Tharg's Future Shocks
Tharg's Future Shocks is a long-running series of short strips in the British weekly comic 2000 AD in 1977. The name originates from the fictional editor of 2000 AD and the book titled Future Shock, written by Alvin Toffler, published in 1970; the series began in issue 25 of 2000 AD titled "Tharg's Future Shocks" in a single short story written by Steve Moore, who created the format. This established the pattern of the series which would be two- or three-page short stories, which were self-contained; these stories would be a testing ground for new artists and writers and creators resulting in the stories having a mixed level of quality. Some successful authors such as Peter Milligan, Alan Davis, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison found some of their earliest work published as Future Shocks; some characters proved popular enough to either appear in their own stories, or have multiple appearances in Future Shocks, such as Alec Trench, Bradley, D. R. and Quinch and Abelard Snazz. 2000 AD began several other science fiction and horror short stories under several different titles, including Time Twisters.
Examples of the others include: Future Shorts, single page Future Shocks Past Imperfect Pulp Sci-Fi Ro-Jaws Robo Tales, stories presented by Ro-Jaws Tales from Beyond Science, a short run series all drawn by Rian Hughes Tales from the Black Museum, an equivalent set in Mega-City One Tharg's Terror Tales, covering horror, that still appears Time Twisters Vector 13. Bob Byrne's Twisted Tales The stories have been collected into a number of trade paperbacks: Two collections of Alan Moore's Future Shocks and Time Twisters stories were released by Titan Books in 1986: Alan Moore's Shocking Futures, Titan Books. ISBN 0-907610-71-4 Alan Moore's Titan Books. ISBN 0-907610-72-2The contents of those two volumes have been collected together into a single volume, along with additional material from Moore: The Complete Future Shocks Despite the title, this is not a complete collection of all Future Shock stories from the comic, only the Alan Moore stories in the 1986 and 1987 books described above. All the Future Shocks written by Peter Milligan, John Smith, Neil Gaiman and around half of Grant Morrison's were collected in: The Best of Tharg's Future Shocks A series of paperbacks collecting all Future Shocks is being published by Rebellion: The Complete Future Shocks Volume 1 covers 1977-1981 The Complete Future Shocks Volume 2 covers 1981-1982 Complete list of Future Shock stories at the official 2000 AD website
Whizzer and Chips
Whizzer and Chips was a British comics magazine that ran from 18 October 1969 to 27 October 1990, when it merged with the comic Buster. As with most comics of the time and Chips was dated one week ahead of the day it appeared on newsstands in Great Britain, it had no relation to earlier British comic Illustrated Chips. The format of Whizzer and Chips presented the comic as being divided into two separate parts - a novel idea at the time. One part was called Whizzer and the other was called Chips, with Chips existing as a separate pull-out section in the middle; the slogan was "Two comics in one, double the fun!". In the offices at Fleetway, it was always regarded as one comic. In common with most British comics of the time, both sections included some of their strips in semi-colour using black and red, with others in plain black and white. To reinforce the distinction between the two sections, the duotone strips in Chips were changed to black and blue. Whizzer and Chips went full colour on the week of 4 May 1990.
