Judge Dredd is an ongoing comic book series featuring in the weekly British science fiction-orientated comic magazine 2000 AD. First published in 1977, Judge Dredd follows the eponymous character, a Judge granted the powers of judge, jury, and executioner in a futuristic irradiated wasteland.
In 1980 Judge Dredd gained a new enemy. Writer John Wagner realised that Dredd's habit of shooting just about everybody he came up against meant that it was difficult to create a recurring villain. The solution was Judge Death, an undead judge from another dimension where, since all crime was committed by the living, life itself was outlawed. The law had been thoroughly enforced on his own world, and now he had come to Mega-City One to continue his work. Judge Death first appeared in an atmospheric three-parter drawn by Brian Bolland which also introduced Judge Anderson and Psi Division, a squad of judges with psychic powers.
Dredd soon began another epic journey in "The Judge Child". A dying Psi Division Judge had predicted disaster for Mega-City One unless it was ruled by a boy with a birthmark shaped like an eagle, so Dredd set off into the Cursed Earth, to Texas City, and into deep space in search of the boy, Owen Krysler, and his kidnappers, the Angel Gang. The Angels were some of the most memorable villains Wagner had yet devised, but suffered the same mortality problem that had plagued the strip so far. All of them were killed during the course of the story, however the Mean Machine, was later resurrected by Krysler during "Destiny's Angels". "The Judge Child" was drawn by Bolland, Ron Smith and Mike McMahon in rotation, and the later episodes marked the beginning of Wagner's long-running writing partnership with Alan Grant. The pair would go on to write Strontium Dog, Robo-Hunter and many other stories for 2000 AD, as well as for Roy of the Rovers, Battle and the relaunched Eagle in the United Kingdom, and a number of comics in America.
With prog 178 all current stories, with the exception of Judge Dredd, were wound up, and a new set of stories was launched simultaneously, consisting of Mean Arena, set around a violent high-tech street football game, Meltdown Man, whose hero was transported to a genetically engineered far future by a nuclear explosion, the return of Strontium Dog, featuring a mutant bounty hunter character inherited from the short-lived Starlord title, and Dash Decent, a Flash Gordonparody.
In the Judge Dredd series, Mega-City One had grown too large and unwieldy: therefore authors Wagner and Grant they planned to cut it down to size. "Block Mania", in which wars broke out between rival city-blocks, turned out to be a plot orchestrated by the Russian city East-Meg One, and led directly to "The Apocalypse War", another six-month epic and a hard-hitting satire on the concept of Mutually assured destruction. East-Meg One, protected by a warp-shield, softened up Mega-City One with nuclear warheads before invading. Dredd spearheaded the resistance, leading a small team to East-Meg territory, hijacking their nuclear bunkers and blowing East-Meg One off the face of the earth. "The Apocalypse War" was drawn in its entirety by Carlos Ezquerra, making a return to the character he created.
In 1985, after appearing as a supporting character in Judge Dredd, Judge Anderson finally appeared in her own series, written by Wagner and Grant and initially drawn by Brett Ewins. New artist Glenn Fabry debuted on Sláine, but due to his notorious slowness was rotated with David Pugh. In the Judge Dredd story "Letter from a Democrat", Wagner and Grant introduced a pro-democracy movement in Mega-City One, which is after all a police state. This would provide plotlines for years to come.
Wagner and Grant began a new Dredd Epic, "Oz", featuring Chopper, a popular supporting character. Chopper was a skysurfer who had been imprisoned for competing in an illegal surfing competition a few years previously. A legal "Supersurf" race was being held in Oz, the future Australia, and Chopper escaped to compete. Dredd also went to Oz, partly to deal with Chopper, but mostly to investigate the Judda, a clone army created by Mega-City One's former chief genetic engineer. The Judda were defeated, and Chopper narrowly lost the race to Jug McKenzie. Dredd was waiting at the finish line, but McKenzie distracted him and allowed Chopper to escape into the outback. This ending was apparently the cause of some dispute between Wagner and Grant, and was a contributing factor (it was The Last American, a mini series for Epic Comics which would mark the end) in ending their regular writing partnership. Wagner kept Dredd, while Grant continued Strontium Dog and Judge Anderson. However the pair would still come together for occasional collaborations.
