Aftermath part 2: the actual best Judge Dredd epics

OK, so this month-long ramble has all been just one reader’s ranking. But is there a wider consensus on what are the best Dredd epics? 

Well, over on the 2000 AD forums, Evil Cyborg Broodblik set up a poll to see what the 2000AD superfan hivemind thinks. He built a master list of 50 epics – mostly the same as my 52, but with some missed off and others included, based on stories from 2000AD (and not the Megazine) that were 7 episodes or longer. Here are the results of that poll, with the numbers in brackets representing a score based on how high people placed each story on their own list. Something to do with Formula 1 points, I think?

I’d say this list is definitively what hardcore 2000AD fans think of when they think of Judge Dredd epics. It matters, to me at least, that most of the 20+ people who voted have read all of these stories, and maybe even all of Dredd! So you know these guys know what they are talking about...

 

Fun fact! Judge Dredd has never, to my knowledge, referred to himself as a citizen
of the USA nor pledged allegiance to the flag.
Art by Carlos Ezquerra

1). The Apocalypse War (192)
2). Necropolis (165)
3). The Pit (133)
4). The Cursed Earth (128)
5). Tour of Duty (106)
6). Tale of the Dead Man (99) [I’m not clear if this is just ‘the Dead Man’ or that story and the first set of prologues to Necropolis, which was titled ‘Tale of the Dead Man’]
7). Block Mania (89)
8). Day of Chaos (84)
9). The Judge Child (78)
10). The Day the Law Died (70)

 

Fun fact! Chief Judge Cal, the villain of the epic known as 'The Day the Law Died'
is never actually referred to as 'Caligula' except on the cover of this collection.
Art by Brian Bolland

So yeah, the Top 10 is 70% ‘Golden Age of 2000AD’ material, but then there’s The Pit, published at the Prog’s absolute nadir in the mid 90s, and there are two relatively recent epics in there too.

Oz: the Aussie edition
Art by Ashley Wood

11). Oz (69)
12). Cry of the Werewolf (67)
13). Total War (59)
14). Mandroid (58)
15). Trifecta (54)
16). Origins (53)
17). The Graveyard Shift (45)
18). City of the Damned (37)
19). Destiny's Angels (37)
20). Emphatically Evil: The Life and Crimes of PJ Maybe (37) (this is part of the build-up to Tour of Duty, if you’re wondering)
21). Sin City (36)
22). Terror (34) [I don’t know about other voters but I lumped this in with Total War myself; I actually think it’s the better of the two]
23). The Small House (30)
24). Incubus (26)
25). Machine Law (26)
26). Return of the Assassin (24) [This is the only part of the ‘Doomsday’ epic listed here – it’s also likely the best part of that story]
27). Sector House (22)
28). Judgement Day (21)
29). Beyond the Call of Duty (18)
30). Dredd Angel (18)
31). The Edgar Case (16)
32). Wilderlands (12)
33). Block Judge (11)
34). Titan (11)
35). Death Aid (9)
36). Enceladus (8) [I bundled up the two-part Enceladus with Titan; interesting that they’ve ended up split by another story.]
37). The Scorpion Dance (8)
38). Dark Justice (7)
39). Dead Reckoning (6)
40). Revenge of the Chief Judge's Man (5) [I lumped all three ‘Chief’s Judge’s Man’ stories together]
41). The Lion's Den (5) [The biggest single part of ‘Every Empire Falls’, and the best.]
42). Guatemala (4)
43). Mandroid: Instument of War (4)
44). Blood Trails (2)
45). Book of the Dead (2)
46). Darkside (2)
47). Ladykiller (2)
48). Crusade (1)
49). Goodnight Kiss (1)
50). Mechanismo - Body Count (1)

 

(Fun fact: this collection reprints the previous two Mechanismo stories, and not Body Count)

In case you want to make sense of the point-scoring system, head on over to the original posting!

Right, that's it.