The Batlord

That complete Judge Dredd thing would be righteous. Unfortunately my Chromebook can't do torrents, so I'd be grateful for an upload.

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Unknown Soldier

By and large the early stories (those collected in Complete Case Files 1) are pretty basic but witty stories and include the 'Robot Wars' and "Luna stories'. Judge Dredd though really get going with the 'The Cursed Earth' and this is a good place to start and covered in the Complete Case Files 2.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Episode IV: “King Krong”

First print date: March 26 1977
Prog appearance: 5
Writer(s): Malcolm Shaw
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 1

Woe betide the man or woman who tries to bring a sense of normality and relaxation into the life of Judge Dredd! On his infrequent down-hours, Dredd's idea of kicking back is to bone up on his law books, and when a salesman from Senso-Round tries to sell him a virtual reality system he is not amused! It's no laughing matter however when the president of that company turns up murdered, seemingly torn limb from limb, and he's not the only one. Over the next two days two more senior executives from Senso-Round meet a messy end. Dredd is on patrol when HQ calls him to say that the voiceprint recorded at the scene of the last murder has turned out to be that of the curator of the Special Effects Museum, and Dredd goes to apprehend him.

Dredd finds himself reunited with O'Neill, the man who was trying to sell him a Senso-Round system at the opening of the episode. Seems he's not only a salesman for the company, and has a grudge against them because, he says, people no longer need to go to see monster movies any more, not when Senso-Round can bring them right into their own homes. The museum is suffering as a result, so O'Neill has decided to take revenge upon the executives of the company that is driving him out of business.

O'Neill unleashes his biggest movie monster, the giant gorilla known as King Krong () to pound the offices of Senso-Round to rubble. Dredd follows him but the monster is so huge his weapon has no effect. As the gorilla begins climbing the building and tearing chunks off it, Dredd guns his bike to the top, sets it on automatic and hits the self-destruct, aiming it down the creature's throat. With no head after the explosion, the monster topples off the building and lands on O'Neill, crushing him.

QUOTES
Maria: “But Judge! You never have no fun! A younga man like you, he should not work all da time!”

Dredd (thinking): “To think I could get a robot-cleaner for half the price and be done with all her nagging!”

Dredd (standing over the corpse of O'Neill): “All your dreams were crushed, O'Neill. But with dreams like yours, who needs nightmares?”

NEW CHARACTER!

Maria, Dredd's landlady/maid

With no other name ever given, Maria was a typical Italian woman who constantly harangued Dredd as if he were her son --- why don't you get a girlfriend, have some fun etc ---- and was most likely introduced to semi-humanise Dredd, to show he had a home he went to when off duty, and that he ate and read and shat like normal people. But come on! The guy even wears his helmet and full uniform while relaxing in his apartment! Dredd always gave the impression of merely putting up with Maria --- in this story he rolls his eyes (presumably) and thinks about replacing her with a robot --- and there never seemed to be any affection, or any sort of emotion between them. She would later leave his employ, but that as it happens.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Just one really. Still undecided on what HQ were to be called, Mills calls them “police control” (kind of ironic, eh?) when they would eventually be known as Justice Central.

Those clever little touches

Although I didn't realise it at the time, the salesman for Senso-Round, and also the killer, is called Kevin O'Neill. This was the name of another artist working for 2000AD, who would eventually come to his own brand of fame when he illustrated the series Ro-Busters and later Nemesis. O'Neill's style of drawing was very angular (see below) and did indeed inspire the sort of nightmares of which Dredd muses in the final panel here. A dig at his art style? A prediction? Or just coincidence?


Mister Tharg? You've been served!
With its unique brand of satire, 2000AD was always in danger of infringing someone's copyright, and indeed in a later Dredd epic got into a lot of trouble and had to pay costs for using trademarked images and characters without permission. Here, I'll detail any brushes the Mighty Tharg had with copyright infringement, where he got away with them, where he did not, and where he changed it just enough that he could not be accused of the crime.

The most obvious attempt to avoid ending up in a court here is when King Kong --- who is identical in every other way, including the iconic climb up the tall building and the dramatic and tragic fall and death of the creature --- has its name changed by adding one letter. At least Dredd doesn't say “Beauty killed the beast”! But even so, the cover of the prog has Dredd sentencing the gorilla to forty years for smashing biplanes (even though none figure in the story: it's obviously another sharp dig and a “come at us” challenge by Mills). To my knowledge, there was no action taken over this. At this point after all, this was a struggling comic trying to get on its feet. It was only later, when there was money to be made, that the lawsuits began. In fairness, they must have expected them. But here, they dodged the proverbial litigation bullet. They would not always be so lucky.

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Episode V: “Frankenstein 2”

First print date: April 2 1977
Prog appearance: 6
Writer(s): Malcolm Shaw
Artist(s): Mike McMahon
Total episodes: 1

We're told at the opening of the story that body transplant science advanced so far in the twnty-first century that it meant people could basically keep replacing worn-out parts and essentially live forever. With an already dangerous population explosion and only three cities in the USA to hold all this heaving humanity, a decision was taken to outlaw the practice. That of course does not stop those who have no fear of the law, and so it is at the start of this episode that we see an ambulance being hijacked and the body stolen. Dredd has been watching but wishes to bust the whole operation, and so has let the perps go, hoping they'll lead him to the mastermind, the titular doctor.

Control relays the information that the stolen ambulance went into a tunnel but never emerged, and Dredd guesses that there is a hidden entrance in the tunnel wall, behind which is the ghoulish doctor's hideout. He shoots his way in, and finds he is right. His Lawmaster's cannons bark blazing laser death as five of Frankenstein 2's henchmen attack him. After a short fight, and trying to blind Dredd with an overhead light (which doesn't work, as his helmet is fitted with an anti-glare visor) Frankenstein 2 surrenders. But Dredd is not finished yet.