The "Oz" storyline had some lasting implications. Kraken, a Judda cloned from the same genetic material as Dredd, was captured by Justice Department, who had plans for him. Chopper also spun off into his own series, written by Wagner and drawn by Colin MacNeil.
In 1988 Grant and artist Simon Harrison began a new Strontium Dog story, "The Final Solution". It took nearly two years to complete, and ended with the death of Johnny Alpha, who sacrificed his life to save mutants from extermination. Original artist Carlos Ezquerra did not agree with the decision to kill the character off, and refused to draw it.
The number of colour pages was increased, allowing for one complete strip per issue to be painted. Initially the colour pages were reserved for Judge Dredd, but were later given over to a new Sláine story, "The Horned God", fully painted by Simon Bisley. The series was collected as a series of three graphic novels, then as a single volume, and has remained in print ever since.
One of the black and white stories, "The Dead Man", was a low-key beginning for a major event. In the Cursed Earth, villagers come across a man, burnt from head to toe, with no memory of who he is or what happened to him. As he tries to piece his memories back together, he is being hunted by the evil beings who left him in that state. A creepy, atmospheric horror-western, it was drawn by John Ridgway and written by "Keef Ripley", a pseudonym for John Wagner. By the end of the series the Dead Man had discovered his identity: he was Judge Dredd.
As "The Dead Man" ended, a new Judge Dredd story, "Tale of the Dead Man", explained how Dredd had ended up in that position. Dredd was getting older and the democratic movement was causing him to doubt his role, so Justice Department had groomed Kraken, the former Judda cloned from his bloodline, to replace him. Kraken was now ready for his final assessment, and Dredd himself was chosen to assess him. Although Kraken performed faultlessly, Dredd thought he perceived a hint of his former allegiance to the Judda in him, and failed him. He then resigned as a judge and took the 'Long Walk' into the Cursed Earth. There he met the Sisters of Death, and only barely survived the encounter. This could mean only one thing: Judge Death was back.
This set up the latest six-month epic, "Necropolis". After Dredd had left, Justice Department had put Kraken through one final test, and given him Dredd's badge. But the Sisters of Death, spirit beings from Judge Death's dimension, were able to use Kraken's inner conflict to take control of him and use him to bring Judge Death and the other Dark Judges back from the limbo dimension Dredd had exiled them to. The Sisters possessed all the city's judges and began to enforce Death's twisted law. Out in the Cursed Earth, Dredd had recovered his memory and returned to defeat the Dark Judges. He then tried to lance the democratic boil by holding a referendum on whether the Judges should continue to govern the city. The judges won, by a small margin on a desultory turnout, and Dredd was satisfied.
The Judge Dredd Megazine, a monthly title set in the world of Dredd, was launched in October 1990. With John Wagner focusing his attentions there, Garth Ennis became the regular writer of Dredd in the weekly.
In 1992, 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine ran their first crossover story, "Judgement Day", in which zombies overran Mega-City One. Written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Carlos Ezquerra, Peter Doherty, Dean Ormston and Chris Halls, the story teamed Judge Dredd with Johnny Alpha through the medium of time travel. John Smith and artist Paul Marshall created Firekind, a slow-paced story about dragons and alien societies, which was accidentally published with its episodes in the wrong order.
John Tomlinson became editor in 1994, and a second crossover between 2000 AD and the Megazine, "Wilderlands", began. Written by Wagner and drawn by Ezquerra, Mick Austin and Trevor Hairsine, it followed on from "Mechanismo", a series of stories in the Megazine in which Justice Department, opposed by Dredd, tried to introduce robot judges. With Wagner writing, Judge Dredd was again the flagship strip.
A new Dredd epic, "Doomsday", appeared in 1999 and again ran in both 2000 AD and the Megazine. Wagner had been laying the foundations for this story for several years, introducing the main villain, semi-robotic gang lord Nero Narcos, and supporting characters like Judge Edgar of the Public Surveillance Unit, and Galen DeMarco, a former judge who had quit after falling in love with Dredd and become a private eye.
