Academy of Law - Judge's training school, Mega-city one
Training a Judge takes fifteen long, hard years and many of the entrants to the Academy of Law never it to the streets of Mega-city One as a full Judge. Cadets are either cloned from proven genetic stock or enter the Academy at the age of five or under. They are then expected to learn the basics of law enforcement very quickly and any quickly and any failing during their rigorous training is likely to lead to expulsion. It is therefore quite some achievement for a Cadet just to reach Rookie Judge status and given his or her half eagle or half eagle and white helmet.
Cadet Judges attend regular classes on all aspects of policing and controlling a 22nd Century Megalopolis. Both practical and mental skills are vital to their progress at the Academy, so they are subjected to continual assessment by their Judge-Tutors.
The Academy of Law is a self-contained environment for prospective Judges - affording them somewhere to live, train both physically and mentally, and to be tested. .. up to a point. Cadet Judges do, however, have to go outside in groups for their Hot-dog Run and, of course, Rookie Judges must pass a "final street test" before they can graduate. Only when they have satisfied a serving Judge that they can handle themselves on the streets of Mega-City One can a Rookie leave the Academy with his or her black helmet and full eagle.
Introduced: 2000AD Prog 27

Blitz Agencies - Contact Killers
Mob "Blitzers" in Mega-City One have a strict code of honour - once a contact has been taken out on someone's life it cannot be cancelled, whatever the circumstances. Also, for the protection of a Blitz Agency, all their professional hitmen must consent to having a "suicide box" fitted into their bodies, before he is expected as a 'Blitzer'. The box is sensitive to emotional changes and prevents a Blitzer from surrendering to the Judges by blowing him up, thereby preventing comprising information about the Agency being passed on at the same time.
Introduced: 2000AD Prog 215

Block War - Conflict: Inter-Block War, Mega-City One
In an overcrowded city like Mega-city One, tensions and rivalry between neighbouring City Blocks are inevitable and, very occasionally, these feeling spill over into full-scale wars. Because each City Block is an independent unit in its own right, a sense of patriotism is often attached to them by their residents and wars can break out with "enemy Blocks" over the most trivial matters. For the Judges, a Block War is one of the toughest situations to police, simply because there are usually so many people involved and arrests generally have to be made in vast numbers before things can be properly cooled down and peace restored.
Introduced: 2000AD Prog 182

Cal-Hab - Basically Scotland in the Judge Dredd time-period. Council of Five - Five Senior Judges, The deputy Chief Judge, plus the Special Judicial Squad, Psi-Divison and Tek-divison, along with other senior judge, would who collectively have the power to over-rule the Chief Judge if needs be, it is was disbanded on a few occasions but recently re-instated to deal with the McGruder Affair.

Cubes - prison
Mega-city one with its extremely high prison populated ( as Dredd said "90% of the citizens will commit a crime sometime their lives" ) needs many massive prison blocks that become part of the cityscape. Also for extreme psychopaths are the Psycho-cubes" where each prisoner is kept in strict isolation also Cyro-cubes for prisoners in suspended animation

Cursed Earth - Location: Atomic wasteland, former U.S.A. heartland.
Following the Atomic Wars of 2070 most of the U.S.A. became a nuclear wasteland. With only the three Mega-Cities surviving, the remainder of the country became known as the "Cursed Earth". Although considered unfit for human habitation, the Cursed Earth is populated by all manner of creatures, scraping a living in a tough environment. Since the Atomic Wars, genetic mutations appeared, but mutants are banned from living in the cities, so they are forced to make their homes there. The area is largely deindustrialized and the communities are mostly poor, rural groupings, often dominated by quasi-religious doctrine. In most extreme cases, these communities become cults well enough organised to threaten Mega-City One as a revenge for the way the city has treated the outcasts.

Drokk! - Mega-city curse
Swearwords such as this had to be invented to replace those that would bring on the censors. The creators of 2000ad were previously trouble with censors over violence and language in the 70's comic ACTION.

Lawgiver Gun - The weapon of choice for Judges, deadly mutli-faced weapon, featuring manual and automatic focusing and targeting, plus in-built its operation. It can only be operated by its designated Judge owner, whose palm print is programmed into the gun's computer memory.
The gun has a maximum range of up to three miles and six distinct settings: HEAT SEEKER - a general purpose shell, propelled by the unstable element, 'Agron 286'; Ricochet - a rubber missile, intended for human targets; INCENDIARY ; ARMOUR-PIERCING; GRENADE; and HIGH EXPLOSIVE - even more powerful than the Grenade settings.
Introduced in Prog 2

Lawmaster Bike - Very high-powered, fast and manoeuvrable, the Lawmaster Bike provides the Judges of Mega-City One with an efficient and adaptable method of transport, as well as a mobile stockpile of equipment and weaponry. It comes with a Synitron audio on-board computer, a Cyclops Phylon TX laser cannon, an ammunition and stores pod and a personnel scatter gun, kept in and in-built holster. The Bike is tremendously powerful, boasting a Norton 4000cc engine, and it also benefits from having bullet-proof, all weather tyres.

SIMP - Variation on simpleton, In mega-city One a simp is one of the growing number, who wear ridiculous combinations of items and say stupid things like 'Clip-Clop' every five seconds.

Perp. - Criminal
Short for 'perpetrator of a crime', in Mega-city one, judges have the right to decide for the spot if you are the perp. at which time term "Creep" is more frequently used.

