Judge Dredd features a metropolitan hellscape riddled with abhorrent criminal acts of the worst kind, barely-veiled totalitarianism calling itself justice, and nearly non-stop action through the eyes of the titular Judge Dredd. In other words, a perfect fictional world for Garth Ennis to sink his teeth into.
Garth Ennis is most widely known for co-creating The Boys, DC’s Hitman, and for being arguably the best writer Marvel’s The Punisher has ever had. But, before all that, Ennis wrote a number of Judge Dredd comics for the 2000 AD publication, and they are some of the most iconic in the extensive history of the franchise. Here are 10 of the greatest Judge Dredd stories written by Garth Ennis!
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10 Garth Ennis’ First Judge Dredd Story is One of the Most Brutal
Judge Dredd “Death Aid” by Garth Ennis and Carlos Ezquerra
“Death Aid” is about a ‘hunting club’ that consists of people who hunt other people in Mega-City One for fun. After the hunting club tricks a handful of sponsors into unwittingly paying them for every person they kill on New Year’s Day, Judge Dredd picks up their scent. Dredd follows the trail of dead innocents all the way to the leader of this club, who is ready to detonate a nuclear bomb in Mega-City One.
The villains in this Judge Dredd story are beyond repugnant, as sinister jubilation can be felt with every innocent person each member kills, making their ultimate undoing that much more satisfying. If there’s one thing Garth Ennis can do better than anyone, it’s create characters that readers can’t wait to see get theirs.
9 Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon Collaborated on Judge Dredd Before Preacher
Judge Dredd “Emerald Isle” by Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, and Wendy Simpson
This story has Dredd teaming up with Judges from the Emerald Isle after their ambassador was assassinated while visiting Mega-City One. Readers get to explore an entirely new corner of the world through Judge Dredd’s eyes as he and his partners hunt down international terrorists. However, as exciting as that is, it’s not the most notable thing about this storyline.
“Emerald Isle” was one of the earliest writer/artist collaborations between Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. The two are famous for working together on Preacher, but their professional relationship went far beyond that single series. The two also worked together on Hellblazer, The Punisher, and even a later issue of Hitman – and this Judge Dredd storyline is practically where it all started.
8 Garth Ennis Turns a Teddy Bear into a Deadly Judge Dredd Villain
Judge Dredd “Teddy Bear’s Firefight” by Garth Ennis and Brian Williamson
While most of the Judge Dredd series is focused on the Mega-Cities, there’s still a large chunk of the world that fans should never forget exists: the Cursed Earth. In between the east coast of the United States’ Mega-City One and the west coast’s Mega-City Two is the Cursed Earth, an area that has been irradiated by nuclear weapons, mutating every human in those regions into bizarre and oftentimes grotesque versions of their former selves. In this story, one of those humans was mutated into a Teddy Bear, and he used that to cause chaos in Mega-City One.
This Teddy Bear mutant pretended to be a children’s toy, only to arm himself with heavy artillery and effectively be an invisible domestic terrorist (since no one would automatically suspect a Teddy Bear of even being alive, let alone committing acts of terrorism). This story highlights Ennis’ mastery of merging extreme violence with absurd comedy, and it will make one never look at a Teddy Bear the same way again.
7 Garth Ennis Shows Judge Dredd Slaughtering a Small Army of Mutants In 3 Minutes
Judge Dredd “Firepower” by Garth Ennis and Colin MacNeil
When a small army of mutants breaches the northern wall of Mega-City One, they slaughter every guard stationed there. The Justice Department then gets called to the scene, and Judge Dredd arrives at 10:10 o’clock – and he leaves at 10:13. In just three minutes, Judge Dredd wipes out every mutant murderer in the area, even one with nearly impenetrable skin, which is one of the coolest exhibitions of how truly deadly this Sci-Fi action hero really is.
Garth Ennis is an absolute master at crafting badass action scenes, and that’s exactly what this story is in its entirety.
6 Garth Ennis Proves Judge Dredd Is Perfect For Short-Form Mysteries
Judge Dredd “Garbage Disposal” by Garth Ennis and John Burns
A roadshow that featured high-value pieces of garbage from the 20th Century – as they were considered antiques in the future landscape of Judge Dredd canon – would have those who brought the valuable pieces of trash on the show killed before robbing them of their items. The story begins with a shocking murder/robbery, and the mystery that followed was gripping all the way until it was finally solved in the last few panels.
This story was short – only about two pages long – but it was still incredibly captivating, proving that Judge Dredd is a perfect vehicle for short-form mysteries.