A number of shorter self-contained stories, partly created by the new wave of talent, have run including London Falling, Stone Island and Zombo. Other developments include a revamping of the Judge Dredd Megazine which has included a section acting as a showcase for British small press comics. Starting in program 1500 was the Judge Dredd story "The Connection", a 'prelude' to a 23-part Judge Dredd epic "Origins" which filled in a lot of the details about Dredd's past.
On 19 March 2012 the Royal Mail launched a special stamp collection to celebrate Britain's rich comic book history, which included Judge Dredd from 2000 AD.[1]
A complete index of stories published in 2000 AD from February 1977 to March 2017 (#1 to #2022) is here (.pdf file) (WikiCommons).[2]
A more detailed list of all the Judge Dredd stories to appear in 2000 AD (including specials and annuals) from March 1977 to March 2017 can be found here (.pdf file).[3]
There have been a number of Judge Dredd storylines that have either significantly developed the Dredd character or the fictional world, or which depict a story on a grand scale. These are listed below. (For a complete list of all stories see here.)
The Robot Wars (2000 AD progs 10–17; prologue in prog 9) The Mega-City Judges face an uprising by the city's robot servant workforce, led by carpenter-droid Call-Me-Kenneth. The first multi-part Dredd story.
The Return of Rico (prog 30) Joe Dredd's clone brother Rico Dredd returns from Titan seeking revenge for being apprehended 20 years earlier but instead is shot and killed by the Judge. (This story introduces Rico and the penal colony on Titan.)
Luna-1 (multiple stories; progs 42–59) Dredd is made Judge Marshall of Luna-1, a colony on the moon governed by judges from all three Mega-Cities. (This story introduced Luna One and Judges from East-Meg One and Texas City.)
The Cursed Earth (progs 61–85): Dredd, accompanied by punk biker Spikes Harvey Rotten (and later the alien Tweak), leads a small group of Judges on an epic journey across the Cursed Earth, transporting the vaccine for the deadly 2T-FRU-T virus that is devastating Mega-City Two. (This multi-part epic, often referred to as ‘the first Dredd epic’, was inspired by Roger Zelazny's Damnation Alley.
The Day the Law Died (progs 89–108; prologues in 86–88) The tyrannical and insane Judge Cal, head of the Special Judicial Squad, arranges the assassination of Chief Judge Goodman and assumes the title himself. By brainwashing the Judges and employing alien mercenaries, Cal achieves a stranglehold on Mega-City One that is almost total. Only Dredd and a few other Judges and Judge-Tutors escape to lead the resistance. (This story introduced the Kleggs and saw Chief Judge Griffin assume the Chief Judgeship after Cal is killed by Fergee.)
Judge Death (progs 149–151) Judge Death, an alien superfiend from another dimension, arrives in Mega-City One. Believing all life is a crime, he embarks on a killing spree before being caught and imprisoned. (The first appearance of both Judge Death, perhaps the Mega-Cities' deadliest foe, and Psi-Judge Anderson.)
The Judge Child (progs 156–181; epilogue in 182) When the best 'pre-cog' in Psi-Division, Psi-Judge Feyy, predicts a child bearing the mark of the Eagle of Justice will have the power to save the city from an unspecified future disaster, it is up to Dredd to lead the galaxy-spanning search for the child. (An attempt to break away from the restrictive confines of Mega-City One, this story introduced several long-running characters and concepts into the Dredd mythos: Judge Hershey, The Angel Gang (except for Fink Angel, who was introduced later), Murd the Oppressor, and the new head of the SJS, McGruder.)
Judge Death Lives! (progs 224–228) Judge Death's three brothers, Judges Fear, Fire and Mortis arrive in Mega-City One to rescue him. Dredd and Anderson put a stop to the killing spree and follow the quartet as they flee back to their own native dimension (known colloquially as ‘Deadworld’). The four Dark Judges are seemingly destroyed. Voted the third best story ever printed in the comic in a 2005 poll on the 2000ADonline website, this tale introduced the other three Dark Judges.)
