Judgement Day (Judge Dredd story)
Encyclopedia
Judgement Day was a Judge Dredd
story published with alternating episodes in both 2000 AD
and the Judge Dredd Megazine
in 1992. It was the first crossover between the two publications; three more have since followed. It was also a crossover with another 2000 AD series, Strontium Dog
, as it featured the second occasion on which Judge Dredd confronted Johnny Alpha (the lead character in Strontium Dog). It was written by Garth Ennis
(based on an idea by John Wagner
) and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra
, Peter Doherty
, Dean Ormston
and Chris Halls
.
Set mainly in 2114 it tells of how the Fourth World War took the lives of three billion people when a powerful necromagus
called Sabbat raised all the corpses in the world as zombies. The series is mainly notable because it was Ennis' longest Dredd story, because it killed off most of the supporting cast of the Judge Dredd series, and because it was the first story to feature Johnny Alpha since he was killed off at the end of the Strontium Dog series (from Alpha's point of view it was set two years before his death).
s while leading a group of cadets (including Cadet Giant), on a training mission in the Cursed Earth
. Although Dredd leads the cadets back to the relative safety of Mega-City One
, Judge Perrier (Dredd's main sidekick
during Ennis' tenure on writing for the strip) is killed only yards from home.
On his arrival Dredd is informed that the dead are rising all over the world. Minor foreign Judges from earlier Dredd strips are shown protecting their respective cities - Judge Armour in Brit-Cit, Judge-Sergeant Joyce in Murphyville, Judge Bruce in Oz, etc. Mega-City One, due to Necropolis, finds itself facing the largest number of zombies: sixty million. Soon into the battle for Mega-City One, Dredd's protégé Judge Dekker is also killed and Dredd has to give the order to set fire to part of the cities' wall to hold back the zombies.
Meanwhile in Hondo City
(future Japan) bounty hunter Johnny Alpha arrives in pursuit of Sabbat, time-travelling from the year 2178. It later transpires that Sabbat is from Alpha's time and has already wiped out the entire population of another world, Bethsheba. Alpha has been sent to stop him. (It is never explained how the outbreak of a world war in 2114 does not seem to affect history in 2178.) However Alpha is apprehended by Judge Sadu (effectively Hondo's equivalent to Dredd), who assumes he is a criminal, and Alpha is forced to spend some considerable time proving his good intentions.
The Hondo authorities organise and host an international conference of chief judges from all over the world to decide how to deal with the zombie threat. It is attended by Dredd and by Mega-City One's Chief Judge McGruder
, who leaves Judge Hershey
in charge of the city in her absence. Alpha and Sadu also attend, Sadu by now being convinced that Alpha is on the level. Most of the foreign Judges Dredd met in earlier strips attend the conference too.
The conference is interrupted by the unexpected intrusion of Sabbat himself, who teleports in to warn the judges
not to interfere with his plans, which are to kill everyone in the world and then use the army of zombies to conquer the Galaxy. Dredd shoots Sabbat in the head, apparently causing a mortal wound, but to no effect, as Sabbat simply removes the bullet and vanishes.
Reports come in that five mega-cities around the world have been overrun by the zombies, including Mega-City Two
on North America's west coast (a city which Dredd had previously saved from destruction in "The Cursed Earth"). Dredd proposes that instead of allowing the cities' populations to serve as more undead soldiers for Sabbat, they should be annihilated with nuclear weapons, even though there may still be survivors trapped within them. Although horrified by the plan, the chief judges agree to carry it out, with the loss of two billion lives. (Another billion are lost in the cities which survive.)
Once scientists figure out where Sabbat is based, Dredd leads a suicide mission to assassinate him; all the previously-introduced foreign Judges are drafted, backed up by Hondo's Samurai battle armour. He bans Alpha from attending because he is a mutant and a wanted criminal in Mega-City One. Alpha proceeds to knock out Judge Joyce and take Joyce's place aboard Dredd's spaceship, his face concealed by a Samurai visor.
