Judge Dredd


Judge Dredd is a comic book franchise based on the longest-running comic strip in 2000 AD, a British weekly anthology comic.
The franchise is centered around Judge Dredd, a law enforcement and judicial officer in the dystopian future city of Mega-City One, which covers most of the east coast of North America. He is a "street judge", empowered to summarily arrest, convict, sentence, and execute criminals.

Publication history

When comics editor Pat Mills was developing 2000 AD in 1976, he brought in his former writing partner, John Wagner, to develop characters. Wagner had written a Dirty Harry-style "tough cop" story, "One-Eyed Jack", for Valiant, and suggested a character who took that concept to its logical extreme. Mills had developed a horror strip called Judge Dread, before abandoning the idea as unsuitable for the new comic; but the name, with the spelling modified to "Dredd" at the suggestion of sub-editor Kelvin Gosnell, was adopted by Wagner.
The task of visualising the character was given to Carlos Ezquerra, a Spanish artist who had worked for Mills before on Battle Picture Weekly. Wagner gave Ezquerra an advertisement for the film Death Race 2000, showing the character Frankenstein clad in black leather on a motorbike, as a suggestion of Dredd's appearance. Ezquerra added body-armour, zips, and chains, which Wagner initially objected to, commenting that the character looked like a "Spanish pirate." Wagner's initial script was rewritten by Mills and drawn up by Ezquerra. The hardware and cityscapes Ezquerra had drawn were far more futuristic than the near-future setting originally intended; in response, Mills set the story further into the future, on the advice of his art assistant Doug Church. The original launch story written by Wagner and drawn by Ezquerra was vetoed by the board of directors for being too violent. A new script was needed for the first episode.
Mills initially based the characterisation of Judge Dredd on Brother James, one of his teachers at St Joseph's College, Ipswich. Brother James was considered to be an excellent teacher, but also an excessively strict disciplinarian to the extent that he was considered abusive. In his blog, Mills detailed the moments of rage for which Brother James had a reputation and his own experience witnessing them. The De La Salle monks at the school were a major influence in the 2000 AD design of the 'judge, jury and executioner' attitude of the judges. The name Joseph refers to the school.
By this stage, Wagner had quit, disillusioned that a proposed buy-out of the new comic by another company, which would have given him and Mills a greater financial stake in the comic, had fallen through. Mills was reluctant to lose Judge Dredd and farmed the strip out to a variety of freelance writers, hoping to develop it further. Their scripts were given to a variety of artists as Mills tried to find a strip which would provide a good introduction to the character. This Judge Dredd would not be ready for the first issue of 2000 AD, launched in February 1977.
The story chosen to introduce the character was submitted by freelance writer Peter Harris, and was extensively re-written by Mills, who added a new ending suggested by Kelvin Gosnell. It was drawn by newcomer Mike McMahon. The strip debuted in "prog" no. 2. Around this time Ezquerra quit and returned to work for Battle. There are conflicting sources about why. Ezquerra says it was because he was angry that another artist had drawn the first published Judge Dredd strip. Mills says he chose McMahon because Ezquerra had already left, having been offered a better deal by the editor of Battle.
Wagner soon returned to the character, starting in prog 9. His storyline, "The Robot Wars", was drawn by a rotating team of artists, and marked the point where Dredd became the most popular character in the comic, a position he has rarely relinquished. Judge Dredd has appeared in almost every issue since, most of the stories written by Wagner.
In 1983, Judge Dredd made his American debut with his own series from publisher Eagle Comics, titled Judge Dredd. It consisted of stories reprinted from the British comic. Since 1990, Dredd has also had his own title in Britain, the Judge Dredd Megazine. With Wagner concentrating his energies on that, the Dredd strip in 2000 AD was left to younger writers, including Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison and John Smith. Their stories were less popular with fans, and sales fell. Wagner returned to writing the character full-time for 2000 AD in 1994.
Judge Dredd has also been published in a long-running comic strip in the Daily Star, and briefly in Metro from January to April 2004. These were usually created by the same teams writing and drawing the main strip, and the Daily Star strips have been collected into a number of volumes.
In 2012, Dredd was one of 10 British comic characters commemorated in a series of stamps issued by the Royal Mail.

