Judge Dredd the Megazine, ranked part 21: missing bits!

So I set some weird rules about what and wouldn’t count for this celebration of the best (and worst) of the Judge Dredd Megazine.

Thanks to those rules, there are some pretty significant bests (not too many worsts) that didn’t get a mention. I’m not going to rank them as such, but let’s list off and maybe talk a little about them.

First, the stories that had runs in 2000AD first, before switching to the Meg
(and yes, it IS cheating that I included Chopper in the ranking)

Anderson, Psi Division
Had a LONG history before joining the Megazine in volume 2, then dipping back in and out of the Prog for reasons that at this point make no particular sense beyond, I guess, scheduling and maybe the length/kind of story creators want to tell?

Significant/Great Anderson Meg stories, for me, would be:

Twists and turns in Childhood's End
Words by Alan Grant; Art by Kev Walker

The Jesus Syndrome - The Judges meet the Messiah (he's a very nice boy!)
Childhood’s End - Oh no, the secret origin of humanity is blowing my mind!
Satan - the Judges meet the anit-Messiah (he's a very nasty boy!)
The Protest - Life in teh Big City is, basically, horrible - but not without some hope...
Half-Life/WMD/Lock-in/City of the Dead - The best post-Necropolis Judge Death story?

Cass gets the upper hand in City of the Dead
Words by Alan Grant; Art by Arhtur Ranson

aka most of the stories illustrated by Arthur Ranson. In the post-Alan Grant era, there have been some decent Anderson adventures, but none have quite dared to step up the levels of introspection that Grant at his best was into. On their own, those stories would be Top 5 Meg material, for me. As a whole, Anderson’s run is probably relegated to Top 10/15.

Frankly, Anderson Psi Division deserves its own ranking exercise one day…

Fiends of the Eastern Front: Stalingrad
Another 2000AD classic with a single Megazine entry. It’s very good! It’s much more in the vein of the original Finley-Day/Ezquerra WW2 series, rather than the modern Edginton/Trevallion ‘what do you mean, this is meant to be a war story, who says?’ version.

Bishop and MacNeil’s take is kind of grown up and serious, while still being very much a ‘war is hell and Oh shitting christ there are vampires now TOOOooooooooo’ affair. It’s like Top 25 Megazine material.

Art by Colin MacNeil

Low Life: War Without Bloodshed
Only the one Low Life outing in the Meg, but it’s a cracking good ‘un! I went on the Mega City Bookclub to discuss Mega City Undercover Vol 2, expecting to spend my time waxing lyrical about the genius of Creation – but in the end, it’s War Without Bloodshed that won me over. This might be a Top 10 contender.

Shhh! What do you mean, that doesn't look like Aimee Nixon...
Art by Steve Yeowell

Mean Machine
Had his first solo series in the Prog, and that’s both a laugh riot and an insanely gorgeous piece of painting from Richard Dolan. Chris Halls Carl Critchlow’s Son of Mean was not quite as good on either front, but it’s decent! A bunch of one-offs mostly by Gordon Rennie are all pretty funny, too. Overall, Top 20.

Art by Greg Staples

Some exiles from the Regened experiment…
Cadet Dredd, which had been merely OK in the pages of Regened, suddenly got its best story. Department K did not.
Pandora Perfect continues to be a delight.

 

Art by Neil Roberts

Plus, of course, Judge Dredd
Like, he’s the main character of the Megazine. He has a solo story in every issue! Often more than one! So it’d be awful if he didn’t have some of the very best stories across nearly 500 issues. I absolutely have not re-read all of these in recent years, but here are a few that stick out in my memory as contenders for notoriety or just plain ‘best of the best’-ness. (not including the excellent Gordon Rennie stories which ended up spinning out their own solo series) Most are written by John Wagner, obviously. There’s a lot here from Volume 2, which probably just shows my own teenage bias 😊
Many of these would crack the Top 20 best of the Meg