Dredd's team are forced to parachute from low orbit into Sabbat's lair, as Sabbat is using his powers to prevent all flying vehicles from working outside the mega-cities. They land in the radioactive Radlands of Ji (in post-nuclear China), where most of them are slaughtered. Judge Bruce dies in Alpha's arms; out of the twenty who started the mission, soon only Dredd, Alpha and Sadu are left, and are taken prisoner.
While Sabbat taunts his prisoners about his imminent victory, Sadu manages to escape and release Dredd and Alpha, but sacrifices his life in the process. After a lengthy fight, Dredd and Alpha eventually manage to decapitate Sabbat, and leave him helpless, powerless, but still alive (although a story published three months later reveals he has lost his mind and is reduced to a drooling vegetable). At the moment of Sabbat's defeat, his zombies instantly "switch off" and collapse all over the world at the eleventh hour.
In recognition of Alpha's help, Dredd recommends that he be pardoned for his earlier crimes. However they still face a long walk back to civilization through hundreds of miles of radioactive desert populated with hostile mutants and outlaws. Dredd is optimistic about their chances though, saying "Who the hell's gonna mess with us?"
" (1999), by having two separate plot threads in each story, one in each comic, so that readers who only bought one could still follow the story.
This story arc is also notable for the fact that it features some of the first published artwork from Chris Halls, an early pseudonym of the acclaimed director Chris Cunningham
. The artwork in question was subject to much criticism regarding the similarity in style to Simon Bisley
's work.
with a pre-programmed retalitator assault from Sino-Cit One's destruction. Dredd and Alpha prevented this from happening, and Alpha was returned to his home time afterwards.
With every Judge focused on the external threat, crime lords and gangs had seized control over parts of the city, such as Sector 123, and mutants gangs made constant raids due to the gaping holes in the city's walls. The initial aftermath would involve regaining control of the lost sectors and constantly fending off mutant assaults. As a result of Sabbat's actions, there would be occasional spontaneous zombie risings for a while after.
The loss of Judge life inspired Chief Judge McGruder to instigate the Mechanismo
project, as well as causing Earth's Mega-Cities to stop sending Judges to Luna-1 and causing the colony's Judge force to suffer as a result.
Following out of Judgement Day, Hondo City began rebuilding Mega-City Two so as to move many of their citizens over there. This was part of an aborted storyline that was intended to lead up to a new mega-epic, featuring a major global conflict between Mega-City One and Hondo City and Sino-Cit 2; it was abandoned when John Wagner returned to 2000 ADs Dredd strip.
The Americans revealed that Mega-City One's Psi Division
had gleaned knowledge of the 2150 nuclear world war from Johnny Alpha's mind, recording this data in the "Alpha File." The information was kept hidden from Brit-Cit
.
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
story published with alternating episodes in both 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
and the Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd: The Megazine is a monthly British comic magazine, launched in October 1990. It is a sister publication to 2000 AD. Its name is a play on words, formed from "magazine" and Dredd's locale Mega-City One.-Content:...
in 1992. It was the first crossover between the two publications; three more have since followed. It was also a crossover with another 2000 AD series, Strontium Dog
Strontium Dog
Strontium Dog is a long-running comics series featuring in the British science fiction weekly 2000 AD, starring Johnny Alpha, a mutant bounty hunter with an array of imaginative gadgets and weapons....
, as it featured the second occasion on which Judge Dredd confronted Johnny Alpha (the lead character in Strontium Dog). It was written by Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
(based on an idea by John Wagner
John Wagner
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...
) and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra , who has also worked under the alias L. John Silver, is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra...
, Peter Doherty
Peter Doherty (comics)
Peter Doherty is a British comic book artist and colourist.-Biography:Doherty's work over a 15 year career has mainly been concentrated on the classic 2000 AD character Judge Dredd. He has illustrated several significant episodes of the strip...
, Dean Ormston
Dean Ormston
Dean Ormston is a British born comic book artist. His most notable work has been for the British comic 2000 AD and for DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.-Biography:...
and Chris Halls
Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham is an English music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk....