He approaches the rich citizen on the operating table, and declares he is under arrest. When asked what for, Dredd tells him “Receiving stolen goods!”

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Where for a very exorbitant fee you can circumvent the law and have your body augmented with stolen spare parts so that you can continue living. The problem with this is that, if everyone were to do it, the population would expand to the stage where it would be unsustainable and place far too much of a strain on an already overstretched planet's resources. Add to that the fact that, if you could technically live forever, a lot more people might get braver and bolder, with many of them turning to crime. As a result of this fear, and the innate belief that man is not meant to be immortal, body surgery was outlawed and is now a crime.

But there are of course those who have the money and the connections to flout the law, thinking themselves immune due to their wealth or their position. The Judges, however, make no exceptions or excuses, and the rich pay the same price as the poor when they break the law.

QUOTES

Frankenstein 2: “Don't be hasty Judge. With my help you can live forever. Every time a part runs out I can replace it.”
Dredd: “You can't bribe a Judge.”
(Correction: you can't bribe most Judges. But although some are clones (maybe all, I really don't know) they are still human, with human failings and occasionally human greed. In a position of power like this, with the opportunity to make fast cash in return for their services, we will see much later that some Judges do “go over to the dark side”. There are, of course, severe penalties for any Judge caught accepting a bribe or using his or her position to profit.)

Citizen: “You can't arrest me, Judge. Sure, I got a transplant, but what crime did I commit?”
Dredd: “Receiving stolen goods!”
(Dredd often looks beyond the crime, to the causes and those who foster it. Were it not for all those rich people wanting to live beyond their natural lifespan, this illegal trade in body parts would not flourish as it does, so just like a stolen car ring can be facilitated by those who rob the cars, so too those who help this enterprise by patronising it --- in the full knowledge they are breaking the law --- must pay. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but here, these people are not ignorant of the law, just contemptuous of it.)

Kid: “Why does the Judge never smile, ma?”
Mother: “It's his job, child. It's tough upholding the law in Mega-City One.”
(Indeed. There's little to smile about, when all around him is robbery, violence, murder and all sorts of crime. Not only that, but in order to present the toughest, strictest face of the law to the citizens it's likely many Judges (not all: some do smile) keep their emotions in check, at least in public. It's also possible that many have hardened their hearts in order to keep them from letting off a citizen for some minor offence or other. You don't flutter your eyelashes at a Judge, and hope to get out of your sentence! In fact, some Judges --- Dredd probably included --- might take that in itself as an attempt at bribery and add time to your sentence!)

PCRs
You would expect that with a series that prides itself on dark hunour and also looking back to the present (?), Judge Dredd (indeed, much of 2000AD) would have a lot of PCRs (Pop Culture References, for those of you who have not been reading The Couch Potato). And you'd be right. As they come up I'll log them here.

The most obvious one of course is the use of the Frankenstein name, but Dredd also growls, “Frankenstein 2, I presume”, as Baxter did when he finally met Dr. Livingstone in Africa.

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Episode VI: “The Statue of Judgement”

First print date: April 9 1977
Prog appearance: 7
Writer(s): Malcolm Shaw
Artist(s): Mike McMahon
Total episodes: 1

Standing proudly beside the Statue of Liberty --- one of the old landmarks from the Undercity, where the original New York stood, which was brought up from down below --- a new colossus stares out over Mega-City One, its eyes vigilant, its gaze stony. A monument to the law and a reminder to the citizens of Mega-City One that justice never sleeps, the Statue of Judgement is a popular tourist attraction, but to some people another way to describe tourists is as victims.

A gang attacks a man on the ground, and when Dredd steps in, one is shot, one surrenders and the leader, Ringo (the ringleader?) hijacks an air taxi, attacking Dredd from above. Hurrying to the lift which goes up the Statue of Judgement, Dredd gets to the top and, as Lady Liberty looks on apparently approvingly, uses his high-powered rifle to blow the taxi out of the sky. Score another one for the law!

QUOTES
Ringo: “We can take Dredd. He's not a robot --- he's human! I think...”
(True in one sense, not in another. Although Dredd is from human stock, he is as mentioned previously a clone. Sometimes though you would wonder if he is not secretly a robot...)

Gang member: “Please Judge: let me go! They forced me to take part!”
Dredd: “And they'd have forced you to take your share of the loot too eh? Don't make me sick!”

Citizen: “Bullets are blazing all around the Judge! How can he stay so cool?”
Dredd (thinking): “All part of my training to be calm and behave with dignity at all times!”

Dredd (with the Statue of Liberty in the background): “Nobody can take liberties with the law!”

A tour of Mega-City One
No, not a full tour! What do you expect for an entance fee of, er, nothing? This is the section wherein I'll be talking about landmarks and buildings and areas of the city as they're mentioned or used or referred to in the stories.

The Statue of Judgement stands beside the old Statue of Liberty. The latter was part of old New York, of course, which is all now subterranean tunnels, but some of the more precious and important landmarks were brought up to the surface and transplanted to the new city. Now a new statue stands beside Lady Liberty, and though I can't find any information on its dimensions it looks to be slightly taller than the Statue of Liberty, though that could just be perspective.

Of course, apart from being a tourist attraction, the Statue of Judgement also serves as a warning to the citizens, a reminder that the Judges are watching them, day and night, and that justice never sleeps. In a way, it's something similar to the huge statue of Saddam Hussein that was pulled down when the Coalition forces invaded in 2003. You would have to assume that, were the Judges ever deposed, this statue would be toppled, seen as a symbol of a brutal oppressive dictatorship, which, let's face it, is pretty much what the Judges became. They may have been voted in by the people, but that was after illegally seizing power and suspending the Constitution. Talkin' bout a revolution? There's always another one down the line.

