How long have these chaarcters got?

[Devons Daddy]

johhny is back.

we are embarking on an epic.
mr E is drawing it.
why are we even discussing this.
we should be picking rose petals to cast at the feet of the creators and tharg at dreddcon.

back on topic.
iconic characters. i believe Joe Dredd could be this.i feel Rico should take over. leaving Joe as the historical figure in terms of both 2000ad history and comic history.

it would be a fitting way for wagner and co to be rembered in the foot notes of popular comic book history.
has any other such character ever been allowed to finish his time in such a fashion?
with so many accolades attached to Dredd.could this be the perfect way to end it.and allow it to forever be another great British Comic book hero.

[Martin Jameson]

I just can't see Dredd killed of at any time. Something has to happen to him at some stage simply because he's getting older (do they not have retirement ages for judges?) and physically will not be able to carry on effectively.

I reckon it will be something like the long walk letting that Rico fella take over the story. Let there be an air of mystery and conspiracy about it all (is he dead or not?).

Wasn't there a story in Red Razors a few years back where Dredd was kept frozen and brought back for certain tasks? Or should we ignore that.

[IndigoPrime]

I don't think the status of the current strips is any way ambiguous. Whereas the first one was an obvious reboot (different tone and gadgets, and a new continuity with regards to Nelson Kreelman), *all* of the other strips have slipped straight into the original SD continuity.

I know he doesn't care a great deal about certain aspects of continuity - more so where Dredd's concerned - but Alpha got ripped to shreds in one storyline, and Wulf was killed in one of the main arcs. I don't believe for a second that those two things would be ignored by him.

Maybe this is all a reboot, but it seems to me that the movie script is a standalone (rather like the Rogue Trooper War Machine should have been), and subsequent strips are simply untold tales. I'd have personally liked to have seen the reboot continue, with a new timeline/history, as was promised in the strip.

[Dudley]

Just a thought, but how long do you think many of 2000AD's classic characters have got, not so much in length of storyline, but till they become as anachronous as Dan Dare or Flash Gordon. Something that has a nostalgic retro feel, but is more of the past than the present, or have we already reached that stage?

I reckon that a lot of 2000AD's characters will emerge from the other side of the coming changes in our notion of "hero" quite well.

NOW WEARING BIG PURPLE PREDICTION HAT.
In the increasingly unstable world of the next 10-15 years, with the onset of global warming & global terrorism, what we're going to see is, I'm guessing, characters that 10 years ago would have been dark anti-heroes (torturers, sadists, fascists) held up as genuine heroes and protectors.  Dredd & co will fit right in there.  

The ones that won't will be clever characters with depth like Devlin Waugh.  Who needs depth in a time of world crisis?

[opaque]

Good point Dudley, why not have Dredd et al actually be the good guys. Why not have them crush the terrorist cells? After all we've seen then infiltrate them and if they came out into the open more they've got more chance. The tracking down of things and people (remember things like the residue from a candy wrapper) really instantly would work for them quite well and wouldn't need to be a plot hole.

[petemaskreplica]

I've no idea what's going to happen in Total War, but I think it's a reasonable bet that it'll be nothing as straightforward as goodies vs. baddies, whichever side you have sympathies for.

[Spaceghost]

sorry to bring up this old chestnut, but dredd needs redesigning. he's starting to look ridiculous and he even looks out of place in mc1 nowadays.

[Mr C]

http://www.2000adonline.com/images/fanart/14_medium.jpg">

[Spaceghost]

thats it. contemporary, cutting edge, controversial.and so sexy

[Bolt-01]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/Bolt-01/Judge_Dredd_camp_style.jpg">

Bolt-01

[technics]

looking at what has been said thus far I think Dredd will continue to run for as long as they keep good writers on the story......
Sinister Dexter....cool initially but went a bit cr*p after Demi Octavo got whacked. Theres only so far that Worsel Gummage in white makeup with a red nose can take me......I think they need a good old fashioned Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid type ending ..... blaze of glory / hail of bullets etc......preferably have Fin get iced first.....

I think they should have left rogue alone along time ago - after he caught the Traitor things went downhill I reckon....

I think Strontium Dog was peaking nicely with the introduction of Feral etc (drawn by that guy who used to draw "Bradley" for 2000ad) and then they killed Alpha!?!? WTF? As someone else says - we know how this one ends now!!!!! :O)

[Floyd-the-k]

I reckon SD started to go crap long before Demi got iced....they still have life in them as just plain funny killers

it`s a good question though, pvs.  

[Jared Katooie]

I think that Dredd will cease to exist in the sense that the story will change so that it can "fit" whatever people want to read.

Rico will probably take over when Gordo becomes the regular writer.