Editing Judge Dredd (section)

==Major storylines== 
There have been a number of Judge Dredd stories that have significantly developed the Dredd character and/or the fictional world, or which create and add to a larger storyline. These are listed below (for a complete list of all stories see [[#Lists of stories|here]]).

* ''The Robot Wars'' (''2000 AD'' progs 10–17; prologue in prog 9). The Mega-City Judges face an uprising by the city's robot servant workforce, led by carpenter-droid [[List of minor characters in Judge Dredd#Call-Me-Kenneth|Call-Me-Kenneth]]. The first multi-part Dredd story. Walter the Wobot, a robot who often pronounces R sounds as W, helps Dredd against the uprising and rallies together other robots that wish to still serve humanity. As a result, he is made a "free robot". Due to his love and respect for Dredd, Walter decides to remain as the judge's personal valet, housekeeper, and cook.
*''[[Rico Dredd|The Return of Rico]]'' (prog 30). It is revealed that Joe Dredd is a clone who was artificially aged and trained to be a judge since childhood. The story also reveals he has an older (by 12 minutes) clone "brother" [[Rico Dredd]] who became a judge alongside him. Rico grew corrupt, taking bribes and killing people in his way until Joe arrested him, leading to a sentence of 20 years hard labor on Saturn's moon Titan (this penal colony will be mentioned again in several later stories, particularly as a place where renegade judges are sent). Now in 2099, 20 years later, Rico comes to Mega-City One seeking revenge. No longer used to Earth's gravity, Rico Dredd is outdrawn and killed by Joe, who seems to mourn his brother despite their differences. Some later stories expand Rico's life and personality.
* ''[[Luna-1 (Judge Dredd)|Luna-1]]'' (multiple stories; progs 42–59) Dredd is assigned to act for six months as Judge Marshall of Luna-1, a colony on Earth's moon governed by judges from all three Mega-Cities. This story introduced Luna-1 and Judges from East-Meg One and Texas City.
* ''[[The Cursed Earth (Judge Dredd story)|The Cursed Earth]]'' (progs 61–85). Dredd, accompanied by [[Punk ideology|punk]] biker [[Spikes Harvey Rotten]] (and later the alien Tweak), leads a small group of Judges on an epic journey across the Cursed Earth, transporting vaccine for the deadly 2T-FRU-T virus that is devastating Mega-City Two. This multi-part epic is often referred to as 'the first Dredd epic' and was inspired by [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''[[Damnation Alley]].''
* ''[[Judge Cal|The Day the Law Died]]'' (progs 89–108; prologues in 86–88). It is 2101. The insane [[Judge Cal]], head of the Special Judicial Squad (SJS), arranges the assassination of Chief Judge Goodman and then assumes the man's position himself. By brainwashing Judges and employing alien [[mercenary|mercenaries]], Cal rules [[Mega-City One]] like a new version of [[Caligula]]. Dredd rallies together a few other Judges and Judge-Tutors to lead a resistance movement, and eventually [[Fergee]] kills Cal. This story introduced the alien Kleggs and saw [[Jürgen Griffin|Chief Judge Griffin]] assume the Chief Judgeship after Cal's death.
* ''[[Judge Death]]'' (progs 149–151). The first appearance of Judge Death and Dredd's recurring ally [[Judge Anderson|Psi-Judge Anderson]]. On a parallel Earth, the undead Judge Death decides that since crime is committed by the living, life itself is a crime and the only sentence is death. After laying waste to his Earth (later called Deadworld), Judge Death arrives in Dredd's dimension in 2102, determined to continue killing. His body is destroyed in battle with the Judges, leading his spirit to seek a new host until he is trapped inside the powerful telepathic mind of Psi-Judge Anderson. Anderson subjects herself to suspended animation, acting as a living cage. A later story reveals Judge Death was not alone but was one of four "Dark Judges".
