Judge Death and his lieutenants Fear, Mortis and Fire - artwork by Brian Bolland

Judge Death is a fictional character of the Judge Dredd universe recounted in the UK comic 2000 AD. He is the leader of the Dark Judges, a sinister group of undead law enforcers from the alternate dimension of Deadworld, where all life has been declared a crime since only the living commit crimes. After years of appearing in Judge Dredd stories, he later got his own series in the Judge Dredd Megazine and in 2000 AD. Image File history File links Judgedeath. ... Image File history File links Judgedeath. ... Bollands cover to Hellstorm: Prince Of Lies #16. ... Alice, a fictional character based on a real character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... For the 1995 film, see Judge Dredd (film). ... A fictional universe is an imaginary world that serves as the setting or backdrop for one or (more commonly) multiple works of fiction or translatable non-fiction. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Cover of the first issue of 2000 AD, 26 February 1977. ... The Dark Judges are recurring villains in the fictional Judge Dredd universe recounted in the UK comic 2000 AD. They are Judge Death, Judge Fire, Judge Fear and Judge Mortis. ... Undead is a collective name for mythological beings that are deceased yet behave as if alive. ... In quantum mechanics, a parallel universe, also sometimes called an alternate universe, or an alternate dimension, is a hypothetical universe which exists separately from our own. ... Judge Dredd Megazine is a British magazine featuring comic strips set in the world of Judge Dredd, launched in October 1990. ...

Origins and history

The full story of his journey from being Sidney D'eath, 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. Flogging demonstration at Folsom Street Fair 2004. ... In religion, evil refers to anything against the will or law of the god(s). ... Judge Dredd Megazine is a British magazine featuring comic strips set in the world of Judge Dredd, launched in October 1990. ... Sadistic personality disorder was never formally admitted into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM); nevertheless, some researchers and theorists continue to use its criteria. ...

The psychotic and obsessive Judge shortly afterwards encountered the witches Phobia and Nausea, the "Sisters of Death," who he saw 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. Using their dark magic, he had himself transformed into the unstoppable undead Judge Death. Along with the “Sisters of Death” and his fellow Dark Judges, he wiped his world clean of all life. Psychosis is a psychiatric classification for a mental state in which the perception of reality is distorted. ... For other things named OCD, see OCD (disambiguation). ... JUSTICE is a human rights and law reform organisation based in the United Kingdom. ...

Once that was done, he left “Deadworld” and crossed dimensions to reach Mega-City One. His body was destroyed after his first massacre in 2102, and his spirit took control of Psi-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 60,000,000 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’s rise, purposefully remained in her coma. Necropolis was created with the allegiance of the Dark Judges and the Sisters of Death. ... This article is about the fictional place. ...

Judge Death by Frazer Irving

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, whos family he had killed. 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. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 419 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (650 × 929 pixel, file size: 181 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Scan of Judge Death artwork by Frazer Irving This image is from a comic strip, webcomic or from the cover or interior of a comic book. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 419 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (650 × 929 pixel, file size: 181 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Scan of Judge Death artwork by Frazer Irving This image is from a comic strip, webcomic or from the cover or interior of a comic book. ... Primarily a horror artist, Frazer Irving first sprang to prominence with the series Necronauts, written by Gordon Rennie and appearing in 2000AD. He has also enjoyed success with Storming Heaven, a psychedelic tale based around Timothy Leary and Charles Manson (written by Rennie), and Jack Point (the Simping Detective) and... The Cursed Earth is a part of the fictional universe recounted in the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD. Following the Atomic Wars of 2070 most of the U.S.A. became a radioactive wasteland. ... For the Xzibit album, see Weapons of Mass Destruction (album). ... For further information, see Las Vegas metropolitan area and Las Vegas Strip. ...

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 extremely dark and sinister, with a real air of menace. 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. Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a DC Comics fictional superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... Trade paperback of Will Eisners A Contract with God (1978), often mistakenly cited as the first graphic novel. ... Published by DC Comics, Judgement on Gotham is the first of two Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers. ... Alan Grant is a Scottish comic book writer born in 1949. ...

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. As all crime was committed by the living, Death reasoned, then living itself was a crime. Hence the monster's catchphrase: "The crime is life, the sentence is death!" Judge Dredd is a 1995 action film based on the Judge Dredd strip in the British comic 2000 AD. Certain elements of the film were altered from the comic series, but it still did not find wide mainstream appeal. ...

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, for example) and the dead flesh cannot feel pain. If the host body is destroyed then Death’s 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. Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a DC Comics fictional superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... For the 1995 film, see Judge Dredd (film). ... Published by DC Comics, Judgement on Gotham is the first of two Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers. ... It has been suggested that Scarecrow in the DC Comics Animated Universe be merged into this article or section. ...

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.
• 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 2000ad during the eighties and nineties.

Depeche Mode is a band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex, England. ... Martin Lee Gore (born July 23, 1961 in London, England) has been a member of the band Depeche Mode since their inception. ... Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music, one of the extreme metal subgenres that is characterised by its signature high speed and aggression. ... // Alien Sex Fiend is a gothic rock/deathrock band from the UK. Getting their start at the Batcave club in London in 1982, they quickly became known in the gothic scene for their psychobilly, dark electronic, industrial sound, heavy samples and loops and manic vocals. ...

See also

• Judge Anderson
• Necropolis

Judge Anderson in The Jesus Syndrome (art by Arthur Ranson) Judge Cassandra Anderson, created by writer John Wagner and artist Brian Bolland in 1980, is a fictional character that started as a supporting character in the comic strip Judge Dredd of 2000 AD and eventually rose in prominence and became... Necropolis was created with the allegiance of the Dark Judges and the Sisters of Death. ...

Publication

• 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)

John Wagner is a comics writer who has also written under the pseudonyms John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter, among others. ... Primarily a horror artist, Frazer Irving first sprang to prominence with the series Necronauts, written by Gordon Rennie and appearing in 2000AD. He has also enjoyed success with Storming Heaven, a psychedelic tale based around Timothy Leary and Charles Manson (written by Rennie), and Jack Point (the Simping Detective) and...

External links

• 2000 AD profile
• Review of My Name is Death trade paperback