HELLBOUND COMICS Modern & Collectibles Comics

Ennis Glenn Fabry

Ennis Glenn Fabry

Judge Death

Origins and history

The full story of his journey from being Sidney De'ath, the son of a sadistic traveling dentist, to his incarnation as a creature of pure evil is recounted in the Judge Dredd Megazine series Young Death - Boyhood of a Super-Fiend and given extra detail by Anderson: Psi Division - Half Life. A young sadist thrilled by inflicting pain, Sidney would soon go on to murder three bullies from his school. He joined the Judges in order to be able to kill people legally, gaining the nickname 'Judge Death' for his hard-line stance on executing all lawbreakers.

The psychopathic and obsessive Judge shortly afterwards encountered the witches Phobia and Nausea, the "Sisters of Death," who he saw as a means to achieve his vision of total justice - the complete extermination of all life. He reasoned that since all crime is committed by the living, therefore life itself is a crime. Hence the monster's catchphrase: "The crime is life, the sentence is death!" Using their dark magic, he had himself transformed into the unstoppable undead Judge Death. Along with the isters of Death and his fellow Dark Judges, he wiped his world clean of all life.

Once that was done, he left eadworld and crossed dimensions to reach Mega-City One. His body was destroyed after his first massacre in 2102, and his spirit took control of Judge Anderson in an attempt to rebuild it. He ended up trapped, but the other three Dark Judges arrived to free him and together they slaughtered thousands of citizens. He and his cohorts struck several times, causing great carnage each time, but they were always defeated by the Judges Dredd and Anderson. Eventually the Sisters of Death, now spectral beings, arrived in Mega-City One and along with the Dark Judges, they enslaved the judges, conquered the city and created their "Necropolis" - a horror that took the lives of 60 million people.

Necropolis failed and Judge Death soon ended up as the only Dark Judge left free in this world. Inevitably he too was eventually captured, after jumping across dimensions to Gotham City. He would break loose on several occasions afterwards, being recaptured each time. In his final escape in 2124, he managed to keep his escape secret for a while and then lured Anderson into a trap by murdering children. Catching Anderson unawares, he put her in a coma so she couldn't stand against him - he also infected her with a pestilence spirit so that when she woke up a great plague would be unleashed. Anderson, warning herself via a hallucination of herself around during Death rise, purposely remained in her coma.

Death went out into the Cursed Earth, slaughtering as he went and re-evaluating his cause and methods. He decided that Weapons of Mass Destruction were the most effective way to achieve his ends and went on a quest to find them. Using a bunker full of nuclear weapons, he destroyed Las Vegas and tried to destroy Mega City One, but was stopped by the city's anti-missile system. The judges, believing it was just an old bunker becoming active, fired "bunker buster" missiles at him destroying his body releasing his spirit into the astral plane, whereupon he was attacked by Houcus Ritter, a man whose family he had killed when he first entered the Cursed Earth. Houcus had been in Las Vegas when it had been destroyed and had become an angel. He beat Death to the ground then opened a pit leading to hell. Death was then dragged into Hell by the vengeful ghosts of all those he had killed.

Whether this was the final end of Judge Death remains to be seen.

Changing attitudes to Death

The representation of Judge Death in the Judge Dredd and related comic strips has changed somewhat in character over the years. In his first appearances his image was dark, sinister and menacing. However, later stories have tended to present him in a much more humorous light. For instance, in the Judge Dredd/Batman crossover graphic novel Judgement on Gotham, Death was used as a practically comical figure. John Wagner decided to rectify this in the solo Death story My Name Is Death, and while later strip The Wilderness Days added humour to Death's tale, he was still a menacing and unstoppable killer; Alan Grant's Half Life, released at the same time, also treated Death as pure, unstoppable evil.

Judge Death's appearance

Judge Death appears in something close to a Judge's helmet, though its modified visor resembles a portcullis. Many 2000 AD illustrations make use of the visor as a visual shorthand for Judge Death. His mouth is pulled into a toothy rictus. On his right shoulder is a pterosaur, as opposed to the Judges' eagles. His left shoulder pad and elbow pads are festooned with bones. His tunic is fastened with crude stitches rather than a zipper, and his badge and belt buckle are shaped like a human skulls with extended fangs, the latter with bat wings.

Alternative version

Following the release of the Judge Dredd movie, a comic set in its continuity, entitled Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future, was published, and soon featured a story introducing this continuity's version of Judge Death. He remains a death-dispensing monster from another dimension, but in this storyline, he is actually an alternate-dimension incarnation of Dredd himself, who died in the line of duty, but was supernaturally resurrected through his undying desire to dispense justice.

Powers and abilities

Judge Death is a spirit inhabiting a corpse. The body itself is very difficult to hurt, as damage inflicts no disabilities unless appropriately severe (severing a limb or burning him, for example) and the dead flesh cannot feel pain. If the host body is destroyed then Death spirit can escape and possess living humans. Death, usually with the help of another, prepares the new host body by using a mixture of chemicals to decay the flesh and let the body reach full ripeness. In Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham, Scarecrow helps Death with this task.

Death always kills his victims in particularly gruesome ways. His main way of killing people is to thrust his razor sharp fingers into the body of his victim and then squeeze the heart until it bursts, aided by the fact he can "phase" through physical matter like a ghost.