* ''The Judge Child'' (progs 156–181; epilogue in 182). Along with taking Judge Dredd outside the boundaries of Mega-City One, this story introduced several long-running characters and concepts into the Dredd mythos including: [[Judge Hershey]], The Angel Gang (except for Fink Angel, introduced later), [[Murd the Oppressor]], the Judge Child, and the new head of the SJS, [[Judge McGruder|McGruder]]. This story also begins writer [[Alan Grant (writer)|Alan Grant]]'s tenure as John Wagner's long-term co-writer of the Dredd series. The story starts when [[Psi-Judge Feyy]], the best 'pre-cog' in Psi-Division, predicts that a psychic child bearing the mark of the Eagle of Justice will need to rule Mega-City One in order to save it from a future disaster. Dredd is assigned to lead a team on a galaxy-spanning search for the "Judge Child", Owen Krsyler, leading to several battles, as well as Judge Lopez losing his life. Dredd realizes the boy's psychic predictions of death and disaster are intentionally caused by manipulative, self-fulfilling prophecies. On finding Owen Krysler, Dredd concludes that he is evil and abandons the Judge Child on the planet Xanadu rather than risk Mega-City One having a corrupt ruler, despite his orders and the sacrifices made. In the epilogue, Dredd's reputation is shaken and Judge McGruder questions his judgment, however he would be vindicated by events that occur in ''City of the Damned''
* ''Judge Death Lives!'' (progs 224–228). Voted #3 for "best story ever printed" in the Dredd comics in a 2005 poll on the 2000 AD online website, this tale introduced the other three Dark Judges: Judges Fear, Fire and Mortis. A year after Judge Death's defeat, the three other Dark Judges journey to Dredd's dimension, free Death from Judge Anderson's mind, and provide him a new host body. After the host body is killed and made undead, Judge Death regains his full power and leads the other three on a killing spree. Released from suspended animation, Anderson joins Dredd in fighting the Dark Judges. The two then follow the quartet to their native parallel Earth, the 'Deadworld.' By tapping into the psychic anguish of all their victims, Anderson is seemingly able to destroy the four Dark Judges (though they will return years later).
*''Block Mania'' (progs 236–244). Contamination of water supplies by [[Orlok the Assassin]] leads to madness and violent aggression in many citizens.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age/139302412/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122070416/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age/139302412/|title=Judge Dredd's qualities yourself|newspaper=[[The Age]]|page=42|archivedate=January 22, 2024|date=February 21, 1991|accessdate=January 22, 2024|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> Minor wars break out between many city blocks of Mega-City One. This story introduced Orlok and saw the death of [[Judge Giant]].
* ''The Apocalypse War'' (progs 245–270, except 268). In 2104, Mega-City One is still weakened by the events of Block Mania, leaving it a vulnerable target for the Soviet forces of East-Meg One. Almost half the city (400 million people) are killed in nuclear strikes, while more die from radiation sickness, starvation, and cold. The Mega-City Judges are unable to strike back, as the Soviet city is protected by a dimensional force field that sends all incoming nukes to a parallel Earth. The Judges fight a guerilla war that eventually culminates in the destruction of East-Meg One when Dredd captures a Soviet missile bunker. This story features the death of Chief Judge Griffin, with McGruder becoming the new Chief Judge.
