User:Darkwarriorblake/Judge Dredd (character)

This page is about the comic book character. For other uses, see Judge Dredd (disambiguation).

Judge Dredd
Publication information
Publisher	Former IPC Media (Fleetway) Current Rebellion Developments
First appearance	2000 AD no. 2 (5 March 1977)
Created by	John Wagner (writer) Carlos Ezquerra (artist)
In-story information
Full name	Joseph Dredd
Team affiliations	Mega-City One Justice Department Academy of Law Luna 1 Justice Department
Notable aliases	The Dead Man
Abilities	Excellent marksman Expert in unarmed combat Bionic eyes grant 20/20 night vision and reduced blinking rate

Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character who appears in British comic books published by Rebellion Developments, as well as in a number of movie and video game adaptations. He was created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, and first appeared in the second issue of 2000 AD (1977), a weekly science-fiction anthology comic. He is the magazine's longest-running character.

Joseph Dredd is a law enforcement officer in the dystopian future city of Mega-City One in North America. He is a "street judge", empowered to summarily arrest, convict, sentence, and execute criminals.

In Great Britain, the character of Dredd and his name are sometimes invoked in discussions of police states, authoritarianism, and the rule of law.

Publication history

When 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 (after the British ska and reggae artist Alexander Minto Hughes ) but abandoned 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 (played by David Carradine) 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. 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.

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 he was considered abusive. In his blog Mills detailed the moments of rage Brother James had a reputation for and his own experience witnessing it. 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. It is not known if the name Joseph refers directly 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 Peter Harris, and was then extensively re-written by Mills. It was drawn by newcomer Mike McMahon. The strip debuted in "prog" (issue) No. 2, but Ezquerra, angry that another artist had drawn the first published strip, quit and returned to work for Battle. Wagner soon returned to the character, starting in prog 9. His "Robot Wars" storyline was drawn by a rotating team of artists (including Ezquerra), 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 collaboration with Alan Grant between 1980 and 1988).

In 1983 Judge Dredd made his American debut with his own series from publisher Eagle Comics, titled simply 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 not popular with fans, and sales fell. Wagner returned to writing the character full-time in 1994.

Judge Dredd has also been published in a long-running comic strip (1981–1998) 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 ten British comic characters commemorated in a series of stamps issued by the Royal Mail.

Character and appearance

Joseph Dredd is the most famous of the Street Judges that patrol Mega-City One, charged to instantly convict, sentence, and execute offenders. Dredd is armed with a "Lawgiver" pistol (programmed to recognise only his palm-print, and capable of six types of ammunition), a daystick, a boot knife and stun or gas grenades. His helmet obscures his face, except for his mouth and jaw. He rides a large "Lawmaster" motorcycle equipped with machine-guns, a powerful laser cannon, and full artificial intelligence capable of responding to orders from the Judge and operating itself.

Dredd's entire face is never shown in the strip. This began as an unofficial guideline, but soon became a rule. As John Wagner explained: "It sums up the facelessness of justice − justice has no soul. So it isn't necessary for readers to see Dredd's face, and I don't want you to".

On rare occasions, Dredd's face has been seen in flashbacks to his childhood; but these pictures lack detail. In an early story, Dredd is forced to remove his helmet and the other characters react as if he is disfigured; but his face was covered by a faux censorship sticker. In prog 52, during Dredd's tenure on the Lunar Colonies, he uses a 'face-change' machine to impersonate the crooked lawyer of a gang of bank robbers.

In Carlos Ezquerra's original design, Dredd had large lips, "to put a mystery as to his racial background". Not all of the artists who worked on the strip were told of this. Mike McMahon drew Dredd as a black man, while Brian Bolland and Ron Smith drew him as white. The strip was not yet printed in colour, and this went unnoticed. The idea was finally dropped.

Time passes in the Judge Dredd strip in real time, so as a year passes in life, a year passes in the comic. The first Dredd story, published in 1977, was set in 2099, whilst stories published in 2024 are set in 2146. Consequently, as former editor Alan McKenzie explains, "every year that goes by Dredd gets a year older – unlike Spider-Man, who has been a university student for the past twenty-five years!". Therefore Dredd is over seventy years old, with over fifty years of active service (2079–2146), and for almost thirty years Dredd's age and fitness for duty were recurring plot points (in prog 1595 (2008), Dredd was diagnosed with benign cancer of the duodenum).