The comic Knockout merged with Whizzer and Chips on 30 June 1973, followed by Krazy in 1978, Whoopee! in 1985 and Scouse Mouse in 1989. One ongoing concept was. A guest appearance by a character from one of the comic strips in the story of one in the other magazine would be described as a "raid", the other comic would seek its revenge with a raid of its own the following week; the first raid did not appear until issue 2. Readers were encouraged to become either a "Whizz-Kid" or a "Chip-ite", depending on which section they preferred; the leader of the Whizz-Kids was a boy called Sid and his snake Slippy, from the Sid's Snake comic strip. The leader of the Chip-ites was a boy called Shiner from the comic strip of the same name, who had aspirations to become a boxer. In the first issue of Whizzer and Chips, Sid's Snake was on the cover of Chips, as Shiner did not appear until issue 2. Notable comic strips or characters in Whizzer throughout the comic's 21-year run included: Belle Tent Bobby's Ghoul Champ Doodle Happy Families Joker Lazy Bones Me and My Shadow (from issue one, 18 Oct 1969 to 26 Dec 1970 rested until its return on 1 Jan 1972 Memory Banks Minnie's Mixer The Mummy's Curse Mystery Museum Odd Ball Sid's Snake Slowcoach Store Wars Strange Hill Sweet Tooth Sweeny Toddler The 12½p Buytonic Boy Later known as Super Steve The Bumpkin Billionaires Timothy Tester Tiny Tycoon Toy Boy Whizz Wheels Notable comic strips or characters in Chips throughout the comic's 21-year run included: Bewitched Belinda Beat Your Neighbour Boney Bookworm Bottom Of The Class Boy Boss Buffalo Bill Calculator Kid Cocoa Creepy Comix The Double Deckers 22-May-71 to 13-May-72 Footsie the Clown Fuss Pot Ginger's Tum Guy Gorilla Hal's Holdall Harry's Haunted House Junior Rotter Loser Lucky Dick Ma, Pa and Baby Ba Mustapha Million The Name Game Phil Fitt Percy's Pets Police Dog and Cat Burglar Sammy Shrink Shiner Super Dad Toffee Nose Town Tarzan The Krazy Gang The Slimms Watford Gapp Wear Em Out Wilf Adventure stories in the title included the following: Alfie in Africa Archie's Angels The Castaways Danny Drew's Dialling Man The Perils of Paul White Pursuit of the Puzzler Revenge of the Puzzler The Space Accident The Spectacular Adventures of Willie Bunk Trip to Terror Who is Sandy?
Wonder Car
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a book made up of comics content. Although the word "novel" refers to long fictional works, the term "graphic novel" is applied broadly and includes fiction, non-fiction, anthologized work, it is distinguished from the term "comic book", used for comics periodicals. Fan historian Richard Kyle coined the term "graphic novel" in an essay in the November 1964 issue of the comics fanzine Capa-Alpha; the term gained popularity in the comics community after the publication of Will Eisner's A Contract with God and the start of Marvel's Graphic Novel line and became familiar to the public in the late 1980s after the commercial successes of the first volume of Art Spiegelman's Maus in 1986 and the collected editions of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns in 1986 and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen in 1987. The Book Industry Study Group began using "graphic novel" as a category in book stores in 2001; the term is not defined, though Merriam-Webster's full dictionary definition is "a fictional story, presented in comic-strip format and published as a book", while its simplest definition is given as "cartoon drawings that tell a story and are published as a book".
In the publishing trade, the term extends to material that would not be considered a novel if produced in another medium. Collections of comic books that do not form a continuous story, anthologies or collections of loosely related pieces, non-fiction are stocked by libraries and bookstores as "graphic novels"; the term is sometimes used to distinguish between works created as standalone stories, in contrast to collections or compilations of a story arc from a comic book series published in book form. In continental Europe, both original book-length stories such as La rivolta dei racchi by Guido Buzzelli, collections of comics have been published in hardcover volumes called "albums", since the end of the 19th century; as the exact definition of the graphic novel is debated, the origins of the form are open to interpretation. The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck is the oldest recognized American example of comics used to this end, it originated as the 1828 publication Histoire de M. Vieux Bois by Swiss caricaturist Rodolphe Töpffer, was first published in English translation in 1841 by London's Tilt & Bogue, which used an 1833 Paris pirate edition.
