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2000 AD in 2014: Judge Dredd At NYCC

2000AD-LogoAdam Wolfe writes,

Micheal Molcher opened the semi packed panel with a very candid revelation with what was to be expected. He told the crowd that there would be no announcements or news but that the panel would simply be a sales platform as to why today's comic book community should still read and love 2000 AD. However, what seemed to be a purely business pitch quickly turned into a heartfelt retelling of how Judge Dredd and the other stories from 2000 AD touched the lives of the panelists and lead them down the path they had all chosen for their careers. Gary Erskine recalled an event I'm sure many comic book fans can relate to. His mother had found a Dredd comic with a particularly brutal cover, and immediately banned all relating literature from her home. This taboo enticed Gary to delve even deeper into the content as a counter culture with a rebellious flair. He went as far as calling 2000 A.D. the "punk rock of comic books." Fraizer Irving went in the opposite direction. He remembered a particular Dredd panel in which the stone hearted Judge had forced a man to strip naked at gun point for a search in the middle of the crowded Mega City streets. The panel frightened him as a child and turned him off Dredd entirely. However, he was still drawn to 2000 AD due to its anthology formatting. It gave him the option to explore other genres while still having the same quality of stories. Finally only after years of maturity did Fraizer return to Mega City 1 and enjoy it from a more educated perspective. Douglas Holt was able to give yet another unique view being the only American born panelist. He recalled putting in an order to have some overseas comics shopped to him in California. Among the foreign literature were a few non sequential issues of 2000 AD. He instantly fell in love with Judge Dredd, but was also drawn to stories like Shako and Flesh.

Once the magazine as a whole had been thoroughly covered, Micheal began to move the conversation more towards Dredd himself. He wasn't the least bit surprised at the fact that Dredd has become the most accessible story in the 2000 AD archives. As Fraizer put it, Dredd gives the reader a type of fear that is real. He would "much rather liv2000AD-Logoe in a world of aliens and monster, than fascist cops." That fear, that realism that can be found in a work of science fiction is why Dredd is still popular today, and has even had two movies (well more like one and a half, sorry Stalone) made in his honor. When I first saw the trailer for Dredd 3D, the concept enticed me enough to pick of a Mega collection of Dredd comics so I could go into the film with some backstory under my belt. The feeling I got from Dredd was unlike any other character I've encountered. He is completely unlikeable, yet somehow you still do. Sure, that's usually the go to for most anti-hero tropes but things are a little different with Dredd. He doesn't have a tragic backstory, he doesn't have good quips or is extremely witty. He is dry, brutal, and to the point. Most of all Dredd is a mirror of one of humanities inner most struggles, order vs. chaos. Micheal epitomized the struggle when he recalled his favorite Dredd moment from the Democracy storyline. In the arc, the inhabitants of Mega City 1 begin to rebel against the judge system and want a return to democracy. Dredd finds the protesters leader and asks "if you were being mugged in the street who would you like to show up, me or your elected representative?" In the moment the line in the sand is drawn, the price of justice is freedom. In today's world that price becomes ever apparent. However Micheal insisted that "if someone believes we need a Judge Dredd in real life, they have missed the point of Judge Dredd entirely."


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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