How Dredd's ageing would be addressed was a source of reader speculation until 2016, when writer Michael Carroll and artist Ben Willsher published the story Carousel, in which Dredd is ordered to undertake rejuvenation treatment. Regarding the possible death of the character, in an interview with Empire in 2012 Wagner said: "There could be many ways to end it, but the probability is that I won’t still be around when it happens! I would love to write it, but I can’t see it happening. I’ll leave the script in my will."

Fictional character biography

Further information: § Major storylines

Senior Judge Joseph Dredd and his brother Rico Dredd were cloned from the DNA of Chief Judge Fargo, the first chief judge, in 2066. Their growth was artificially accelerated to an apparent physiological age of 5, with all the appropriate knowledge for their age electronically implanted in their brains during gestation. The name 'Dredd' was chosen by the genetic scientist who created them, Morton Judd, to "instill fear in the population". As cadets during the Atomic Wars of 2070, they were temporarily made full Judges to restore order to the panic-stricken streets. Distinguishing themselves, they were chosen to take part in assaulting the White House when the Justice Department deposed President Booth. They were fast-tracked through the Academy of Law, Joseph graduating second in the class of 2079, while Rico came first. Later that year, Joseph arrested Rico for murder and corruption. Twenty years later, when Rico sought revenge after serving a 20 year sentence, Joe was forced to shoot him in self-defence.

Joe Dredd excelled as a judge, rapidly gaining promotion to the rank of senior judge. Offered the opportunity to become chief judge in 2101, Dredd declined, preferring to serve on the streets enforcing the law. He has however served temporarily in other senior positions. In 2132, Dredd was appointed to the Council of Five, Mega-City One's highest governing body, on which he served for two years. On several occasions he saved his city from conquest or destruction by powerful enemies, and in 2114 he saved the entire world during the Fourth World War.

Although Dredd holds his duty above every other priority, this devotion is not blind. On two occasions (in 2099 and 2112), Dredd resigned from the force on points of principle, but both times he returned. In 2113, Dredd insisted that the Justice Department gamble its very existence on a referendum to prove its legitimacy. In 2116, he risked 20 years' imprisonment with hard labour when he challenged the policy of a chief judge; and in 2129, he threatened to resign to persuade another chief judge to change the city's harsh anti-mutant apartheid laws.

In 2130, Dredd was diagnosed with cancer of the duodenum, though it was benign.

Family and associates

• Rico Dredd: Judge Dredd's clone 'brother'. Soon after Joseph and Rico became judges, Rico became corrupt forcing Joseph to imprison him. Twenty years later, Rico sought revenge, and Joseph Dredd was required to kill him.
• Judge Kraken: He is another clone brother from the same stock as Joseph and Rico Dredd, but from a later batch produced by a rogue operator.
• Vienna: Dredd's niece, fathered by Rico in jail. Dredd has gone out of his way to save her on occasion.
• Judge Rico: Dredd himself has been cloned. One such clone, who adopted "Rico" as a surname, is often mistaken for Dredd. Judge Rico eventually inherited Dredd's apartment at Rowdy Yates Block.
• Dolman: Another Dredd clone; formerly a trainee judge and member of the MC1 Space Corps.
• Cadet Paris: A recent addition to the family – an SRY depleted female clone of Dredd.
• Judge Anderson: For years, Dredd had a close but uneasy friendship with Cassandra Anderson of Psi Division, which came to an end when Anderson briefly abandoned the law. Later, after she returned to duty, Dredd denied this friendship, but he re-affirmed it after she was injured while saving the city.
• Judge Hershey: Dredd has known Chief Judge Hershey since 2102. Like all chief judges since Goodman, Dredd has easy access to her, but they also have a personal relationship based on mutual respect. Dredd believes her to be "the best chief judge we've ever had".
• Walter the Wobot and Maria: Dredd used to share his flat with a domestic robot called Walter the Wobot, who performed all his domestic chores. Dredd also had a landlady called Maria. In later years, Dredd parted company with both. Walter later reappeared and Dredd reassigned him to take care of elderly widow Mrs. Gunderson.
• Galen DeMarco was a judge infatuated with Dredd. This breach of regulations led to her resigning from the force and becoming a private investigator. Dredd tried to help her adjust to civilian life; but when he further rejected her advances, she eventually severed contact.
• Fargo clan: Revealed in 2006 was a town occupied by the mutated descendants of Ephram Fargo, the twin brother of Chief Judge Eustace Fargo. These mutants, who share the common mutation of an overly large, exaggerated chin, are thus relatives of Judge Dredd himself, and consider him a "cousin". This led to Dredd campaigning to have Mega-City One's mutant segregation laws repealed.
• Judge Beeny is a judge who (since 2007) Dredd has taken as his protégée. On Dredd's recommendation, Hershey appointed her to the Council of Five.
• Judge Morphy was Dredd's mentor at the beginning of his career, until killed in the line of duty.