Cultural references

Depeche Mode member Martin Gore has been photographed wearing a Judge Death t-shirt.

Thrash metal band Anthrax used an image of Judge Death on their 2006 bandshirt for their "cursed earth" tour and on concert t-shirts for their 1987 "Among the Living" tour.

Alien Sex Fiend lead singer Nik Fiend frequently wore a Judge Death t-shirt, and was also depicted wearing one in the many advertisements the band placed in 2000 AD during the eighties and nineties.

Bibliography

Judge Dredd

"Judge Death" (by John Wagner and Brian Bolland, 2000 AD #149-151, 1980)

"Judge Death Lives" (by John Wagner, Alan Grant and Brian Bolland, 2000 AD #224-228, 1981)

"Behold The Beast" (by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, Judge Dredd Annual 1983, 1982)

Anderson, Psi-Division

"Revenge" (by Alan Grant (writer) and Brett Ewins and Cliff Robinson (artists), 2000 AD #416-427, 1985; story also called "Four Dark Judges" in reprints)

Judge Dredd

"Aftermath Ron Reagan" (by John Wagner and Alan Grant (writers) and Ian Gibson (artist), 2000 AD #420, 1985)

"House of Death" (by John Wagner and Pat Mills (writers) and Bryan Talbot (artist), Dice Man #1, 1986)

Anderson, Psi-Division

"Beyond the Void" (by Alan Grant and Mick Austin, 2000 AD #612-613, 1989)

Judge Dredd

"Dear Annie" (by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, 2000 AD #672-673, 1990)

"Necropolis" (by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, 2000 AD #674-699, 1990)

"The Theatre of Death" (by John Wagner and Ron Smith, 2000 AD #700-701, 1990)

Young Death: Boyhood of a Superfiend (by John Wagner and Peter Doherty, Judge Dredd Megazine volume 1 #1-12, 1990-91; collected in Young Death: Boyhood of a Superfiend, May 2008, ISBN 190543765X)

Judge Dredd

"Return Of The King" (by Garth Ennis and Carlos Ezquerra, 2000 AD #733-735, 1991)

Batman / Judge Dredd

"Judgement on Gotham" (by John Wagner and Alan Grant (writers) and Simon Bisley (artist), graphic novel, 1991, ISBN 1-56389-022-4)

"Vendetta in Gotham" (by John Wagner and Alan Grant (writers) and Cam Kennedy (artist), graphic novel, 1993)

Judge Dredd

"Judge Death: The True Story" (by John Wagner and Ian Gibson, 2000 AD #901-902, 1994)

"The Three Amigos" (by John Wagner and Trevor Hairsine, Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 3 #2-7, 1995)

Batman / Judge Dredd

"The Ultimate Riddle" (by John Wagner and Alan Grant (writers) and Carl Critchlow and Dermot Power (artists), graphic novel, 1995)

Judge Dredd

"Dead Reckoning" (by John Wagner and Greg Staples, 2000 AD #1000-1007, 1996)

Batman / Judge Dredd

"Die Laughing" (by John Wagner and Alan Grant (writers) and Glenn Fabry and Jim Murray (artists), graphic novel, 1998)

Judge Death (by John Wagner and Frazer Irving; collected in Judge Death: My Name is Death, 112 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-904265-73-1):

"My Name is Death" (in 2000 AD #1289-1294, 2002)

"The Wilderness Days" (in Judge Dredd Megazine #209-216, 2003-2004)

Novels

The Savage Amusement (David Bishop, 1993, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-352-32874-6)

Dredd vs Death (Gordon Rennie, 2003, Black Flame, ISBN 1-84416-061-0)

See also

Judge Anderson

Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death (computer game)

External links

2000 AD profile

Review of My Name is Death trade paperback

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Judge Dredd

Judges

Mega-City One: Judge Anderson  Judge Beeny  Judge Buell  Galen DeMarco  Judge Dredd  Judge Edgar  Chief Judge Fargo  Judge Francisco  Judge Giant  Judge Goodman  Judge Grice  Judge Griffin  Judge Guthrie  Judge Hershey  Judge Janus  Judge Karyn  Judge McGruder  Mechanismo  Judge Niles  Judge Rico  Judge Shenker  Judge Silver  Judge Solomon  Judge Volt

Other: Detective-Judge Armitage  Shimura  Devlin Waugh  Johnny Woo

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Spin-offs

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Crossovers

Judge Dredd vs. Aliens  Judgement on Gotham  Predator vs. Judge Dredd

Locations

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Publications

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Other media

Film (characters)  Dredd Vs. Death  Role-playing game  Pinball

Miscellaneous

2000 AD crossovers  Atomic Wars  Chief Judge of Mega-City One  City Block  Council of Five  Diktatorat  Lawgiver  Long Walk  Mayor of Mega-City One  Mutants  Organizations  Psi Division  Public Surveillance Unit  Space Corps  SJS  Sky-surfer  Technology  Wally Squad

Categories: Judge Dredd characters | Personifications of death | Fictional murderers | Fictional undead | Fictional mass murderersHidden categories: Redundant infobox title param | Character pop | Converting comics character infoboxes