* ''[[City of the Damned]]'' (progs 393–406). By 2107, the Judges have developed reliable - albeit power-hungry - [[time travel]] technology. Dredd and Anderson travel to the year 2120 to discover more about the disaster predicted in ''The Judge Child'' storyline. Arriving in May 2120, Mega-City One is a wasteland inhabited by monsters, vampire Judges, and ruled by a powerful being called the Mutant. Dredd is separated from Anderson and blinded. He learns the Mutant is a clone of the Judge Child Owen Krysler, born with an inhuman appearance but inheriting all of his memories. The Mutant caused the destruction of Mega-City One and, for his own amusement reanimated the future corpse of Dredd, making him a zombie servant. Chased by his undead double, Dredd and Anderson flee back to 2107, where his eyes are replaced by [[bionic]]s. The Judge Child clone is then located in 2107 and killed, along with all those involved, supposedly erasing the dystopian timeline. Anderson questions the certainty of this though as the Zombie Dredd still exists in their current timeline. This storyline was originally intended to be much longer, but the creative team disliked time-travel stories and decided to finish the saga early.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/features/interviews/2005/grant/grant4.shtml |title=Alan Grant Interview part 4 |work=2000 A.D. Review |date=2005-01-12 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516041824/http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/features/interviews/2005/grant/grant4.shtml |archivedate=2006-05-16}}</ref>
* ''Oz'' (progs 545–570). When [[sky-surfer]] [[List_of_Judge_Dredd_characters#Chopper|Chopper]] breaks out of jail and flees to the Sydney-Melbourne Conurb in Australia to take part in the (now legal) Supersurf 10, Dredd is sent to retrieve him. But Dredd’s real mission is to fight former Council of Five member Morton Judd, the scientist who created him from the cloned DNA of Judge Fargo. After escaping justice 40 years earlier, Judd has created a new army of clones called the [[Judda]], planning to use them to dominate Mega-City One. Dredd destroys the Judda’s base in [[Uluru]] (Ayers Rock) with a nuclear bomb, although some Judda survive and are captured.
* ''[[The Dead Man]]'' (progs 650–662). When first published in ''2000 AD'', this was not billed as a 'Judge Dredd' tale and was printed as an extra storyline while the main 'Judge Dredd' series continued in parallel. No references to established Dredd comic locations or characters were made until the storyline's last few chapters. The story begins when a boy named [[Yassa Povey]], one of a group of settlers living in a desolate landscape, discovers an amnesiac near-dead man whose entire body and face have been burned. Supernatural forces hunt the Dead Man, who then retraces his steps with Yassa's help. In the 11th chapter of the story, the two find the remains of a Judge uniform and a badge reading "Dredd". The Dead Man recalls he is Joseph Dredd and that, following the events of "A Letter to Judge Dredd", he recently lost faith in the system and retired, taking the "long walk" into the Cursed Earth (where Yassa lives). He was then attacked by psychic projections of the [[Dark Judges|Sisters of Death]], the witches who made the Dark Judges into supernatural monsters, which led to him falling into an acidic chemical lake. After encountering the Sisters again, Dredd returns Yassa home and heads back to Mega-City One.
* ''A Letter to Judge Dredd'' (prog 661). Published alongside the penultimate chapter of "The Dead Man" storyline, this story reveals that during the Judges' suppression of a protest rally of Democrats (citizens who want democracy instead of Judge control), a protestor named Sholley was struck so hard he suffered permanent brain damage. Sholley has regular fits of violent delusions for the next two years, often attacking his family. Since Dredd was in charge of breaking up the rally that day, a boy named Wenders writes to him asking why Sholley was permanently injured during a seemingly peaceful protest. He also has several questions regarding the effectiveness and fairness of the Judge system when crime, violence, and corruption don't improve, the people fear their own protectors, and punishments are dealt so harshly by people whose judgment may not be perfect. Sholley has another violent episode and kills Wenders, whose letter is given to Dredd. Already having had doubts for years, Dredd questions the Judge system even more after reading it. Thus the story reveals what set in motion his retirement mentioned in "The Dead Man", and sets up a chain of events in stories to follow.
* ''Tale of the Dead Man'' (progs 662–668). The first chapter of this story was published in the same issue as the final chapter of "The Dead Man", linking that story back into the main "Judge Dredd" series. As Dredd heads back to Mega-City One following the events of "The Dead Man", he recalls what led to him retiring and leaving for the Cursed Earth. Disillusioned with the system, Dredd assesses his younger clone-brother Kraken, a former Judda who is now a Cadet. During the assessment, Dredd's former mentor Morphy is killed, bringing up more feelings in Dredd that his own time as a Judge should end. Kraken impresses many but Dredd sees a glimmer of Judda attitude when the young man is angry, and recommends he not be a Judge. Dredd then announces his retirement and pardons all the Democrats he arrested from the protest two years earlier mentioned in the Wenders letter. The next day, he leaves for the Cursed Earth, leading into the events of "The Dead Man". This story acts as a prologue to ''Necropolis''.