I AM THE LAW!
As much as Dredd hates lawbreakers, he seems to reserve special contempt for those who try to weasel out of their sentences. Truth be told, he probably has more grudging respect for, or at least affinity with, Ringo than he does with the perp who whines about being forced into the crime. At least Ringo stayed true to his twisted principles, and died for them, probably the way he wanted to, in a blaze of glory. Well, a blaze anyway. Anyone who refuses to face up to their responsibilities and tries to blame others is the lowest of the low in Dredd's book.

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Okay, now that I've started the Judge Dredd series off on a reasonably decent footing, and before we get to the better stories, I'd like to introduce you to another of 2000AD's most famous and successful characters, probably only second in line behind Dredd. Like all or most of the comic's stories, this is set in the future, after a nuclear war has wiped out over seventy percent of Britain's population, in the year 2170. Meet

Strontium Dog
After the war there were of course a lot of mutants, and these were shunned by the normal inhabitants of Earth, whom they came to know as “norms”. With unsettling and disturbing parallels to the Holocaust and the treatment of Jews under Adolf Hiter's Nazi regime, mutants were forbidden to own businesses or work as norms do, and were herded inot ghettos such as the one in Milton Keynes. A war in 2180 assured the mutants of some basic rights, but they were still despised and looked down upon.

For the strongest and bravest there was the Search/Destroy Agency, which operated from a space station called “The Doghouse”. This agency recruited men and women to hunt down criminals throughout the galaxy: bounty hunters, and the toughest of the tough. Because of the links with Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope that had been present in the nuclear fallout and responsible for most if not all of the mutations, S/D agents became known as “Strontium Dogs”.

Johnny Alpha is the greatest of the great among mutants. At age seventeen he ran away from home to join the Mutant Army and helped lead the uprising in 2167, becoming an icon and a figurehead for the mutant cause. His eyes are white, and give him an unnerving appearance. He can read minds and can see through solid walls, and although he naturally takes bounty hunting jobs for the recompense, he is not entirely led by his wallet, and can be merciful or reasoned with on occasion.

Johnny bears some small resemblance to his Mega-City One counterpart, and that's not really too surprising when you realise that the team responsible for Judge Dredd is the same one behind Strontium Dog: John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. In terms of his job, too, though he may do it differently and with often not that much regard for the law, Alpha brings in criminals and ensures they pay for their misdeeds. He wears a helmet and a badge like Dredd, but unlike the Judge his accoutrements are symbols of the hatred people hold for him, not the respect or even fear. People would talk to Dredd --- if they had to or if he spoke to them --- but nobody would speak to a Strontium Dog. They would turn their heads, spit and profess anger that such creatures existed, as if it was the mutants' fault that they had been deformed.

Like much of 2000AD --- though not all of it --- Strontium Dog contained some absolutely top-notch humour, as if Wagner was introducing it to balance out the unremittingly bleak and harsh life of a Strontium Dog, who had nothing to look forward to at the end of his or her life other than most likely an unmarked grave. It worked: the series became one of the most quoted among the fans for its acerbic, cutting, sometimes hilarious black humour. The shadow of racism, xenophobia and prejudice was never far from the storyline though, and many of them featured no humans.

Though bounty hunters traditionally worked alone, or at least with their own kind, Johnny Alpha has a deep friendship with Wulf Sternhammer (usually just Wulf), a huge Scandinavian Viking type figure who is not a mutant, but partners with Johnny due to their mutual regard and respect for each other. Wulf wields a large hammer and tends to use the word “cucumber” a lot. It is from him that much of the humour comes.

Whereas Dredd stays pretty much within the environs of his city, Johnny's work takes him all over the galaxy. It's like the old joke, isn't it: join the S/D Agency. Travel the galaxy. Go to lots of interesting places. Meet lots of interesting people. And arrest them.

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Episode VII: “Antique car heist”

First print date: April 16 1977
Prog appearance: 8
Writer(s): Charles Herring
Artist(s): Massimo Bellardinelli
Total episodes: 1

Who would be bothered stealing a clunky old Morris Minor? Well, in this age probably nobody, but in the twenty-second (almost) century such cars have become so rare that they are not only classics but are considered art. And art theft will always be popular, with the potential it has of a huge return for the criminal who has the proper connections. Thus it is that a perp steals one of these old bangers and is in turn tailed by Dredd, who notes that several “classic” cars have gone missing in the last month. Like in the “Frankenstein 2” story, he wants the criminal to lead him to the nerve centre of the operation. The guy didn't steal the car for a joyride: he obviously knows where to sell it and who will buy it. This is the guy Dredd wants, the mastermind behind the classic car theft ring,


And so he does. The top guy is not happy to see that his flunky has led Dredd right to his door, and tries to shut it in his face, but Dredd blasts the garage door with his Lawgiver. Thinking fast, the criminals blast Dredd with the plastic coating they have been putting on the classic cars so as to disguise them for resale. Dredd reels, and the gang closes in. But as the boss, Krilz, leaves them to deal with the stricken Judge, the criminals decide this is their big chance to see what lies underneath that mirror-visored helmet, to see the face of Judge Dredd. They are horrified by what they see though, and the shock allows Dredd to get the drop on them. Krilz however is making his escape via the Walk-eeze, a fast-moving pedestrian pathway, and waves to Dredd as the platform carries him away at five hundred feet a second. Dredd is unconcerned though, and puts in a call to control, who obligingly reverse the direction of the Walk-eeze, so that it carries the disbelieving perp right back to Dredd.


QUOTES
Dredd: “There's been a lot of art thefts in this sector. Last week a Ford Cortina --- one of only ten left in the world --- and a Cadillac went missing.”
(Gotta like the idea of having an eye on the American market, even so early on. “Cortina?” says the puzzled yank. “Huh? Oh, now Cadillac --- that I understand!”)