.
Set mainly in 2114 it tells of how the Fourth World War took the lives of three billion people when a powerful necromagus
Necromancy
Necromancy is a claimed form of magic that involves communication with the deceased, either by summoning their spirit in the form of an apparition or raising them bodily, for the purpose of divination, imparting the ability to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge...
called Sabbat raised all the corpses in the world as zombies. The series is mainly notable because it was Ennis' longest Dredd story, because it killed off most of the supporting cast of the Judge Dredd series, and because it was the first story to feature Johnny Alpha since he was killed off at the end of the Strontium Dog series (from Alpha's point of view it was set two years before his death).
Prequel
Dredd and Alpha had previously met in "Top Dog", published a year before, in which he and his partner-in-crime-fighting Wulf Sternhammer went back in time to Dredd's Mega-City One in order to capture two criminals wanted in their own time period. Dredd refused to accept them as law enforcers like himself and was determined to capture them, even after they managed to return to their own time from right under his very nose.Judgement Day
Judgement Day opens with Sabbat, in an unknown location underground, beginning to raise the dead. Judge Dredd is one of the first people to encounter the zombieZombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s while leading a group of cadets (including Cadet Giant), on a training mission in the Cursed Earth
Cursed Earth
The Cursed Earth is a part of the fictional universe from the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD.-Background:...
. Although Dredd leads the cadets back to the relative safety of Mega-City One
Mega-City One
Mega-City One is a huge fictional city-state covering much of what is now the Eastern United States in the Judge Dredd comic book series. The exact boundaries of the city depend on which artist has drawn the story...
, Judge Perrier (Dredd's main sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
during Ennis' tenure on writing for the strip) is killed only yards from home.
On his arrival Dredd is informed that the dead are rising all over the world. Minor foreign Judges from earlier Dredd strips are shown protecting their respective cities - Judge Armour in Brit-Cit, Judge-Sergeant Joyce in Murphyville, Judge Bruce in Oz, etc. Mega-City One, due to Necropolis, finds itself facing the largest number of zombies: sixty million. Soon into the battle for Mega-City One, Dredd's protégé Judge Dekker is also killed and Dredd has to give the order to set fire to part of the cities' wall to hold back the zombies.
Meanwhile in Hondo City
Hondo City
Hondo City is a huge fictional city covering most of Japan in the Judge Dredd comic book series. Most of its development comes from the Judge Dredd Megazine strip Shimura by Robbie Morrison.-Description:...
(future Japan) bounty hunter Johnny Alpha arrives in pursuit of Sabbat, time-travelling from the year 2178. It later transpires that Sabbat is from Alpha's time and has already wiped out the entire population of another world, Bethsheba. Alpha has been sent to stop him. (It is never explained how the outbreak of a world war in 2114 does not seem to affect history in 2178.) However Alpha is apprehended by Judge Sadu (effectively Hondo's equivalent to Dredd), who assumes he is a criminal, and Alpha is forced to spend some considerable time proving his good intentions.
The Hondo authorities organise and host an international conference of chief judges from all over the world to decide how to deal with the zombie threat. It is attended by Dredd and by Mega-City One's Chief Judge McGruder
Judge McGruder
Chief Judge Hilda Margaret McGruder is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd stories published in the British comic 2000 AD. She was the first female Chief Judge of Mega-City One, and the first Judge of Mega-City One to become Chief Judge twice...
, who leaves Judge Hershey
Judge Hershey
Judge Barbara Hershey is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd series that appears in British comic 2000 AD. For nearly two decades she regularly appeared as Dredd's sidekick, before being promoted to become his superior: she was chief judge for nine years...
in charge of the city in her absence. Alpha and Sadu also attend, Sadu by now being convinced that Alpha is on the level. Most of the foreign Judges Dredd met in earlier strips attend the conference too.