Black Widow – Hicklenton art from my nightmares!
Raptaur – a fun alien foe! Also meet Psi Judge Karyn! The story is only average!
Mechanismo 1 + 2 – fun with robots!
Hottie House Siege - Very funny!
Bagging the Bagwan – Also very funny!
Bury my Knee - Very moving!
Howler – weird and funny!
Tenth Planet (prologue to Wilderlands) – tense and exciting!
Bill Clinton – weird and funny again, twice!
No More Jimmy Deans – fun sci-fi idea!
Bad Manners / Flippers – nasty!
Citizen Sump – delightful movie pastiche and send-off for a beloved character
Six/Monstrous Mashinations/Gingerbread Man – PJ is back back BACK
Ratfink  - REALLY nasty
El Maldito – great new character
The Gyre – great new setting
Monkey Business/Ape Escape/Krong Island – great new character in a great new setting!

Art by, deep breath...
DeanOrmstonMarkWilkinsonTrevorHairsineJockChrisWeston
PyeParrCarlosEzquerraNickPercivalJakeLynch... and breathe

Charley’s War and Darkie’s Mob
Very soon from the start of the Rebellion era, the Megazine has made a home for reprints either in bulk or in short excerpts of the massive back catalogue of old IPC mags, aka the ‘Treasury of British Comics’. Significantly for me, it meant I could finally lay eyes on and read two classics from Battle, both now widely available in various collections.

Anyway, Darkie’s Mob – it’s a John Wagner story! Everyone agrees that the best thing about it is the Mike Western art! It was fascinating to see quite how closely Peter Milligan followed this template when he wrote the first Bad Company series!

Charley’s War – mooted by many to be THE best British comics series of all time. Not my take personally, but it’s really a very good comic, that manages to be all at once child-friendly, informative, moving, angry and deeply political. I definitely admire it, but honestly, the ‘child-friendly’ part remains the barrier to me really sinking into it.

But before Rebellion and the IPC catalogue to mine, there was the time they reprinted trendy American comics…
…of which the best surely continues to be Preacher, which also felt the most 2000AD-like, but for big kids. (Yeah, I stand by it, it’s better than early Sin City or Hellboy). I also have a real soft spot for the even more 2000AD-like Lazarus Churchyard.

Art by Glenn Fabry

What about various reprints of the big man himself, Judge Dredd?
Volume 3 saw a whole ton of Daily Star Dredd serials, which are fun – if not as good as the original one-off strips by Ron Smith.

More recently, we’ve had a slew of IDW Dredd. There are no great stories here, but the ones by Matt Smith are really very good, and the controversial ‘Mega City Two: City of Courts’ is delightfully weird, both in story and art, and above all in setting and tone.

And finally, spare a thought for the world of ultra-independent comics, made by creators with nothing but love for comics in their heart, and maybe access to a printer or photocopier. The Small-Press slot caused some controversy during its brief tenure. People who hand-made and hand-sold comics at conventions – probably in quantities of tens or hundreds at best? - had the chance to see their work in print, in a comics reaching thousands of readers. Great exposure! But no pay. Is that, inherently, a bad deal? Hard to say.

Of the stories that ran, one stands out for me: Mr Amperduke by Bob Byrne. 

I cannot stress enough, this is a 'silent' comic.

Partly because it was my favourite offering, but also because I was surely not alone in that assessment, as Bob Byrne went on not only to have his own series that ran in 2000AD, it might actually be the only series to run with the creator’s name in the very title, Bob Byrne’s Twisted Tales! Somewhere, one hopes, a young Pat Mills and Kev O‘Neill are pumping their fists in the air. Even if they may also struggle with these dialogue-free comics because, despite generally excellent art and storytelling, sometimes it IS hard to be sure what is going on, and what the intended read is of what is going on...

Bizarrely, there’s one other independent comic that’s getting a bigger airing in the Megazine – Rok of the Reds. It is, so far, every bit as good as you’d expect from Wagner/Grant/Cornwell.

Judge Dredd the Megazine, ranked part 20: best of the best

So yeah, these are the best three non-Dredd, Megazine-originating stories in the Megazine. They’re also inarguably the best three of any stories in the Megazine, too!

