Judge Dredd: The Dark Judges

by John Wagner, Alan Grant, Brian Bolland (Illustrator)

They came from Deadworld – twisted, ungodly versions of Judges, with enough power to destroy the world! Led by the cadaverous super-fiend Judge Death, Judges Fear, Fire & Mortis share a chilling ethos – as only the living can break the law, all life is crime!
The fearsome foursome are intent on bringing their brand of justice to Mega-City One. Only Judge Dredd and Psi-Division's finest telepath Cassandra Anderson can stop them from committing a Mega-City massacre.
These stories also feature in The Complete Case Files 03 and 05, and Judge Anderson The Psi Files Volume 01.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Horror

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 2, 1988

About the author

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 2000 AD, for which he created Judge Dredd. He is noted for his taut, violent thrillers and his black humour. Among his pseudonyms are The best known are John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter. (Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fear the Dark Judges!!!


This TPB edition collects the entire original run about "The Dark Judges" appearing in the stories of "Judge Dredd" and "Judge Anderson" from 2000AD comics.


Creative Team:

Writers: John Wagner & Alan Grant

Illustrators: Brian Bolland, Brett Ewins & Cliff Robinson


DON'T JUDGE ME FOR MY SIZE OR LACK OF COLOR!

This cool TPB edition is printed in a small format and in B&W, that I found a cool and economic way to get the whole original run about the Dark Judges. There are other storyarcs of Judge Dredd employing this kind of presentation.


RELEVANT FIRST APPEARANCES

In this stoyline you get the first appearance of Judge Death along with the first apparition of Judge Anderson, and also the following stories marking the introduction of the other three Dark Judges: Fear, Fire and Mortis.


ORDER IN THE COURTROOM!

The Dark Judges are from a parallel dimension where they come to the realization that all crimes were done by living people, so their "logical" conclussion was that life per se was a crime, so all life must be terminated...

...and they succeed!!!

All living beings in his parallel Earth were killed, and now they found out about "our" dimension and Mega-City One...

...a whole new city to judge! A new city to kill everybody!

The Dark Judges are paranormal beings with strange powers and abilities. Also, they are undead, so they can't be killed.

Yeah. Bummer. You can't just fire your Lawgiver and finish them with four bullets.

Judge Dredd is facing one of his most challenging threats and he will need all the help from Judge Anderson and the Psi Division that they would be able to give.


THE EASIER WAY TO READ IT

Getting this TPB edition is really useful since the stories not matter that they are continuations of a same storyarc, they weren't printed one after other, in following issues.

There are a lot of time between the publishing of each of them.

Also, some were on the Judge Dredd title and others were on the spin-off title of Judge Anderson.

So trying to find this whole storyline in the complete reprintings of the titles would imply to buy several thick TPBs.

So, this is an excenllent way to be to read the story without spending much and being able to read the whole arch very quickly.

This is a "must-have" to any Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson fans.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Judges story-arcs always been my most favourite ones of long spanning Dredd comic books saga.
This volume collects first two in small format black and white, with Dredd and Anderson battling them in Mega-City and on their nightmarish homeworld.



Stories aged much well with their overload of black humour, contemporary social criticism and cheesiness, enriched by classic Brian Bolland's awesome artworks. Cassandra Anderson is a badass girl, so different from other judges and from her rookie cinematic version in Dredd (2012), a good cinematic adaption but essentially a bad copy of The Raid (2011).



And Judge Death, warped and evil mirrored version of Dredd himself, is just a villain so iconic and cool in comics book history that he's inspiring bad guys since his first appearance in 2000 AD #149 - Prog 149 released by Rebellion on January 26, 1980... just look at that recent DC comics Batman who Laughs creep.





Love this book so much that already have it in two editions, but sooner or later I'm going to buy the coloured version by IDW too.



Damned my obsessive compulsive collecting addiction.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

The appearance of the Dark Judge, Death, where he is judge, jury and executioner on any human. They are deemed to be guilty as they have lived and therefore have some responsibility regardless of actual guilt.

With the appearance of the three more, Mortis, Fear and Fire, panic sets in amongst the population. As Judge Dredd and the PSI Judge Andersen, battle these creatures they face their hardest challenge yet to defeat these undead creatures from the future.

It has been a while since I read any Judge Dredd, and it bought back some fond memories of reading them in my earlier day. It is a dark story, and even for a graphic novel managed to be chilling in parts. Not bad overall. 2.5 Stars.

[Owen Townend · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun crossover between 2000AD comics and World Book Night.

I have read a couple of Judge Dredd stories and even a Judge Anderson spinoff prior to this book. If I'm honest, the striking image of Judge Death was what convinced me to venture into this hard-bitten sci-fi world in the first place.

The Dark Judges collects Judge Death's origins and early adventures, including his nightmarish brethren Judge Fear Judge Fire and Judge Mortis. Nevermind the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, these Four Lawmen of the Apocalypse are a more horrifying prospect. All-powerful sheriffs hellbent on ending life before it can even commit crime.