Block Mania (progs 236–244) Contamination of water supplies by Orlok the Assassin leads to all-out war between Mega-City One's many city blocks. (This story introduced Orlok and saw the death of Judge Giant.)
The Apocalypse War (progs 245–270, except 268) Weakened by the effects of Block Mania, Mega-City One is attacked and invaded by the forces of East-Meg One. Almost half the city (400 million people) are killed in nuclear strikes. Many more die from radiation sickness, starvation and cold. The Mega-City Judges are unable to strike back as the Soviet city is protected by a dimensional force field. Instead, the Judges fight a guerilla war, eventually culminating in the destruction of East-Meg One when Dredd captures a Soviet missile bunker. (This story saw the death of Chief Judge Griffin and McGruder taking on the role.)
City of the Damned (progs 393–406) The Judges develop time travel technology. Dredd and Anderson travel into the future to discover more about the disaster predicted by Psi-Judge Feyy. They learn that the Judge Child Owen Krysler has in fact caused the events, rather than preventing them from happening. Dredd has his eyes torn out but fights on, even battling an undead future version of himself. He and Anderson flee back to the present (along with the undead Dredd), where his eyes are replaced by bionics, before tracking down the Judge Child and killing him, thus preventing the future they experienced from ever happening. (The undead Dredd would return in a future story. This story was originally intended to be much longer but the creative team tired of it.)
Oz (progs 545–570) When sky-surferChopper breaks out of jail and flees to the Sydney-Melbourne Conurb in Australia to take part in the (now legal) Supersurf 10, Dredd is sent to retrieve him. In addition Dredd’s real mission is to confront the Judda, a religiously zealous army of clones, ruled over by former Council of Five member Morton Judd, who plans to dominate Mega-City One with his followers. Dredd destroys the Judda’s base (Ayers Rock) with a nuclear bomb, although some Judda are captured.
The Dead Man (prog 650–662) An unknown man with no memory is found almost dead and badly scarred in the Cursed Earth by a group of settlers. After recovering from his injuries, the man heads back to Mega-City One with a young boy, Yassa Povey as his guide. Along the way, he recovers his memory and recalls that he is Dredd, having lost his memory when he encountered the Sisters of Death. This was not billed as a 'Judge Dredd' story when it first appeared in 2000 AD and great pains were taken to hide its connection with the series. There was no reference to locations or people from the main series until towards the very end of the storyline. The ‘Judge Dredd’ stories continued alongside this one, to further the illusion.)
A Letter to Judge Dredd (prog 661) Dredd receives a letter written by a child who has been killed as an indirect result of the Judges' suppression of a pro-democracy demonstration, causing him to seriously question the entire ethical basis of the Judge system, and setting in motion the chain of events recounted in the episodes that follow.
Tale of the Dead Man (progs 662–668) Dredd resigns and takes the Long Walk following his assessment of ex-Judda Cadet Judge Kraken, and his crisis of faith in the Law that he had always sworn to uphold. This story acts as a prologue to Necropolis.
Necropolis (progs 674–699; prologues in 669–673) Manipulating the confused mind of Judge Kraken, the Sisters of Death use Psi-Judge Agee to take control of Mega-City One and create a trans-dimensional bridge enabling the Dark Judges to manifest themselves. The four Dark Judges take control of the Judges and begin systematically killing the entire population. Kraken becomes a fifth Dark Judge and Chief Judge Silver is killed.
The Devil You Know and Twilight's Last Gleaming (progs 750–753 and 754–756) The long running tensions between the totalitarian Judge system and the movement for the restoration of democracy in the Mega-City at last come to a head. Given a vote, the apathetic population take no part; and of those that do, the majority favour keeping the Judges in control. A pro-democracy protest march of almost two million people heads for Justice Central, but violence is averted when Dredd convinces the leaders that the referendum was fair.
America (Megazine 1.01–1.07) Dredd's philosophy is explored when democracy activists resort to terrorism. This story introduces the tragic characters America Jara and Bennett Beeny, as well as terrorist group 'Total War'.