The first American edition was published in 1842 by Wilson & Company in New York City using the original printing plates from the 1841 edition. Another early predecessor is Journey to the Gold Diggins by Jeremiah Saddlebags by brothers J. A. D. and D. F. Read, inspired by The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. In 1894 Caran d'Ache broached the idea of a "drawn novel" in a letter to the newspaper Le Figaro and started work on a 360-page wordless book. In the United States there is a long tradition of reissuing published comic strips in book form. In 1897 the Hearst Syndicate published such a collection of The Yellow Kid by Richard Outcault and it became a best seller; the 1920s saw a revival of the medieval woodcut tradition, with Belgian Frans Masereel cited as "the undisputed king" of this revival. His works include Passionate Journey. American Lynd Ward worked in this tradition, publishing Gods' Man, in 1929 and going on to publish more during the 1930s. Other prototypical examples from this period include American Milt Gross's He Done Her Wrong, a wordless comic published as a hardcover book, Une semaine de bonté, a novel in sequential images composed of collage by the surrealist painter Max Ernst.
Charlotte Salomon's Life? or Theater? Combines images and captions; the 1940s saw the launching of Classics Illustrated, a comic-book series that adapted notable, public domain novels into standalone comic books for young readers. In 1947 Fawcett Comics published Comics Novel #1: "Anarcho, Dictator of Death", a 52-page comic dedicated to one story. In 1950, St. John Publications produced the digest-sized, adult-oriented "picture novel" It Rhymes with Lust, a film noir-influenced slice of steeltown life starring a scheming, manipulative redhead named Rust. Touted as "an original full-length novel" on its cover, the 128-page digest by pseudonymous writer "Drake Waller", penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin proved successful enough to lead to an unrelated second picture novel, The Case of the Winking Buddha by pulp novelist Manning Lee Stokes and illustrator Charles Raab. Presaging Will Eisner's multiple-story graphic novel A Contract with God, cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman wrote and drew the four-story mass-market paperback Harvey Kurtzman's Jungle Book, published in 1959.
By the late 1960s, American comic book creators were becoming more adventurous with the form. Gil Kane and Archie Goodwin self-published a 40-page, magazine-format comics novel, His Name Is... Savage in 1968—the same year Marvel Comics published two issues of The Spectacular Spider-Man in a similar format. Columnist and comic-book writer Steven Grant argues that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Doctor Strange story in Strange Tales #130–146, although published serially from 1965–1966, is "the first American graphic novel". Critic Jason Sacks referred to the 13-issue "Panther's Rage"—comics' first-known titled, self-contained, multi-issue story arc—that ran from 1973 to 1975 in the Black Panther series in Marvel's Jungle Action as "Marvel's first graphic novel". Meanwhile, in continental Europe, the tradition of collecting ser
Punisher
The Punisher is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru, with publisher Stan Lee green-lighting the name. The Punisher made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129; the character is an Italian-American vigilante who employs murder, extortion, threats of violence, torture in his campaign against crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two children who were killed by the mob for witnessing a killing in New York City's Central Park, the Punisher wages a one-man war on the mob and all violent criminals in general while employing the use of various firearms, his family's killers were the first to be slain. A war veteran and a United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper, Castle is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, guerrilla warfare, marksmanship; the Punisher's brutal nature and willingness to kill made him a novel character in mainstream American comic books when he debuted in 1974.
By the late 1980s, the Punisher was part of a wave of psychologically-troubled antiheroes. At the height of his popularity, the character was featured in four monthly publications, including The Punisher, The Punisher War Journal, The Punisher War Zone, The Punisher Armory. Despite his violent actions and dark nature, the Punisher has enjoyed some mainstream success on television, making guest appearances on Spider-Man: The Animated Series, The Super Hero Squad Show, where the depiction of his violent behavior was toned down for family viewers. In feature films, Dolph Lundgren portrayed the Punisher in 1989, as did Thomas Jane in 2004, Ray Stevenson in 2008. Jon Bernthal portrays the character in the second season of Marvel's Daredevil and the spin-off The Punisher as a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the Punisher was conceived of by then-writer of The Amazing Spider-Man, Gerry Conway, inspired by The Executioner, a popular book series created by author Don Pendleton, in which a Vietnam veteran, Mack Bolan, becomes a serial killer of criminals after the Mafia-related deaths of his family.