The conference is interrupted by the unexpected intrusion of Sabbat himself, who teleports in to warn the judges
Judge (2000 AD)
Judge is a title held by several significant characters in the Judge Dredd series, which appears in the British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine...
not to interfere with his plans, which are to kill everyone in the world and then use the army of zombies to conquer the Galaxy. Dredd shoots Sabbat in the head, apparently causing a mortal wound, but to no effect, as Sabbat simply removes the bullet and vanishes.
Reports come in that five mega-cities around the world have been overrun by the zombies, including Mega-City Two
Mega-City Two
Mega-City Two is a huge fictional city covering five thousand square miles of the Californian West Coast in the Judge Dredd comic book series....
on North America's west coast (a city which Dredd had previously saved from destruction in "The Cursed Earth"). Dredd proposes that instead of allowing the cities' populations to serve as more undead soldiers for Sabbat, they should be annihilated with nuclear weapons, even though there may still be survivors trapped within them. Although horrified by the plan, the chief judges agree to carry it out, with the loss of two billion lives. (Another billion are lost in the cities which survive.)
Once scientists figure out where Sabbat is based, Dredd leads a suicide mission to assassinate him; all the previously-introduced foreign Judges are drafted, backed up by Hondo's Samurai battle armour. He bans Alpha from attending because he is a mutant and a wanted criminal in Mega-City One. Alpha proceeds to knock out Judge Joyce and take Joyce's place aboard Dredd's spaceship, his face concealed by a Samurai visor.
Dredd's team are forced to parachute from low orbit into Sabbat's lair, as Sabbat is using his powers to prevent all flying vehicles from working outside the mega-cities. They land in the radioactive Radlands of Ji (in post-nuclear China), where most of them are slaughtered. Judge Bruce dies in Alpha's arms; out of the twenty who started the mission, soon only Dredd, Alpha and Sadu are left, and are taken prisoner.
While Sabbat taunts his prisoners about his imminent victory, Sadu manages to escape and release Dredd and Alpha, but sacrifices his life in the process. After a lengthy fight, Dredd and Alpha eventually manage to decapitate Sabbat, and leave him helpless, powerless, but still alive (although a story published three months later reveals he has lost his mind and is reduced to a drooling vegetable). At the moment of Sabbat's defeat, his zombies instantly "switch off" and collapse all over the world at the eleventh hour.
In recognition of Alpha's help, Dredd recommends that he be pardoned for his earlier crimes. However they still face a long walk back to civilization through hundreds of miles of radioactive desert populated with hostile mutants and outlaws. Dredd is optimistic about their chances though, saying "Who the hell's gonna mess with us?"
Criticism
The format made no concessions to those who only bought one publication, as the story was entirely linear, with two episodes a fortnight in the weekly 2000 AD followed by a third episode in the (then) fortnightly Megazine. The editors attempted to address this problem in the next two crossovers, "Wilderlands" (1994) and "The Doomsday ScenarioThe Doomsday Scenario
The Doomsday Scenario is the collective name of a series of Judge Dredd comic stories published in 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1999...
" (1999), by having two separate plot threads in each story, one in each comic, so that readers who only bought one could still follow the story.
This story arc is also notable for the fact that it features some of the first published artwork from Chris Halls, an early pseudonym of the acclaimed director Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham is an English music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk....
. The artwork in question was subject to much criticism regarding the similarity in style to Simon Bisley
Simon Bisley
Simon Bisley is a British comics artist best known for his 1990s work on ABC Warriors, Lobo and Sláine. His style, reliant on paints, acrylics, inks and multiple-mediums, is strongly influenced by Frank Frazetta, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gustav Klimt, Salvador Dalí, Egon Schiele, and Richard Corben...
's work.
Aftermath in Judge Dredd
In the immediate aftermath, a Sino-Cit nuclear silo almost hit Hondo CityHondo City
Hondo City is a huge fictional city covering most of Japan in the Judge Dredd comic book series. Most of its development comes from the Judge Dredd Megazine strip Shimura by Robbie Morrison.-Description:...
with a pre-programmed retalitator assault from Sino-Cit One's destruction. Dredd and Alpha prevented this from happening, and Alpha was returned to his home time afterwards.