 

3. DreadNoughts by Michael Carroll and John Higgins
(3 series so far, Megs 424-429; 455-461; 468-471)

What was this? A punning attempt to do Dredd: Year Zero? But seriously, it’s the actual origin story of how Judge Dredd’s world came to be, after the aborted attempt in Armageddon, and sidestepping the nuclear war part of the story as told in the Cursed Earth/Origins and other Judge Dredd stories.

It rains a lot in DreadNoughts land. Something to do with the sense of impending doom.
Art by John Higgins

What’s happening here is an attempt to imagine what it might be like if the ‘Judicial’ branch of a country’s power structure started to take over, setting up a super-elite kind of police force that could pretty much write its own rules. It’s properly scary! And, like the best Judge Dredd stories, it works to make you want to be on the side of the Judges, who come across as honourable/noble people, but also not ever want to be on their side, because they are ruthless and horrible.

It's all set in America not too far into the future. Crime is shown as running rampant, basically as if the headlines many news outlets peddle are accurate (in fact, crime rates have more or less steadily been going down). Organised crime in particular is shown as being incredibly well organised, well-armed, and well-connected to lawyers, governors and what have you.

So far, Carroll has pointedly decided to focus on life in the smaller towns of the US, he’s not delved into any big cities as yet. It’s an ideal setting to really hammer home the contrast between the ‘let me be free to live how I want’ attitude of old in the USA, versus ‘law and order is VITAL’ as the new way of things.

But what if, in this future hellscape, it DOES have to be this way?
Words by Carroll; Art by Higgins

Honestly, where Judge Dredd is so far in the future, and so full of fun future-crime / fashion / weirdness, it’s often easy to ignore the root of the system as fully authoritarian. In Dreadnoughts, there’s nowhere for the reader to hide. The Judges here get some pretty explicit pushback from the citizens and police officers they meet, who like to point out how horrible their tactics and attitudes are.

And yet. The Judges themselves are our point-of-view characters in these stories. And, like Dredd, they are clearly noble people who will put duty and the cause before any personal benefit. Exciting dramatic conflict alert! But also confusion when you root for them, only to sometimes get a different perspective and wonder if you should be rooting for them. But then the bad guys are SO wicked that you want to see them defeated. But are the tactics used OK?

Whose side are you on?
Words by Carroll; Art by Higgins

And yeah, John Higgins on art, with SJ Hurst on colours. This team plays in a lot of different tones, from way-out sci-fi to broad comedy to, in this case, dour ultra-violence. Higgins' long history with depicting the horror (but also sometimes fun) of violence is well-known. His preference for mood-appropriate rather than 'realistic' colours is also well-known, and frankly I MUCH prefer the Higgins approach. Comics can do so much more than depict the real world, so go crazy, I say!

Groovy

Love this series.

Dreddworld relevance? Well, it’s a distant origin story so of course there’s potential for this to be ‘hey, I’m just telling a story here, it doesn’t have to be canon’. But, so far, it all feels pretty canon. Worth noting there have been a couple of Carroll-scripted Judge Dredd stories in 2000AD that hark back to this Dreadnoughts era.

Writing: 9.5/10
Art: 10/10
Impact: 8/10

Overall score: 27.5 / 30

Has it been reprinted? It has! Two collections so far, and I’d imagine new collections as each series gets published. It’s popular!

 

2. America by John Wagner and Colin MacNeil
(Megs 1-7; Book II aka Fading of the Light Vol 3 20-25; Book III aka Cadet Megs 250-252; Book IV aka Terror Rising Megs 365-367; Book V aka The Victims of Bennet Beeny Megs 424-426. What do you mean, these don’t form a coherent series and are all Judge Dredd stories really??)

What was this? Ah, America. Perhaps the single most famous Judge Dredd story, that on some technicalities is not, in fact, a Judge Dredd story. I mean, Dredd is in it, it’s very much about what he represents, and as the sequels unfold it does indeed delve into his character. But, you know, it’s really the story of America Jara and Bennet Beeny and then America Beeny.

