Dredd himself is kind of a fascist jerk who delivers ruthless justice in a way that makes you question whether he’s even supposed to be the good guy. The Judges will often slap litterers and traffic violators with ridiculous multi-year prison sentences. However, even back then, it was actually a satire of those kinds of attitudes about crime and punishment.

Most people with only a passing experience with Judge Dredd tend to think it’s a holdover of '80s-era right-wing revenge fantasies in the vein of Dirty Harry. It’s a comedy, police procedural, and sci-fi epic rolled into one There have been a number of artists involved in the comic over the years including Brian Bolland, Mike McMahon, Colin MacNeil, Steve Dillon, and many more. To this day, Wagner still writes a majority of the Dredd strips and has been behind many of the most beloved stories in the character’s history. He is a clone of Judge Fargo, the first Chief Judge.ĭredd was created by British comics writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra for the second issue (or “prog” as they’re called) of 2000 AD magazine in 1977. We’ve never seen Dredd's face and only learned his true origin after decades of comics. He is the most famous and most feared Judge in all of Mega-City One, where crime runs rampant despite the zero-tolerance polices of its authoritarian government. Dredd and his fellow officers are referred to as 'Street Judges' because they have the authority to apprehend, sentence, and even execute criminals on the spot. Joseph Dredd is a law enforcement officer in Mega-City One-a sprawling American metropolis in the 22nd century, spanning roughly from Boston all the way down to Charlotte. With some advice from Douglas Wolk-comics critic, Dredd expert, and writer for the new mini-series Judge Dredd: Mega City Two-I've compiled everything you might need to know to get started with this surprisingly interesting and complex comic. If your knowledge of Judge Dredd is limited to the campy Stallone movie or a couple of comics you read in the ‘90s, you’ve only scratched the surface of what this sci-fi classic has to offer.

Download dredd comic