Setting

Dredd's first stories take place in the year 2099, 122 years after its publication date in 1977. His regular stories are generally set 122 years after their real-world publication date unless otherwise stated as a flashback or prequel story.
The setting of Judge Dredd is a dystopian future Earth damaged by a series of international conflicts; much of the planet has become radioactive wasteland, and so populations have aggregated in enormous conurbations known as 'mega-cities'. The story is centred on the megalopolis of Mega-City One, on the east coast of North America. Within Mega-City One, extensive automation has rendered the majority of the population unemployed. As a consequence, the general population is prone to embracing any fashion or craze they encounter. Mega-City One is surrounded by the inhospitable "Cursed Earth". Much of the remaining world's geography is somewhat vague, although other mega-cities are visited in the strip.
Mega-City One's population lives in gigantic towers known as City Blocks, each holding some 50,000 people. Each is named after some historical person or TV character, usually for comic effect. For example, Joe Dredd used to live in the Rowdy Yates Block – Rowdy Yates was a character in the American TV cowboy drama Rawhide, played by a young Clint Eastwood. Eastwood would later play the lead in Dirty Harry – one of the thematic influences by which Judge Dredd was inspired. A number of stories feature rivalries between different blocks, on many occasions breaking into full-scale gun battles between them. The story Origins revealed that Mega-City One was formed by urban sprawl rather than deliberate design, and by 2051 it was recognised as the world's first mega-city. The Judges' powers reflect the difficulty of maintaining order. Mega-City One extends from Boston to Charlotte; but extended into Florida before the Apocalypse War laid waste to the southern sectors. At its height, the city contained a population of about 800 million; after the Apocalypse War, it was halved to 400 million. Following Chaos Day in 2134, the city was reduced to 50 million. However, immigration quickly increased the population to 72 million by 2137.
There are four other major population centres in Dredd's Northern America: the first is Texas City, including several of the southern former United States and based on Wild West manners. South of the city is Mex-City. Far north is Uranium City. Canada, now called Canadia, remains a nation with scattered communities. Mega-City Two once existed on the West Coast, but was destroyed in 2114 during the world war known as Judgement Day. Nuclear deserts and destruction elsewhere in the world are also extensive: much of the North Atlantic is severely polluted, and is now known as the "Black Atlantic". An underwater settlement known as Atlantis exists in the Atlantic, half-way along a tunnel from Mega-City One to Brit-Cit.
Nuclear desert also stretches across western Europe. The British Isles are Brit-Cit, Cal-Hab, and Murphyville in Ireland. The continent has Euro-City, Ciudad España, the Ruhr and Berlin Conurbs in Germany, Vatican City, and a scattering of other city-states. Russia's East-Meg One was destroyed by Dredd at the climax of the Apocalypse War in 2104. Further east is East-Meg Two, which has other territories under the "Sov Block" banner. Mongolia, lacking a Mega-City or Judge system, has called itself the Mongolian Free State and criminals have flocked there for a safe haven; East-Meg Two performed vicious clearances there in 2125.
Compared to North America and Europe, South America is shown to be in much better condition. Large fertile farmlands still exist and feed many cities worldwide, as do jungles and a variety of wild life. The main population centres are the highly corrupt cities of Ciudad Barranquilla in Argentina and Pan-Andes Conurb in the Andes on the Bolivian and Peruvian borders. Formerly two other cities existed, South-Am City and Brasilia, both of which were annihilated on Judgement Day.
In Asia, separated from East-Meg Two by an extensive nuclear desert, are Sino-City One and Sino-City Two in eastern China, with Hong Tong built in the remains of Hong Kong. Hondo City lies on the remains of the islands of Japan. Nu-Delhi is in southern India. Surrounding Sino-City 2 is the Radlands of Ji, a nuclear desert containing outlaw gangs and martial arts schools. In the Pacific, cities survive in southeastern Australia or "Oz", the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and the New Pacific City; New Zealand is said to exist as well. All of Indonesia's islands are now linked by a network of mutant coral called "The Web", described as a lawless hotbed of crime, although a city called Djakarta did exist there at one point but was lost on Judgement Day.
The Middle East is without many major cities, being either nuclear or natural deserts, and only the mega-city of Luxor, Egypt has survived; the Mediterranean coast is heavily damaged by mutagens. In Africa much of the south is nuclear desert and a 'Great African Dustbowl' has formed in the northwest; but a large number of nation states have survived, whereof Simba City, New Jerusalem, Zambian Metropolitan, and Dar es Salaam are the largest cities. Nuclear fallout and pollution appear to have missed Antarctica and the Arctic, allowing one mega-city to be constructed there.
The high levels of pollution have created instances of mutation in humans and animals. The mega-cities largely operate on a system of genetic apartheid, making expulsion from the cities the worst punishment possible. Mega-City One ended apartheid in the 2130s, but encourages mutants to move to Cursed Earth townships instead of remaining in the city.
Earth's moon has been colonised, with a series of large domes forming Luna City; another colony, Puerto Luminae, exists but is lawless. In addition, many deep space colonies have been established. Some are loyal to various mega-cities, while many are independent states, and others still face violent insurgencies to gain independence. The multi-national Space Corps battles both insurgencies and external alien threats. The newly discovered planet 'Hestia' has a colony; there are some references to colonies on Mars; Saturn's moon Titan has a judicial penal colony; and Mega-City One is known to have deep space missile silos on Pluto.
The paranormal is both common and often openly visible and so is accepted by both civilians and Judges. Ghosts, demons, ancient gods and two different creatures both claiming to be Satan have appeared in Mega-City One, with the Grand Hall itself known to be haunted by a disgraced former Chief Judge. Magic is real and has been practiced by some criminals. Psi-Divisions worldwide tend to be the main defence against such threats.