Dredd: “Close your door if you like, Krilz, but a high explosive bullet will open it again!”

Gang: “Aargh! What's happened to Dredd's face? It's horrible! With a face like that Dredd shouldn't be allowed to live! Kill him!”

Krilz: “Huh? What's happening? The Walk-eeze, it's ... slowing down ... going backwards! Towards Dredd!”

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

We're all familiar with moving walkways in shopping malls and airports, but they move at a very sedate pace and are of course interior. Mega-City One has just installed its first Walk-Eeze, which is a high-speed pedestrian walkway, presumably for those who wish to move faster than walking but who can't or don't drive or have access to transport. It's an interesting idea, although you would wonder would people eventually do what they do with moving walkways in this century: find them too slow and just walk along them anyway, kind of defeating the purpose for which they were built? Let's see: 500 feet per second is 3000 feet per minute or 18,000 feet per hour. 1,760 feet in a mile so that's approximately ... 17 to 18 miles per hour? That's pretty damn fast! Don't see anyone outpacing that!

Personal note: This appears to be the first, and so far as I can see, only Dredd story written by Charles Herring, and I do not like his style. The dialogue he gives Dredd is totally out of character. Dredd has, up to now, given us the impression of having a hard, clipped tone, sharp, business-like, no nonsense. Here though he speaks in what seems to me a very nineteenth-century English idiom, using “shall” instead of “will” or even contracting the word --- “I shall” instead of “I'll”. He also says “You are under arrest” where he would normally say “You're under arrest”, possibly adding a “creep!” for good measure. No, I don't like his style and I can see why he was not asked to write again. Even the subject matter of the story is old and dusty --- Morris friggin' Minor heist? Do me a lemon! I can see this Herring guy, all tweed jacket and pipe, with a copy of Roget's Thesaurus on his desk, plotting out this story. Stick to the murder mysteries, mate! Your title is crap too: couldn't you come up with something snappier? Here, let me try: um, "The Morris Minor caper"? "Wheels and Rust"? Fuck it, "The Wheels of Justice"! See, it's not so hard.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Once again we see that the writing staff have not decided what Dredd's HQ will be. We've had “Police Control”, “HQ” and now “Law Control.” Still fleshing the idea out. We also see though the first indication that Dredd's Lawgiver (still just referred to as his gun for now) can fire different types of ammunition, as here he uses high-explosive to blow the garage door. Later we will learn the mode is selectable, by voice command.

I'll ask the questions, creep!

What is so horrible underneath Dredd's helmet? The picture in the comic just shows his face with a censored sticker plastered over it, as above. But in the comics there never was, up until the point I stopped reading anyway, any indication that Dredd had suffered, Darth Vader-like, any disfigurement. To my recollection, he just kept his helmet on all the time because he was a tightarse, and to retain the mystique about him. But the perps seem to have seen something awful there. I don't think this was followed up: perhaps they were thinking of going down that road and then changed their minds?

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Episode VIII: “Robots”

First print date: April 23 1977
Prog appearance: 9
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Ron Turner
Total episodes: 1

Man has always found ways to be cruel: to animals, to nature, and when nobody is left, to himself. But now he has a new victim to torment, and one that is sworn and designed never to lift a finger to stop him, even though as an entity it is much stronger and more powerful than he could ever be. Yes folks, in the almost twenty-second century, robots are the new whipping boys. Mechanical slaves who must do as they are bid, as they are ordered, and can never defend themselves or avenge themselves on their human masters. Judges Dredd and Diablo, sent to patrol the Robot of the Year Show, as they have received a threat that if a massive ransom is not paid, there will be serious trouble there, watch the display with growing distaste. For a tough, cynical man, Dredd is moved by the inhumanity of his fellow men towards harmless automatons, bred to serve, bred to work and if necessary bred to die. He foresees a cataclysm “one day”.

Suddenly there is no more time to ruminate on man's cruelty as they hear a disturbance and rush to intercept a man in a flying wheelchair, of all things, who is armed and shooting. Dredd warns him to drop his weapon, but the cripple's chair is protected by bullet-proof glass and the Judges' bullets just bounce off harmlessly. He then releases deadly Myclon gas; Diablo is too slow and goes down but buys time for Dredd to put on his respirator as the place begins to fill with toxic fumes. Protected, but aware that hundreds or thousands of innocent citizens are in danger, Dredd shoots out the dome with a high-ex bullet and the fumes are sucked out into the city, where Mega-City One's air filtration system will take care of them.

Now it's time to catch the perp, and Dredd snatches up a blanket that he dropped in the chaos, and using the exhibition to his advantage he takes it to the new gleaming Police Bloodhound Robot. With the scent in its “nostrils”, the robot takes Dredd on its back and charges off in pursuit of the felon. They catch up with the cripple, and Dredd, desperate to stop his spree, shoots at the robochair, disabling it and causing it to spin down, out of control, till it impacts on the ground. As he looks down on the wreckage, Dredd thinks about the double role robots have played in this little drama: one helped him catch the perp, the other assisted the perp in his crime. How soon, he wonders, before they are all fighting robots?

QUOTES

Robot George: “No, master! Please don't make me do it! George does not want to die!”
Carny: “You can't die if you're not alive George.”
(A rationale that has been, and will be, advanced as an excuse for the maltreatment of robots. Hurting living things is cruel, and wrong of course. But something inanimate? A robot? You might as well say it's cruel to kick your stereo, or slam your oven door. It's just a thing. Isn't it?)

Lady onlooker: “Poor thing. I could almost swear it's crying.”
Carny: “Yes ma'am! Those are real tears! Our new “K” series robots are so real they're almost human! They think, they feel, but they obey!”
(Dear God how monstrous! They actually give the robots feelings, allow them to feel pain and fear, knowing they can do nothing about it. What madman thought that one up? I'm already rooting for the robots to rise up!)

