What do you think?
Rate this book
Essential Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death
The essential Judge Dredd graphic novel series - the ultimate introduction to the Lawman of the Future!
"When people think of Dredd enemies, they think of The Dark Judges." - Comics Beat
The crime
is life! The Judgement is death! When Judge Death enters Mega-City One from a parallel dimension, his plan is
to find every single living cit and sentence them – to death!
The fourth volume in the oversized Essential Dredd series includes the first two Judge Death stories, from John Wagner (A History of Violence) and Brian Bolland (The Killing Joke) presented in stunning black and
white, and featuring restored pages. It also includes the first solo Judge
Anderson adventure, presented in luscious new colours, also starring Judge
Death. The critically acclaimed Essential Dredd Collection is a
perfect jumping on point for new readers and this volume introduces Judge Death, the Dark Judges and wisecracking Psi Judge Cassandra
Anderson.
"When people think of Dredd enemies, they think of The Dark Judges." - Comics Beat
The crime
is life! The Judgement is death! When Judge Death enters Mega-City One from a parallel dimension, his plan is
to find every single living cit and sentence them – to death!
The fourth volume in the oversized Essential Dredd series includes the first two Judge Death stories, from John Wagner (A History of Violence) and Brian Bolland (The Killing Joke) presented in stunning black and
white, and featuring restored pages. It also includes the first solo Judge
Anderson adventure, presented in luscious new colours, also starring Judge
Death. The critically acclaimed Essential Dredd Collection is a
perfect jumping on point for new readers and this volume introduces Judge Death, the Dark Judges and wisecracking Psi Judge Cassandra
Anderson.
160 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 18, 2022
5 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
John Wagner
1,288 books191 followersJohn 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)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 30, 2023
Brian Bolland is a gift.
February 27, 2025
The original Judge Death stories from the early 1980's were extraordinary achievements for their time, using the comics medium to explore concepts of technocratic fascism and the limits of rationalism as a basis for solving human problems.
Accompanied by outstanding art from the legendary Brian Bolland, John Wagner's story forced ultimate lawman Judge Dredd to face the consequences of his own approach to the delivery of justice, and if Dredd clearly rejects the extreme measures used by Judge Death, it's simply a matter of degree: how far would you go to achieve a crime-free society?
So that's the first quarter of this volume. The rest is absolute dreck, as Wagner shamelessly recycles characters and storylines into poorly derivative chapters illustrated by second-rate artists. Sequels are often of questionable value, but in this case they're downright execrable.
Accompanied by outstanding art from the legendary Brian Bolland, John Wagner's story forced ultimate lawman Judge Dredd to face the consequences of his own approach to the delivery of justice, and if Dredd clearly rejects the extreme measures used by Judge Death, it's simply a matter of degree: how far would you go to achieve a crime-free society?
So that's the first quarter of this volume. The rest is absolute dreck, as Wagner shamelessly recycles characters and storylines into poorly derivative chapters illustrated by second-rate artists. Sequels are often of questionable value, but in this case they're downright execrable.
June 15, 2025
I'm still new to the world of 2000 AD, but I've been loving the journey so far. This is the first volume of the Essential Judge Dredd I've read and it's a good, beautifully presented collection of a wide variety of Judge Death stories. Unsurprisingly, not every story here is equally good - though they're all written by John Wagner and/or Alan Grant (sometimes under the joint pseudonym of T.B. Grover - but they're generally pretty solid throughout.
Obviously, most people will be getting this for the opening 60-odd pages that introduce us to Judge Death and the other Dark Judges, and it's good stuff. Plus, Brian Bolland sequential art (oversized in restored black and white)? Yes please! The writing is somewhat dated, though, as it has that sort of compressed storytelling that was typical of the time (1981) so it does feel a bit rushed. Especially with the very short chapters.
On the flip side, I loved the Judge Anderson arc from a few years later that took up much of the middle part of the book, but it did suffer from changing artists, with only Brett Ewins coming anywhere close to matching Bolland's astonishing work.
The rest of the book consists of a couple of very slight stories from the late '90s built about Judge Death's old landlady and the apartment block that was turned into a (haunted?) Judge Death tourist attraction, and perversely, these may just have been my favourite stories in the entire collection. Judge Dredd was always a satire, of course, so the fact that these stories are laugh-out-loud funny makes them super successful in my book. The second story features some solid work by Andy Clarke, but the real standout here is Alex Ronald whose work is like the lovechild of Frank Quitely and Moebius.
Rounding off the collection is a short story from something called Diceman, that's basically a choose your own adventure story/game with the reader "taking control" of Judge Dredd as he goes toe-to-toe with the Dark Judges. Its cute and it has atmospheric Bryan Talbot art, but it's not really what I want from my comics reading.
Is this the best place to start with Judge Dredd? Honestly, I have no idea. I read the recent Better World trade and it was every bit as good and every bit a accessible, so you may well be able to pick up any well-received Judge Dredd story and have no difficulty jumping in, even with decades of backstory behind it. Either way, small flaws aside, this is great stuff, presented in a nice oversized format with a nice variety of stories, and it certainly has me eager to check out more in this line.
Obviously, most people will be getting this for the opening 60-odd pages that introduce us to Judge Death and the other Dark Judges, and it's good stuff. Plus, Brian Bolland sequential art (oversized in restored black and white)? Yes please! The writing is somewhat dated, though, as it has that sort of compressed storytelling that was typical of the time (1981) so it does feel a bit rushed. Especially with the very short chapters.