The Judge system

Street Judges act as police, judge, jury, and executioner. Capital punishment in Mega-City One is rarely used, though deaths while resisting arrest are commonplace. Numerous writers have used the Judge System to satirize contemporary politics.
Judges, once appointed, can be broadly characterised as "Street Judges", and administrative, or office-based Judges. Dredd was once offered the job of Chief Judge; but refused it. The incorruptibility of the Judges is supposedly maintained by the Special Judicial Squad, although SJS Judges have themselves broken the law on occasion, most notably SJS head Judge Cal who killed the Chief Judge and usurped his office for himself. The Judge System has spread world-wide, with various super-cities possessing similar methods of law enforcement. As such this political model has become the most common form of government on Earth, with only a few small areas practicing civilian rule. There is an international "Judicial Charter" which countries and city states join upon instituting a Judge System.

Lists of stories

Almost all of the stories from both comics are currently being reprinted in their original order of publication in a series of trade paperbacks. Stories from the regular issues of 2000 AD and the Megazine are collected in a series entitled Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files. This series began in 2005. Stories from special holiday issues and annuals appeared in Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files. This four-volume series began in 2010 and concluded in 2012.

Major storylines

There have been a number of Judge Dredd stories that have significantly developed the Dredd character and/or the fictional world, or which create and adds to a larger storyline. These are listed below.
Shortly before the release of the 1995 movie, three new comic book titles were released, followed by a one-off comic version of the film story.
;Judge Dredd
DC Comics published an alternative version of Judge Dredd between 1994 and 1996, lasting 18 issues. Continuity and history were different from both the original 2000 AD version and the 1995 film. A major difference was that Chief Judge Fargo, portrayed as incorruptible in the original version, was depicted as evil in the DC version. Most issues were written by Andrew Helfer, but the last issue was written by Gordon Rennie, who has since written Judge Dredd for 2000 AD.
;Judge Dredd – Legends of the Law
Another DC Comics title, lasting 13 issues between 1994 and 1995. Although these were intended to feature the same version of Judge Dredd as in the other DC title, the first four issues were written by John Wagner and Alan Grant and were consistent with their original 2000 AD version.
;Judge Dredd – Lawman of the Future
From the same publishers as 2000 AD, this was nevertheless a completely different version of Dredd aimed at younger readers. Editor David Bishop prohibited writers from showing Dredd killing anyone, a reluctance which would be completely unfamiliar to readers acquainted with the original version. As one reviewer put it years later: "this was Judge Dredd with two vital ingredients missing: his balls." It ran fortnightly for 23 issues from 1995 to 1996, plus one Action Special.
;Judge Dredd: The Official Movie Adaptation
Written by Andrew Helfer and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra and Michael Danza. Published by DC Comics in 1995, but a different version of Dredd to that in the DC comic books described above.
;Heavy Metal Dredd
From the same publishers as 2000 AD, this was a series of ultra-violent one-off stories from "a separate and aggressive Dredd world". The first eight episodes were originally published in Rock Power magazine, and were all co-written by John Wagner and Alan Grant and illustrated by Simon Bisley. These were reprinted, together with 11 new stories, in Judge Dredd Megazine. The original eight stories were collected in a trade paperback by Hamlyn in 1993. The complete series was collected by Rebellion Developments in 2009.
;Dredd
In the week that the 2012 film Dredd was released in the UK, a 10-page prologue was published in issue #328 of Judge Dredd Megazine, written by its editor, Matt Smith, and illustrated by Henry Flint. "Top of the World, Ma-Ma" told the backstory of the film's main antagonist, Ma-Ma. Five more stories featuring this version of the character were published in Judge Dredd Megazine: "Underbelly" in #340–342, "Uprise" in #350–354, "Dust" in #367–371, "Furies" in #386–387, and "The Dead World" in #392–396 .
;Judge Dredd

Films

''Judge Dredd'' (1995)

An American film loosely based on the comic strip was released in 1995, starring Sylvester Stallone as Dredd. The film received negative reviews upon its release. It currently holds a 15% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus stating that "Director Cannon fails to find the necessary balance to make it work". In deference to its expensive Hollywood star, Dredd's face was shown. In the comic, he very rarely removes his helmet, and even then his real face is never revealed. Also, the writers largely omitted the ironic humour of the comic strip, and ignored important aspects of the "Dredd mythology". In the United States, the film won several "worst film of the year" awards.
The co-creator and main writer of the comic character, John Wagner, said:
However the film has since been praised for its depiction of Dredd's city, costumes, humour and larger-than-life characters.

''Dredd'' (2012)

produced Dredd, which was released in September 2012. It was positively received by critics with Rotten Tomatoes' rating of 78%. It was directed by Pete Travis and written by Alex Garland. Michael S. Murphey was co-producer with Travis. Karl Urban was cast as Judge Dredd and Olivia Thirlby portrayed Judge Anderson. Dredd's costume was radically redesigned for the film, adding armor plates and reducing the size and prominence of the shoulder insignia.
The main Judge Dredd writer John Wagner said:
The film was shot in 3-D and filmed in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Funding was secured from Reliance Big Entertainment.

Television

On May 10, 2017, Entertainment Weekly announced that independent entertainment studio IM Global and Rebellion have partnered to develop a live-action TV show called Judge Dredd: Mega-City One. The show is planned to be an ensemble drama about a team of Judges as they deal with the challenges of the future-shocked 22nd century.
Jason Kingsley, owner of Rebellion, told the Guardian in May 2017 that the TV show will be far more satirical than the movie adaptions and could become "one of the most expensive TV shows the UK has ever seen.”
According to Karl Urban, the studio's concept is to "build the show around more rookie judges and young, new judges", where Dredd himself "would come in and out". Urban stated that he would be interested in reprising the role for this, on the condition that Dredd's part of the story be implemented in a "meaningful way".
In November 2018, Rebellion began setting up a new studio in Didcot, valued at $100 million, for Film and TV series based on 2000 AD characters, including Judge Dredd: Mega City One.

Games

Video games

There have been multiple Judge Dredd games released for various video game consoles and several home computers such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Sony Playstation and Commodore 64. The first game, titled Judge Dredd, was released in 1986. Another game, also titled Judge Dredd, was released in 1990. At one time, an arcade game was being developed by Midway Games but it was never released. It can however be found online and has three playable levels.
A game loosely based on the first live action film, called Judge Dredd was developed by Probe Software and released by Acclaim for the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and Game Gear. Bally produced a Judge Dredd pinball machine based on the comics. In 1997, Acclaim released a Judge Dredd arcade game, a rail shooter featuring 3D graphics and full motion video footage shot specifically for the game.
was produced by Rebellion Developments and released in early 2003 by Sierra Entertainment for the PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. The game sees the return of the Dark Judges when Mega-City One becomes overrun with vampires and the undead. The player takes control of Judge Dredd, with the optional addition of another Human player in co-operative play. The game is a first-person shooter – with key differences such as the requirement to arrest lawbreakers, and an SJS death squad which will hunt down Dredd should the player kill too many civilians. The player can also go up against three friends in the various multiplayer modes which include "Deathmatch", "Team Deathmatch", "Elimination", "Team Elimination", "Informant", "Judges Vs. Perps", "Runner" and more. A novel was based on the game.
A costume set for the PlayStation 3 video game LittleBigPlanet was released in May 2009, which contained outfits to dress the game's main character Sackboy as five 2000 AD characters, one of which is Judge Dredd. Dredd's uniform is also used to create the Judge Anderson costume for the Sackpeople.
In 2012, Rebellion released Judge Dredd Vs. Zombies, a game application for iPhone, Android phones, Windows 8 and Windows Phone.