Villains

Numerous infamous criminals (or "perps" – short for "perpetrators" – in the story's argot) have featured over the years, including:

• The Angel Gang
  • Mean Machine Angel
• Chief Judge Cal
• Chopper
• The Dark Judges
  • Judge Death
  • Judge Fear
  • Judge Fire
  • Judge Mortis

• Armon Gill (a.k.a. the "Chief Judge's Man")
• Judge Grice
• Morton Judd
• The Judge Child
• PJ Maybe
• Orlok the Assassin
• Acting Chief Judge Sinfield
• Judge Bachmann

Alternative versions

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)

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. (Note: the DC crossover story "Judgement on Gotham" featured the original Dredd, not the version depicted in this title.)

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 comics 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 eleven new stories (some by other creators), in the 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: Top of the World, Ma-Ma

In the week that the 2012 film Dredd was released in the UK, a ten-page prologue was published in issue #328 of the Judge Dredd Megazine, written by its editor, Matt Smith, and illustrated by Henry Flint. This told the backstory of the film's main antagonist, Ma-Ma. Three more stories featuring this version of the character were published in the Judge Dredd Megazine: "Underbelly" in #340–342 (2013), "Uprise" in #350-354 (2014), and "Dust" in #367–371 (2015–'16).

Judge Dredd (IDW Publishing)

Main article: Judge Dredd (IDW Publishing)

• In November 2012 IDW Publishing began a new monthly series written by Duane Swierczynski and illustrated by Nelson Daniel. It lasted for 30 issues.
• IDW began a new four-issue mini-series called Judge Dredd: Year One in March 2013, set during Dredd's first year as a judge.
• In September 2013, IDW began publishing the four-issue mini-series Mars Attacks Judge Dredd.
• In January 2014 IDW began another mini-series, Judge Dredd: Mega-City Two.
• In July 2015 IDW announced a new mini-series called Judge Dredd: Mega-City Zero, starting in January 2016.
• IDW and Dark Horse Comics published a four issue mini-series, Predator vs Judge Dredd vs Aliens, beginning in July 2016 and ending in June 2017.

In other media

Films

Judge Dredd (1995)

Main article: Judge Dredd (film)

An American film loosely based on the comic strip was released in 1995, starring Sylvester Stallone as Dredd (it was said that Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally requested for the role, but declined because in the original script, Dredd would keep the helmet on during major parts of the film). 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 [Danny] 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". For example, in the film a "love interest" is developed between Dredd and Judge Hershey, something that is strictly forbidden between Judges (or Judges and anyone else for that matter) in the comic strip. In the United States, the film won several "worst film of the year" awards. Also of interest is the cameo appearance of an ABC Warrior robot bearing a distinct resemblance to Hammerstein.

Dredd (2012)

Main article: Dredd

Reliance Entertainment 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:

It's high-octane, edge of the seat stuff, and gives a far truer representation of Dredd than the first movie. I hated that plot. It was Dredd pressed through the Hollywood cliché mill, a dynastic power struggle that had little connection with the character we know from the comic.

The film was shot in 3-D and filmed in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Funding was secured from Reliance Big Entertainment.

Television

Main article: Judge Dredd: Mega-City One

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.

Games

Videogames

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. At one time, an arcade game was being developed by Midway Games, creators of the Mortal Kombat series 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, simply 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 also 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.

Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death 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 whole game is played in the style of an FPS (first-person shooter) – with key differences from the standard FPS being the requirement to arrest lawbreakers, and an SJS death squad which will hunt you down should you 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.

