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Judge Joseph "Joe" Dredd is the main character of the longest running strip in the British comic 2000 AD, having been featured there since its second issue in 1977.
Judge Dredd was created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, although the name was thought up by Pat Mills, who was originally going to use it for a different character. In the first published story Dredd was drawn by Mike McMahon rather than Ezquerra, and Ezquerra was reputedly so upset that he didn't draw Dredd until five years later. His appearance was inspired by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, and the film poster for Death Race 2000. Other illustrators of the strip have included Brian Bolland, Ron Smith, Steve Dillon and Cam Kennedy.
Dredd, actually one of a number of clones of Chief Judge Fargo, is the most famous of the elite corps of judges who run the city with the power not only to enforce the law, but also to instantly pass judgements on criminals and execute them. Dredd has a large, computer-driven "Lawmaster" motor bike, a gun (called a 'Lawgiver') with a wide range of specialist bullets which can only be used by its owner, a daystick, bootknife, and a uniform with a helmet that obscures all of his face except his mouth and jaw. His entire face is never shown in the strip (however, see The Dead Man below).
The strip is set about 120 years into the future. The Earth has been badly damaged by a series of international and interplanetary conflicts, much of the Earth is desertified and populations have tended to come together in enormous cities. The world of Judge Dredd is centred on the megapolis of Mega-City One. The form of much of the remaining world is somewhat vague, being shaped and reshaped as story-lines demand.
Despite its frequent disasters Mega-City One stretches from around Boston to Charlotte. It was established in 2031 and at its height contained a population of about 800 million, the current population is less than half of that. There are two other major population centres in Northern America - Mega-City Two (from around San Diego into Baja California) and Texas City (formerly Mega-City Three). The centre of the continent is a nuclear desert called the Cursed Earth.
Nuclear deserts and destruction elsewhere are also extensive. In Southern America a new desert extends from Nicaragua, covering Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and pushing far into Amazonas. Cities in South America are Brasília, Ciudad Barranquilla, and on the western side the Pan-Andes Conurb and South-Am City. The majority of the Caribbean islands have gone and the water there and across much of the north Atlantic is severely polluted, it is called by some the Black Atlantic.
Europe has suffered considerable reshaping, especially the south. A desert covers much of eastern France, extending south into Spain and across to cover much of central Europe. Classical Greece has gone, as has parts of Turkey. The Black Sea and the Caspian are now joined. In Europe the major cities are Brit-Cit (covering all of southern England), Euro-City (eastern France) and Ciudad Espana (eastern Spain). Ireland is now known as the Emerald Isle, essentially an enormous theme park recreating a stereotypical view of traditional Irish life. Further east into Asia are further nuclear deserts, the ruins of East-Meg One (destroyed by a massive nuclear strike at the climax of the Apocalypse War) and further east the megapolis of East-Meg Two.
In Asia, separated from East-Meg Two by an extensive nuclear desert are Sino-City One and Two in eastern China; Hondo City on the remains of the islands of Japan; and Indo City in southern India. Into the Blue Pacific cities survive in south-east Australia, the Sydney-Melbourne Conurb, and on a number of Pacific islands. Borneo has been covered in mutagens.
The Middle East is without major cities, being either nuclear or natural desert, the Mediterranean coast is heavily damaged by mutagens. In Africa much of the south is nuclear desert, South Africa proper has been shattered and is entirely uninhabitable. The major cities are Umur (Libya), New Jerusalem (north-east Ethiopia) and Simba City (Cameroon). Lake Victoria is enlarged and has been renamed the Kenyatta Sea.
The Judges are police, judge (and executioner if necessary), and their word is absolute. The only thing preventing them from being a totally oppressive police state is the psychological conditioning they receive - this has been subverted on several occasions, including by the insane Judge Cal who, once he had absolute power, then proceeded to behave much like his namesake Caligula, even appointing his pet goldfish as his Deputy Chief Judge. Dredd, having missed the conditioning due to being out of Mega-City One at the time, was the leader of the rebel Judges who overthrew Cal; after Cal's death at the hands of Fergee, a dweller of the Mega-City's undercity, he was offered the job of Chief Judge but refused it, as he believed he was needed far more out on the streets. On another occasion, the Judges were again subverted from their role of protectors of the citizens of Mega-City One by the Sisters of Death, who, through the body of psi judge Kit Agee, used supernatural powers to create the Dark Judges dystopian state of Necropolis. Once more, Dredd, who had again avoided mental conditioning by being away from the city (this time due to having resigned from the Judges and taken The Long Walk (see Tale Of the Dead Man), and a small force of rebel Cadet Judges as well as Judge Anderson, were able to win the day.
Mega-City One's population lives in gigantic tower blocks, each holding some fifty thousand or so people, and each named after some historical person. (There is usually some ironic joke in the name of the block in which a particular story takes place.) A number of stories feature rivalries between different blocks, on one occasion (recounted in the story Block Mania) breaking into shooting wars between them; the Judges' arbitrary and total powers reflect the difficulty of maintaining any order at all in the Mega-City environment.
Various versions of the Judge system hold power in all the Mega-Cities of Dredd's world.
A film based around the comic strip was released in 1995, starring Sylvester Stallone as Dredd. Fans were highly critical, largely regarding it as a failure. In deference to the expensive star, Dredd's face was shown; and in spite of the large budget and accurate recreation of the sets and characters appearances, the script writers largely omitted the ironic humour of the original strip. In addition, the film did not find wide mainstream appeal.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
There have been a number of Judge Dredd storylines that have either significantly developed the "Dredd mythos" or have been "epic" in scale (i.e., been multi-part stories). Some of these include:
Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs Death was produced by Rebellion Developments and released in early 2004 by Sierra for the PC, Playstation 2, Xbox and GameCube. The game sees the return of the Dark Judges when Mega-City One becomes overun with vampires and the undead. The player takes control of Judge Dredd, with the optional additon of another Human player in Co-operative play, his mission is to bring the Dark Judges to Justice again. 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.
Weapons include the standard Lawgiver, the Arbitrator. the Lawrod Rifle, the Spit Gun, Stump gun and a variety of other common FPS weapons.
The player can also go up against three of his friend's in the various multiplayer modes which include Deathmatch/Team Deatmatch, Elimination/Team Elimination, Informant, Judges Vs Perps, Runner and more.
The heavy metal band Anthrax produced a song on their third album (Among the Living) entitled "I am the Law," which is about Judge Dredd. They also released a 12" single and a 7" picture disc, both bearing 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, the record featured a cover drawn by 2000 AD Dredd artist Brian Bolland. Celebrity fans of Dredd also include Terry Pratchett, Jonathan Ross, Lemmy from Motörhead, and Simon Le Bon.
The English band The Human League also wrote a song about Judge Dredd, "I am the Law" appeared on the bands most popular album Dare.
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