What if............Dredd never happened?

[Martin Jameson]

How long would 2000ad have survived? Would it still exist?

And what if it was realised now? Would such a story get off the ground? I wonder how it would differ from the dredd world we know and love.

[Mr C]

Sylvester Stallone is: MACH ONE.

Heh.

Not too sure, Dredd is the most iconic and IMO, the most consistently brilliant of all the characters in 2k.

Would it have survived without him? Perhaps,but it wouldn't be the same.

[House of Usher]

This is two questions, isn't it?

1) the commercial and creative viability of 2000ad without Judge dredd

2) the continuity implications for Judge Dredd's fictional world if Dredd had never existed.

[Martin Jameson]

Good point Usher.

I mean Dredd as a story not a character although that is an interesting question in itself...the meg would have been taken over by robots, plagued with 2tfru2, destroyed by Cal/sovs/Death...the list goes on! That dredds a bloody hero!!

[House of Usher]

The Megazine volume 2 did this 'What If...?' Judge Dredd story. It made a few leaps purely for comedy value, because there wouldn't have been as much drama in the more logical train of events that would have just seen Mega-city One succumbing to one disaster after another.

Without Judge Dredd in 2000ad, I reckon it would have gone on for a few years before becoming 'Starlord and 2000ad', which would eventually have swallowed up Tornado, to become 'Starlord and Tornado'.

Johnny Alpha would have been the star property, and maybe no movies would have resulted. Starlord might have folded by the end of the 1980s.

[Generally Contrary]

Yeah, I doubt that the comic would have got out of its 'bog-paper' stage.

As for Dredd's world?  I reckon Rico would have become Chief Judge, successfully averting the disasters.  He'd be personally corrupt, but in a city of 800 million that would be insignificant.  General judging would remain the same.

[House of Usher]

I disagree. Cal would have become Chief Judge while Rico was too busy taking bribes, laughing it up, and making time for the ladies.

How the Robot Wars would have ended without Dredd, I'm not sure. Maybe with a higher body count or outside intervention. Maybe a nuke instead of that big Texoil freighter Dredd crashed into Cal-Me-Kenneth.

Mega-City Two would have been destruyed by 2T(FRU)T, and would probably have been nuked just to be on the safe side.

Cal might then have succeeded in nerve gassing Mega-City One, unless Rico led the guerrilla fighters to stop him. But alternatively, without the irritant of a resistance force, Cal might not have taken such a drastic step.

Rico and Anderson would have been Mega-City One's best defence against Judge Death.

The Sovs would either have invaded an empty city, or would have softened it up with the Block Mania contaminant prior to launching a nuclear attack. Rico would have had to lead the resistance against the Sovs (if the city survived Cal).

If the Sovs could have been repulsed, Rico would have presided over a very corrupt Justice Department, and it would have taken a while to get the city back on its feet again. Mega-City One would have become a pariah state.

No Supersurf event would have then taken place in Mega-City One. Without Dredd, Mega-City One would have been quite vulnerable to attack and overthrow by the Judda. Judd's Mega-City One would have had no means to fight the Dark Judges' plans to turn the city into a Necropolis. Judge Death would have spread his sphere of influence and eventually have come into direct conflict with Sabbat the Necromagus. One way or another, the Earth would have come to resemble Deadworld.

[chimpanzor]

Either that, or Mega city 1 would get renamed Cuiadad Barinquilla.

[Generally Contrary]

Of course, perhaps Kazan would have defeated Judge Death.  Or Orlock.

[House of Usher]

Fair comment. That's if the Sovs had managed to beat Rico. I reckon they could beat Judge Death. I don't think Rico could have beaten the Sovs and then gone on to beat the Dark Judges though.

[Generally Contrary]

So really, for the sake of the Earth, we'd have to hope for Sov world domination?

[Oddboy]

Well, if Dredd (the story) never happened (and assuming the comic continued publishing without Dredd until the now) - how many other stories would just disappear?

Anderson - never happened
Chopper - never happened
Brit-Cit Babes - never happened
Armitage - never happened
Hell Trekkers - never happened
Devlin Waugh - never happened
Lenny Zero - never happened
Missionary Man - never happened
Simping Detective - never happened
Pan-African Judges - never happened
Red Razors - never happened
Brit-Cit Brute - never happened
Inspectre - never happened
Shimura - never happened
Judge Death - never happened
Low Life - never happened
Soul Sisters - never happened
Banzai Battalion - never happened


So, some pros & some cons.

However

What, are we supposed to belive that John Wagner, Alan Grant, Gordon Rennie etc have just been doing nothing with all the free time that not writing the above series has given them?

Surely they'd be other thrills to take their places.

[House of Usher]

John Wagner and Alan Grant would still have gone on to write DC comics, natch.

We'd probably still be getting reprints of Strontium Dog, Slaine, Nemesis and ABC Warriors either in graphic album form or cheap American cloured-in comics. Perhaps the rights would have been sold on, and the original writers would still be producing new self-contained Strontium Dog and Slaine material on a quarterly or yearly basis?

[Martin Jameson]

The thought of Rico starring as the main character instead of Dredd is quite an interesting idea. Imagine a ruthless, corrupt as hell Rico running the show!
As to Cal? I think Rico would have killed him before he even become chief judge simply because he would have been a barrier to his own ambitions. That, or they would have entered into a pact together, Rico killing and replacing him when he went completely doolally.
I agree Death would have been handled just as well by Anderson and Rico.
But would the Sovs have have attacked the Meg if Rico was in charge? Perhaps it could be the other way round. Either way I still think the Meg would have come out on top.
Please don't think I would rather have seen Rico instead of Dredd - but it's still quite a good idea as an alternate story.

[Max Kon]

if dredd never happened we wouldn't be on this board