Conway described the inspiration in an interview from 1987: "I was fascinated by the Don Pendleton Executioner character, popular at the time, I wanted to do something, inspired by that, although not to my mind a copy of it. And while I was doing the Jackal storyline, the opportunity came for a character who would be used by the Jackal to make Spider-Man's life miserable; the Punisher seemed to fit."Conway helped design the character's distinctive costume. As Conway recalled in 2002, "In the'70s, when I was writing comics at DC and Marvel, I made it a practice to sketch my own ideas for the costumes of new characters—heroes and villains—which I offered to the artists as a crude suggestion representing the image I had in mind. I had done that with the Punisher at Marvel." Conway had drawn a character with a small death's head skull on one breast. Marvel art director John Romita, Sr. took the basic design, blew the skull up to huge size, taking up most of the character's chest. Amazing Spider-Man penciller Ross Andru was the first artist to draw the character for publication.
Stan Lee Marvel's editor-in-chief, recalled in 2005 that he had suggested the character's name: Gerry Conway was writing a script and he wanted a character that would turn out to be a hero on, he came up with the name the Assassin. And I mentioned that I didn't think we could have a comic book where the hero would be called the Assassin, because there's just too much of a negative connotation to that word, and I remembered that, some time ago, I had had a unimportant character... was one of Galactus' robots, I had called him the Punisher, it seemed to me that, a good name for the character Gerry wanted to write—so I said,'Why not call him the Punisher?' And, since I was the editor, Gerry said,'Okay.' Appearing for the first time in The Amazing Spider-Man #129, the Punisher was an antagonist of the titular hero. He is portrayed as a bloodthirsty vigilante who has no qualms about killing gangsters, something that most superheroes of the time refrain from doing. J. Jonah Jameson describes him as "the most newsworthy thing to happen to New York since Boss Tweed".
In this appearance, the Punisher is determined to kill Spider-Man, wanted for the apparent murder of Norman Osborn. The Punisher is shown as a formidable fighter, skilled marksman, able strategist. All he reveals about himself is that he is a former U. S. Marine, he has a fierce temper but shows signs of considerable frustration over his self-appointed role of killer vigilante. He is engaged in extensive soul-searching as to what is the right thing to do: although he has few qualms about killing, he is outraged when his then-associate, the Jackal kills an enemy by treacherous means rather than in honorable combat. Spider-Man, himself no stranger to such torment, concludes that the Punisher's problems made his own seem like a "birthday party"; the character was a hit with readers and started to appear on a regular basis, teaming up with both Spider-Man and other heroes such as Captain America and Nightcrawler throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Conway said the Punisher's popularity took him by surprise, as he had intended him only as a second-tier character.
During his acclaimed run on Daredevil and artist Frank Miller made use of the character, contrasting his attitudes and version of vigilante action to that of the more liberal character of Daredevil. In the early 1980s, writer and college student Steven Gra
Blackest Night
Blackest Night is a 2009–2010 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, central miniseries written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Ivan Reis, a number of tie-in books. "Blackest Night" involves Nekron, a personified force of death who reanimates deceased superheroes and seeks to eliminate all life and emotion from the universe. Geoff Johns has identified the series' central theme as emotion; the crossover was published for eight months as a limited series and in both the Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps comic titles. Various other limited series and tie-ins, including an audio drama from Darker Projects, were published; the storyline was first mentioned at the conclusion of the "Sinestro Corps War" in Green Lantern vol. 4, #25. As the war between the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps reaches its climax, the four Green Lanterns of Earth—Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner—are told by the Guardians Ganthet and Sayd of the Blackest Night prophecy.