* ''Countdown to Necropolis'' (progs 669–673). Kraken is sentenced to death based on Dredd's belief that he is still a Judda at heart. But this is actually a final test of loyalty to see if he attempts to defend himself. Seeing that Kraken accepts the sentence and is willing to execute himself, Chief Judge Silver makes him a full Judge. Since the population of Mega-City One and most Judges don't know that Dredd retired, Silver then orders [[Judge Kraken]] to pretend to be Dredd for the time being, to avoid admitting to the public that such a famous and trusted Judge lost faith in the justice system. Meanwhile, a woman named Xena is becoming obsessed with Judge Death, having barely survived an encounter with him during one of the previous Dark Judge rampages. It is revealed that the Sisters of Death have influencing Xena from Deadworld, gaining her loyalty and convincing her she will be the "Bride of Death". Eventually, they use her mind and life force to create a psychic bridge allowing them to manifest on Earth.
* ''[[Necropolis (Judge Dredd story)|Necropolis]]'' (progs 674–699). Two months after Dredd left Mega-City One, the Sisters of Death attack and take control of the vulnerable minded Judge Kraken. Realizing Xena is too weak to be of much further use, the Sisters have Kraken bring them Psi-Judge Kit Agee so her psychic power can form a stronger bridge from Deadworld. Increasingly corrupted by the Sisters, Kraken later forces an extra-dimensional research lab to bring the Dark Judges back to Mega-City One. The Sisters use magic to corrupt MC1 into "Necropolis" and the Dark Judges take over, making Kraken a fifth Dark Judge and corrupting many Judges who can't resist. Under their rule, the population is systematically murdered, while some commit suicide to avoid horrific death. Finding the retired former Chief Judge McGruder in the Cursed Earth, Dredd recruits her and returns to Mega-City One. He then recruits Anderson and others. Locating Agee, they kill her, cutting off the Sisters' power and influence. Judges Mortis, Fear, and Fire are then captured. In the end, 60 million are dead, their bodies buried in a mass grave just outside the walls of Mega-City One. Freed from being a slave to the Dark Judges, Kraken welcomes his execution by Dredd. With Chief Judge Thomas Silver missing and presumed dead, McGruder returns to the position of Chief Judge but decides not to create a new Council of Five.
* ''Return of the King'' (progs 733-735). In this aftermath to ''Necropolis'', the undead Chief Judge Silver returns to the Grand Hall of Justice. After his botched suicide attempt, Silver had been captured and murdered by Judge Death who reanimated him as a zombie (albeit with all his mental faculties intact) and tortured him mercilessly. Fearing summary execution by the survivors of the Necropolis, Silver had hidden for months before discovering that, in his absence, his predecessor McGruder had reclaimed the office of chief judge. A constitutional crisis breaks out when Silver challenges McGruder's right to be chief judge, pointing out she had resigned the position whereas he had not. Silver and McGruder agree to abide by Dredd's decision as to who is the rightful chief judge. Since Silver had never resigned or been formally removed from power, Dredd rules in his favour, formally returning Silver to office. Dredd then tells Silver he is unfit for command and convicts him of gross dereliction of duty for precipitating the Necropolis and deserting his command in time of war. Initially sentencing Silver to twenty years of penal servitude, Dredd defers the sentence to execution. Silver pleads for his life but an impassive Dredd incinerates him to ashes, making McGruder chief judge by default.
* ''The Devil You Know'' and ''Twilight's Last Gleaming'' (progs 750–753 and 754–756). The long-running tensions in Mega-City One between the totalitarian Judge system and the movement for the restoration of democracy conclude with a vote. A large number of apathetic citizens take no part in the process, while the majority of those who do vote want the Judges to remain in control. A pro-democracy protest march of almost 2 million people heads for Justice Central and is ready to riot, but Dredd convinces the leaders the referendum was fair and votes were counted accurately. During this time, Dredd undergoes "rejuve" treatment for the first time, restoring his damaged skin and muscle from "The Dead Man" story and gaining more vitality and youth than a man his age should have.
