Introduction

 

 

When I first told my friend Kevin about this series, he said, “What?” because he wasn’t listening. So when I second told him about it, he said, rather dismissively, “Oh, so, you’re doing a prequel, then. Did you get that idea from The Phantom Menace?”

Through gritted teeth, I explained that, no, this idea didn’t come from The Phantom Menace. And it’s not a prequel.

Well, not really.

In 2006, almost thirty years after they created Judge Dredd, writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra finally gave us the epic tale Origins which relates the history of the Justice Department. It told us how the USA finally began crumbling under the weight of its own bureaucracy and internal politics, drowning in the blood on the streets even as it choked on the dust of its collapsing economy. We saw how hot-shot young lawyer Eustace Fargo was appointed Special Prosecutor for Street Crime by President Thomas Gurney. How he founded the Judge system in the hopes of applying order to the growing chaos, and how that system eventually came to completely supplant the US government.

Origins is a masterpiece, but it has a lot of ground to cover. The story of the first Judges on the streets—back when they were still sharing those streets with the cops and lawyers they would eventually replace—occupies just two panels out of its 132 pages.

That’s where this series comes in. Who were those first Judges? What sort of person would be willing to throw away the fundamental concept of due process? To forfeit every other citizen’s basic rights in the name of justice?

What does it take to become the physical embodiment of the Law?

Senior editor and overlord David Thomas Moore asked me to be the line-editor for the series: he knew of my love for Dredd (I’m a 2000 AD reader from the very beginning!), and my enthusiasm for Dredd’s history. I realised that since I’d be working with other writers my first task should be to create a series bible; a comprehensive document that explains the background to the series, the setting and tone, a list of dos and don’ts, lists of characters that can be used and those who are off-limits, and so forth.

But all that seemed like way too much work, so instead I wrote The Avalanche, the first novella you’ll find in this collection, as a sort of template for the other writers. A blueprint that tells them, “This is the sort of thing we want. Do it like this. But not 100% exactly like it, of course. Add your own slant.”

Dutifully, for they are professional, George and Charles both studied my blueprint very, very closely before deciding to carefully—almost reverentially—crumple it up, toss it aside and write their books their own way. I’m glad they did! This is, after all, why they were chosen. They each brought their own unique voice to the series, and it’s all the richer for it.

I won’t spoil their books for you, of course, but you’re in for a treat. George Mann’s Lone Wolf takes what on the surface might seem a clear, straightforward cop-story and applies his well-honed skills to ramp the tension way, way up. It’s a fantastic, gripping adventure: when I was editing the first draft I constantly found myself so engrossed in the story that I was forgetting to annotate the script. I’ve edited thirty-something novels and I think that’s the first time that’s ever happened to me.

As for Charles J. Eskew’s When the Light Lay Still... Well, that was initially scheduled to be the second release in the series, but Charles kept adding so many layers to it. The story—which we were receiving in chunks—was magnificent, but it was taking way too long. Editorial decision: do we rein him in, or give him the room to fly? We chose the latter option, and swapped the publication order with Lone Wolf, which was possible because George had delivered his book early, the absolute champion.

All that remains is for me to thank George and Charles, the awesomely gorgeous and tantalisingly exotic Abaddon crew, and of course the unbelievably talented creators of our universe, John Wagner and the much-missed Carlos Ezquerra. Thank you for letting us play with your wonderful toys, gentlemen!

Justice lies within, folks.

 

Michael Carroll

Dublin, November 2018