Roleplaying games

Main article: Judge Dredd (role-playing game)

Games Workshop released a Judge Dredd 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 (What's OLD is NEW) roleplaying 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.

Pinball

Main article: Judge Dredd (pinball)

There was a pinball game in 1993.

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. The books are:

• Deathmasques (Dave Stone, August 1993 ISBN 0-352-32873-8)
• The Savage Amusement (David Bishop, August 1993 ISBN 0-352-32874-6)
• Dreddlocked (Stephen Marley, October 1993 ISBN 0-352-32875-4)
• Cursed Earth Asylum (David Bishop, December 1993 ISBN 0-352-32893-2)
• The Medusa Seed (Dave Stone, January 1994 ISBN 0-352-32895-9)
• Dread Dominion (Stephen Marley, May 1994 ISBN 0-352-32929-7)
• The Hundredfold Problem (John Grant, August 1994 ISBN 0-352-32942-4)
• Silencer (David Bishop, November 1994 ISBN 0-352-32960-2)
• Wetworks (Dave Stone, February 1995 ISBN 0-352-32975-0)

(In 2003 The Hundredfold Problem was re-released by BeWrite Books, rewritten as a non-Dredd novel.)

Also in 1995, St. Martins Press published two novelizations of the film:

• Judge Dredd (Neal Barrett, Jr., June 1995 ISBN 0-312-95628-2)
• Judge Dredd: The Junior Novelisation (Graham Marks, May 1995 ISBN 0-7522-0671-0)

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:

• Dredd Vs Death (Gordon Rennie, October 2003 ISBN 1-84416-061-0)
• Bad Moon Rising (David Bishop, June 2004 ISBN 1-84416-107-2)
• Black Atlantic (Peter J. Evans & Simon Jowett, June 2004 ISBN 1-84416-108-0)
• Eclipse (James Swallow, August 2004 ISBN 1-84416-122-6)
• Kingdom of the Blind (David Bishop, November 2004 ISBN 1-84416-133-1)
• The Final Cut (Matt Smith, February 2005 ISBN 1-84416-135-8)
• Swine Fever (Andrew Cartmel, May 2005 ISBN 1-84416-174-9)
• Whiteout (James Swallow, September 2005 ISBN 1-84416-219-2)
• Psykogeddon (Dave Stone, January 2006 ISBN 1-84416-321-0)

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. (ISBN 9781781080771)

In August 2015 the nine Virgin Books novels were re-released as e-books.

e-books

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 (the stories in the comic strip having begun in his 20th year when he was already a veteran).

• City Fathers by Matthew Smith, August 2012
• The Cold Light of Day by Michael Carroll, July 2014
• Wear Iron by Al Ewing, October 2014

All three stories were published in a paperback book called Judge Dredd Year One Omnibus in October 2014.

The "Virgin" and "Black Flame" series of paperback titles were also released as e-books, with the majority of the titles available on Amazon.com.

In 2016 more e-books were published under the series title Judge Dredd: Year Two:

• The Righteous Man by Michael Carroll, January 2016
• Down and Out by Matthew Smith, September 2016

Audio series

In recent years Big Finish Productions has produced eighteen audio plays featuring 2000 AD characters. These have mostly featured Judge Dredd although three have also featured 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:

• 1. Judge Dredd: Wanted: Dredd or Alive by David Bishop
• 2. Judge Dredd – Death Trap! by David Bishop
• 4. Judge Dredd – The Killing Zone by Dave Stone
• 5. Judge Dredd – The Big Shot! by David Bishop
• 6. Judge Dredd – Trapped on Titan by Jonathan Clements
• 7. Judge Dredd – Get Karter! by David Bishop
• 8. Judge Dredd – I Love Judge Dredd by Jonathan Morris
• 9. Judge Dredd: Dreddline by James Swallow
• 11. Judge Dredd – 99 Code Red! by Jonathan Clements
• 12. Judge Dredd – War Planet by Dave Stone
• 13. Judge Dredd: Jihad by James Swallow
• 14. Judge Dredd – War Crimes by David Bishop
• 15. Judge Dredd – For King and Country by Cavan Scott
• 16. Judge Dredd – Pre-Emptive Revenge by Jonathan Clements (with Strontium Dog)
• 17. Judge Dredd: Grud is Dead by James Swallow
• 18. Judge Dredd – Solo by Jonathan Clements

Note: 3 and 10 are Strontium Dog stories that do not feature Dredd.