* ''Top Dogs'' (''Judge Dredd Annual'' 1991). Published in 1990, this is the first [[2000 AD crossovers|crossover]] between Judge Dredd's stories and another long-running ''2000 AD'' comic strip ''[[Strontium Dog]]'' starring [[Johnny Alpha]]. Mutated by strontium radiation fallout resulting from a nuclear war in 2150, Alpha (like many mutants) works as a Search/Destroy Agent, bounty hunters often referred to as "S/D" Agents or "Strontium Dogs". In this story, Johnny and his partner Wulf Sternhammer time travel from 2176 to pursue fugitives who have escaped to Dredd's time in 2112. Although Dredd realizes Alpha and Sternhammer are time travelers, he does not recognize their legal authority and considers their actions criminal. After a fight and chase, the S/D Agency transports Johnny, Sternhammer, and their bounty target back to 2176. Dredd regards Alpha and Sternhammer as wanted fugitives. Although this story implies Alpha's stories are set in Dredd's future, writer John Wagner later said the world of ''Strontium Dog'' is one of several possible futures for Dredd's reality.
* ''America'' (''Megazine'' 1.01–1.07). Dredd's philosophy is explored when democracy activists resort to terrorism. This story introduces the tragic characters America Jara and Bennett Beeny, as well as the terrorist group Total War.
* ''[[Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham]]'', an [[intercompany crossover]] story co-published by [[DC Comics]] and [[Fleetway]], written by Alan Grant and John Wagner, and featuring painted artwork by [[Simon Bisley]]. The universe-hopping undead monster Judge Death uses dimension-jump technology to breach the [[DC Universe]] and attack [[Gotham City]]. [[Batman]] uses the same technology to travel to Dredd's reality, leading to a battle and then the Dark Knight's arrest. After scanning Batman's mind, Judge Anderson realizes they're on the same side and helps him return to Gotham to stop Judge Death and [[Scarecrow (DC Comics)|Scarecrow]]. Dredd reluctantly joins forces with Batman, returning home with Anderson once Death is defeated. The story was followed by three other crossovers also written by Wagner and Grant but with different artists each time: ''Batman/Judge Dredd: Vendetta in Gotham, Batman/Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle,'' and ''Batman/Judge Dredd: Die Laughing'' #1–2.
* ''[[Judgement Day (Judge Dredd story)|Judgement Day]]'' (progs 786–799 and ''Megazine'' 2.04–2.09). Published in 1992, this was the first story to feature [[Johnny Alpha]] of ''[[Strontium Dog]]'' after his death in 1990. In this story, the villain [[Sabbat the Necromagus]] destroys a world in 2178 (two years before Alpha's Death) then journeys to Dredd's time in 2114. Johnny Alpha pursues him to ensure he doesn't completely alter future history. Using a lodestone to tap into Earth's own energy field, Sabbat re-animates most of Earth's dead, including the 60 million buried outside of Mega-City One after "Necropolis", and releases zombie armies against the world's Mega-Cities, causing the Fourth World War. Many minor supporting characters are killed, including Dredd's former cadet trainee Dekker. At an international conference of Judges, Sabbat briefly appears and explains that since he can control the dead, he will kill the entire human race to create a planet-scale army to conquer the galaxy. After learning the cities of Brasilia, Djakarta, Mega-City Two, Sino-Cit, and South-Am City have all fallen to Sabbat, Dredd suggests nuking them so the dead won't become new zombie soldiers. Although horrified this will kill any survivors still in those cities, the other cities agree and the attacks kill over 2 billion across Earth, with another billion later dying in the surviving cities from the zombies. When Sabbat's base is located in the Radlands of Ji (an area of post-nuclear China), Dredd leads a squad to stop him and Johnny Alpha tags along. In the end, only he and Dredd survive, decapitating Sabbat and pinning his head to his own magical lodestone so he can't regenerate or leave. With Sabbat's power shut down (even though his head lives), the undead armies fall. Dredd and Alpha are then forced to walk back to civilization from the Radlands, with Dredd deciding that Alpha's actions have earned him a pardon for crimes in Mega-City One. (The end of their journey together, and Johnny Alpha's return to the future, is told in the [[Big Finish Productions]] audio play ''[[Judge Dredd: Pre-Emptive Revenge]]'' starring [[Toby Longworth]] as Dredd and [[Simon Pegg]] as Johnny Alpha.)