5 Judge Dredd’s Cruelest Story Is Actually His Least Violent
Judge Dredd “School Bully” by Garth Ennis, Simon Coleby, and Gina Hart
Judge Dredd’s responsibilities as a law enforcement officer stretch beyond just arresting people and sentencing them on the spot, as he’s also responsible for educating the youth of Mega-City One on the rules of law. Dredd spends an entire day teaching children about the history of the Justice Department as it operates today, and he goes over everything that would land them in front of a judge like him. While there’s no violence in this storyline, there is still a level of cruelty exhibited by Judge Dredd himself that’s rarely shown.
Dredd is an authoritative bully to the kids in his class, he arrests a kid’s dad in front of everyone and then makes him stand in a corner until he takes him to prison, and he even has a little girl’s parents arrested for illegal farming after she offers him an apple. Dredd is unwavering in his duty as a judge, and while some stories show that in a more heroic light, this one only presents it as cruel.
4 Judge Dredd Pays Tribute To Another Iconic Futuristic Dystopia
Judge Dredd “A Clockwork Pineapple” by Garth Ennis and Simon Coleby
When Soviet officials visit Mega-City One, they bring with them a gift: a clockwork pineapple – which is essentially a decorative music player – and the Chief Judge orders it to be placed in the Anthony Burgess museum. In the first part of this story alone, there are a number of references to A Clockwork Orange. Aside from the reference to Anthony Burgess (the author of A Clockwork Orange), and the clear connection between the title of the novel and the ‘clockwork pineapple’, there’s one more that’s a bit more subtle.
The fact that people from Russia (or, what became of Russia in this alternate reality) were the ones who gifted the device was a clever reference in and of itself. The sadistic gang of teenagers in A Clockwork Orange speak Nadsat, which is a fictitious slang-language derived from Russian-influenced English, hence the Russian origin of the clockwork pineapple. This story is chock-full of references to A Clockwork Orange, which is absolutely perfect given the futuristic dystopian similarities between that novel and the Judge Dredd series – something Garth Ennis prominently shines a light on.
3 Garth Ennis Creates an Eccentric Villain for Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd “Muzak Killer” by Garth Ennis and Dermot Power
Interesting villains are the cornerstone of popular franchises, and this one is definitely worth noting in Judge Dredd canon. Marty Zpok aka the Muzak Killer is a serial killer who murders musicians that make generic, over-synthesized muzak as opposed to original music. Zpok believes this mass-produced content is what’s keeping the citizens of Mega-City One and Two so complacent in this authoritarian future, and is on a mission to free their minds by killing the people responsible for making muzak.
Zpok is clearly deranged, but his concerns are justified, as people in the Judge Dredd universe should not accept what has happened to their world. The Muzak Killer was driven mad by the insanity surrounding him, and after finding solace in the music of the past, he blames the muzak of the future for the perpetuation of this mindless madness. Zpok is eccentric, to be sure, which is what makes the Muzak Killer a great villain for the stoic, unwavering Judge Dredd.
2 Garth Ennis Throws Judge Dredd Into a Hallucinogenic Nightmare
Judge Dredd “The Magic Mellow Out” by Garth Ennis and Anthony Williams
For a character as stoic and single-minded as Judge Dredd, it’s rare to get a glimpse into the inner workings of his mind beyond what’s made obvious to the reader, but this storyline attempts to go a bit deeper into Judge Dredd’s psyche. Dredd is investigating a string of bizarre suicides at a facility that doses its customers with traces of hallucinogenic gas amid a wonderland of brightly-colored landscape murals and animatronic characters. He comes to learn that there was a gas leak due to the owner’s negligent maintenance, but not before he feels the effects himself.
As one can imagine based on the hyper-violent life Judge Dredd leads in an already hellish world, his mind manifested extremely dark distortions of the harmless animatronics, and he reacted by essentially burning the entire building to the ground with impunity. Judge Dredd has some demons scurrying in the crevices of his mind, and Garth Ennis puts them on full display.
1 Garth Ennis Helped Re-Introduce a Pre-Judge Dredd Character
Judge Dredd “Judgement Day” by Garth Ennis, John Wagner, Peter Doherty, and Carlos Ezquerra
Not only was this storyline an epic event filled with necromancy, zombie hordes, and time-jumping escapades, it also re-introduced another iconic character: Johnny Alpha. Alpha was created by John Wagner (who also created Judge Dredd) back in 1978, starring in the series Strontium Dog. Johnny Alpha died in 1990 within that ongoing continuity, but made a shocking comeback in this storyline, where he was able to work with Judge Dredd to take down an army of the undead.
Garth Ennis worked directly with John Wagner on this issue, and together they produced one of the coolest, most groundbreaking Judge Dredd comics to date. That’s why this is one of the 10 greatest Garth Ennis Judge Dredd stories in the writer’s long history with the character.