America is so much about the mood...
Art by Colin MacNeil

It’s a truly great piece of comics! There’s also a reason why it’s often suggested to readers as THE Judge Dredd story to give casual comics fans to read. And a reason why it regularly tops lists relating to anything and everything Judge Dredd. That first story is just a prefect realisation of ‘Judge Dredd comics, but for grown ups’ that seemed like it was an easy route for comics to take in the early 90s, but turned out, in fact, to be very difficult to pull off.

Indeed, Wagner and MacNeil have both not-quite pulled it off again themselves over the years. For my tastes, the plot developments of America II and III (and beyond) have all been spectacular and dramatic and just feel so right for the ongoing narrative of Judge Dredd. No faults there. I love spending time with Bennet Beeny and America Beeny. I love the ongoing tension of certain groups in Mega City One really hoping to bring Democracy back, with or without violence. (Usually with).

Yep, Mega City One is NOT part of the country America...
Words by Wagner; Art by MacNeil

But none of the sequels have quite captures the magic of that first book, and of course MacNeil’s style has gone through various evolutions. America is among the best of his first painted era; Fading of the Light suffers loads from him being mismatched with an early digital colourist. Subsequent stories have seen the transition to the more classic ink work and more reliable if unspectacular colouring.

Dreddworld relevance? Errr – if you want to explore the core concept of what Judge Dredd is about, both as a strip and as a character, it doesn’t get any more relevant. Which is ironic, as you can easily read Book I as a sort of mediation on the concept of Dredd that was maybe never meant to impact on the character/continuity quite as much as it has done.

Writing: 9/10
Art: 9/10
Impact: 10/10
We all know, I think, that if we were JUST looking at the original America, this would be 11/10 across the board. But that level of writing and art was not sustainable.

Overall score: 28/ 30

Has it been reprinted? Oh boy, has it ever...Why not treat yourself to the most recent Essential collection, which gives some of the build-up of the Dredd vs Democrats storylines - but only includes the first America. Or maybe you'd prefer the Lost and Found collection, which includes a running commentary on his own script from John Wagner, again just on the first (and best) story). The regular Judge Dredd: America collection has stories 1, 2 and 3. Mega Collection Vol 1: America goes all the way up to America 4, and has some other related Terror/Democracy/Beeny stories. America 5 shows up in Guatemala, as part of the more recent wave of Judge Dredd collections covering all things John Wagner.

*notoriously, you won't find America (the first story) reprinted in Judge Dredd complete Case Files 15, where it sits chronologically. I don't know if Tharg or anyone has given an official reason why not, but one suspects it mostly hinges on two things: a) the story is called, and is about America - not Judge Dredd; b) anyone who is buying a comic called 'Judge Dredd the Complete Case Files 15' probably already has this story in at least two versions and would rather not sacrifice 62 pages to yet an other reprint. America II also doesn't show up in CF26. Cadet DOES show up in CF43, and one assumes all future 'America' sequels will do...

 

So, to absolutely nobody’s surprise, this leaves the number one all-time best Megazine series, it’s so damn good you guys, it’s…

 1. Lawless by Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade
(11 series so far, starting in Meg 350, and then in as many issues as not ever since, basically.)

What was this? It’s “What if a Judge was Marshall of a small Wild West town not in the Cursed Earth, but on a colony world?” And it’s bloody marvellous!

Clothes matter in this world!
Art by Phil Winslade

Honestly, the thing that struck me right out of the gate was Phil Winslade’s ridiculously gorgeous art. I have no idea how he manages to bang out page after page on an insane schedule, always pencilling/inking in every single wrinkle in every fold of leather and other fabrics. And then there’s the sheer number of new characters he creates in every new series, including hundreds of background extras across all manner of crowd scenes. And then there’s the setting, which veers from Western-style small-town streets and saloons to run-down but high-tech Judge offices to corporate buildings to mountainous wilderness to alien spaceships.

The textures! The storytelling! The titillation!
Words by Abnett; Art by Winslade

This might be THE most realised, lived-in future world place in all of UK comics, barring perhaps Mega City One itself.