With every Judge focused on the external threat, crime lords and gangs had seized control over parts of the city, such as Sector 123, and mutants gangs made constant raids due to the gaping holes in the city's walls. The initial aftermath would involve regaining control of the lost sectors and constantly fending off mutant assaults. As a result of Sabbat's actions, there would be occasional spontaneous zombie risings for a while after.
The loss of Judge life inspired Chief Judge McGruder to instigate the Mechanismo
Mechanismo
Mechanismo is the title of a Judge Dredd story published in the British comic Judge Dredd Megazine in 1992. It was the first story in a series of stories published over the next two years in both the Megazine and 2000 AD, most notably the epic "Wilderlands." The stories concern the Mechanismo...
project, as well as causing Earth's Mega-Cities to stop sending Judges to Luna-1 and causing the colony's Judge force to suffer as a result.
Following out of Judgement Day, Hondo City began rebuilding Mega-City Two so as to move many of their citizens over there. This was part of an aborted storyline that was intended to lead up to a new mega-epic, featuring a major global conflict between Mega-City One and Hondo City and Sino-Cit 2; it was abandoned when John Wagner returned to 2000 ADs Dredd strip.
The Americans revealed that Mega-City One's Psi Division
Psi Division
Psi-Division is a fictional organisation in the Judge Dredd and Anderson: Psi-Division comic strips in 2000 AD and Judge Dredd: The Megazine. It is the branch of Mega-City One's Justice Department that deals in supernatural phenomena, using Judges with psychic abilities. Psi-Judges are often...
had gleaned knowledge of the 2150 nuclear world war from Johnny Alpha's mind, recording this data in the "Alpha File." The information was kept hidden from Brit-Cit
Brit-Cit
Brit-Cit is a huge fictional city in the fictional universe of British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd. It is also the home of Sam Slade in some of 2000AD's Robo-Hunter stories. The city covers the south of England and bordering on the Black Atlantic...
.
Publication
It ran in both magazines:- Judgement Day (all written by Garth EnnisGarth EnnisGarth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
)):- "Judgement Day" (with Peter DohertyPeter Doherty (comics)Peter Doherty is a British comic book artist and colourist.-Biography:Doherty's work over a 15 year career has mainly been concentrated on the classic 2000 AD character Judge Dredd. He has illustrated several significant episodes of the strip...
(1, 2, 10, 11 and 19) and Carlos EzquerraCarlos EzquerraCarlos Sanchez Ezquerra , who has also worked under the alias L. John Silver, is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra...
(4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 20), in 2000 AD #786-799, 1992) - "Judgement Day" (with Dean OrmstonDean OrmstonDean Ormston is a British born comic book artist. His most notable work has been for the British comic 2000 AD and for DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.-Biography:...
(1-3 and 5-6) and Chris HallsChris CunninghamChris Cunningham is an English music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk....
(4) , in Judge Dredd Megazine #2.04-2.09, 1992)
- "Judgement Day" (with Peter Doherty
Collected editions
It has been collected by two different publishers:- Judge Dredd Judgement Day:
- Hamlyn, 19991999 in comics-February:* February 3: Pioneering editor Vin Sullivan dies at age 87.* February 26: John L. Goldwater, co-founder of Archie Comics, dies at age 82.-March:* Incredible Hulk is canceled by Marvel with issue #474.-May:...
, ISBN 0-600-59970-1 - DCDC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
/RebellionRebellion DevelopmentsRebellion is a British computer games company, based in Oxford, who are most famous for the first Aliens vs. Predator computer game. It has published comic books since 2000 and launched its own book imprint, Abaddon Books, in 2006.-History:...
, 20042004 in comics-February:*February 6: Marvel Enterprises and Electronic Arts announce a multi-year agreement in which EA will develop a new generation of fighting video games pitting Marvel superheroes against a new, original set of EA heroes....
, ISBN 1-904265-19-7 (also collects "The Kinda Dead Man" from prog 816)
- Hamlyn, 1999
- Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 17, Rebellion, 2011, ISBN 978-1-907519-83-3