Always did love the strip where a candy inventor created a new candy that didn't have any sugar (sugar being illegal in MegaCity One) but was almost addictive in it's deliciousness
The candy maker wasn't breaking any laws, nor was his product intended to cause any strife or violence amongst the populace
Flummoxed by what he should do in this situation, Judge Dredd and the rest of the judges decided to launch him into space for the rest of his life
From what I remember Judge Dredd is all over the fucking place with what it's trying to say. Like some of it's a piss-take on American superheroes and particularly Batman, some of it's a general satire of an automated industrial welfare state, some of it's commentary about how inhumanly incorruptible someone would have to be to responsibly wield the sort of power that police have, and some seems to be playing Dredd as a ruthless antihero who "makes hard, but right, choices." And that's even before you get to the long arcs that are like "what if Judge Dredd was in a post-apocalyptic desert?" or "what if Judge Dredd was in space?" that are generally weird but usually portray him unambiguously positively from what I remember.
Like on the one hand you have a character that unquestioningly enforces accountability for himself and other Judges (including one gag where he arrests himself for a petty noise violation on Christmas), frequently goes after the ruling class for their corruption and the abuses they inflict on the public, tries to non-violently deescalate violent situations involving people suffering from mental health crises, and declares that sapient non-humans have rights and can't be farmed like livestock, and on the other hand you have a character that actively commits genocide against the Soviet Union, ruthlessly enforces arbitrary rules, frequently massacres people, and violently upholds the house of cards that is Mega-City One's capitalist welfare state.
So in some story arcs he's written as a genuinely good character who seeks to preserve the safety and wellbeing of sapient beings regardless of what the law says, in some arcs he's a satire pointing out how incorruptible someone would have to be to wield the sort of power that law-enforcement or fictional vigilantes have, and in some arcs he's a complete monster but the story tries to justify it.
From what I remember, Judge Dredd is also pretty unique in comics in that everything that is made about the character occurs in the same canon. So there's no reboots, retcons etc
There's a documentary about writing Dredd that's meaningful for a significant amount of the run. Like I said the rules were Dredd is the villain but he's also the hero. I think they got bought up at some point but when that was I can't remember
Judge Dredd is so misunderstood. The writing rules were Dredd is the villain but he's the hero.
Always did love the strip where a candy inventor created a new candy that didn't have any sugar (sugar being illegal in MegaCity One) but was almost addictive in it's deliciousness
The candy maker wasn't breaking any laws, nor was his product intended to cause any strife or violence amongst the populace
Flummoxed by what he should do in this situation, Judge Dredd and the rest of the judges decided to launch him into space for the rest of his life
Did they send him cheesy movies?
The worst they could find
La la la
From what I remember Judge Dredd is all over the fucking place with what it's trying to say. Like some of it's a piss-take on American superheroes and particularly Batman, some of it's a general satire of an automated industrial welfare state, some of it's commentary about how inhumanly incorruptible someone would have to be to responsibly wield the sort of power that police have, and some seems to be playing Dredd as a ruthless antihero who "makes hard, but right, choices." And that's even before you get to the long arcs that are like "what if Judge Dredd was in a post-apocalyptic desert?" or "what if Judge Dredd was in space?" that are generally weird but usually portray him unambiguously positively from what I remember.
Like on the one hand you have a character that unquestioningly enforces accountability for himself and other Judges (including one gag where he arrests himself for a petty noise violation on Christmas), frequently goes after the ruling class for their corruption and the abuses they inflict on the public, tries to non-violently deescalate violent situations involving people suffering from mental health crises, and declares that sapient non-humans have rights and can't be farmed like livestock, and on the other hand you have a character that actively commits genocide against the Soviet Union, ruthlessly enforces arbitrary rules, frequently massacres people, and violently upholds the house of cards that is Mega-City One's capitalist welfare state.
So in some story arcs he's written as a genuinely good character who seeks to preserve the safety and wellbeing of sapient beings regardless of what the law says, in some arcs he's a satire pointing out how incorruptible someone would have to be to wield the sort of power that law-enforcement or fictional vigilantes have, and in some arcs he's a complete monster but the story tries to justify it.
From what I remember, Judge Dredd is also pretty unique in comics in that everything that is made about the character occurs in the same canon. So there's no reboots, retcons etc
There's a documentary about writing Dredd that's meaningful for a significant amount of the run. Like I said the rules were Dredd is the villain but he's also the hero. I think they got bought up at some point but when that was I can't remember