Dredd: “It was a cruel exhibition, Diablo. We give robots the will to live and then expect them to die like willing slaves. It's gonna spell trouble one day.”
(It might seem odd to hear the stony-faced Judge waxing so sympathetic about mere machines, but even he has room in his heart for a little mercy. And he is a champion of the weak, so he can imagine how the robots feel, with no advocate, nobody to speak for them, nobody to protect them. He may be a tough man, but he's fair too, and this is not something he believes is fair. Also he can see trouble brewing, the way only a Judge can.)

Dredd: “I prefer old-fashioned robots. Stupid things with no feelings. They cause no problems.”
(And in a few sentences Dredd kind of undoes all the bleeding-heart work he's done in the previous ones...)

Cripple: “Fire away, Judges! You can't penetrate my bullet-proof shield!”
(Bullet-proof? Somehow you would think that by now, on the very cusp of the twenty-second century, they'd be using lasers? But no: seems the good old bullet is still alive and well and serviceable --- though surely highly upgraded and improved.)

Robot Bloodhound: “Approaching interception point, master. Lawbreaker will exit underpass in exactly four seconds. Am I not clever?”
Dredd: “Just get on with your job, bloodhound!”
(Interesting points here. Firstly, even though it's robotic the bloodhound seems to have been programmed with the dog's innate sense of desire to please, and to receive positive reinforcement. It wants to be told, basically, that it's a “good boy”. Were it not so huge, perhaps it would roll over to have its belly tickled? Dredd shows that he really has little time for robots in his response: he knows that he needs the machine, but he dislikes having to rely on it. He likes it even less that the thing has to talk to him, and wishes it would just do the job for which it was designed. But at the back of it too, anchoring his dislike of the thing is the inescapable understand that without this robot, he would not have been able to track the lawbreaker as well as he has, and he realises that Judges are going to come to rely on these machines. Which to him, is really a step backward. A Judge survives by his wits, his experience and his training, not by riding on the back of some oversized sleigh. But this is the future before him, the future of law enforcement, and he can see why. He doesn't have to like it, but he knows a massive advance in police pursuit when he sees it.)

Robochair (diving out of control to the ground): “I regret that I can serve you no further BZZZZ! Goodbye, master!”
(Even though the chair has been sent to its “death” by its master, it still apologises because it can no longer carry out the function for which it was built. In addition, the chair is blissfully unaware that it is carrying its “master” to his own death. Nothing matters to it but that it has failed, as it sees it, in its duty.)

Dredd: “I would not have caught this lawbreaker without this bloodhoud robot, but that heap of metal down there was a robot too. How long will it be before robots discover how to break the law?”
(Asimov's First Law of Robotics states that no robot can cause a human harm, or, through inaction, allow harm to come to a human. Will this imperative hold when the robots begin to realise there is a way that they can strike back at their masters? Can they break their programming and take revenge for all the years of slavery and ill-treatment at the hands of the humans they serve? This is what Dredd fears, and the vision he has of the future is not in the least encouraging.)

Ch-ch-ch-changes

This is the first time we hear one of the “Dreddwords” I spoke of earlier being used. Judge Diablo says “By Stomm! That robot melted well, Dredd!” I think it was envisioned that Stomm was to be some sort of god or legendary figure, like we'd say “By God” or “By Jesus”, but from what I remember this was quickly dropped and the phrase became a single word, “Stomm!” usually meant as an exclamation of surprise or anger. We'll see if it's used with the preposition again, but I don't think so.

I think, too, though I may be wrong, that this is the first time Dredd has teamed up with another Judge. Up to now, he's always been a lone wolf. Perhaps Diablo was there to forestall any protests that Dredd wouldn't have had time to drop his respirator before the gas got him otherwise.

It's also the first time we're shown that Judges have respirators built into their helmets. In many ways, the uniform of a Judge is more like a suit of armour coupled with a full exoskeleton and mobile arsenal!

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Where all the menial jobs you want done, and all the heavy lifting is performed by robots. They don't come cheap --- the series “K” one at the beginning of the story, the one ordered into the flames --- costs just under 200,000 credits --- and probably not every household has one, but for your larger industrial tasks, robots are not only necessary but vital, and you can bet every major company has some. Of course, we use robots in this century too, and think no more of them than that they are machines, but then, they don't have personalities or feelings. Would you find it so easy to curse your computer if it made a sad face, or to drive your car if it complained of your weight? It's different when these machines can express themselves, talk, show fear or sorrow.

But soon, the robots will show something much more deadly: rage, outrage and a thirst for vengeance. The rise of the machines is not years away, or months. It's just around the corner...

I'll ask the questions, creep!

First I have to ask, why a cripple? It's funny yes, in an oddball way, but why is the guy disabled? Also, what is his beef with the show? Is he some sort of robot activist? And if he has a bullet-proof shield protecting him on the hoverchair, how did the scarf slip out from that? This was Dredd's only way to track the guy, and the fact that it fell out through what is supposed to have been an enclosed bubble is perhaps evidence of bad storywriting.

You also have to wonder: are robots not supposedly programmed to respond to authority? Surely any command its user gives it should be overridden if it's against the law? So that when Dredd roars for the hoverchair to pull over, the robot driving it should heed that call and land. Instead, it continues on its course, ignoring the Judge.

I AM THE LAW!
Dredd worries what will happen if robots begin to break the law? Mega-City One's laws and penal codes are naturally geared towards humans. What use to incarcerate a robot in an iso-cube when a) it could probably escape and b) the imprisonment would have no effect on it. Also robots don't generally die (though they can wear out) so as soon as the term of imprisonment was over the robot would be free to go back to committing crimes. Do they upgrade the penalties, shooting robots who commit any crime? And if so, what possible penalties does the City face from the owners, manufacturers or users of the robots? Do they, perhaps, hold them responsible for the crimes, as parents are often blamed for their children's misdeeds? Or do they try to write up a whole new set of laws to cover robots?

