Judge Death: Young Death Boyhood of a Super-fiend

John Wagner & Peter Doherty - Judge Death: Young Death Boyhood of a Super-fiend (Rebellion)

Every hero needs an arch-nemesis. For Dredd that nemesis is Judge Death. In many ways he's taken Dredd's morality to the ultimate extreme with the idea that all crime is caused by the living, so life itself should be a crime.

Unfortunately there has been a tendency to write 'comedy' Judge Death stories, and while Judge Dredd as a concept is an OTT black comedy, you need the villains to retain some genuine menace - and this falls uncomfortably into comedy territory. Detailing his origin story, it robs him of any horror, reducing this enigmatic villain to a one gag joke.