Judge Dredd of Mega-City One

I use to collect comic books. I started when I was in grade school (unfortunately none of those comics survived). However, I built my collection during high school and college. Yes, most of my spending money went to comic books. One of my favorite comic book characters was Judge Dredd.

Dredd is one of many so-called "judges" who maintain order in Mega City One, a vast, impossibly dense urban sprawl that covers the entire eastern portion of North America in the 22nd century dystopia in which he lives.

The judges of the Mega City don't merely pass judgment on citizens who run afoul of the law. They're also the uniformed cops who track down the perps, the juries who determine guilt, and the executioners who carry out the sentence — a perfectly efficient system that can have a criminal safely locked away in an iso-cube for life, within minutes of committing his crime.

Judge Dredd is the major star of Britain's weekly science fiction comic book, 2000 AD, which was launched by IPC magazines with a cover date of Feb. 26, 1977. But Dredd wasn't in it quite from the beginning, apparently because of a few glitches in putting together a finished story suitable for launching the character. He was created by writer John Wagner (who also had a hand in creating Strontium Dog and Ace Trucking Co. for 2000 AD and The Last American for Marvel Comics) and artist Carlos Ezquerra (who, aside from defining the look of Judge Dredd, is also known in America for his work on The Saint of Killers, a 1996 mini-series about DC Comics' Preacher). But the first story to see print (in the second issue, or "prog", short for "programme", as the publisher calls them for some reason, dated March 5, 1977) was written by Pat Mills (Marshall Law) and drawn by Mike McMahon (who has also done a few Batman stories for DC).

Dredd crossed the Atlantic in 1983, when IPC launched an American subsidiary, Eagle Comics, mainly to reprint Judge Dredd on a monthly basis for the U.S. audience. American reprints continued throughout the 1980s and into the '90s. Comics Review currently America's best regularly-published source for reprints of newspaper comics, ran many episodes of The Star's version. DC Comics licensed the character in 1994, and published American-made Dredd stories for the next two years, while at the same time running a reprint series. In oneshots and mini-series coming out between 1991 and '99, Dredd has done crossovers with Batman. He's also crossed over with DC's Lobo (1995) and Dark Horse Comics' licensed version of 20th Century Fox's Predator (1997).

The film version of Dredd, with Sylvester Stallone in the title role, was released in England on June 21, 1995, and in America nine days later. It wasn't much of a success, but many attribute this to its not being a close enough adaptation. For example, the movie Dredd was frequently shown in a full-face view, whereas comics readers almost never see his eyes — an important point in a no-nonsense law enforcement officer who, like Dredd, makes every effort to distance himself from the people he's supposed to be protecting.

For the past few years, Dredd hasn't been seen very often in the U.S. But in his country of origin, 2000 AD, now published by Rebellion A/S, mostly a game producer, is still coming out every week (even if the year itself has passed into history). And Judge Dredd is still its biggest star. When I was deployed to Sarajevo, Bosnia back in 1996 and part of 1997, and served in the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) under a UK commander, I would go to the British post exchange (operating out of a little pre-fab "hut") and buy the latest copy of 2000 AD magazine, hoping Dredd was featured.

He is the law!