Of course, this wouldn’t be so compelling if we didn’t love (and in some cases, love to hate) the characters. For me, it’s hard to get past Metta Lawson (aka the one who got away at the end of Insurrection) and Nerys Pettifer, the best comics double-act since Johnny and Wulf, but it’s not as if Abnett and Winslade were slouching when they dashed off Hetch, Kill-a-man-Jaroo, Rondo Hatton and the rest. More than I can remember to name, but am always pleased to see on the page.

Lawson and Pettifer forever!
Words by Abnett; Art by Winslade

So yeah, setting and character are what make Lawless a constant joy. But in truth, the plots are pretty effing great as well. There are times when I like the set-up so much I wish the characters would get a bit of a breather to just enjoy whatever status quo there is. But of course, the best creator know to give us readers what we NEED, not what we WANT, and that means constant drama, constant change, and, within the scope of ‘Western space colony with aliens in the background’, Abnett sure likes to ring in the changes.

Back in Book 4 (or maybe 5?) it felt like the series had reached a natural end, and we got this very moving year-in-the-future epilogue. And then, somehow entirely naturally, Abnett found a reset button to hit and he’s never looked back. It’s a damn sight less clumsy that the first Sinister/Dexter alternate dimension/mindwipe reset button (although the more recent ‘it’s now an AI/virtual world’ reset button was actually damned clever).

Anyway, for my money something like 8 out of the 10 Lawless books have been 10/10 perfect affairs, with maybe a couple slipping down into the 9 range. That’s an insane average. That’s beyond-Strontium Dog levels of consistent greatness.

And I haven’t even mentioned that somehow, in every book, we get little glimpses into the age-old Judge Dredd battle of what matters more: law and order or personal freedom? Being incorruptible, or trying to do the most good for the best people? Fitting in to a society, or trying to impose your own ways upon it?

Don't mess with Metta Lawson
Words by Abnett; Art by Winslade

Dreddworld relevance? Its set on a very distant colony world, in a time that is deliberately unclear (could be Dredd’s past, present or even future, I guess), but it definitely involves Mega City Judges / SJS people.

Writing: 9.5/10
Art: 10/10
Impact: 9/10 Sure, it’s still a relatively new series, but second only to Dredd himself this is THE marquee series for the Megazine, and one dearly hopes it is not going away any time soon (or, if it must, perhaps at least some characters will get to spin-off into some new venture..?)

Overall score: 28.5/ 30

Has it been reprinted? It has! The trades can’t come fast enough, collecting two or three books at a time! Vol 1; Vol 2; Vol 3; Vol 4; Vol 5. For hardback fans who don’t mind mismatching spines, the first 4 stories are in the Mega Collection Vol 90; the next 3 are in Ultimate Collection 170. (to continue, you'll need Vol 4 and beyond from the regular trades)

 

Right, that’s it then!
Well, barring a few bits of tidying up…

Judge Dredd the Megazine, ranked part 19: other comics would kill for these stories

We're into the upper echelons of the Meg here, and in fact some of the very best British comics, including at least two genuine UK comics icons.

6. Devlin Waugh by John Smith, Ales Kot and various artists
(First appeared in Volume 2 issue 1-9, with sporadic appearances in the rest of Volumes 2 and 3, before becoming a mainstay from Megs 201-256, and again from Megs 388 to the present day; not counting his epic adventure in 2000AD in the late 90s)

What was this? Ah yes, besides the Taxidermist, this is the OTHER contender for ‘best story in all of volume 2’.* Specifically, in this case, the first Devlin Waugh tale, Swimming in Blood. You know, the one about the Vatican envoy who is sent on ‘special’ (read: weird/occult) missions to tackle unchristian and typically demonic problems.

That is a (love) gun in his hand and he is also pleased to see you.
art by Sean Phillips

Or, despite that basic idea never quite going away, this is really known as the series about the super-gay, super-erudite, super-buff demon-buster with the Schwarzenegger physique, the neatly coiffed hair, Noel Coward nose, Poirot moustache, and Terry-Thomas tooth-gap.

Honestly, despite 23 years and close to (more than?) 20 adventures, it’s very much Devlin the character who looms large in the mind, more than any of the specific shenanigans he has got up to. And you know, he has got up to some really very weird and cool and fun stuff. I’m probably speaking out of turn here, but back in 1992 it seemed to me, age 14, that gay characters turning up in comics more and more often was part of the wave of comics being more grown-up. And, in hindsight, perhaps the likes of Mark Millar, Peter Milligan and Grant Morrison were doing it because it was cool. But for sure John Smith was doing it because he damn well wanted to get some representation. And I recognise now that he did it best by some margin, even thought at the time I found Devlin to be too camp – which very much shows off the homophobic world and context I was living in (despite my belief that I was in fact a supper chill non-homophobe. You live and learn and feel bad).

ANYWAY, Devlin Waugh. He fought some vampires in an underwater prison, which may have had a life changing effect on him 😊
He fought MORE vampires in the open ocean.
He teamed up with Dredd in Africa.
He went to Hell, several times, and fought demons that were really into sex.
He got mixed up with the legacy of his wayward brother, not to mention some bargains made by his wayward younger self.
He trapped a demon in a dildo and explored adventures in the world of more open sexuality, as allowed by 21^st century attitudes under a VERY sex positive new writer, Aleš Kot.

Not all of these adventures are ‘best comics of all time’ stuff. But many of them really are excellent. Likewise not all the artists to tackle Devlin are all-time legend. But a few of them kind of are…

Sean Phillips set the tone with his fully-painted work. That first adventure is a classic example of ‘first long-from work by a young artist’, in that it has several mind-blowingly good pages and panels, and then more than few rather rushed ones. But you can’t argue with his character design, and indeed the fashions.

The Megazine in a single image. Extreme violence, tasteful nudity
Words by Smith; Art by Phillips

Colin MacNeil was in full-colour-painted mode for his stint on Waugh, and it’s both lovely and obscene. He really went to town on the demon fornication scenes! In more recent years, Michael Dowling stands out to me as just a perfect fit, but he’s had stiff competition from the likes of PJ Holden and Steve ‘don’t call me stone-cold’ Austin. Somewhere in there we had some Peter Doherty and, more bizarrely, Michael ‘Alias’ Gaydos.

Devlin - not a fan of Judges.
Words by Smith; Art by MacNeil

Such perfect poses!
Words by Kot; Art by Dowling

There’s a small elephant in Devlin’s room, and that’s the matter of the dreaded text story. Perhaps because John Smith liked writing prose, or more likely because it was cheaper and easier, there have been quite a few of them dotting specials and Yearbooks and such from the early 90s. The consensus is, these are perhaps the BEST text stories – but they’re still walls of prose in a comic anthology and this is morally wrong. Nice Sean Phillips art on some of them, mind.

Dreddworld relevance? Interesting one, this. Not only is it set in Dredd’s world, the two do actually meet in a notoriously nude one-off story, and then again in a mini-epic, and one more time with Devlin as a bit of surprise player.

That said, basically every solo adventure Devlin has, both in tone and setting, seems to have no bearing whatever on Judge Dredd continuity, and may as well exist in a totally different context if you ask me. Going all the way back to the curiously Judge-free underwater prison of Aquatraz. It might actually be fun if had a few more run-ins with Judges – from Mega City One or any other city, to be honest. Hell, when was the last time Devlin visited the Vatican?

Writing: 8.5 / 10 This is something of an average, with John Smith’s work the best, but Kot really has worked some minor miracles of sexy weirdness.
Art: 8.5 / 10 Again, an average of some folks who are basically 10/10, and others maybe closer to 7, but it’s a very high average!
Impact: 10 / 10 I think Devlin Waugh might just be the ONLY character to come from the Megazine who could legitimately claim to have some kind of cultural footprint beyond the confines of 2000AD/Judge Dredd fandom. Or if he doesn’t quite have that, he certainly could?

Overall score: 27/30

Has it been reprinted? It has! And one assumes, will continue to be collected as new series are printed. 2027 will be Devlin’s 25^th Anniversary, one hopes Rebellion are already making plans to mark the occasion. Anyway, for now one can certainly enjoy his adventures in not one, not two, not three but four collections, and I imagine more to come as new adventures are published. Not to mention the Judge Dredd Mega Collection Vols 14 and 15, for the John Smith years, and the Ultimate Collection Vol 125 fro the start of the Aleš Kot run.

