Editing Judge Dredd (section)

==Publication history==
When comics editor [[Pat Mills]] was developing ''2000 AD'' in 1976, he brought in his former writing partner, [[John Wagner]], to develop characters. Wagner had written a ''[[Dirty Harry]]''-style "tough cop" story, "[[One-Eyed Jack (comics)|One-Eyed Jack]]", for ''[[Valiant (comics)|Valiant]]'', and suggested a character who took that concept to its logical extreme. In a 1995 interview, Wagner said: "When Pat was putting together ''2000 AD'', we realised from the success of "One-Eyed Jack" this was the kind of story the paper should have – a really hard, tough cop."<ref name=Jarman17 />

Mills had developed a [[Horror fiction|horror]] strip called ''Judge Dread'' (named after the stage name of British ska and reggae artist [[Judge Dread|Alexander Minto Hughes]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZb8AQAAQBAJ|title=Judge Dredd #3 – Dredd's Comportment Chapter 3: The Birth of the Law – Douglas Wolk|work=Duane Swierczynski|last1=Swierczynski|first1=Duane|date=7 November 2013}}</ref> before abandoning the idea as unsuitable for the new comic; but the name, with the spelling modified to "Dredd" at the suggestion of sub-editor [[Kelvin Gosnell]], was adopted by Wagner.<ref name=Jarman17>''Judge Dredd: The Mega-History,'' by Colin M. Jarman and Peter Acton (Lennard Publishing, 1995), p. 17.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://patmills.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/the-killing-machine/|title=DREDD – THE KILLING MACHINE|work=Pat Mills|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101050803/https://patmills.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/the-killing-machine/|archive-date=1 January 2016}}</ref> 
According to Mills, the name Joseph – given to Dredd in a story written by Mills which appeared in "prog" (short for programme or issue) no. 30 – refers to where he went to school, [[St Joseph's College, Ipswich]].<ref>Mills, Pat (2017) ''Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! 2000AD and Judge Dredd: The Secret History'', Millsverse Books, p. 112<!-- cite book -->{{ISBN|9780995661233}}</ref>

The task of visualising the character was given to [[Carlos Ezquerra]], a Spanish artist who had worked for Mills before on ''[[Battle Picture Weekly]]''. Wagner gave Ezquerra an advertisement for the film ''[[Death Race 2000]]'', showing the character [[Frankenstein_(Death_Race)|Frankenstein]] (played by [[David Carradine]]) clad in black leather on a motorbike, as a suggestion of Dredd's appearance. Ezquerra added body-armour, zips, and chains, which Wagner initially objected to,<ref>Jarman & Acton, pp. 21–22</ref> commenting that the character looked like a "Spanish pirate."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dunt |first1=Ian |title=Fascist Spain meets British punk: the subversive genius of Judge Dredd |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/03/judge-dredd-carlos-ezquerra |website=The Guardian |date=3 October 2018 |access-date=27 July 2019}}</ref> Wagner's initial script was rewritten by Mills and drawn up by Ezquerra. The hardware and cityscapes Ezquerra had drawn were far more futuristic than the near-future setting originally intended; in response, Mills set the story further into the future,<ref>Jarman & Acton, p. 30.</ref> on the advice of his art assistant Doug Church.<ref>Mills, p. 37</ref> The original launch story written by Wagner and drawn by Ezquerra was vetoed by the board of directors for being too violent.<ref>Mills, pp. 47 and 69–70</ref><ref group=note>The story was eventually published in ''Judge Dredd Annual 1981''.</ref> A new script was needed for the first episode.

By this stage, Wagner had quit, disillusioned that a proposed buy-out of the new comic by another company, which would have given him and Mills a greater financial stake in the comic, had fallen through.<ref>Jarman & Acton, pp. 18 and 24.</ref> Mills was reluctant to lose ''Judge Dredd'' and farmed the strip out to a variety of freelance writers, hoping to develop it further. Their scripts were given to a variety of artists as Mills tried to find a strip which would provide a good introduction to the character. This ''Judge Dredd'' would not be ready for the first issue of ''2000 AD'', launched in February 1977.<ref>Jarman & Acton, p. 34.</ref>

[[File:Judge_Dredd_advert_in_1977.jpg|thumb|right|Judge Dredd's first appearance, in an advert in ''2000AD'' #1 (26 February 1977). Art by [[Mike McMahon (comics)|Mike McMahon]], from a story later published in #6.]]
The story chosen to introduce the character was submitted by freelance writer Peter Harris,<ref group=note>A complete list of Harris's work for ''2000 AD'' can be found at [http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=thrills&Comic=2000AD&Field=Writer&choice=peterha his entry] on the 2000ad.org website.</ref> and was extensively re-written by Mills, who added a new ending suggested by Kelvin Gosnell.<ref>Jarman & Acton, p. 48.</ref><ref>Mills, pp. 70–72</ref> It was drawn by newcomer [[Mike McMahon (comics)|Mike McMahon]]. The strip debuted in prog 2. Around this time Ezquerra quit and returned to work for ''Battle''. There are conflicting sources about why. Ezquerra says it was because he was angry that another artist had drawn the first published ''Judge Dredd'' strip.<ref>Jarman & Acton, pp. 42–43.</ref> Mills says he chose McMahon because Ezquerra had already left, having been offered a better deal by the editor of ''Battle''.<ref>Mills, p. 62–64</ref>

Wagner soon returned to the character, starting in prog 9. His storyline, "The Robot Wars", was drawn by a rotating team of artists (including Ezquerra), and marked the point where Dredd became the most popular character in the comic, a position he has rarely relinquished.<ref>Jarman & Acton, pp. 62–63.</ref> Judge Dredd has appeared in almost every issue since,<ref group=note>Except issues #109, 155, 1100 and 1138.</ref> most of the stories written by Wagner (in collaboration with [[Alan Grant (writer)|Alan Grant]] between 1980 and 1988).

