While the primary criminal jurisdiction of Judge Dredd is Mega-City One, it is far from the only hotbed of crime, corruption, and all-around deviant behavior. There are no less than 10 Mega-Cities scattered across America and the world that are dealing – in their way – with the ubiquity of lawlessness that has infected the globe.
As retold in Essential Judge Dredd: Origins – by John Wagner, Kev Walker, and Carlos Ezquerra, before the Atomic War of 2070, three interstate metro-urban regions developed in 21st-century America. Subsequently, these regions were allowed to govern themselves as “super states.”
Although each Mega-City’s history and local culture have led to a diversity of administrations, two elements unite them. First, the breakdown of society that spawned in the aftermath of the Atomic War has led to deep, persistent, and rampant crime as a result of overpopulation, corrupt governance, and the break. Second, in response to the unbelievable crime levels, most Mega-Cities have adapted, Mega-City One’s original Judge justice system in one form or another.
The American Judge Justice System Becomes The Global Model For Law And Order
Mega-City One was the designation of the new super state that stretched from New York City to Washington, D.C. Mega-City One was also the first jurisdiction to introduce the Judge justice system that created Judge Dredd and his colleagues at the Justice Department. After the Atomic War, the super states were able to avoid the most serious damage. As a result, people flocked to them and away from the irradiated and lawless zones outside of them. The world became a binary infrastructure of Mega-Cities and the “Cursed Earth” or the wastelands and seas between them.
On the American East Coast, Mega-City One expanded to include the whole eastern seaboard from Key West in the south to the Maine – Canada border in the north. Conversely, Mega-City Two expanded from its original base in California to include the West Coast from San Diego to the border between Washington State and Canada. Between these two behemoths was Texas City – a Mega-City encompassing Louisiana, the eastern half of Texas, and the southern halves of Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Mega-Cities Save A Degraded And Disrupted Human Civilization
Outside of America, a number of Mega-Cities were established across the world. However, in the chaos that the Atomic and Apocalypse Wars caused, more than a few of these locations ceased to be viable or were overrun by the lawlessness that was endemic to the areas outside their borders. For instance, after getting into a war with Mega-City One, the Russian/Soviet Mega-City East Meg-One was subsequently demolished by a Mega-City One nuclear strike initiated by Judge Dredd. Except for the southern region of Africa, Borneo, and the Middle East, which are so irradiated that human existence is not possible, the rest of the Atomic War and its aftermath has generally reset the world in the Mega-City structure present in America
In Europe, civilization was largely confined to several Mega-Cities whose bases were located in historical urban centers. For instance, the United Kingdom established at least one Mega-City known as Brit-City, which encompasses most of South England. This is also true of Europe, which has Mega-Cities stretching from roughly Paris to Berlin. In Asia, three Mega-Cities formed around the Guangzhou-Hong Kong corridor, Shanghai, and Tokyo, as well as Indo City around Mumbai in India. In Africa, there is a Mega-City around Brazzaville in Congo and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. In South America, there is Brasilia, among others. While Judge Dredd is only on duty in Mega-City One, fans can be sure that his colleagues in San Francisco, London, and Hangzhou are taking their own bites out of crime just as ferociously.
