Judge (Joe) Dredd is an ultra-tough, mean, ruthless, granite-jawed lawman of the future Mega-City One. The strip of which he is the Hero (or maybe Antihero) was created by Pat Mills, John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra (artist). It first appeared in 2000 AD #2 (5 March 1977), drawn by Mike McMahon, and more than 1,700 issues later continued to dominate that Comic. In a world after the atomic Holocaust, the millions of survivors are crowded into vastly overpopulated Post-Holocaust Mega-Cities whose soaring crime rate is dealt with by the Judges, a breed of genetically selected men and (rarely) women. Dressed in black leather with massively chunky insignia and exaggerated elbow-, knee- and shoulder-pads, riding heftily armoured motorcycles with ultra-wide wheels, these law officers have the power to dole out on-the-spot sentences ranging from multi-credit fines to life sentences in far-flung penal colonies (> Crime and Punishment). Early stories featured an occasional sidekick, Walter the Wobot, a Robot valet with a speech defect. The story-lines, mostly by John Wagner and Alan Grant (variously credited to them under their own names and a number of their pseudonyms), quickly established a high standard of plotting and characterization, with a significant thread of grittily humorous social Satire. From this fertile source flowed a rich succession of original ideas that served to establish Judge Dredd as one of the most popular comic-strip characters ever created. Among the Wagner-Grant collaborations has been "The Apocalypse War" (25 episodes, 1982), as by T B Grover. Throughout, both storytelling and characterization have been enriched by a strong element of continuity introduced by Pat Mills, who has also written a number of the stories, including 19 episodes of "The Cursed Earth" (25 episodes, 1978). Artists on Judge Dredd have included Brian Bolland, Carlos Ezquerra, Ian Gibson, John Higgins, Can Kennedy, Brendan McCarthy, McMahon, Colin MacNeil, Ron Smith and a host of others.
A few of Judge Dredd's colleagues have become prominent enough to feature in spin-off strips of their own: Judge Anderson of PSI Division, a female Judge with Psi Powers; Judge Death, a spectral Judge from another Dimension where all lifeforms have been sentenced to death, a verdict he has been empowered to enforce throughout the universes; and Judge Armour, Judge Dredd's equivalent in the city called Brit Cit.
The phenomenal popularity of Judge Dredd led to a proliferation of spin-off publications, including among others two monthly black-and-white reprint titles (Best of 2000 AD Monthly, which does not focus on Judge Dredd, and The Complete Judge Dredd, which does) and beginning in 1990 a monthly Judge Dredd, The Megazine, with mostly full-colour painted artwork, published in different formats for the UK and US editions and featuring serial stories, some starring Judge Dredd, which cross over with the parent comic. Reprint books have been published by Titan Books in the The Chronicles of Judge Dredd series (begun 1981) and the Judge Dredd Graphic Paperbacks series (begun 1988), with further material constantly being added; there are also annuals, yearbooks and other titles. A spinoff Board Game is Games Workshop's Judge Dredd (1982); there are two Role Playing Games, the first being Judge Dredd: The Role-Playing Game (1985), also from Games Workshop.
A separate company, Eagle Comics, was set up to exploit Judge Dredd in the USA, reprinting his early 2000 AD adventures but in colour and adapted for the US comic-book format; the practice was taken over by Quality Comics. Both enterprises overcame the problem of incompatible page proportions by stretching the image on a laser copier; this had the effect of making all the characters appear tall and skinny. Judge Dredd took a further ponderous step across the international stage with the publication of a DC Comics/Fleetway collaboration, Judgement on Gotham (graph 1991), featuring a Judge Dredd/Batman team-up; this was written by the Wagner-Grant team and painted by the talented high-flier Simon Bisley. DC Comics also produced their own Judge Dredd series in 1994 and 1995. In 1993 a series of novels featuring Judge Dredd was begun with Judge Dredd: The Savage Amusement * (1993) by David Bishop, Judge Dredd: Deathmasques * (1993) by Dave {STONE} and Judge Dredd: Dreddlocked * (1993) by Stephen {MARLEY} – see Checklist below.
The live-action film is Judge Dredd (1995), directed by Danny Cannon and starring Sylvester Stallone as Dredd. This was novelized by Neal Barrett Jr as Judge Dredd * (1995). [RT/DRL/JP]
see also: Toys.
novels
- Judge Dredd: The Savage Amusement
(London: Virgin, 1993) by David Bishop [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/Cliff Robinson] - Judge Dredd: Cursed Earth Asylum (London: Virgin, 1993) by David Bishop [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Dreddlocked (London: Virgin, 1993) by Stephen {MARLEY} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Deathmasques (London: Virgin, 1993) by Dave {STONE} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Silencer (London: Virgin, 1994) by David Bishop [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: The Hundredfold Problem (London: Virgin, 1994) by John Grant [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/John Higgins]
- Judge Dredd: Dread Dominion (London: Virgin, 1994) by Stephen {MARLEY} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: The Medusa Seed (London: Virgin, 1994) by Dave {STONE} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Silencer (London: Virgin, 1994) by Dave {STONE} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd (New York: St Martin's Press, 1995) by Neal Barrett Jr [tie: to the film: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Wetworks (London: Virgin, 1995) by Dave {STONE} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death (London: Black Flame, 2003) by Gordon Rennie [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Bad Moon Rising (London: Black Flame, 2004) by David Bishop [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Black Atlantic (London: Black Flame, 2004) by Simon {JOWETT} and Peter J {EVANS} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Eclipse (London: Black Flame, 2004) by James {SWALLOW} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Kingdom of the Blind (London: Black Flame, 2005) by David Bishop [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Swine Fever (London: Black Flame, 2005) by Andrew {CARTMEL} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: The Final Cut (London: Black Flame, 2005) by Matthew {SMITH} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Whiteout (London: Black Flame, 2005) by James {SWALLOW} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
- Judge Dredd: Psykogeddon (London: Black Flame, 2006) by Dave {STONE} [tie: Judge Dredd: pb/]
further reading
links
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