Should Dredd ever be killed off?

[SuperSurfer]

Well DC killed off Superman and he's not dead, so why not?!

[Dash Decent]

I dreamt John Wagner had written up the script but Carlos refused to draw it.

[BLAZINOAH]

I would like to see Dredd team with Devlin Waugh for a mega-epic, where in order to save Dredd (and himself) from certain death, Waugh bites Dredd. A vampire Dredd would rejuvenate the character pitting his repressed and stoic personality against the inevitable bloodlust.

[Woolly]

I would like to see Dredd team with Devlin Waugh for a mega-epic, where in order to save Dredd (and himself) from certain death, Waugh bites Dredd. A vampire Dredd would rejuvenate the character pitting his repressed and stoic personality against the inevitable bloodlust.

Dredd's already met Devlin in a comedic one-off, and the mega-epic Fetish - both worth a read if you're a Devlin/Dredd completeist.

As for making Dredd a vampire? No, no and thrice no!

[Frank]

Matt Smith rules out the brain transplant/clone route in his editorial from Megazine 372, which (by implication) also rules out the rejuve treatment:

[moly]

In the Meg this month Dredd has a medical and is told he is still good for another 20years

[Dash Decent]

...in the mailroom!

"Boot letter opener!"

[Frank]

Matt Smith rules out the brain transplant/clone route in his editorial from Megazine 372, which (by implication) also rules out the rejuve treatment:

Some internet nobodies discuss Matt Smith's editorial*:





* Although I'm sure Wagner wouldn't pass up the chance to write a death scene for Dredd ...

[Richard]

That first opinion is ridiculous. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean the writers shouldn't aim for some semblance of realism.

[Frank]

I knew I should have pixelated the rest. In defence of this forum's excellent Dog Deever (for it is he), he has a point - nobody ever complains that Bond would be in his nineties by now, or that Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are playing characters who would have died around the time of WWII.

Dredd aging in real time was something Wagner and Grant probably introduced casually, without a moment's pause. If they'd dropped the conceit any time before 1990, everyone would speak about that aspect of the strip in the same way as MCPD, the Death Belt, and any of the other stuff that was ditched as the strip evolved.

Interesting sidebar, when was the first time it became clear the strip was pegged to real time? I think the Futsie story from Dredd's sojourn on Luna-1 was the first time the precise date was mentioned, but when was the next time it was made clear the same amount of time had elapsed between one event in MC1 and our own time?

[Zarjazzer]

I've decided I  do know. He should be killed by a traitorous Judge/old robot helper and come back as a zombie. Zombie Dredd. He can then judge the living for the crime of life.

Whaddayamean ya heard it before?

[Richard]

It was the story in prog 45, set on New Year's Eve when 2099 becomes 2100.

I see the real time thing as a strength of the comic strip rather than as some sort of problem. If you read a Spider-Man comic where he's still a teenager, then that means none of the stories that happened more than two or three years ago could have happened to that character. Essentially they reboot Spider-Man every couple of years (without necessarily saying so explicitly). But with Dredd, the character in this week's prog is the same guy as in prog 2. And it's not just Dredd growing older, it's the sense of history passing each year. The date moves on, chief judges come and go, supporting characters die and stay dead. We've seen Beeny go from being a child citizen, joining the Academy of Law as a new cadet, solve her first case as an experienced cadet, graduate to full judge and join the Council of Five. All of that would be impossible if the strip remained fixed in time. I'll genuinely stop reading if that ever happens.

[I, Cosh]

Presumably the second Christmas story.

Edited for: should've turned to the last page before replying!

[IndigoPrime]

everyone would speak about that aspect of the strip in the same way as MCPD, the Death Belt, and any of the other stuff that was ditched as the strip evolved

The Death Belt was a convenient means of forcing Dredd to travel across the Cursed Earth, and never really made any sense, but it's easy enough to explain away, given the ever-changing volatility of the entire area. The MCPD is an odd one, though. How often did cops even show up in those early strips? I remember it only being once or twice. (I suppose you could argue they were the last vestiges of the old system — perhaps some deal in place in certain areas where they remain in a basic support role to the Judges, in a sort of similar manner to PSVs in the UK.)

[glassstanley]

I've got a list of all MCPD references I'll post when I'm back at my PC. There's quite a few pre-Cursed Earth, though sometimes they're only referenced on a video camera LABEL. It's easy to retcon that Cal got rid of them when he took power.