• 1.1 Judge Dredd: Crime Chronicles – Stranger Than Truth by David Bishop (October 2009)
• 1.2 Judge Dredd: Crime Chronicles – Blood Will Tell by James Swallow (November 2009)
• 1.3 Judge Dredd: Crime Chronicles – The Devil's Playground by Jonathan Clements (December 2009)
• 1.4 Judge Dredd: Crime Chronicles - Double Zero by James Swallow (January 2010)

In addition, both "The Day the Law Died" and "The Apocalypse War" stories were featured on Mark Goodier's afternoon show on BBC Radio One, and issued separately on dual cassette and double CD. Both titles have since been deleted. "The Apocalypse War" contains plot elements from "Block Mania", as this story set the scene for the main story.

In popular culture

• The metal band Anthrax included a song about Judge Dredd on their third album (Among the Living) entitled "I Am the Law". It is one of their most popular and well-known songs, and often features as an encore to setlists. They also released a 12" single and a 7" picture disc, both bearing the image of Dredd. One 12" version featured a fold-out poster of the band dressed as Judges drawn by drummer Charlie Benante. Also, the Cursed Earth tour had Judge Death as the main imagery of the shirts sold during the concerts.
• The UK ska/Two-Tone band Madness also recorded a tribute single to Dredd under the name of The Fink Brothers, entitled "Mutants in Mega-City One". Released on the Zarjazz label in February 1985, the record featured a cover drawn by 2000 AD Dredd artist Brian Bolland.
• The UK band The Human League also wrote a song about Judge Dredd. "I am the Law" appeared on the album Dare.
• The Screaming Blue Messiahs recorded a song entitled "Mega-City One" on their final album Totally Religious.
• The Manic Street Preachers' song, "Judge Yr'Self" was influenced by the comic, and was intended to appear on the Judge Dredd film soundtrack. It reached the demo stage, but after lyricist and guitarist Richey Edwards disappeared, the other members of the band said that a song for a soundtrack was the last thing on their mind. Edwards himself was heavily influenced by the Judge Dredd and 2000 AD comics (the slogan "Be pure. Be vigilant. Behave" from the 2000 AD strip Nemesis the Warlock was included in the song "P.C.P."). A fully produced mix of "Judge Yr'Self" (by long time Manics producer Dave Eringa) was later released on the 2003 double-album of B-sides and rarities, Lipstick Traces. Richey was a great fan of Judge Dredd and even had one of his drawings published in the comic during his late childhood. Richey himself was later parodied as "Clarence" of the "Crazy Sked Moaners" in the Dredd story Muzak Killer: Live! Part 3 (prog 838, 5 June 1993), in a scene which parodied the infamous 1991 incident of Richey carving 4 REAL into his forearm with a razor (Clarence lasers 4 RALE [sic] into his forehead).
• Simon Pegg is a fan of 2000 AD, and Judge Dredd memorabilia (supplied by the comic) appears in the background of several episodes of Spaced.
• There is a rapper from Houston, Texas who goes by the name of Judge Dredd. He was featured on two tracks on Chamillionaire's Greatest Hits Mixtape.
• A sleeve illustration on German metal band Helloween's album Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1 depicts a pumpkin-headed character (a band trademark) wearing a distinctive Judge's uniform. It's placed next to the lyrics for the song "Future World", and was used as the sleeve illustration for the single release of that track.
• Multiple references to the 1995 movie are made on the sitcom Scrubs, notably by J.D. at the end of the episode "His Story II", while being wooed by Elliot.
• Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica references Judge Dredd in the song "Peacemaker".
• The British band Pitchshifter, also fans of 2000 AD, released a Judge Dredd t-shirt for their final tour. It included the slogan "13 years punk", referring to how long the band had been together before they broke up.
• In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Imperium's police force, the Arbites, (Latin; translates as Judge or judgment) were visually based upon Judge Dredd stemming from the time Games Workshop held the rights to Judge Dredd games. The current range is more similar in design to RoboCop. The original designs for the Space Marine power armour and bikes also drew heavily on the Judges' uniform and Lawmaster bikes. In return the original design for the Space Marine jet bike also featured in an episode of Judge Dredd as a Judge antigravity bike. A number of artists who have worked on Judge Dredd have also worked for Games Workshop.
• In the episode "Respawn" of 30 Rock, Liz Lemon is in court purposely trying to get community service in order to avoid spending the summer with Tracy Jordan. While in the court room, the judge's name is "Gregory L. Dredd" or "Judge Dredd".
• Wizkids / NECA have released four figures of Judge Dredd as part of their Heroclix colectable miniatures game (Rookie, Experienced and Veteran and Promotional versions). These were only released in the United Kingdom, alongside other 2000AD related figures, as part of the "Indy" expansion to the game. This led to something of an outcry from the American fans of both the game and the character, and this style of "regional" figure-release was not continued in later sets of Heroclix. The Promotional version is not legal in normal game play. It has an entirely different blue ringed dial to the standard "Experienced" version, and the word "Promo" on the base.
• Finnish band Ne Luumäet released a song called "Tuomari" which is about Dredd.