SJS - Special Judicial Squad
The 'Judges who judge the Judges', internal affairs department.

Titan - The satellite of Jupiter which was turned into a prison world for all Mega-City One Judges. Standard sentence for crimes committed by Judges is a Twenty year stretch of Forced labour mining in a extremely lethal atmosphere, only severe bio-engineering enabled to work in this environment. Turning the prisoners into a sort of cyborg. Prison revolt lead by Judge Grice and blows up the moon unpon escape in 2116 (in the built-up to the '93 Dredd epic, inferno). No sign of a replacement yet.. but continues have importance as place Joe Dredd sent his brother Rico.

Mega-City One | Profiles


Shok!
One of Walter's robo-tales ( Scripted by Steve MacManus/Kevin O'Neill & Art by
Kevin O'Neill ) that was the basis for the British science-fiction film "Hardware" ten years it was published in the Judge Dredd Annual 1981 ( reprinted in Prog. 614 )

TV advert - twice 2000AD has been TV advertisted anybody had them on tape?
The first issue got a big launch with free gifts, and the ne Dan Dare grabbing headlines.
Prog 889 (7th March 1994) had a short ad (15 seconds?) of Armoured Gideon stomping around in bad anmation. (not a patch on something like "Murphy's Stout" manga style advert.)

Judge Dredd : Movie
The only 2000AD related movie, released in 1995. With great hope,hype and build up. Sylvester Stallone was to become Judge Dredd But stands one of biggest Hollywood flops ever! (The Video did well in the UK, but worldwide success was needed to break even).
Among the many mistakes in the film was leaving Stallone take off his helmet something Dredd would Never do and letting scripting to taken away from the creators of Judge Dredd, it was the "wrong" story as John Wagner said.

The start of the movie was brilliant using many of the 2000AD covers that initially got most readers attention, but the script of the movie changed the vision of Mega-city one too much. ( Like having Dredd and Ferggie going to 'Aspen prison' instead Ferggie going to one of the ominous and ever-present 'Cubes' and Dredd being a judge should have gone to 'Titan'.. anyway isn't Aspen in the Rockies quite a long haul for any prison sentence ).
Although the movie was visually excellent mainly thanks to Kevin Walker and Chris Halls, the start made good use of the many excellent JD covers over the previous eighteen years (Although this is not as effective on the small-screen). It could be said it was a decent sci-fi movie, but it did not do Judge Dredd any justice, a makes other 2000AD movies less likely.


Judge Dredd : The Mega-history,THE UNTOLD STORY
by Colin M. Jarman and Peter Acton published by Lenard Publishing
This book 146page explains the long and convoluted story ISBN 1 85291 128 X

Index

  • An excellent and revealing account of the creation of Judge Dredd and 2000ad, with all those involved giving their 'two-cents'
  • The history after Prog 1. takes the most important Judge Dredd up to '92 with Judgement on Gotham, Judgement Day and America.
  • Previously unpublished artwork by Carlos Ezquerra, Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland. ( original censored material such as Bolland's 'Dredd End' and Mike McMahon's 'Bloodsuckers', which were supposed to appear in Prog 500 ). Also a censored Jack Adrian Judge Dredd script from 1976!
  • The censorship battles, The royalties issue are also discussed
  • Unfortunately since this the book was published in early 1995, the effect of the Judge Dredd: Movie, DC Comics' Dredd and Lawman of the future could not be looked at. Also in the last couple of years stories such as 'The Pit' and 'Beyond the Call of Duty' have developed Dredd further. And what the creators opinions on the Megazine saga? .....hopefully there will be a second edition (or volume)


    Tharg's head Revisited
    For prog. 500 (twenty weeks short of the tenth anniversary of 2000AD) a special feature, where some of most important creators of 2000AD were let loose.

    It meant to be critical, and the resulting 5 page is the self-critizing ever published in 2000AD. And they are created are by...
    Creators
    Title
    Featuring/Notes
    Pat Mills & Dave Gibbons- Dan Dare III, Rogue Trooper, Mr S. Mr L.
    Alan Moore & Ian GibsonBook 4
    [GIF, 2468x1216x2]
    featuring Halo Jones, Robo-Hunter (last Alan Moore in 2000AD)
    Mike McMahon & Pat Millsfeaturing Hammerstein & Ro-Jaws. Replacement for the Mike Mahon's IPC censored contribution 'Bloodsuckers' (GIF 2150x2565x2, 220kB) (which is what the groups of characters are reading at the end of the replacemnt strip)
    Alan McManus/Simon Geller & Cam KennedyCaptain DollarRogue Trooper brings 4 ex-2000AD droids to the firing squad for desertion!?
    Kevin O'Neill & Pat MillsNemesis, Metoliz, Ro-Jaws, Bonjo etc.Tharg and Kevin O'Neill discussing artistic license (includes mention of O'Neill banned art)
    Brian BollandThe Dredd EndAs well as Mike McMahon's entry getting stopped, was Brian Bolland's Dredd End which appeared in Judge Annual 1989 after much doctoring.
    Compare the original (103kB GIF) with the published version (103kB GIF) The Dredd End
    The situation with the creators credit and royalities is now a better state, proved by the return of so many the orginal creators for
    Prog 2000. and the first creator owned series in 2000AD.