According to the prophecy, the two existing Corps would be joined by five new ones, each driven by a specific emotion and empowered by a specific color of the emotional spectrum, leading to a "War of Light" that would subsequently destroy the universe. Johns says the prophecy has its origins in the story "Tygers" by Alan Moore, which touches on the rising up of the Guardians' enemies the Weaponers of Qward, Ranx the Sentient City, the Children of the White Lobe, the destruction of the Green Lanterns, shows Hal Jordan and Mogo dying. Both Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver said that Blackest Night is the third part of a Green Lantern event trilogy that began with Rebirth and continued with "Sinestro Corps War". In a December 2007 interview with IGN, Johns stated that he has the monthly Green Lantern book plotted up until issue #55. More details for the event were revealed in DC Universe #0, which depicted Black Hand discovering the black power battery on the planet of Ryut. Blackest Night #0 was released on May 2, 2009, —Free Comic Book Day—and portrays a series of events directly leading into Blackest Night #1.
The standalone, self-titled miniseries consists of Blackest Night eight monthly issues. Tie-ins include issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps starting with issues #43 and #38 and nine 3-issue limited series: Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps, Blackest Night: Superman, Blackest Night: Batman, Blackest Night: Titans, Blackest Night: Wonder Woman, Blackest Night: Flash, Blackest Night: JSA. Ethan Van Sciver had planned to work on the opening book, but because of his work on The Flash: Rebirth miniseries he was not able to complete both effectively. Van Sciver and Ivan Reis created many of the designs for this storyline. Green Lanterns Ash and Saarek find the Black Central Power Battery at a classified location within Sector 666. After touching the battery, Saarek reports; the two are killed when two monstrous hands emerge from below them as the battery calls "flesh". In Green Lantern Corps, a field of asteroids in an unknown region of space is depicted with the colors of the spectrum in the background.
The asteroids, which are the remains of the planet Xanshi, are shattered and a large quantity of black power rings move through them. In Gotham City, Black Hand removes Bruce Wayne's skull from his grave and carries it with him, a Black Lantern power battery begins to charge; the Guardians of Oa observe the War of Light and realize that Ganthet and Sayd are correct but are kept from intervening by Scar, who swiftly kills one and imprisons the rest. Thousands of black rings assault the Corps' crypt. Hal Jordan and the newly revived Flash investigate Bruce Wayne's grave and are attacked by Black Lantern Martian Manhunter. On Oa, the Green Lanterns are met by all of the resurrected Lanterns. Hawkgirl and Hawkman are killed by Black Lanterns Elongated Man and Sue Dibny and join the growing Black Corps; the Atom is tricked into visiting Black Lantern Hawkman, Deadman is the first to realize the dead superheroes are not their true selves when his physical body revives as a Black Lantern while he is still free.
Aquaman and his Black Lantern family attack Mera. A black ring strikes the Spectre, binding the spirit Aztar and reviving Crispus Allen as a Black Lantern; the black rings are unable to revive dead characters who are at peace, such as former Dove Don Hall as his partner Hawk and his brother Hank rise. In Gotham, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are confronted by several Black Lanterns, including Ronald Raymond. Hal, the Atom and Flash battle the Black Lanterns when the Indigo Tribe appear and use their Indigo power with other rings to obliterate the Black Dibnys. Mera finds the new Gehenna, who merge to create a new Firestorm. Indigo says; the Indigo Tribe leave the other heroes to fight the invading Black Lanterns. Black Lantern Firestorm separates Gehenna and Jason, kills Gehenna and absorbs Jason's consciousness. Black rings revive the villains. Mera and Flash use Atom's powers to escape through a telephone line. Flash leaves and gives all the superheroes in the US the key to defeat the Black Lanterns—merging lights with a Green Ring—and the Atom and the Justice Society of America battle many Lanterns together.
