As I said, I intend to begin my extensive coverage of 2000AD by looking at the adventures of this guy
one of their most famous sons, if not their most famous. So much so that they have already made two movies about him, and he later progressed from a character in the magazine to starring in his own, eh, megazine, as well as countless annuals, graphic novels and other related publications.
Whether he invented the slogan or not, the phrase “I am the law!” has passed into popular consciousness now, and will forever be linked with him. He was, and is, one of the toughest and least compromising lawmen ever to stride the mean streets, and he makes little distinction between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, mighty and humble. To Dredd, once you break the law --- in any way --- you’re his.
And believe me, you do not want that.
So how about some background, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the future’s most feared cop. After the last world war, most of the Earth lay in ruins. What remained of society has gathered together in huge cities, which in the USA are comprised of three, and which cover the entire landmass, with a huge, barren, desolate wasteland in between. These cities are called Mega-Cities, and are numbered from one to three. Dredd plies his trade in Mega-City One, although occasionally he has ranged farther afield. With so many people crammed in to so relatively small a space, and unemployment at catastrophic levels, the hundreds of millions of inhabitants of Mega-City One frequently engage in crime, though these can range from the very trivial, like jaywalking or petty theft, right up to murder and other more capital crimes. Each carries its own penalty.
After the third world war the Judges, who had been set up forty years previously, seized power and abolished the US Constitution in a popular uprising. Setting themselves up as the government, military and police force of the Mega-Cities, they rule with an iron fist. Essentially, the world is now one huge police state, and Judges hold power on every continent and in every major city. Judges are granted free rein to pursue, arrest, prosecute and even if necessary execute criminals, as long as they go by the book. There are terrible penalties for Judges who try to rise above the law.
Of these Judges, Dredd is the most feared and respected, and one of the oldest. At the time of writing he is in his seventies, as in
2000AD time passes normally, so having begun his career in his early thirties Dredd is now approaching what most people would see as retirement age. But back when we meet him first, he is a young, tough and unwavering cop. Never actually born, Dredd was cloned from the DNA of the first ever Chief Judge, Fargo, as was his “brother”, Rico, who crops up later (and in one of the films, but we won’t be going there). He quickly established himself as a star cadet and soon hit the streets as a fully-fledged Judge, bringing law and order (and mayhem) to the streets of Mega-City One.
Dredd is as unyielding as rock, tougher than steel, colder than ice. Some say he has no emotions, and he’s certainly never been seen to laugh or cry, at least publicly. Created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, Dredd is always depicted wearing his helmet, and his face is never seen. This is part of the two creators’ desire to present the faceless, remorseless visage of the police; this is not a face you can argue with or wheedle your way out of paying for your crimes, because you don’t see it. All that is visible of Dredd is his chin and nose, the rest is shrouded behind his visor and helmet. His eyes, in particular, you do not see, but you assume they probably don’t even know how to blink.
Dredd, like every Judge, takes his job very seriously and will never let a perpetrator (“perp”) away with anything, no matter how small. Mega-City One’s prisons are full of “iso-cubes”, where people can be incarcerated for days, months or even years, but even that is preferable to the sentence of death pronounced and carried out on the spot if the crime merits it. In short, you don’t
fuck with Dredd!
He does have a first name, but we don’t learn it until years later. Dredd is essentially a loner, though he does have other partners who occasionally help him bring in the guilty. These we will meet as the stories progress.
For now, let’s dive into the very first ever Dredd story, oddly enough not run until “Prog 2”, the second issue of
2000AD, but though coming slightly late to the party, Dredd has made up for it by becoming their most iconic character and the only one to move beyond the comic’s confines, and has starred in every single issue since.