JUDGE DREDD

   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 2,000 AD \#2 (5 Mar 1977), drawn by MikeMcMahon, and more than 800 issues later continued to dominate that COMIC. In a world after the atomic HOLOCAUST, the millions of survivors are crowded into vastly overpopulated 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. 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 creditedto 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 JD as one of the most popular comic-strip characters ever created. Amongthe 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 JD have included Brian BOLLAND, Esquerra, Ian Gibson, John Higgins, Can Kennedy, Brendan McCarthy, McMahon, Colin MacNeil, Ron Smith and a host ofothers.A few of JD'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 Judge from another DIMENSION whereall lifeforms have been sentenced to death, a verdict he has been empowered to enforce throughout the universes; and Judge Armour, JD's equivalent in the city called Brit Cit.The phenomenal popularity of JD has led to a proliferation of spin-off publications, including among others 2 monthly black-and-white reprint titles (Best of 2,000 AD Monthly, which does not focus on JD, and The Complete Judge Dredd, which does) and more recently 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 JD, 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 GraphicPaperbacks series (begun 1988), with further material constantly being added; there are also annuals, yearbooks and other titles.A separate company, Eagle Comics, was set up to exploit JD in the USA, reprinting his early 2,000 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. JD 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 andpainted by the talented high-flier Simon Bisley. In 1993 series of novels featuring JD was begun with The Savage Amusement * (1993) by David Bishop, Deathmasques * (1993) by Dave Stone and Dreddlocked * (1993) by StephenMarley, and it was reported that a film, starring Sylvester Stallone, was in production.

   RT

   See also: GAMES AND TOYS.