*Anderson: Childhood’s End and Judge Dredd: Bury my Knee at Wounded Heart can fight over the bronze medal

  

5. Insurrection by Dan Abnett and Colin MacNeil
(3 series, spanning Megs 279-284, 305-310, 334-342)

What was this? Dredd meets Warhammer 50K! Except I’ve never read/played any Warhammer 50K so I have no idea if that’s true! So instead, let’s say it’s the one about Deep Space Judges who decide that The Mega City Way is too evil for words, and team up with Deep Space colonists, robots and ape-derived Uplifts to… insurrect? What’s the verb here? Never mind, you get it. Nice Space Judges with no hope versus evil Space Judges with all the firepower and resources.

Grimmer and Grittier even than Maelstrom :)
Art by Colin MacNeil

I think this might’ve been the turning point when Dan Abnett went from ‘reliable comics journeyman’ to ‘reliable purveyor of extremely awesome comics’. He’s barely put a foot wrong since, launching series after series that combines a winning idea with delightful characters, captivating plots, and just the right kind of dialogue to match.

Insurrection I think kind of gets forgotten, perhaps because it ‘only’ ran for three series and told a satisfying tale that was wrapped up, rather than running on and on. But my gosh, for the issues that it ran it was THE best thing in the Meg, propulsive and compulsive, and you really wanted the good guys to win, despite not having a clue how they would manage to pull their fat out of the fire. And, you know, a couple of times they DO find clever ways out… and sometimes they don’t.

As with too few Dreddworld tales, this one goes to town on quite how horrible the Judges actually are. They have an implacable way of viewing the world and reacting to things they don’t like – such as insurrection – with extreme hardness. Judge Dredd himself often comes up against this and every now and then he takes on the role of ‘good guy’ by allowing himself to be flexible in the face of the unbending system.

Dredd’s not in space, though, so we get Karel Luther instead, who starts the series off as the one who has learned to bend, and takes others along with him through the force of personality, and I like to think, the weight of being morally correct. Love that stuff!

I also love the time and space given over to the age-old Sci-Fi questions of ‘what counts as human’, which in this case means talking apes and religious robots. Slaves / ex-slaves who draw our sympathy and become part of the band of plucky insurrectionists.

Action action ACTION!
Words by Abnett; Art by MacNeil

If you haven’t read this story before, I strongly urge you to do so! There’s really only one knock against it, and its that Colin MacNeil’s art for the first 2 books and a bit of the third is literally the best he’s ever produced. Black and white and textured to heck, character designs to die for, giant space bricks moving slowly into position, menace and fear and raw emotions. The knock is that his health / time wouldn’t allow for the final book to carry on in this style, which he completed in his ‘merely’ excellent ink-work.

I suppose there is ONE other mild, knock on the series, and it’s that Mega City One itself never really enters the picture. Of curse this is all set in deep space – and, possibly, in the past as far as Judge Dredd continuity goes (details wisely not discussed). But you have to wonder, what would Dredd himself, or Hershey, or various other pretty senior figures, have made of it all? Luther is not some bleeding heart, he has some sensible points of view about WHY he chooses to insurrect. And although Justice, in this case, is both blind and fanatical, it isn’t, typically stupid? Ah well, it’s a great story, don’t let it get in the way.

Dreddworld relevance? Well, it’s all technically within the world of Dredd, but there’s a sense that it’s meant to be set in the past compared to Dredd continuity, when Mega City One had all the money in the world to invest in a gigantic space colony programme.

Writing: 10/10 Just when you think it can’t get any better, it does.
Art: 9/10 Sadly, the same was not true of the art, with poor Colin MacNeil not able to sustain the insane high-level of detail to finish up Book III.
Impact: 8/10 This remains far and away the best (only good?) ‘space judges’ story, and earned it’s three series, but it’s biggest impact was a spin-off series that has yet to be discussed. Kind of a shame that none of the key players survived to  work their charms on any future stories 😊

Overall score: 27.5/ 30

Has it been reprinted? It has! In two separate collections, or in one handy Ultimate Collection Volume, 54.