Either way, the paperwork's gonna stink, and every Judge's job is bound to get harder, and more dangerous. Hunting down criminal robots will not be anywhere as easy, or as safe, generally, as hunting down humans.

PCRs
One of the robots, who continues to advertise itself as it is programmed to do, oblivious to the carnage being wreaked around it, is called “The Heavy Metal Kid”. This is a double PCR, as The Heavy Metal Kids were a British hard rock band, and they took their name from a gang in a novel by William Burroughs).

Those clever little touches
Is it coincidence, I wonder, that the gas the cripple releases is called Myclon, very close to Zyklon B, the infamous gas used in the Nazi concentration camps in World War II? Is Wagner here trying to say something, to draw a parallel between the lives robots are forced to live and the victims of the Nazi atrocities, who were forced into slave labour, and given no more thought by their oppressors than we would give an insect? Is he making a comment on slavery in general, or am I just reading too much into things, as usual...?

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Note: This series only began in Prog 86 of 2000AD but had been birthed in its ill-fated younger brother, Starlord, the two comics later merged and Johnny and Wulf, along with a few other strips that survived the death of Starlord, joined the ranks of later to be classic 2000AD heroes. As I have the issues of Starlord to hand, I'm going to start by recounting the stories in that comic, the original, if you will, Strontium Dog strips, up to the point where it crossed over, at which time I will then take the remaining stories from 2000AD.

Episode I: “Max Quirxx, Part One”

First print date: May 13 1978
Reprinted: October 14 1978
Prog appearance: 86, but originally in Starlord Issue 1
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 2

On the planet Caytor, in the Dorian Nebula, Johnny Alpha and his partner Wulf Sternhammer, in pursuit of two criminals in their capacity as bounty hunters, are suddenly attacked by scatterbeams, wide-ranging lasers that mimic the indiscriminate spread of the fire of an automatic machine gun. As the two Search/Destroy agents dive for cover their quarry uses the momentary respite to pull on Chameleon Cloaks, devices which refract light, thus allowing their wearer to blend in with any surroundings; to effectively become invisible. The criminals though have reckoned without Johnny Alpha's mutated eyes, which can see through walls and certainly through one of these devices. Calling out the co-ordinates to his partner he pinpoints the two thugs and the two bounty hunters vapourise them.

The local police, coming upon the incident, are less than pleased to have “Strontium Dogs” among them; seems prejudice is not confined to the environs of Earth. Alpha reminds them that he and Wulf are operating under the aegis of the Search/Destroy Agency, licenced by the Galactic Crime Commission, and that the two guys they have just smoked worked for a multiple murderer on whose trail they are currently. The police are bound, if not to help then certainly not to hinder them, but from the looks they give the two hunters and their attitude, it seems they have more sympathy for the dead men than empathy with the two living ones.

Alpha takes it in his stride: he's used to being called all sorts of names by now, and it rolls off his back like water, but he is concerned about their prey. When one of the officers quips nastily that it's a pity they killed the two thugs, who might have been able to tell the bounty hunters where to find their boss, they are horrified and disgusted to see Alpha use a device that essentially reverses time, in a very specific set space, making one of the bodies come back to life briefly so that the S/D agent can interrogate him. The recently-deceased criminal lies that he doesn't know the whereabouts of his boss, but one look in Johnny's terrifying pale eyes convinces him that he had better tell the truth, and he gives Alpha the location. Satisfied, the bounty hunter lets time flow forward again, as the gunman dies a second death. With the information they require in their hands, and the insults and cries of horror from the cops ringing in their ears, the two men set off to find their prey and bring him in, dead or alive.

QUOTES
Wulf: “Ja! Is gut, Johnny! You gif zem the old evil eye!”

Johnny: “Set blasters to “flesh” and ... fire!”
(There's little mercy wasted on these scum. Phasers on stun? Not in this line of work, pal!)

Caytor Cop 2: “Bloodhounds after blood money! We got a better name for you SDs! Strontium Dogs!”
(How typical that, having forced most of the mutants into a situation wherein they cannot work and must beg to survive, humans (and possibly aliens; prejudice may not be the exclusive pervue of Man) revile the mutants for taking the only job that is available to them. And though the S/D agents do essentially the same work as the cops --- and intend to clear the streets of their city of one more scumbag --- the Caytorians do not see it that way, and there is no way they would extend any sort of courtesy to these men, professional or otherwise.)

Johnny: “Too bad! You're bound by galactic law not to interfere with us!”

Caytor Cop 1: “Too bad you boned 'em, mutie! They might have told you where Quirxx was holed up!”
Johnny: “They'll still tell me!”

Citizen: “Go swallow some cyanide, Stronty!”

Johnny: “People: they're all the same. Why do you stick with me, Wulf? You don't have to be a bounty hunter. You're no mutant.”
Wulf: “Comrades ve are, Johnny. Vere you go, Wulf go.”
(The simple, uncomplicated friendship and respect for each other that makes two men, who should hate or at least avoid each other, band together in the dirtiest, least desired job in the galaxy)

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Where if you're one of the many thousands who were unlucky to be changed by the effects of Strontium-90 in the fallout from the nuclear attack, you're kind of SOL. Nobody will employ you --- by law, they can't --- so you are unable to earn a living. Forced into begging and/or stealing you're going to be an easy target for the hatred rampant across not only Earth, but the entire galaxy. Gone are the days of niggers, wogs and jews: now these very minorities will curse and spit at you as you pass, forgetting that they too endured such treatment in the past, conveniently choosing to fall in with the majority where they once were minorities, hated and despised by those not like them.