* ''Mechanismo'' trilogy (''Megazine'' 2.12–17, 2.22–26 and 2.37–43). After "Necropolis" and "Judgment Day", Mega-City has lost far too many judges. To combat this, the Chief Judge test-runs 10 robotic "Mechanismo" Judges, with disastrous results.
* ''[[Judge Dredd: Inferno|Inferno]]'' (progs 842–853). Escaped rogue Judges from Titan take over the city, forcing the Judges into exile out in the Cursed Earth.
* ''Wilderlands'' storyline (progs 891–894 and 904–918 and ''Megazine'' 2.57–2.67). This story introduced Judge Volt and Judge Castillo, revived the Council of Five, and ended many long-running subplots, including the Mechanismo Program and McGruder's second stint as Chief Judge. Dredd is exposed as falsifying evidence to shut down the Mechanismo project and is arrested, while Chief Judge McGruder attempts to remain in power and see Mechanismo implemented. When a malfunctioning Mechanismo crashes a space cruiser on an alien world in an attempt to kill McGruder, Dredd takes control of the survivors.
* ''The Pit'' (progs 970–999). This story introduced Judge [[Galen DeMarco]], who would become protagonist of her own strip. Dredd takes the job of Sector Chief at Sector 301, an isolated area of the city that has become a dumping ground for corrupt and incompetent judges.
* ''[[The Doomsday Scenario]]'' (progs 1141–1164 and 1167, and ''Megazine'' 3.52–3.59). The first series to run the same story from different viewpoints concurrently from start to finish, one in ''2000 AD'' and the other in the ''Judge Dredd Megazine''. One is told from the viewpoint of [[Galen DeMarco]], now a civilian, as she is caught up in crimelord Nero Narcos' attempt to take over the city with his army of robots. The other is told from Dredd's viewpoint as he is taken prisoner by Orlok the Assassin and tried by the East-Meg One government in exile for his war crimes during the Apocalypse War. Once Dredd escapes (with Anderson's assistance), he secures the help of Brit-Cit in breaking Narcos' control over his robot hordes. The story saw the Judges briefly lose power and Chief Judge Volt commits suicide as a result. Hershey replaces him.
* ''Blood Cadets'' (progs 1186–1188). This introduces a new, young clone of Dredd who calls himself Rico (no first name) to try to redeem that name. ''Blood and Duty'' (progs 1300–1301) saw the return of Dredd's niece [[Vienna Dredd|Vienna Pasternak]]. With Vienna's reintroduction and the arrival of Judge Rico, Dredd is given a family and several new plot points for future stories, including the Justice Department creating a large number of Dredd clones, and Dredd's problems with trying to connect with his niece.
* ''Helter Skelter'' (progs 1250-1261). Dredd and warp specialist Darien Kenzie battle an invasion from an alliance of alternate universes where Dredd's greatest foes were victorious, led by none other than Chief Judge Cal. This story features parallel version of previous Dredd foes such as Cal, Rico Dredd, War Marshal "Mad Dog" Kazan, Call-Me-Kenneth, Grampus the Klegg, Fink Angel, and Murd the Oppressor. Other non-Dredd characters from ''2000 AD'' also appeared - albeit as background characters - from alternate universes, such as the Norts from [[Rogue Trooper]], [[D.R. & Quinch]] and the [[Vampires]] from [[Fiends of the Eastern Front]].
* ''[[Judge Dredd vs. Aliens]]'' (prog 2003 special and 1322–1335). Dredd faces the [[Xenomorph (Alien)|Xenomorphs]], with mutant criminal 'Mister Bones' breeding an army thereof to attack the Department of Justice.
* ''Terror'' and ''Total War'' (progs 1392–1399 and 1408–1419). A pair of stories wherein the fanatical organisation 'Total War' smuggles 12 nuclear devices into the city and threatens to detonate them all unless the Judges leave. A standard thriller plot made more significant through explorations of Judge Dredd's extended family, including Vienna and another Dredd clone named Nimrod.
