a swimming pool at all.
Such one-page adventures give way to a longer story as Walter finds himself framed for a string of petty crimes. With Dredd away on other missions, Walter launches his own investigation and finds out that the crimes are the work of his brother, a robot built at he same time as he was, and that the brother serves their mutual mother, a parent robot from which they were each created. Walter is torn between uniting with his family and his sense of justice, but he saves the day and creates a greater loneliness for himself in doing so.
It’s unlikely that Dredd would tolerate Walter’s silly antics for long so it’s no surprise the stories were dropped within a short space of time, but they were always quite entertaining.
Arthur Chappell
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