Posted on May 16, 2025

Judge Dredd Megazine 345-380

The cover price migrated up from £5.60 to £5.99, but the format during this run was as stable as could be with four main story slots (one for Dredd, two or three from Dredd’s world and sometimes one independent) and a smattering of articles that included writer/artist interviews, movie and pop culture reviews, promotion for indie comics, prose stories, and more.

For my money, the standout strip was Lawless, which debuted in issue 350. Set on a wild west town on a frontier planet, its main character Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson struggles with one crazy challenge after another, written by Dan Abnett and exquisitely drawn by Phil Winslade. It proved popular enough to endure, and is still getting installments today.

One interesting experiment was to create comic sequels to the 2012 Dredd movie. The same was attempted with the Stallone film, resulting in a separate magazine (for kids) called Lawman of the Future, but the more limited approach felt like a balanced response to the reception of the second film. Another addition this time was the return of Thrill Power Overload in issue 376. This series of articles previously covered the first 30 years of 2000AD with loads of trivia and backstage gossip, up to 2007. Now that the comic was heading into its 40th anniversary (2017) there were ten more years to document.

And last but not least, it was always a delight to get an occasional cover by a 2000AD veteran.