Judge Armitage

[marko10174]

Hi folks, well I'm delving in to the world of Brit cit and have a few questions. Judge Armitage is the main character of Brit cit apparently, I've discovered that some of his stories have been collected in the jd megazine supplements. Does anyone know how many supplements feature him and what issues they came with? Also, are there any Brit cit graphic novels you can recommend? I only know of one. So in short, if I want to learn about Brit cit, how should I go about it? Thanks folks.

[sheridan]

Hi folks, well I'm delving in to the world of Brit cit and have a few questions. Judge Armitage is the main character of Brit cit apparently, I've discovered that some of his stories have been collected in the jd megazine supplements. Does anyone know how many supplements feature him and what issues they came with? Also, are there any Brit cit graphic novels you can recommend? I only know of one. So in short, if I want to learn about Brit cit, how should I go about it? Thanks folks.

Which one is the graphic novel you already know of?  It features prominently in Michael Carroll's Every Empire Falls (along with Texas City and MC1).

[marko10174]

Brit cit noir is the graphic novel I was referring to. The only other Brit cit stories I've heard of feature judge Armitage. Brit cit is only ever really mentioned in passing in Judge dredd's stories, I don't ever recall reading a JD story featuring Brit cit. I haven't read every empire falls, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation.

[AlexF]

Brit Cit was first introduced in Judge Dredd: Atlantis, which is collected in Case Files 10. In that story, the main Brit-Cit character is Judge Armour - who probably got killed in 'Judgement Day', as I don't remember him coming up again much! He had a blue star tattoo on his chin, a motif later repeated by Judge Stark (I think?) a Brit-Cit judge who transfers to MC1 in the Hunting Party strip, and later plays a role in the Doomsday epic (check out Case Files 26, and I guess 30 when that comes out).

Armitage is technically a Detective Inspector rather than Judge proper, and although he has his own series it's suggested that in Brit Cit itself he's sort of tolerated rather than treated as a Dredd-style hero. His series is partly all about how the Brit-Cit system is very different and less draconian then MC1 - for example, they have detectives to investigate crimes then make arrests, rather than just rounding people up and interrogating them until they confess, MC1 style.

I think the best bet for reading Armitage's collected adventures is the Judge Dredd Mega Collection.
Issue number 56 (spine number 63) covers the later Armitage stories; the as-yet unreleased spine-number 62 will presumably do the first half, including the handful of stores form the Meg floppies. Frankly, although the first series had some cracking art from Sean Phillips, the later stories are better. The early stuff was mostly about how the Brit Cit judge system partly exists to prop up the Establishment, which is to say, the future Royal Family / Landed gentry / Old Boy network. And to show you what a 90s-style cop drama would look like in a Sci-Fi comic.

As for learning about Brit-Cit more generally, well, it's all being gradually drip-fed to us, too! Every Empire Falls has given us quite a bit of new info to chew on, especially Brit-Cit's relationship with the Emerald Isle. Calhab Justice (collected in Mega Collection 47/57) gives a little bit of info about Brit-Cit's relationship to Scotland (aka Calhab). Otherwise all we really now is that Brit-Cit in Dredd's world has a better relationship with the USA than it does with Europe. Sad.

[Andy B]

Dredd also travels to Brit-Cit in 'The Satanist', which you can find in the excellent 'Brothers of the Blood' collection.

[IndigoPrime]

Isn't there a wonderful satirical nugget in Origins? Something like the UN having a go at Booth, but the UK naturally sides with the US in a smarmy manner?

EDIT: Ah yes – here we go:

[Richard]

Armitage is technically a Detective Inspector rather than Judge proper,

He's a Judge-Inspector but he's in plain clothes.

[marko10174]

Thanks for the info folks, it's been helpful. Has anyone read the Brit cit noir graphic novel? Is it worth purchasing?

[Richard]

It's got two stories. First one is very good. Second one I don't like, but other people do so it's a matter of taste I suppose. It was in the Megazine not so long ago.

https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/XB571

[sheridan]

Here's a thread for Every Empire Falls (you may decide to take care reading that thread, as there are a few spoilers, but nothing that jumps out before you can decide to stop reading).  There are links to two external reviews as well.

[AlexF]

The two stories in Brit-Cit noir, ironically, don't really take place within Brit-Cit itself!
Strange & Darke is about two British sci-Fi judges (with with a face that's a sheep's skull) invesitgating satanic goings on in the Welsh countryside.
Storm Warning is also about a British Psi Judge, but most of the action concerns abandone facilties / beaches in the abandoend northern wastelands of future Britain.

Both stories come with stunning art; Strange & Darke is mostly funny with added horror; Storm Warning was a little hard to follow plotwise, and largely tragic/horrific in tone.

As near as I can make out, Brit-Cit is basically future London, only it has expanded, as Mega-cities do, to cover pretty much the entire South East of England, probably no further north than Northamptonshire (Alan Moore wouldn't allow his homeland to be swallowed, one imagines)...
We know that Birmingham (in the midlands) was nuked at some point in the Booth-era wars (when Armitage was a young man). Manchester (further north) seems to still exist, but any other parts of England, who knows?

[Richard]

How old is Armitage now? He must be older than Dredd!

[Greg M.]

If the info on his wikipedia entry is correct, he joined the Brit-Cit Justice Dept almost 60 years ago. He must have been in his twenties during the Brit-Cit Civil War, so he's at least in his eighties!