Who's Out There?

« Arrrrgh! »

Here’s a fetchingly morbid cover Mr. Brian Bolland crafted for Eagle Comics’ reprints of the dystopian cream of Mega-City One’s hard-working Judges Dredd, Child, Anderson, Smiley, Volt, Stalker, Priest, Fish, De Gaulle… and so on, citizen. Filmic adaptations have largely missed the finer points of this oft-excellent series by focussing on the radical mayhem at the detriment of the protagonist’s unflagging fairness. But then again, such is usually the fate of « badass » characters who are nuanced in comics… think early Jonah Hex, for instance.

This is Judge Dredd no. 3 (January, 1984), featuring Judge Death Lives, by John Wagner and Bolland, from the pages of 2000 AD nos. 224-228 (1981). These are Judges Death and Anderson; I leave it to you to suss out which is which.

Oh, and if you and your three best bros are looking for a high-concept Halloween group costume, why not terrorize the neighbourhood as the Four Dark Judges?

– RG