Jean Loring kills and causes Damage to revive as a Lantern, which empowers the Black Lantern power battery. Barry arrives in Coast City. Black Hand summons Nekron, who revives the residents of Coas
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company known as Walt Disney or Disney, is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the world's largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue, ahead of NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923 by brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; the company established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production and theme parks. Since the 1980s, Disney has created and acquired corporate divisions in order to market more mature content than is associated with its flagship family-oriented brands; the company is known for its film studio division, Walt Disney Studios, which includes Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Blue Sky Studios. Disney's other main divisions are Disney Parks and Products, Disney Media Networks, Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International.
Disney owns and operates the ABC broadcast network. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1991. Cartoon character Mickey Mouse, created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, is one of the world's most recognizable characters, serves as the company's official mascot. In early 1923, Kansas City, animator Walt Disney created a short film entitled Alice's Wonderland, which featured child actress Virginia Davis interacting with animated characters. After the bankruptcy in 1923 of his previous firm, Laugh-O-Gram Studio, Disney moved to Hollywood to join his brother, Roy O. Disney. Film distributor Margaret J. Winkler of M. J. Winkler Productions contacted Disney with plans to distribute a whole series of Alice Comedies purchased for $1,500 per reel with Disney as a production partner. Walt and Roy Disney formed Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio that same year. More animated films followed after Alice. In January 1926, with the completion of the Disney studio on Hyperion Street, the Disney Brothers Studio's name was changed to the Walt Disney Studio.
After the demise of the Alice comedies, Disney developed an all-cartoon series starring his first original character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, distributed by Winkler Pictures through Universal Pictures. The distributor owned Oswald, so Disney only made a few hundred dollars. Disney completed 26 Oswald shorts before losing the contract in February 1928, due to a legal loophole, when Winkler's husband Charles Mintz took over their distribution company. After failing to take over the Disney Studio, Mintz hired away four of Disney's primary animators to start his own animation studio, Snappy Comedies. In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a mouse character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California, drawing up a few simple drawings; the mouse was renamed Mickey Mouse and starred in several Disney produced films. Ub Iwerks refined Disney's initial design of Mickey Mouse. Disney's first sound film Steamboat Willie, a cartoon starring Mickey, was released on November 18, 1928 through Pat Powers' distribution company.
It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho. Steamboat Willie was an immediate smash hit, its initial success was attributed not just to Mickey's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound. Disney used Pat Powers' Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system. Steamboat Willie premiered at B. S. Moss's Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre. Disney's Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho were retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks and re-released in 1929. Disney continued to produce cartoons with Mickey Mouse and other characters, began the Silly Symphony series with Columbia Pictures signing on as Symphonies distributor in August 1929. In September 1929, theater manager Harry Woodin requested permission to start a Mickey Mouse Club which Walt approved. In November, test comics strips were sent to King Features, who requested additional samples to show to the publisher, William Randolph Hearst.
On December 16, the Walt Disney Studios partnership was reorganized as a corporation with the name of Walt Disney Productions, Limited with a merchandising division, Walt Disney Enterprises, two subsidiaries, Disney Film Recording Company and Liled Realty and Investment Company for real estate holdings. Walt and his wife held Roy owned 40 % of WD Productions. On December 30, King Features signed its first newspaper, New York Mirror, to publish the Mickey Mouse comic strip with Walt's permission. In 1932, Disney signed an exclusive contract with Technicolor to produce cartoons in color, beginning with Flowers and Trees. Disney released cartoons through Powers' Celebrity Pictures, Columbia Pictures, United Artists; the popularity of the Mickey Mouse series allowed Disney to plan for his first feature-length animation. The feature film Walt
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of 2000 AD, a British weekly anthology comic, he is the magazine's longest-running character. He appears in a number of movie and video game adaptations. Judge Dredd is a law enforcement and judicial officer in the dystopian future city of Mega-City One, which covers most of the east coast of North America, he is a "street judge", empowered to summarily arrest, convict and execute criminals. In Great Britain, the character of Dredd and his name are sometimes invoked in discussions of police states and the rule of law. In 2011, IGN ranked Judge Dredd 35th among the top 100 comic book heroes of all time. Judge Dredd made his live action debut in 1995 in Judge Dredd, portrayed by Sylvester Stallone, he was portrayed by Karl Urban in the 2012 adaptation Dredd. When comics editor Pat Mills was developing 2000 AD in 1976, he brought in his former writing partner, John Wagner, to develop characters.