 

4. Young Death by John Wagner and Peter Doherty
(Megs 1-12 - and it's just this one story, I'm considering it as separate to both 'Wilderness days' and dominion + its follow-ups*)

What was this? The one where Judge Death, in hiding after Necropolis, tells his origin story to a journalist. Turns out his origin is both nastier and funnier than you might’ve guessed from e.g. Judge Death Lives, which was the first time we visited his home planet of Deadworld.

This scene does not actually take place in the story.
Art by Duncan Fegredo

The bits in Mega City one are dark and creepy and, with the combo of blindish/deafish landlady Mrs Gunderson and venal journalist Brian Skuter, pretty funny. The more substantial bits set on Deadworld are equally creepy and funny, but perhaps weirdly much brighter – mostly in daylight, with the feel of a 1970s British TV series. Which I think is by design – what heralds the idea of world about to die than the Uk just before the Winter of Discontent?

Anyway, young Death is a dentist’s son called Sidney, who has a snub-nose, a sadist father, and a combination of personality traits that add up to create the sort of person who would, methodically and by virtue of really believing in his own righteousness, bring about the complete annihilation of a planet. And, maybe, make a handful of friends along the way.

Yes, some of the jokes are on the nose and direct, and this can dimmish the power of Judge Death as a figure of fear. But, you know, the funniest bits really are the ones that straddle the lines of bad taste, from evil dentists to murdered pets to bullies getting more than they bargained for.

Marvel at how the picture of the human is creepier than the rotting monster!
Words by Wagner; Art by Doherty

Did Death NEED an origin story? Not in the slightest. Is it, in the end, superbly weird and deliciously funny? Heck yes it is.

Dreddworld relevance? Well, it’s the continued adventures of a major Dredd adversary, as well as his origins, and in fact the ‘present-day’ events of this story DO tie-in directly with Judge Dredd continuity – Death will next be seen in Judgement on Gotham, continuity fans.

Writing: 9.5/10 People can and have argued that John Wagner should never have leaned into the comedy with Judge Death. But they’re wrong. This story especially is both funny and nasty and spooky and weird, and that’s a wonderful stew if you ask me.
Art: 9/10 Peter Doherty leaps out of the gate and onto the page with astonishing skill. Sure, you can see him getting better over the 12 episodes, but for me that’s part of the charm. Frankly, his ability to just draw nasty-looking people emoting nastiness is too brilliant to downplay. And his realisation of a just-on-the-verge of rotting Deadworld, as a 1970s northern town, is hilariously apt.
Impact: 9/10 Now let’s be honest, Judge Death was already a BIG deal before this story ran. And yes, if this story has one big impact it’s that of pushing Death more and more into the realm of comedy rather than horror, which many will never quite forgive. BUT it’s also a very rare example of a spin-off series about a villain that a) is good and b) has spawned further series that are also, often very good.

You can’t ignore how this set the template first for the Anderson ‘Half Life’ cycle, AND for the Fall of Deadworld cycle.

Oh, and let’s not forget this was Peter Doherty’s first major comic, who has gone on to have quite the legacy as a major Judge Dredd artist. If not in quantity, the quality of the stories he’s drawn is ridiculously high. Go on, check out this list!

Oh, and I barely mentioned Mrs Gunderson, the sensational character find of 1990 – she’s gone on to have quite the career as a Judge Dredd supporting character, which nobody saw coming.

Overall score: 27.5 / 30

Has it been reprinted? It has! It's also in the Mega Collection Vol 7, alongside the two Frazer Irving-drawn Judge Death solo stories (the first of which is just about as good as Young Death; the second of which is very silly and only about half as good)

                                                                                                                                                                                     *Yeah, sure, Wilderness Days is very much an in-continuity Judge Death tale, but it's also a direct sequel to a 2000AD-originating Judge Death solo story. These are my rules to bend!