By Ari Carr
As you may or may not be aware I’ll be writing a very special Judge Dredd segment in honour of the posters and website that have been recently released for the upcoming film, starring Karl Urban as Dredd and has absolutely nothing to do with the disaster from 1995 starring Stallone. (See my blog for a longer rant about that film!)
All ranting aside, part two of the Dredd segment will be a look at some of Dredd’s best stories from the last thirty years, as detailed through the boxes and boxes of 2000AD comics I currently have stored in my room, courtesy of my father. Over the last few weeks, I have been reading through every single issue, every single mention of Dredd and every single story set in Mega-City One to bring to you, my readers, what the very best Dredd stories are.
Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth - "This is Mutie Country!"
Part one of the ‘best of’ segment is the truly Herculean ‘Cursed Earth’ storyline that ran for 25 progs (or issues, to us Earthlets!) and chronicled Dredd’s journey through the Cursed Earth; the molten, nuclear wilderness that lay between Mega-City One and Mega-City Two, which also contained Texas City (Mega-City Three) and Las Vegas. Dredd’s reason for trekking through the toxic wasteland was to deliver a cure to a virus called ‘2 T (Fru) T’ that caused cannibalism, uncontrollable rage and increased hyper violence (somewhat similar to the rage virus of 28 Days Later, but incarnated thirty years earlier) that was afflicting many of the citizens of Mega-City Two. Throughout his journey, we are joined by Spikes Harvey Rotten (a tough, biker punk modelled on Sid Vicious), three fellow judges, a group of battle-ready droids, and along the way, they are joined by the mysterious, rock-eating alien Tweak. As the team traverse the savage land in a ‘Land Raider’ and a ‘Killdozer’, they come across a variety of people, both lawbreakers and law-abiders.
TCE was the first ‘epic’ of 2000AD and filled in a lot of the backstory of Mega-City One and the Judges, as well as introducing us to new characters and new places. Pat Mills (Also known for his work on the British war comic, ‘Charley’s War’, as well as a small stint working for Marvel on Punisher 2099 and Doom 2099) took the writing reigns from John Wagner for this story, and we are rewarded with gripping storytelling accompanied with a variety of new characters, both good and evil, all with their own intricately-written back-stories and histories. The artwork is shared by the incredibly talented Brian Bolland (best known for his outstanding work in Batman: The Killing Joke, and his covers for Vertigo’s The Invisibles) and the equally talented Mike McMahon, who is well known for his continuous work within 2000AD, especially on The ABC Warriors and Slaine. The fantastic artwork of this duo is merely the cherry on top of a fantastic piece of work, which is truly gripping and tantalising, and leaves you wanting more.
Cover to Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth TPB
However, this series (sadly) suffered through a particular thorny legal battle surrounding the likenesses of the Jolly Green Giant, the Michelin Man and a whole host of well-known (but not necessarily well-loved) mascots of fast-food franchises. In the end, the four issues that these characters appeared in were pulled, and unless you own the original progs they appeared in, they are practically inaccessible for readers as they were never reprinted. (sadly, this included me, so I only had the text descriptions of Judge Dredd shooting the crap out of the imaginatively named burger-tycoon Donald MacRonald, but I digress) However, even without these two (presumably) hilarious minor-arcs, TCE is still fantastic.
The reason I’ve included TCE on this best of list (aside from the amazing creative team behind it) is because it is the first (and one of the longest) major Dredd stories, and is an ideal place for new readers to begin, regardless of their prior knowledge of Dredd, as it gives you a back-story of Mega-City One.
Follow me on Twitter as I read through Judge Dredd’s history, and tweet random stuff: @Ariellalphabet and check out my website
Posted on June 30th, 2012
Category: MARY JANE LOVES COMICS, REVIEWS
Tags: Ari Carr, Comic Review, Cursed Earth, History of Dredd, Judge Dredd, Mega-City One