Parodies

Judge Elmer Dwedd

Judge Dredd was satirized by Marvel Comics, by combining the lawman with Looney Tunes character Elmer Fudd to create Judge Elmer Dwedd. This pastiche of Dredd appeared in a handful of issues of Howard the Duck prior to the release of the Judge Dredd movie, and the character was discontinued afterwards.

Justice Peace

A former officer of the Time Variance Authority, he rides a flying and (formerly) time traveling Hopsikle, wields a Peacemaker multipurpose gun, is based in "Brooklynopolis" and is genetically incapable of both lying and humor.

Judge Dudd

Appeared in Buster comic, which was published by Fleetway. As his name implies, Dudd was an inept law officer.

Judge Fredd

Appeared in the Steve Jackson spoof card game Munchkin and "beats you to death for resisting arrest" if you fail to defeat him.

Psycho Gran vs. Judge Dredd

In an issue of Oink! comic, which was published by Fleetway, Psycho Gran was transported through a time warp into the far future and materialised in Mega City One just as she is training in a boxing gym and Judge Dredd was arresting a perp. She punches Dredd, knocking him out before apologising and disappearing back through the time warp. Dredd, explaining away his bandaged nose, later tells the Chief Judge that he was attacked by a gang of giant mutants, while behind his back he has the fingers of one hand crossed. Judge Dredd was also parodied twice in Oink! as "Judge Pigg", on the second occasion being featured as the cover star.

Psycho Gran Vs...

In issue #1 of the 'Psycho Gran Vs...' comic, published by Dead Universe Comics in 2016. Psycho Gran can be seen punching Dredd, knocking out a tooth in the process. Dredd can be seen thinking: "Oh Grud, not again!" referencing back to their original meeting.

Judge Dreck

Stan Hart and Mort Drucker parodied the 1995 film Judge Dredd in Mad magazine #338, August 1995. The cover of the magazine painted by Frank Frazetta portrayed Judge Dredd with Alfred E. Neuman.

See also

• Judge Dredd Megazine
• 2000 AD crossovers. Judge Dredd's timeline has crossed over with many other 2000 AD stories.

References

• The Judge Dredd timeline from the 2000 AD website
• The A-Z of Judge Dredd: The Complete Encyclopedia from Aaron Aardvark to Zachary Zziiz (by Mike Butcher, St. Martin's Press, March 1995, ISBN 0-312-13733-8)
• Judge Dredd: The Mega-History (by Colin M. Jarman and Peter Acton, Lennard Publishing, 144 pages, 1995, ISBN 1-85291-128-X)
• Thrill-Power Overload (by David Bishop, Judge Dredd Megazine vol 4 issues 9–18, issues 201–209, 2002–2003, collected and expanded, Rebellion Developments, 260 pages, February 2007, ISBN 1-905437-22-6)
• Dredd's universe at the International Catalogue of Superheroes

External links

• Dredd at IMDb
• Judge Dredd, The Guardian, 5 March 2002
• Big Finish Productions 2000AD page
• BBC Cult 2000AD comics page
• BBC Cult 2000AD audio page
• Judge Dredd boardgame page at BoardGameGeek
• Block Mania boardgame page at BoardGameGeek
• Dredd: The Card game details
• 35 Years of 2000AD and Judge Dredd at Comics Bulletin