Role-playing games

released a role-playing game in 1985. Mongoose Publishing released The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game in 2002 and another Judge Dredd game using the Traveller system in 2009. Their licence ended in 2016. In February 2017, EN Publishing announced the new Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD Tabletop Adventure Game using the WOIN role-playing game system.
On July 17, 2012, Tin Man Games released a Judge Dredd-themed digital role-playing gamebook titled Judge Dredd: Countdown Sector 106, available for the iOS operating system.

Boardgames

produced a Judge Dredd boardgame based on the comic strip in 1982. 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". 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.
Mongoose Publishing have released a miniatures skirmish game of gang warfare based in Mega-City One called "Gangs of Mega-City One", 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.
In November 2017, Osprey Games announced their development of a new graphic adventure card game, entitled Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth. The game is designed and based on The Lost Expedition, a game from designer Peer Sylvester. In the game, one to five players " a team of judges against dinosaurs, mutants, and the Cursed Earth itself". It was released on 21 February 2019.

Collectible card game

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.

Pinball

There was a four-player pinball game released in 1993, produced by Bally Manufacturing.

Novels

From 1993 to 1995, Virgin Books published nine Judge Dredd novels. They had hoped the series would be a success in the wake of the feature film, but the series was cancelled after insufficient sales. In August 2015, these novels were re-released as e-books. The books are:
Also in 1995, St. Martins Press published two novelizations of the film:
In 1997, Virgin published a Doctor Who novel by Dave Stone which had originally been intended to feature Judge Dredd, called Burning Heart. However this idea was abandoned after the film was released, and Dredd was replaced by another character called Adjudicator Joseph Craator.
From 2003 to 2007, Black Flame published official 2000 AD novels, including a new run of Judge Dredd novels. After Black Flame closed in 2007, Rebellion picked up the rights to their "2000 AD" titles in 2011, and began republishing them as e-books. Their nine Judge Dredd books are:
In July 2012, three of these novels – Gordon Rennie's Dredd Vs Death, David Bishop |'s Kingdom of the Blind, and Matt Smith's The Final Cut – were republished in a single paperback volume titled Dredd, as a tie-in with the 2012 film of the same title.
In August 2012, Rebellion announced a new series of e-books under the series title Judge Dredd: Year One, about Dredd's first year as a judge. All three stories were published by Abaddon Books in a paperback book called Judge Dredd Year One Omnibus in October 2014.
In 2016, more e-books were published under the series title Judge Dredd: Year Two:
In May 2018, a series of three books, collectively called Judges, was announced. These are not about Dredd but about the first generation of judges, and are set six decades before Dredd's first stories to appear in the comic. The announced books are:
"The Day the Law Died" and "The Apocalypse War" stories were produced by Dirk Maggs and broadcast in three-minute segments on Mark Goodier's afternoon show on BBC Radio One in 1995. The cast include Lorelei King and Gary Martin. They were issued separately on dual cassette and double CD. Both titles have since been deleted. "The Apocalypse War" also contains plot elements from "Block Mania", because this story set the scene for the main story.
In recent years, Big Finish Productions has produced 18 audio plays featuring 2000 AD characters. These have mostly featured Judge Dredd, although three have also featured the Strontium Dog. In these, Judge Dredd is played by Toby Longworth and Johnny Alpha, the Strontium Dog is played by Simon Pegg. In July 2009, four further Judge Dredd titles were released under the banner "Crime Chronicles", once more featuring Toby Longworth.
The list of 2000 AD audio plays featuring Dredd includes:
Note: 3 and 10 are Strontium Dog stories that do not feature Dredd.
;Judge Elmer Dwedd
;Judge Sweeny
;Judge Dreddz
;Justice Peace
;Judge Dudd
;Nudge Dredd
;Judge Fredd
;Psycho Gran vs. Judge Dredd
;Psycho Gran Vs...
;Judge Dreck