Judgement Day (progs 786–799 and Megazine 2.04–2.09) Sabbat the Necromagus re-animates the corpses of the dead and uses them to attack the world's Mega-Cities, leading to the deaths of billions. This story includes the teaming of Dredd with Johnny Alpha, a character from another long running 2000 AD comic strip, Strontium Dog. (Dredd and Alpha had previously crossed paths in an earlier story.)
Mechanismo trilogy (Megazine 2.12–17, 2.22–26 and 2.37–43) After Necropolis and Sabbat's zombies, Mega-City has lost far too many judges. To combat this, the Chief Judge test-runs ten robotic Judges, with disastrous results.
Inferno (progs 842–853) Escaped rogue Judges from Titan take over the city, forcing the Judges into exile in the Cursed Earth.
Wilderlands storyline (progs 891–894 and 904–918 and Megazine 2.57–2.67) Dredd is exposed as falsifying evidence to shut down the Mechanismo project and is arrested, while Chief Judge McGruder attempts to remain in power and see Mechanismo implemented. When a malfunctioning Mechanismo crashes a space cruiser on an alien world in an attempt to kill McGruder, Dredd takes control of the survivors. This story ended many long-running subplots including the Mechanismo Program and McGruder's second stint as Chief Judge, as well as introducing Judge Volt, reviving the Council of Five, and introducing Judge Castillo.
The Pit (progs 970–999) Dredd takes the job of Sector Chief at Sector 301, an isolated area of the city that has become a dumping ground for corrupt and incompetent judges. Introduced the popular character Judge Galen DeMarco, who would become protagonist of her own strip.
The Doomsday Scenario (progs 1141–1164 and 1167, and Megazine 3.52–3.59) The first series to run the same story from different viewpoints concurrently from start to finish, one in 2000 AD and the other in the Judge Dredd Megazine. One is told from the viewpoint of Galen DeMarco, now a civilian, as she is caught up in crimelord Nero Narcos' attempt to take over the city with his army of robots. The other is told from Dredd's viewpoint as he is taken prisoner by Orlok the Assassin and tried by the East Meg One government in exile for his war crimes during the Apocalypse War. Once Dredd escapes (with Anderson's assistance), he secured the help of Brit-Cit in breaking Narcos' control over his robot hordes. The story saw the Judges briefly lose power and Chief Judge Volt commit suicide as a result; whereafter Hershey replaced him.
Helter Skelter (progs 1250–1261) An army of Dredd's greatest foes use inter dimensional travel to invade Dredd's dimension. Their presence starts a collapse of all possible universes, causing characters from other 2000 AD stories to appear in Mega-City One. Dredd defeats the attackers' leader 'Cal' with the help of technician Darien Kenzie.
Blood Cadets (progs 1186–1188) saw the introduction of a new clone of Dredd, who took the name Rico; Blood And Duty (progs 1300–1301) saw the return of Dredd's niece Vienna Pasternak. With Vienna's reintroduction and the new Rico's arrival, Dredd was given a family and several new plot points for future stories, including the Justice Department creating a large number of Dredd clones and Dredd's problems trying to connect with his niece.
Judge Dredd vs. Aliens (Prog 2003 special and 1322–1335) pitted Dredd against the Xenomorphs, with mutant criminal 'Mister Bones' breeding an army thereof to attack the Department of Justice.
Terror and Total War (progs 1392–1399 and 1408–1419) A pair of stories wherein, fanatically dedicated to the democratic cause, the organisation 'Total War' smuggles 12 nuclear devices into the megalopolis and threaten to detonate them all unless the Judges leave the City. A standard thriller plot made more significant through explorations of Judge Dredd's extended family, including Vienna and a Dredd clone, Nimrod.
Blood Trails (progs 1440–1449) Following on from elements of Total War and Gulag (where Dredd led a Judge team to try and free prisoners from the Sov block), a clone of Sov Judge Kazan tries to attack Dredd by targeting Vienna, sending the face-changing assassin Pasha to abduct her. In the aftermath of the story, the Kazan clone was cut loose by East-Meg 2 and claimed political asylum from Mega-City One; Dredd's long-term ally Guthrie was severely injured, losing both legs and an arm and eventually becoming a cyborg; and Judges Giant and Rico were severely injured.