But Man has at least by now reached out to the stars, and if you're tough and desperate enough, and good enough, you can make a living chasing down criminals across the galaxy. Oh yeah, there's life out there, and much of it is law-abiding but much of it is not, so you may find yourself chasing alien gangbangers, murderers from distant planets or intergalactic crime lords. These people will think nothing of shooting you down, and even those they oppress and attack will, if forced to, root for them rather than you. Yeah, they'd prefer to see the criminal escape and the bounty hunter dead.

So if you want to be a Search/Destroy Agent, you had better put on your toughest skin and narrow your eyes, close your ears to the incessant insults and deathwishes directed against you. Make sure your back is protected and keep your weapon handy, because the life of a Strontium Dog is neither glamorous nor easy, and in most cases, very brief.

Tools of the trade

Any craftsman relies on his tools, so much more so when they may be the difference between you living and dying. When a gadget is your only hope for survival, in this galaxy you need all the help you can get. In this section I'll be telling you about the tools a Strontium Dog has at his disposal, and how they help him survive just one more day.

Time Drogue: This is an invention that isolates a very small space around the user and causes time to flow backwards, to the point where he wishes it to stop. In practice, this means that a recently dead man can be, as he is here, reanimated, the flesh literally crawling back onto the bones of the skeleton, to allow the agent to question him. Of course, such reversals of time eat up a lot of power and are contrary to the laws of physics, so they can only be used for a short time. But a short time is usually all that's needed, and a bounty hunter is used to working within a tight window of opportunity.

Chameleon Cloak: A wearable device that bends or refracts light around itself, allowing for the illusion of invisibility. What this means is that the wearer can blend into any background, which makes it look as if he is not there.

The Powers that be

Many mutants have no powers --- these are not, after all, the X-Men! ---- but some do, and in this section I'll be pointing out when they do, and how they use them.

Johnny Alpha's main power is in his eyes. They appear white and pupil-less, but emit alpha waves which allow him to see through things --- buildings, people --- if and when he wishes. He can even see into a man's mind, and decipher the complex brainwaves there, to determine whether or not he is telling the truth. A human (!) lie detector.

Messages
Like Judge Dredd, and other 2000AD (and indeed, Starlord) series, Strontium Dog carries with it powerful messages. The most important and most prevalent of these being that, no matter the planet or the galaxy, man's inhumanity to man knows no bounds. Where once it was a case of colour, or race, or nationality, now men discriminate on the grounds of whether you are a mutant (mutie) or not (norm). Setting aside the fact that nobody chose to become mutated, and that their very own laws brought them to where they are now, “norms” see “muties” as dirty, unprincipled, untrustworthy and basically subhuman. They are reviled wherever they go, even if they go there to help. They are seen as mercenaries, for hire to the highest bidder, which is about as far from the truth as you can get.

Strontium Dogs are employed by the Search/Destroy Agency, an arm of the Galactic Crime Commission, and they take their jobs very seriously. They do not go out looking for bounties; they are assigned them when they check in at the base. They do not sell out their commissions, they do not take bribes. They do not look the other way. In many ways, they're almost as tough on crime and as dedicated to their careers as the Judges are, and it's as unlikely to find a corrupt one as it would be to countenance the idea of a Judge taking backhanders. It just doesn't happen.

But norms don't see this, or choose not to see it, and consider Johnny and his kind to be the lowest of the low. Oddly, though they get insulted and snarled at everywhere they go, Strontium Dogs do not seem to react or respond to their baiters. Perhaps there's a clause in their contract that they can't attack someone against whom they have no commission, and after all it would be seen as breaking the law. But you'd think that from time to time a particularly nasty norm could be taken to one side and given a few digs? I guess the mutants want to stay away from anything that might give the norms an excuse to believe they are right about them, and that they're all scum. No point in pouring fuel on the fire.

But Wagner also gives us reason to have hope, as Wulf, who is not mutated in any way, chooses to partner Johnny, simply because they are friends and the big Viking has respect for Johnny. He's a huge man, and I guess few if any insults come his way, because he doesn't look like the kind of man who would just stand there and take it, and that hammer he wields? It looks mean, man!

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Episode II: “Max Quirxx, Part Two”

First print date: May 20 1978
Reprinted: October 21 1978
Prog appearance: 87, but originally in Starlord Issue 2
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 2

Johnny and Wulf catch up with Max Quirxx, but he seems to have known they were coming, and escapes out the window, firing at them. He then takes a woman and child in a nearby apartment hostage. Johnny knows that Quirxx wiped out a whole city when he didn't get what he wanted, so the lives of two people are nothing to him. He knows he has to move fast, and using his uncanny alpha vision to see through the wall of the apartment, he locates the terrified hostages, noting that they are far enough from his quarry for him to do what he must do. As Wulf lays down covering fire, Johnny throws a Time Bomb in through the window. This isolates the area in which Quirxx is standing and moves the whole region two days forward in time. By then, the planet has moved on in its orbit, and the hostage-taker reappears in empty space. He does not survive long enough to understand what has happened, but the woman and child are safe, and Johnny and Wulf's job has been done.

But if they're expecting thanks they're to be disappointed, as the woman lives up to the general expectations of those the Strontium Dogs deal with every day. Even though Johnny and Wulf saved her life, she snarls when she sees Johnny is a mutant and pulls her child away, as if she might catch something. The child, however, thanks Johnny, which is certainly a welcome change for the mutant. As the Caytor cops spit abuse at them as they leave the planet, their task accomplished, their assignment carried out, Johnny sighs at the attitude of people and as they pass a mutant beggar he takes the wad of cash they have made and deposits it all in the medicant's begging bowl. At least one of his brothers will eat well tonight!

QUOTES
Johnny: “Surrender, Quirxx! We don't want to kill you unless we have to. We'll send you back to Bario-3 to appeal sentence.”
Quirxx: “Get lost, doggy! I wiped out one of their cities with a P-bomb when a little blackmail deal went wrong! They'd laugh me all the way to the vapour chamber!”

Cop: “Men --- if I can call you that --- for years criminals have escaped punishment by hiding in far corners of the galaxy. As Search/Destroy Agents, your job will be to bring them to justice. Frankly, I didn't want to licence freaks like you, but no decent man wants to hunt his brother for money!”
(Hasn't this guy ever heard of bounty hunters back on Earth? Men have always hunted each other for money!)

Robocomp: “Your child has missed four days of pre-conditioning school, Citizen 73826522. Explain!”
Mother: “Well, sir, I --- EEEE!” (As Quirxx jumps in, gun in hand)
Quirxx: “You and the kid --- over in that corner! And stay there!”
Robocomp: “You are interrupting, Citizen! Please make an appointment through the normal channels!”

Woman: “Oh thank you! You saved our lives! I don't know what I --- UGGH! Your eyes! You're a mutant! (to child) Come along Sharon! Don't talk to that man! He's one of those nasty Strontium Dogs!”
Sharon: “No! (to Johnny) Thank you, Mr. Strontium! Mummy doesn't like you, but I think you're a nice man.”
Johnny: “Thanks yourself kid. But if you take my advice you won't go starting any fan club: complete waste of time!”
(What a bitch! Even after Johnny and Wulf have saved her skinny arse, she STILL spouts prejudice and racial hatred at Johnny. I suppose you could say that, had it not been for the two bounty hunters she would not have been taken prisoner in the first place, but even so, you'd think the cow would show a little gratitude. You would think an incident like this might open her eyes, but they're as narrowed as any of the citizens here, and elsewhere. Johnny must wonder why he bothers...)

Tools of the trade

Time Bomb: Rather than the conventional device-ticking-down-to-explosion we're used to, this is a specialised weapon utilised by Strontium Dogs. Somewhat like the Time Drogue in the last episode, it allows time to move, but can be set for a specific length of time. Johnny sets it for two days into the future, by which time the planet has moved in its orbit and the space that Quirxx has been occupying is empty space. See "Houston, we have a problem!" below for more.

Messages
Although Wagner's central theme in this series is the prejudice and hatred directed against the mutants, we see here that there is again a sliver of hope. If a child like Sharon can go against her mother's wishes, seeing no reason to hate this man and every reason to like him, and to thank him for their rescue, then maybe, just maybe she may grow up to be someone who will have a little more tolerance towards the Strontium Dogs, remember she was saved by one once, and perhaps she can carry this experience on to her own children, so that one day, at least a part of the population of this planet may no longer hate the mutants. It may be a small step, but could very well be a huge one in the grand scheme of things.

We also see, at the end, that though Johnny and Wulf are villifed for their profession, and the cops sneer that they work for blood money, they are not that mercenary, as Johnny decides that the payment for this job leaves a bad taste in his mouth, and agrees that they can do without it, giving it instead to a begging mutant, who will certainly be most pleasantly surprised when he lifts his head and looks into his bowl. Johnny does what he can to lighten the burden of his fellow mutants, never forgetting that not every one of them can be a Strontium Dog, and that for those to whom this avenue is closed off, life is hard, brutal and often short.

Show no mercy?
Although Strontium Dogs have a terrible reputation, and they certainly can kill, and are authorised to do so in some cases, there seems to exist a certain amount of leeway as to how they carry out their commission. The old western epithet “wanted dead or alive” can often apply, and here we see that, though Johnny and Wulf have a Termination Warrant, which allows them to, if they deem it necessary, execute Quirxx, they give him the option of surrender. If he does, they will take him back to the planet to which he is to be extradited, there to appeal against his sentence. One can only assume he skipped bail after having been tried and found guilty. Still, considering what he's supposed to have done you would wonder that he wasn't sentenced to death, and the planet has the death penalty obviously, as he mentions the Vapour Chamber.

But all that notwithstanding, and leaving aside the fact that Johnny would probably be happy to kill Quirxx for what he has done, chances are that the people he killed were norms, so maybe he does not care too much about them, being a mutant. But then, he goes out of his way to make sure that two innocents --- both norms --- are not harmed, so he obviously does not lower himself to their level. Anyway, Quirxx spurns the opportunity to give himself up and instead earns himself a cold and quick death, which is probably what he deserved. Still, the fact remains that Johnny gave him a chance, a choice, which is probably more than Max Quirxx gave the citizens of that city he says he bombed.

Houston, we have a problem!

I have always had a hard time understanding the logic behind the Time Bombs. To me, time travel, if ever feasible, would have to take into account the movement and rotation of the Earth. After all, you don't want to go 100 years into the future but find you're in Antartica, or the Sahara Desert! So surely if you move in time you also move in space, as Einstein proved that they are actually one interlinked entity known as spacetime? The idea, therefore, of the planet moving on and a person travelling in time finding themselves no longer on the planet has fucked my mind for decades. I even tried to work out the orbit of the Earth last night and it seems it moves a complete orbit in about seven minutes, but how do you know which of those seven minutes two days into the future encompasses? Couldn't you as easily be lucky enough to land at the moment when the Earth is coming back around for its latest seven-minute pass?

I'll never get it, but John Wagner was the only one who put forward this theory. Of course, it was conveniently ignored in any of his other strips, including Judge Dredd, and was only here for the purposes of legitimising the Time Bomb, but to this day I still can't figure out if his logic is sound, or if he was just screwing with us as kids to try to confuse us and make his story work. Anyone wants to weigh in on this topic, feel free.

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