Prog 7 - Judge Dredd

A gang of muggers are working over a victim near the Statue of Judgement until Dredd arrives.
Dredd kills one, another surrenders and the last member makes a run for it. The gang member that surrenders asks Dredd to let him go because he was forced into going along with the gang. But Dredd isn't buying it "and they forced you to take your share of the loot, too? Don't make me sick!"

Dredd has the regular cops take the criminal way. Meanwhile, the escaped gang member, Ringo, has hijacked an 'air' taxi, basically a flying cab, and starts shooting up the city. Ringo hates the Judges and "all they stand for".

Dredd takes his lawrifle from his lawmaster. Ringo is raining down bullets on Dredd...but Dredd is calm.
He goes to the top of the Statue of Judgment, takes aim, and blasts Ringo out of the sky. Ringo falls...impaling himself on the Statue of Liberty.
And we end with typical Dredd humor.
Very straightforward Dredd story.

It features the first appearance of The Statue of Judgement and it's appropriate that it towers over the Statue of Liberty.

This must have been drawn before Ezquerras cityscape was done because it looks like the buildings were added in later into the background on the splash page. We have police officers show up to take away the lawbreaker. The police weren't phased out that this stage.

Also of note is the criminals comments that "He ain't a robot - he's human! I think!" The reason is that the further Dredd develops...he seems more machine than man.

Prog 6 - Judge Dredd

Seriously!

Who calls themselves Frankenstein 2? What is he, a sequel? Then again this is Mega City One, so it's probably not all that unusual to have citizens with whacked out names.

Anyways, Dredd follows in hot pursuit. The control cameras have been keeping tabs on Frankesteins goons. The control center tells Dredd that the stolen ambulance went into a subway but never appeared on the other side. Dredd blows out one of the subway walls knowing that there has to be a secret entrance to Frankensteins hideout and that's why the ambulance disappeared.

Frankensteins cronies are waiting for him.

But they are no match for Dredds awesome firepower.
Dredd dismounts his lawmaster and enters the hideout. The hideout is like a huge cold human storage room. Bodies are lined up in rows no doubt awaiting Frankensteinto touch. Dredd interrupts Frankenstein 2 as he is finishing with a millionaire client.
Frankenstein tries to bribe Dredd by offering him any spare parts he wants when his own fail him. Dredd refuses 'You can't bribe a Judge!'. Frankenstein was just playing for time, he throws a light switch in an attempt to blind and confuse Dredd.
But Dredd's anti-dazzle visor protects him and he takes down Frankenstein. Typical final last words from Dredd. Nice dark humor.

This strip was McMahons first ever drawn Dredd. Not first published, but first drawn. You can tell that he was probably told to ape Ezquerras' style. Eventually McMahon would branch out into his own style and it would make him a legend to 2000ad and Dredd fans everywhere.

This is also the first time we learn that Dredds helmet visor is anti-glare.

The crime of 'bodysnatching' or 'Organ Legging' would be revisited again and again in Dredds world.

Another interesting note here is that the strip was probably censored. Because it was McMahons first Dredd...it predates all the other stories published so far. Dredd would have just blown Frankenstein away instead of arresting him. You can see from his pose in the above page that Dredd, in all likelihood, shot and killed him in the original pages.

Prog 5 - Judge Dredd

Dredd is relaxing, reading a law book, in his apartment when he is rudely interrupted by a 'Sensor-Round' display. Maria, Dredd's cleaning lady enters the room with one Kevin O'Neill, the Senor-Round salesman. Dredd wants the 'ferret faced parasite' thrown out of his apartment. Maria nags Dredd, all he ever thinks of is the law and never has fun.

A group of citizens enter Dredds apartment. Dredd isn't too pleased until one of them tells Dredd why. There has been a murder on the 200th floor - the President of Sensor-Round is dead!

Dredd investigates. It seems the President has been killed by some 'monster!'.

Over the next few days other top Sensor-Round executives meet strange deaths.
Dredd is on patrol when he gets a call from HQ saying that they have identified a voice print from the scene of the last murder. The voice belongs to the curator of the Movie Special Effects Museum. Dredd decides to pay the curator a visit.

At the museum Dredd sees bloodspots on the robot 'monsters'. Everything makes sense to him now. The curator has been using these movie monsters to kill the Sensor-Round executives. The curator and killer turn out to be the Sensor-Round salesman - Kevin O'Neill!

O'Neill confesses to Dredd. He killed those executives because they ruined the movie monsters of old. Nobody wants to see those monsters anymore because Sensor-Round offer dream-worlds in their stead. O' Neill flees. Dredd follows in pursuit...but O'Neill has activated the greatest movie monster of them all - Krong!
The mechanical monster breaks out of the museum and smashes his way across the city to destroy the Sensor-Round building. Dredd follows in his lawmaster desperately trying to stop the giant robot ape.

Krong reaches the building and begins to climb it - ripping it apart at the same time.

The only way Dredd can stop it is by ramming his lawmaster down it's throat! It works and the creature falls landing on a hapless Kevin O'Neill.
Even though he left 2000ad, Carlos Ezquerrah came back to do this strip. This is his first published Dredd.

The 'Robot Ape' story was inspired by the 1976 remake of King Kong and the 'Kevin O'Neill' character in the strip was named after 2000ad's Kevin O'Neill. O'Neill was heavily into movie special effect back then and had even done a King Kong fanzine.

This story also contains the first appearance of Maria, Dredd's landlady. Although here she's referred to as a cleaning lady. Maria was introduced to give Dredd a mother figure and some sort of balance. Dredd was so robotic that Mills felt that Maria would humanise him more.

Prog 4 - Judge Dredd

Mutants break into Mega-City One and Dredd is there to stop them. He looks like he's having a lot of fun killing them too judging by his dialogue in the page above.

Dredd quips as he blows them away that fighting the mutants is 'just the sort of soft job a judge like him needs!'

The mutants are getting massacred by Dredd and retreat back into their territory outside the city.

Dredd is informed by Justice HQ that the mutants, The Brotherhood of Darkness, have kidnapped the Mayors son and he must follow the mutants and rescue him.

Dredd adopts a disguise. He puts on a robe, probably from one of the fallen mutants, and decides to fool his way into the Brotherhood as they trek their way outside the city.
We get our first glimpse of what lies outside Mega City One. It's an atomic wilderness. A radioactive nightmare as a result of the Atomic War.
Dredd gets his insects screwed up. In the first panel, it's a Praying Mantis and in the panel where the Brotherhood are barbqueing...it's a grasshopper, not the mantis he saw. I guess they don't teach that sort of thing at the Academy.

Dredd sees that the Mayors son isn't the only Mega City citizen the mutants have kidnapped and while the Brotherhood are feasting, he makes his move...
After getting rid of the guards he frees the Mayors son.
He's in the process of freeing the other captives when the Brotherhood spot him. He puts the lawmasters lights on full beam, temporarily blinding the mutants and throws a few flares for good measure.

Dredd makes his escape with the rescued slaves back to Mega City One.
This story is important for two reasons. One, it introduces Mutants into Dredd's world and two, the Atomic wasteland, which would later be named the Cursed Earth.

The script was written by Malcolm Shaw. Of the first fifteen Dredd stories commissioned by Mills, Shaw wrote seven of them. Of course Mills probably, heavily rewrote them...like he did with all the early scripts.