Origins (progs 1505–1519 and 1529–1535; prologue in 1500–1504) consists largely of flashbacks and sets out the history of the Judges and of Chief Judge Fargo, as well as scenes from Dredd's childhood during the Third World War.
Mutants in Mega-City One (progs 1542–1545) is the first in a series of short stories in which Dredd campaigns to change the apartheid laws prohibiting mutants from entering the city. This results in Chief Judge Hershey being voted out of office and replaced with Judge Francisco.
Tour Of Duty (progs 1650–1693) sees Judge Dredd posted in the Cursed Earth to oversee the foundations of four new mutant townships. The corrupt Judge Martin Sinfield manipulates Francisco so he can install himself as Chief Judge, and promptly becomes the target of repeated assassination attempts. Dredd is recalled from exile to lead the investigation into the attacks, which are the work of serial mass-murderer PJ Maybe, who has assumed the identity of mayor Byron Ambrose.
Day of Chaos (progs 1743–1789) depicts the deaths of 87 per cent of the population of Mega-City One by a biological weapon unleashed by survivors of the Apocalypse War.
The Cold Deck (progs 1806–1811; prologue in 1803, epilogue in 1812) crossed over Dredd with the spinoffs The Simping Detective and Low Life, involving the machinations of Black Ops head Judge Bachmann, who is plotting a coup. (The three stories together are known as Trifecta.)
Every Empire Falls (progs 1973–1990 and Megazine 371–374) tells of an attempted coup in Mega-City One by the chief judge of Texas City, Pamela Oswin. Dredd is secretly kidnapped and his death is staged to conceal the kidnapping.
Although there is no overall shared universe containing all 2000 AD stories, some stories spin-off or crossover into other stories. These include the numerous stories that occur in the Judge Dredd universe and the early stories of Pat Mills, which are frequently interlinked, and link into the Dredd universe as well.
Mongoose Publishing have released a miniatures skirmish game of gang warfare based in Mega City 1 called "Gangs of Mega-City One",[4] often referred to as GOMC1. The game features judges being called in when a gang challenges another gang that is too tough to fight. A wide range of miniatures has been released including box sets for an Ape Gang and an Undercity Gang. A Robot Gang was also produced but was released as two blister packs instead of a box set. Only one rules expansion has been released, called "Death on the Streets". The expansion introduced many new rules including usage of the new gangs and the ability to bring Judge Dredd himself into a fight. This game went out of print shortly thereafter but was replaced by the "Judge Dredd Miniatures Game", which was published free in many stages as the company sought feedback from fans and players. In 2012, an expansion was released called "Block War!". Miniatures continue to be manufactured at a slow pace.
Games Workshop produced a boardgame based on the comic strip in 1982.[5] In the game players, who represent judges, attempt to arrest perps that have committed crimes in different location in Mega City One. A key feature of the game is the different action cards that are collected during play; generally these cards are used when trying to arrest perps although some cards can also be played against other players to hinder their progress. The winner of the game is the judge who collected the most points arresting perps. Players could sabotage each other's arrest attempts. Additionally, there were many amusing card combinations such as arresting Judge Death for selling old comics, as the Old Comic Selling crime card featured a 2000 AD cover with Judge Death on it. The game used characters, locations and artwork from the comic but is now out of print.
In 1987, Games Workshop published a second Dredd-inspired boardgame, "Block Mania".[6] In this game for two players, players take on the role of rival neighboring blocks at war. This was a heavier game than the earlier Dredd boardgame, focused on tactical combat, in which players control these residents as they use whatever means they can to vandalize and destroy their opponent's block. Later the same year, Games Workshop released the Mega Mania expansion for the game, allowing the game to be played by up to four players.
There was a short-lived collectible card game called simply "Dredd". In the game players would control a squad of judges and arrest perps. The rules system was innovative and the game was well-received by fans and collectors alike, but various issues unrelated to the game's quality caused its early demise.[7]