In 1983, Judge Dredd made his American debut with his own series from publisher [[Eagle Comics]], titled ''Judge Dredd''.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Dredd Dispenses Law and Disorder|magazine=[[GamePro]]|issue=82|publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]]|date=July 1995|page=27}}</ref> It consisted of stories reprinted from the British comic, but since 2012 [[Judge Dredd (IDW Publishing)|IDW Publishing]] has published a variety of ''Judge Dredd'' titles featuring original stories. Since 1990, Dredd has also had his own title in Britain, the ''[[Judge Dredd Megazine]]''. With Wagner concentrating his energies on that, the ''Dredd'' strip in ''2000 AD'' was left to younger writers, including [[Garth Ennis]], [[Mark Millar]], [[Grant Morrison]] and [[John Smith (comics writer)|John Smith]]. Their stories were less popular with fans, and sales fell.<ref>Jarman & Acton, p. 128.</ref> Wagner returned to writing the character full-time for ''2000 AD'' in 1994.

''Judge Dredd'' has also been published in a long-running [[comic strip]] (1981–1998) in the ''[[Daily Star (United Kingdom)|Daily Star]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2000ad.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/the-daily-dredds-volume-one/|title=The Daily Dredds Volume 1|work=2000AD.wordpress.com|date=11 January 2015|access-date=8 April 2015|archive-date=18 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418174844/https://2000ad.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/the-daily-dredds-volume-one/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and briefly in ''[[Metro (Associated Metro Limited)|Metro]]'' from January to April 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=thrill&page=thrillindex&choice=METRO|title=BARNEY – thrill zone|work=2000ad.org}}</ref> These were usually created by the same teams writing and drawing the main strip, and some of the ''Daily Star'' strips have been collected into two hardback [[Trade paperback (comics)|volumes]]. Originally published in black and white, some of the ''Daily Star'' strips were subsequently coloured and published in ''[[Metal Hammer]]'' magazine in the 1990s.<ref>[https://downthetubes.net/snapshot-in-time-judge-dredd-in-metal-hammer/ "Snapshot in Time: Judge Dredd in Metal Hammer"] by John Freeman, at Down the Tubes, 10 November 2022. (Retrieved 2 June 2024.)</ref>

In 2012, Dredd was one of 10 British comic characters commemorated in a series of stamps issued by the [[Royal Mail]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/17431397 "Comic book characters on new Royal Mail stamps"], BBC website, 19 March 2012 (retrieved 8 March 2015).</ref><ref>[https://postalheritage.wordpress.com/tag/judge-dredd/ The British Postal Museum & Archive], 20 March 2012 (retrieved 8 March 2015).</ref>

Between 2015 and 2018, [[Hachette Partworks]] published a fortnightly [[partwork]] collection of hardback books entitled ''[[Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection]]''. This included not only ''Judge Dredd'' stories but also a variety of spin-off stories set in the same universe.

===Lists of stories===
<!-- This section is linked to from [[Judge Anderson]] -->
* A list of all ''Judge Dredd'' stories to appear in ''[[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]]'' from March 1977 to September 2024 (#2 to #2400) is available at [//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Index_of_Judge_Dredd_stories_in_British_comic_2000AD.pdf WikiCommons].<ref>[[commons:File:Dredd2AD.pdf|Dredd2AD.pdf]] at WikiCommons</ref>

* A list of all ''Judge Dredd'' stories to appear in the ''[[Judge Dredd Megazine]]'' from October 1990 to December 2024 (#1 to #475) is available at [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Judge_Dredd_Megazine_story_index.pdf WikiCommons].<ref>[[commons:File:Judge Dredd Megazine story index.pdf|Judge Dredd Megazine story index.pdf]] at WikiCommons</ref>
Almost all<ref group=note>Excluded from the ''Complete Case Files'' series were the stories "America" (''Megazine'' vol. 1 #1–7), "America II" (''Megazine'' vol. 3 #20–25), and "Beyond Our Kenny" (vol. 1 #1–3). They are collected in two other trade paperbacks under the titles ''Judge Dredd: America'' and ''Judge Dredd: The Art of Kenny Who?''</ref> of the stories from both comics are currently<!-- as of 2024 --> being reprinted in their original order of publication in a series of [[Trade paperback (comics)|trade paperbacks]]. Stories from the regular issues of ''2000 AD'' and the ''Megazine'' are collected in a series entitled ''Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files.'' This series began in 2005<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grovel.org.uk/judge-dredd-the-complete-case-files/|title=Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files|work=Grovel.org.uk}}</ref> and is still ongoing as of 2024. Stories from special holiday issues and annuals appeared in ''Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files''. This four-volume series began in 2010 and concluded in 2012.