Wagner had written a Dirty Harry-style "tough cop" story, "One-Eyed Jack", for Valiant, suggested a character who took that concept to its logical extreme. Mills had developed a horror strip called Judge Dread but abandoned the idea as unsuitable for the new comic; the task of visualising the character was given to Carlos Ezquerra, a Spanish artist who had worked for Mills before on Battle Picture Weekly. Wagner gave Ezquerra an advertisement for the film Death Race 2000, showing the character Frankenstein clad in black leather on a motorbike, as a suggestion of Dredd's appearance. Ezquerra added body-armour and chains, which Wagner objected to. Wagner's initial script was drawn up by Ezquerra; the hardware and cityscapes Ezquerra had drawn were far more futuristic than the near-future setting intended. The original launch story written by Wagner and drawn by Ezquerra was vetoed by the board of directors for being too violent. A new script was needed for the first episode. Mills based the characterisation of Judge Dredd on Brother James, one of his teachers at St Joseph's College, Ipswich.
Brother James was considered to be an excellent teacher but an excessively strict disciplinarian to the extent he was considered abusive. In his blog Mills detailed the moments of rage for which Brother James had a reputation and his own experience witnessing them; the De La Salle monks at the school were a major influence in the 2000 AD design of the'judge and executioner' attitude of the judges. The name Joseph refers to the school. By this stage, Wagner had quit, disillusioned that a proposed buy-out of the new comic by another company, which would have given him and Mills a greater financial stake in the comic, had fallen through. Mills was reluctant to lose Judge Dredd and farmed the strip out to a variety of freelance writers, hoping to develop it further, their scripts were given to a variety of artists as Mills tried to find a strip which would provide a good introduction to the character. This Judge Dredd would not be ready for the first issue of 2000 AD, launched in February 1977; the story chosen to introduce the character was submitted by freelance writer Peter Harris, was extensively re-written by Mills, who added a new ending suggested by Kelvin Gosnell.
It was drawn by newcomer Mike McMahon. The strip debuted in "prog" no. 2. Around this time Ezquerra returned to work for Battle. There are conflicting sources about why. Ezquerra says it was because he was angry that another artist had drawn the first published Judge Dredd strip. Mills says he chose McMahon because Ezquerra had left, having been offered a better deal by the editor of Battle. Wagner soon returned to the character, starting in prog 9, his storyline, "The Robot Wars", was drawn by a rotating team of artists, marked the point where Dredd became the most popular character in the comic, a position he has relinquished. Judge Dredd has appeared in every issue since, most of the stories written by Wagner. In 1983 Judge Dredd made his American debut with his own series from publisher Eagle Comics, titled Judge Dredd, it consisted of stories reprinted from the British comic. Since 1990 Dredd has had his own title in Britain, the Judge Dredd Megazine. With Wagner concentrating his energies on that, the Dredd strip in 2000 AD was left to younger writers, including Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison and John Smith.
Their stories were less popular with fans, sales fell. Wagner returned to writing the character full-time in 1994. Judge Dredd has been published in a long-running comic strip in the Daily Star, in Metro from January to April 2004; these were created by the same teams writing and drawing the main strip, the Daily Star strips have been collected into a number of volumes. In 2012 Dredd was one of ten British comic characters commemorated in a series of stamps issued by the Royal Mail. Joseph Dredd is the most famous of the Street Judges that patrol Mega-City One, empowered to convict and sometimes execute offenders. Dredd is armed with a "Lawgiver", a pistol programmed to recognise only his palm-print, capable of firing six types of ammunition, a daystick, a boot knife and stun or gas grenades, his helmet obscures his face, except for his mouth and jaw
