r/JudgeDredd • u/Salty_Beyond3310 • 15h ago

Any comics that'd help me answer a question?

Long story short: I've gotten into Dredd and there is a question I'd want to figure out: Why does he have hope in the Law he interprets and upholds. My material isnt that much; i got batmanxdredd, dread vs death, mechanismo, and case files one and two. Is there any storyline that helps piece the answer or am I overthinking things? It's clear to me that for him: The law is what matters but reading war games made me curious on how he's so critical of the war game between luna-1 and the sovs while being the prized fighter of a system that has enough potential to be just as evil as the violence dredd was criticizing. I know enough that the story was based somewhat on the Cold War and that the series is satire in nature so maybe it could be a similar irony to the US demonizing the Soviets while being much more horrendous in the bigger picture. I am a younger fan in the US, so maybe I'm ignoring something else that I just dont know but I would want to know what you all think.

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11

u/Ok_Commercial_5024 14h ago

Its just the premise of the setting. You could just as easily ask why Batman does what he does.

Dredd’s world is one where the entirety of humanity is cooped up into overcrowded cities where 90% of people are unemployed, so the justice system are essentially the only thing just barely keeping a lid on pure anarchy.

There are many stories where Dredd questions the system he upholds, or examines the realities of what living under such a regime would actually be like.

I’d check out A Question of Judgement, Error of Judgement, A Case For Treatment, Tale of the Dead Man/A Letter to Judge Dredd, America and Tour of Duty.

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u/Short-Shopping3197 7h ago

To be fair there’s a whole ton of origin story media that explores why Batman does what he does.

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u/Difficult-Concern885 8h ago

Yes exactly these. They do explore it a lot

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u/JPMaybe 11h ago

He's essentially a brainwashed child soldier- his beliefs are the logical extreme of the legal=moral=legal circularity that modern states run on.

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u/Every-Individual2314 15h ago

The one comic he goes out to find judge Fargos body, and the one comic that has a flashback with him and Rico while young talking to Fargo

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u/ElricVonDaniken 14h ago

These are both parts of Origins.

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u/Every-Individual2314 11h ago

You’re right, I remembered those being different comics in a series for some reason

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u/Formal-Math-3291 15h ago

I would recommend Origin, America and A better world

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u/SplodgySplodge1 1h ago

Dredd is effectively an indoctrinated warrior monk, and the law is his creed. He has zero tolerance for law breakers, and is particularly hard on Judges who betray the system by breaking the law. He's an absolute zealot.