As well as being metal as hell, this is a crafty subversion on the drastic black-and-white morality that Judge Dredd and his colleagues tend to deal out. Mind you, I would have liked to see them actually reflecting on how their police action is a slippery slope to committing murder just in case someone thinks about transgressing the law.

My feelings on the judges aside, I found this collection a very entertaining short read. It suffers from the inevitable abridgement of 2000AD page counts but The Dark Judges packs just enough grimdark issues and zany solutions to make it hold together.

Wagner and Grant set up the terror of these characters and their arc, while Bolland, Ewins and Robinson make it pop and sizzle in the panels. Judge Death would never have become quite so iconic without that well-shaded rictus grin.

It won't be to everyone's taste but I found The Dark Judges to be an ideal dip into the true penumbra of the Judge Dredd universe. I recommend it to fans of 2000AD and rock-and-roll grotesquerie.

[Susan Gaught · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear. At least it was a quick read!

[Eamonn Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warning! Warning! ‘Judge Dredd: The Dark Judges’ is a super little book but beware duplicating stuff you may already have. Dredd is featured in the title because he’s the big name Judge of Mega-City One but he doesn’t feature all through this book. Pages 54 - 114 feature the story with the overall title of ‘Four Dark Judges’ which is really a Judge Anderson story and it features in another volume dedicated to her adventures. The other volume has bigger pages and is easier to read, too.

The first fifty-odd pages do feature the big-jawed Judge in two stories: ‘Judge Death’ and ‘Death Lives‘. The first is scripted by John Wagner alone and the second by him and Alan Grant. Both are excellently, beautifully drawn by Brian Bolland, whose elegant ink work reminds me somewhat of Joe Sinnott but more, perhaps, of Murphy Anderson, stalwart embellisher of about a million DC comics in the Silver Age.

Judge Death comes from another dimension which is obviously similar to Dredd’s, with harsh Judges empowered to dispense harsh justice and no namby-pamby liberal lawyers or civil rights activists interfering with the law. However, Judge Death has taken the rather extreme view that since all crime is committed by the living then life itself is a crime. His mission is to kill everyone and having succeeded at home he now wants to kill everyone in other dimensions too. Clearly it’s not just a job with him, it’s a vocation. Judge Death is essentially a spirit form but has to occupy a body to carry out the good work. For a while, he occupies that of Judge Anderson, a female colleague of Dredd. This eventually makes her key to stopping him.

Which is probably why she takes over the heroic role completely in the last half of the book. ‘Four Dark Judges’ features not only Judge Death but his three fun colleagues, Mortis, Fire and Fear. It’s a long and well-plotted story by Wagner and Grant with great art contributions from Brett Ewins, Cliff Robinson and Robin Smith. Brett Ewins does most of it but, whether by accident or design, the other two guys draw in a similar style so there is no sense of discontinuity. Indeed, if you didn’t read the credits you would hardly notice. Mind you, if you can read the credits you will easily pass the eyesight requirements for a driving test. This brings me to something a gentleman will only discuss reluctantly and a lady should never, ever mention: the matter of size.

It is certainly worth noting that the pages are rather small and the lettering very small indeed, which is indubitably what makes these little editions so cheap. It’s an ideal purchase for a miser with 20/20 vision. The rest of you will have to get a good strong reading light and, perhaps, a pair of reading glasses. It’s worth it, though, because the stories are such fun.

[Jason Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judge Dredd - Always been a love of mine, why not???

Judge Dredd - Always been a favourite of mine, excellent storyline, what more could you ask???
Got boxes and boxes of comics and mags of JD all over the house, started reading these around the 250 number, hooked would be the word for it I think???
THANKS GUYS!!!

[Eve Chappin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Graphic and dark. I loved it

[AintGotTimeToRead · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first two stories are just decent enough to stand out before the note villains outstay their welcome later in the collection.

[Mr Craig Lewis / Miss Sara Ifould · Rating 5 out of 5]

The good old days

Great story and art work from the golden age of dredd would highly recommend to fans and those reading for the first time.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So bad ass and some of the framing is so cinematic. Wonderfully, simply creative. Loved this.

One critique for the format. My eyes are not cut out for the paperback book size graphic novels.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book I was given, rather than sought out.
I'm a fair fan of 2000AD and particularly Judge Dredd, but I'm not an avid follower and I'm not sure I own any of the comics.
As with a lot of comics I read, I hold more of an interest in the art than the story - not that story is an unimportant factor at all.
This tome is a collection of several issues of "Judge Dredd" and "Anderson of Psi Division" covering the entire overall story-arc of, noted Judge Dredd nemesis, Judge Death and his cohorts.
My major criticism of the book is that, even for a comic or graphic novel, it is very heavy on the exposition. I realise that, as a primarily visual medium, there is a limit on how much can be expressed to the reader when one cannot rely predominantly on general 3rd person scene setting and description - but, in the very first few opening panels, a thug literally narrates his murder by Judge Death in real time.
Also, due to the serialised nature of the original distribution, all segments of the story open with a recap of the last few panels of its predecessor. Something that was useful when first printed, but is just mildly annoying when they're all collected like this.
These are minor niggles, though. The art is pretty great from the start and fairly consistent. I really like the designs of the Dark Judges, even if Mortis does have a chronic case of noodle-wrist. Speaking of whom, another amusing occurrence is that - with the other judges having very straightforward names/abilities - Judge Mortis is nearly always introduced with the caveat "his touch brings decay".
In the end, the book was released as part of "World Book Night" with a bid to encourage first time readers to pick up something and give reading a go - for that reason, its simplicity can be forgiven and I think it may well be a successful selection.