On the flip side, I loved the Judge Anderson arc from a few years later that took up much of the middle part of the book, but it did suffer from changing artists, with only Brett Ewins coming anywhere close to matching Bolland's astonishing work.
The rest of the book consists of a couple of very slight stories from the late '90s built about Judge Death's old landlady and the apartment block that was turned into a (haunted?) Judge Death tourist attraction, and perversely, these may just have been my favourite stories in the entire collection. Judge Dredd was always a satire, of course, so the fact that these stories are laugh-out-loud funny makes them super successful in my book. The second story features some solid work by Andy Clarke, but the real standout here is Alex Ronald whose work is like the lovechild of Frank Quitely and Moebius.
Rounding off the collection is a short story from something called Diceman, that's basically a choose your own adventure story/game with the reader "taking control" of Judge Dredd as he goes toe-to-toe with the Dark Judges. Its cute and it has atmospheric Bryan Talbot art, but it's not really what I want from my comics reading.
Is this the best place to start with Judge Dredd? Honestly, I have no idea. I read the recent Better World trade and it was every bit as good and every bit a accessible, so you may well be able to pick up any well-received Judge Dredd story and have no difficulty jumping in, even with decades of backstory behind it. Either way, small flaws aside, this is great stuff, presented in a nice oversized format with a nice variety of stories, and it certainly has me eager to check out more in this line.
June 22, 2023
I'm torn on this. Most people are obviously getting this for the debut of the evil judges drawn by Brian Bolland and that part of the book definitely delivers, S-tier comic book illustration. The Killing Joke and Judge Death made a profound and horrific impact on me as a child and they are permanently edged into the child part of my consciousness because of his work. It's probably one of the most profound and cherished experiences of art I've had in my life. So it's great to see these pages being printed into a B&W and oversized format.
It's a fairly short story though, about 60 pages I'd wager. Rest of the follow up stories are drawn by much weaker artists and mostly seems to be corny and inconsequential filler. Also made me realize Bolland really carried the story in the first place, because all the stories are written by Wagner and Grant, but most of them don't hold up very well.
Edit : Just realised I also own Judge Dredd, the complete Brian Bolland by IDW publishing. I think it's out of print, but it's the preferred version if you can get it. Even bigger format and it also contains all the Bolland drawn Judge Death issues and cuts out all the unneccesary filler.
It's a fairly short story though, about 60 pages I'd wager. Rest of the follow up stories are drawn by much weaker artists and mostly seems to be corny and inconsequential filler. Also made me realize Bolland really carried the story in the first place, because all the stories are written by Wagner and Grant, but most of them don't hold up very well.
Edit : Just realised I also own Judge Dredd, the complete Brian Bolland by IDW publishing. I think it's out of print, but it's the preferred version if you can get it. Even bigger format and it also contains all the Bolland drawn Judge Death issues and cuts out all the unneccesary filler.
November 3, 2025
As I mentioned in another review, I grew up reading 2000AD, and vividly remember the original release of three of the stories in this collection. Judge Death was quite probably one of the best villains Dredd and Anderson ever went up against, and it's a testament to the popularity of the Dark Judges that there have been so many continuations and spin-offs of their story over the years.
This collection covers the main arc of the Judge Death/Dark Judges history, and throws in a couple of shorter stories that show the continued effect of Death's presence in Mega City One long after he was defeated by Dredd and Anderson.
It's a great collection, and is still a genuine pleasure to read even forty-five years after the first appearance of Judge Death back in 1980. If you've never read any Judge Dredd and want a good jumping off point then this is definitely one book worth considering.
This collection covers the main arc of the Judge Death/Dark Judges history, and throws in a couple of shorter stories that show the continued effect of Death's presence in Mega City One long after he was defeated by Dredd and Anderson.
It's a great collection, and is still a genuine pleasure to read even forty-five years after the first appearance of Judge Death back in 1980. If you've never read any Judge Dredd and want a good jumping off point then this is definitely one book worth considering.
January 29, 2023
The Holland art, aw man. It can stop you in your tracks.
I tend to forget how silly and theatrical Death is. It's impossible to take him seriously.
I don't like these Essential books. The large size is good, but the lack of editorial context sucks.
I tend to forget how silly and theatrical Death is. It's impossible to take him seriously.
I don't like these Essential books. The large size is good, but the lack of editorial context sucks.
November 3, 2023
Tomo que recopila las historias que enfrentan a Juez Dredd y Juez Anderson contra los Jueces Oscuros liderados por el Juez Muerte. Buenos guiones de John Wagner y espectacular arte, sobre todo los números dibujados por Brian Bolland.
August 6, 2023
Me faltaba alguna de las últimas historias por leer, que no están mal. Pero las primeras, las de Bolland, son arte de museo. Qué gozada.
April 2, 2024
Judge death and his brothers come to mega city one. This has all the dark judges stories including psi Anderson. It is a great bunch of stories. Final judgement isn’t in this volume.
June 1, 2025
There's a bunch of short filler stories in this one but I love the horror elements of the original one in black and white.
June 12, 2025
Really great. Some of the follow-up stories aren't as good as the first couple but they're worth a read. And there's an insane choose-your-own-adventure story at the end that's a lot of fun.
October 18, 2025
3.5 stars
October 28, 2025
I enjoyed the introduction to Judge Death which is wonderfully illustrated but the filler side content was far inferior.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews