Judge Dredd comics, American style
When Judge Dredd led the charge across the ocean in 1983, few of us had a clue how deep and heavy the impact would be. As more 2000AD material caught fire, American readers and publishers alike took notice of how smart and progressive British comics had become. Eager to increase their competitive edge against Marvel, DC Comics lured many of the top British writers and artists to American titles, leading to a significant revolution with such titles as Watchmen, the Vertigo line, and many more.
We’ve already seen what happened when Eagle Comics entered the US market. When 2000AD itself followed as a regular import, it was only a matter of time before Judge Dredd himself was licensed for comics made in the US for American readers. Below is a substantial sampling of what has been produced since the damn broke.
(And click here to read the article in Amazing Heroes as teased above.)
DC Comics
Judge Dredd official movie adaptation, 1995
Almost a word-for-word adaptation of the script from the Stallone Dredd film, this one gets a surprisingly authentic pedigree from the presence of Carlos Ezquerra, the first artist to visualize the character for 2000AD. Thus, when the helmet comes off, we get as close as we ever will to seeing what lies underneath. Yeah, it’s Ezquerra’s caricature of Stallone, but STILL…
The dark knight and the lawman of the future have met no less than four times (mixing like oil and water), each of which was written by Dredd creators John Wagner and Alan Grant, and drawn by a different British artist.
Rebellion
Underbelly (one-shot) Jan 2014
There wasn’t a corresponding adaptation of the 2013 Dredd movie starring Karl Urban, but Rebellion (2000AD‘s publisher) produced a sequel in the American format to capitalize on it. Other comics related to the film were published in Britain.
IDW Publishing
The first monthly series created entirely by Americans for the US market. (It was presumably exported to Britain as well.) 30 issues were published from November 2012 to May 2015 with a few mini-series on the side.
Judge Dredd Year One (4 issues) March-July 2013
Mars Attacks Judge Dredd (4 issues) Sep-Dec 2013
Judge Dredd Mega-City Two, City of Courts (5 issues) Jan-May 2014
Rogue Trooper (4 issues) Feb-May 2014
IDW/Dark Horse
Predator vs Judge Dredd vs Aliens (4 issues) July 2016 – June 2017
