This backdrop is used to demonstrate how far Dredd and the Judges are willing to go to keep their grip on the city and crush the citizens' rising cry for democracy. Beeny becomes a rich and successful pop star while America joins the terrorist group Total War.Īfter witnessing the group kill a Judge, Beeny becomes embroiled in their plot to destroy the Statue of Liberty. The story tracks both characters through their childhood to their eventual drifting apart. Keeping Dredd to the background, it follows two citizens of Mega City One - the titular America Jara and her friend, Bennett Beeny. Written by John Wagner and illustrated by Colin MacNeil, 'America' is perhaps the definitive Judge Dredd story. And no story distils this aspect of Judge Dredd (as well as the Mega City one Judicial system) like 'America,' which originally appeared in Judge Dredd Magazine #1.01-1.07 in 1990. After all, this is the man who coldly murdered half a billion people (innocent and otherwise) during the finale of 'Apocalypse War,' and routinely executes lawbreakers on the spot. As the bootheel of Mega City One's fascist government, Dredd is no hero.

One thing Dredd's creators have never shied away from is depicting their future lawman as a less-than savory figure.īetween enduring apocalyptic wastelands, battling mutants, and averting the end of the world (on several occasions), it can be easy to forget what Dredd is at his essence. The character has been depicted as a comic book action hero, a stone-faced straight man to a futuristic world of oddities, and the only thing standing between Mega City One and certain doom. Since his creation in 1977, John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's Judge Dredd has served many functions.

Judge Dredd in America by John Wagner