It's the 2000 AD conundrum. The comic was a high-profile big beast in a period when the commercial comics sector was crowded and wildly fertile; now the publisher leans heavily into this historic persona while the comic is the last high street sci-fi anthology standing, sells a fraction as many copies, and tries to service a diffuse audience stretching from minors to the last of the baby boomers in a cultural climate that's been overhauled entirely, the prospect of its IP appearing in other media always tantalizingly on the horizon. Even the name of the comic is in reverse gear, a branding most marketing departments would insist went in the bin. Whatever anyone says, 2000 AD is not at peace with itself. Quarterly 'all-ages' issues, begun with a Free Comic Book Day special in 2018 and now running quarterly as "2000 AD Regened", would not have been initiated and persevered with if the publisher did not know in its heart that the existing readership was insufficient, and the transfer of all-ages material into the regular issues since then proves the point. From Book 1 of Brink (2016). Art by INJ Culbard, letters by Simon Bowland, written by Dan Abnett. Judge Rico Dredd. Judge Joe Dredd's older "brother," also cloned from Chief Judge Eustace Fargo and initially superior to him in physical skills. Soon after Joseph and Rico Dredd became Judges, Rico became corrupt. Joe arrests him and sentences him to twenty years on the penal colony on Saturn's moon Titan. Twenty years later, Rico seeks revenge, and Joe kills him in self-defense. [54] Three of the host-mothers bashed their brains out, trying to silence the telepathic screaming from their unborn children. A fourth bled to death after attempting to forcibly induce a miscarriage. A fifth died in her sleep, and when autopsied was found to be carrying a deformed embryo with two heads.

Kraken's fate during the storyline is incredibly horrific. After the Sisters use him to open a bridge to Deadworld, he's reduced to a puppet of Death, slaughtering citizens in the name of the Dark Judges — all while being just aware enough to know what he's doing and feel the torment of each victim. The total annihilation device is a nuclear warhead of massive power, capable of obliterating an entire mega-city in a single cataclysmic explosion. Six mega-cities have been destroyed in this way in the Judge Dredd strip: East-Meg One in the Apocalypse War, and five others in " Judgement Day". The Apocalypse War served as a graphic illustration of their power, not only with the destruction of East Meg One but with twenty five TADs launched by MC-1 in the early hours of the war, diverted to another reality by the Sov "Apocalypse Warp" (a shield which deflected the weapons from MC-1). They not only destroyed the entire planet in the other dimension, but caused a rift in reality that destroyed two adjacent dimensions (this would be revealed nineteen years later in "Helter Skelter").

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Swierczynski, Duane (7 November 2013). "Judge Dredd #3 – Dredd's Comportment Chapter 3: The Birth of the Law – Douglas Wolk". Duane Swierczynski.

In 2066, Joseph Dredd and his older (by twelve minutes) "brother" Rico Dredd are cloned from the DNA of Chief Judge Fargo, the founder of the Judge System, who was said to have died in the line of duty years before. [51] Their growth is artificially accelerated in gestation so they are "born" with the physiological and mental development of a 5-year-old child, with appropriate knowledge and training already implanted in their brains. [52] The last name "Dredd" is chosen by the genetic scientist who created them, Morton Judd, to "instill fear in the population." [52] A game loosely based on the first live action film, called Judge Dredd was developed by Probe Software and released by Acclaim for the Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and Game Gear. [120] Bally produced a Judge Dredd pinball machine based on the comics. [121] In 1997, Acclaim released a Judge Dredd arcade game, a rail shooter with 3D graphics and full motion video footage shot specifically for the game. In 1983, Judge Dredd made his American debut with his own series from publisher Eagle Comics, titled Judge Dredd. [21] It consisted of stories reprinted from the British comic, but since 2012 IDW Publishing has published a variety of Judge Dredd titles featuring original stories. 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. [22] Wagner returned to writing the character full-time for 2000 AD in 1994.

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Judge Dredd is 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.

Kate Rodger (26 July 2010). "Karl Urban confirms Judge Dredd role". Archived from the original on 4 October 2013.Of the other six host-mothers who were delivered by Caesarean, three died, two went irretrievably insane, and the last — Soon's mother, a Serial Killer named Doris "Driller Killer" Davison — lasted long enough to curse the project manager for unleashing a monster on the world before she committed suicide by swallowing her tongue. 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. Blood Cadets (progs 1186–1188). This introduces a new, young clone of Dredd who calls himself Rico (no first name) to try to redeem that name. Blood and Duty (progs 1300–1301) saw the return of Dredd's niece Vienna Pasternak. With Vienna's reintroduction and the arrival of Judge Rico, Dredd is 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 with trying to connect with his niece. 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. [135] In the game, one to five players "[lead] a team of judges against dinosaurs, mutants, and the Cursed Earth itself". [136] It was released on 21 February 2019. [137] Collectible card game [ edit ] When the seven survivors gave birth, one artificially engineered child was stillborn — though the project's head insists it couldn't have been, the midwife asserts that the child deliberately strangled itself to death with its own umbilical cord.

He is a bloodthirsty and power-hungry maniac who was one of the men who started an war which caused the deaths of over 900 million people and caused half of Mega-City One and his home city East-Meg One to be destroyed. He's shown to treat his men under his command horribly, sending men who fail him to Siberia without winter clothing for failing him, makes his second in command play a daily game of Russian Roulette for letting Dredd escape and executes an general for merely suggesting surrender. After the destruction of East-Meg One, he was merely angry that his city was destroyed. He also feels no remorse for his crimes, stating before his execution, "I regret nothing, I apologies for nothing!". One of the outposts along the route is inhabited by friendly mutants, and offer travellers a place to rest and resupply. However, the settlers soon discover the massacred remains of the townspeople, revealing that the mutants are actually hostile raiders that lure in new victims this way, with the settlers being forced to shoot their way out. Judge Logan. Dredd's assistant for a number of years, later promoted to sector house chief. [73] Dredd encourages Logan to become Chief Judge when Hershey resigns. His public endorsement is instrumental in Logan attaining that office. [74] A list of all Judge Dredd stories to appear in the Judge Dredd Megazine from October 1990 to November 2022 (#1 to #450) is available at WikiCommons. [28] AD Online – Judge Dredd: Year One City Fathers". 2000 AD Online. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016.At one point, another tribe of mutants are encountered, with one of them being murdered by a settler fleeing criminal charges in the Big Meg. The previously-idealistic Trekkmaster Rudd ultimately decides (with support from the other settlers) to leave the killer to the mutant tribe's mercy; when his equally-criminal family expresses discontent, Rudd points out that the entire mutant tribe is camped out on the mountain pass they need to pass, waiting to ambush and destroy the convoy if they don't give him up. PJ Maybe was a serial killer who murdered his first victim at the age of only 12. He evaded detection several times, and claimed thousands of victims, [78] including a mayor and a deputy mayor of Mega-City One, over a criminal career lasting three decades. It's high-octane, edge of the seat stuff, and gives a far truer representation of Dredd than the first movie. [97] As well as novels starring Judge Dredd, there are other novels and novellas in the franchise about other characters. For a list of books about Anderson, see Judge Anderson#Novels. The Dark Judges are a group of undead judges from another dimension, who believe that since all crime is committed by the living, life itself should be a crime. Usually four in number, their leader Judge Death may be said to be Dredd's arch-enemy. Death was first introduced to the series in 1980 and has featured in many stories since, in Judge Dredd and in his own series.