* ''Blood Trails'' (progs 1440–1449). Following elements of ''Total War'' and ''Gulag'' (where Dredd led a Judge team to try and free prisoners from the Sov block), a clone of Sov Judge Kazan tries to attack Dredd by targeting Vienna, sending the face-changing assassin Pasha to abduct her. In the aftermath of the story, the Kazan clone is cut loose by East-Meg 2 and claims political asylum from Mega-City One. Dredd's long-term ally Guthrie is severely injured, losing both legs and an arm, eventually becoming a cyborg. Judge Giant and Judge Rico are severely injured.
* ''Origins'' (progs 1505–1519 and 1529–1535; prologue in 1500–1504). Consisting largely of flashbacks, this story lays out the history of the Judges and founder [[Chief Judge Fargo]], as well as scenes from Dredd's childhood during the [[Atomic Wars|Third World War]].
* ''Mutants in Mega-City One'' (progs 1542–1545). The first in a series of short stories in which Dredd campaigns to change the apartheid laws prohibiting [[Mutants (Judge Dredd)|mutants]] from entering the city. This results in Chief Judge Hershey being voted out of office and replaced with Judge Francisco.
* ''Tour of Duty'' (progs 1650–1693). Judge Dredd is posted in the Cursed Earth to oversee the foundations of four new mutant townships. The corrupt Judge Martin Sinfield manipulates Francisco so he can become Chief Judge, and promptly becomes the target of repeated assassination attempts. Dredd is recalled to lead the investigation into the attacks, which are the work of serial mass-murderer [[PJ Maybe]], who has assumed the identity of Mayor Byron Ambrose.
* ''[[Day of Chaos]]'' (progs 1743–1789) depicts the deaths of 87 per cent of the population of Mega-City One by a biological weapon unleashed by East-Meg survivors of the Apocalypse War.
* ''[[Trifecta (Judge Dredd story)|The Cold Deck]]'' (progs 1806–1811; prologue in 1803, epilogue in 1812). A cross-over between ''Dredd'' and the spin-offs ''[[Jack Point|The Simping Detective]]'' and ''[[Low Life (comics)|Low Life]]'', this story sees the machinations of Black Ops head [[Judge Bachmann]], who is plotting a coup (the three stories together are known as ''Trifecta''). Introduces Judge Smiley.
* ''Every Empire Falls'' (progs 1973–1990 and ''Megazine'' 371–374). An attempted coup in Mega-City One by the chief judge of Texas City, [[List of minor characters in Judge Dredd#Chief Judge Oswin|Pamela Oswin]]. Dredd is seemingly killed, but this is a deception to hide the fact that he has actually been kidnapped.
* ''Harvey'' (progs 2024-2029) and ''Machine Law'' (progs 2115-2122). This story introduces a new generation of robot judges that prove significantly more reliable than their predecessors and continue to appear in later stories. Judge Hershey resigns and is succeeded by Logan as Chief Judge.
* ''The Carousel'' (''Judge Dredd Megazine'' vol. 5 #375, published in 2016). In the year 2138, Joe Dredd - now 72 years old - is ordered to undergo another "rejuve treatment" at the Carousel Clinic (the first rejuve treatment happened soon after "Necropolis" due to his injuries in "The Dead Man", in the years 2112 when he was 46). His entire epidermis, vascular system, and muscular tissue are restructured at a cellular level, giving him somewhat greater youth and vitality than a person his age and condition should have. Though he is told he can also have his internal organs and bones rebuilt, he turns this down, satisfied for now.
* ''The Small House'' (progs 2100-2109). The culmination of storylines started in Trifecta, Judge Dredd goes on the hunt for Judge Smiley's black ops unit that has been operating in the walls of the Justice Department for decades. Notable for the reveal of Dirty Frank's backstory, Dredd's break with some of his allies including Chief Judge Hershey, and the overt confrontation with the fascist nature of Mega-City One.