[Alastair Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first run of Judge Death in the original 2000AD comics and despite this reprint being much smaller than the original comics they still work well. The imagery is great with loads of little details and small jokes, typical of the '2000AD' style back in the early 80's. This is really about the art of Brian Bolland, the other artists are good but don't quite match Bolland's finese. His use of black fills, frame layouts and silhouettes contribute to the sinister feel of this series.
It was good to admire these drawings again (now that I do drawings myself for a living) and to read the sequel tales that I missed the first time round. But as an adult the stories seem a bit staid and in a collection suffer from the weekly break and recap frames at the start of each episode.
But the art is still great and you have to admire the different ways that the artists manage to present the same scenario week after week as the Dark Judges do their stuff.

[Russio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this as a world book night book to give away next week and couldn't resist revisiting the classic Judge Death stories of my youth (I deliberately tried not to crease the spine). I must admit, it made me feel most old. The story. A good one and was tremendously exciting to encounter as an 11 year old. The ironies of Judge Dredd are easily missed but undercut the story with a crackling humour. The reasons I felt old were 1) it was a long time ago. The covers i particular make you pine for lost youth. 16p! And 2) the type is in some miniscule font, designed for A4 not A6 which means that eye strain was required, even in my glasses that I very rarely use.

Nonetheless, A great read for a young person and I hope I can convince 20 reluctant readers to give it a go next week.

[Vivienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top class artwork, excellent story, but this edition let down by too small a page size, and as a result teeny weeny text in the speech bubbles and other bits. I have very good reading vision, and don't need reading glasses (I had my 2-yearly eye test just a few weeks ago), but I was having to peer really closely to read the text. But otherwise it was good, and has prompted me to buy more Judge Dredd comics, in a more readable form, to read in PDF on my iPad from DriveThruComics.com Which is quite impressive, because I'd always been a bit deterred from reading Judge Dredd, thinking it was a bit too "hard core" comics. What prompted me to try it was the recent World Book Night in the UK, when this edition of The Dark Judges was one of the chosen featured books. And I'm very glad I did.

[Jo Bennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dark Judges is a collection of the 2000AD magazine stories in which the four Dark Judges appear: Mortis, Death, Fear and Fire. Their nemesis in the futuristic postapocalyptic metropolis of MegaCity One, psychic Judge Cassandra Anderson. They have come from Deadworld, a dimension in which it was judged that since some humans are responsible for crime all humans have a criminal propensity and therefore must be executed.

The joy of Wagner and Grant's writing is, as ever, their satirical contemporary references combined with Bolland, Ewins, Robinson and Smith's artwork. Good fun

[Jo Bennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dark Judges is a collection of the 2000AD magazine stories in which the four Dark Judges appear: Mortis, Death, Fear and Fire. Their nemesis in the futuristic postapocalyptic metropolis of MegaCity One, psychic Judge Cassandra Anderson. They have come from Deadworld, a dimension in which it was judged that since some humans are responsible for crime all humans have a criminal propensity and therefore must be executed.

The joy of Wagner and Grant's writing is, as ever, their satirical contemporary references combined with Bolland, Ewins, Robinson and Smith's artwork. Good fun

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah happy days. I first read these stories when they first came out in the 1980s and still enjoyed them today. The first story is Judge Dredd with Judge Anderson as his sidekick battling Judge Death. Anderson then takes centre stage in the 2nd story when Judge Death is joined by his 3 buddies. The artwork is still first rate and the stories are enjoyable. My only complaint is the text is so small, for all us old uns it was a bit of a struggle at times.

If they ever make a sequel to the excellent Dredd then Judge Death would be most welcome.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge fan of Judge Dredd and 2000AD getting this at World Book Night 2013 was perfect, this story is of one of Dredd's most fearsome enemies, Judge Death and his allies Fear, Fire and Mortis. Dredd and Psi-Judge Anderson must battle to save Mega City One.

[Mhorg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second greatest Dredd 'prog' ever written. A sequel to Judge Death (which is an excellent story) this brings back Psi Judge Andersen, who is the one way they have of stopping these Anti-Life judges from an alternate dimension where life itself was declared a crime. Excellent.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really grim, I thought it was excellent.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The female judge was annoying. I liked the whole idea of Judge Death but it did get really cheesey.

[Kirsty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Print in world book day edition super small and very hard to read. I read this because my husband has been crazing me to and he loves 2000AD. Something certainly a bit different for me

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty enjoyable. Not much else to say.

[Andy Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still a classic thundergun express of laughs and smart ideas.

[watson387 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The classic Dark Judges stories gathered into one volume. This is a very fun and cheesy read. Judge Anderson is great!

[John Meddick · Rating 4 out of 5]

World Book Night 2013.