2000AD’s sister comic, Judge Dredd Megazine, celebrates its 25th anniversary this Wednesday – with a special cover by artist Barry Kitson.

The veteran artist on Judge Dredd, Anderson: Psi Division, Fantastic Four, and The Amazing Spider-Man has returned to the ‘House of Tharg’ after 23 years to produce an image of Dredd having bested many of his most dangerous foes, before beckoning the next generation of villains to try their best.

Launched in 1990, the monthly Megazine has published some of the most seminal Judge Dredd stories of the past four decades, including “America’, “Young Death”, and “Bury My Knee At Wounded Heart”.

Its first issue in October 1990 featured the artistic talents of Glenn Fabry, Sean Phillips, John McRae, Peter Doherty, Cam Kennedy, and Jim Baikie. Over the past 25 years it has also debuted popular characters such as Gordon Rennie and Frank Quitely’s Missionary Man, Si Spurrier and Fraser Irving’s The Simping Detective, and Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade’s Judge Metta Lawson.

The special cover by Kitson features 25 of Dredd’s all-time greatest villains, including: Kraken, Judge Death, Judge Fear, Call-Me-Kenneth, Judge Mortis, Mean Machine Angel, Trapper Hag, Fink Angel, The Judge Child, Stan Lee, Chief Judge Cal, Judge Fire, Captain Skank, Sabbat the Necromancer, Judge Rico Dredd, Don Uggie Apelino, Father Earth, PJ Maybe, the Mutant, the zombie Dredd from City of the Damned, a Sov Judge, Pa Angel, Whitey, and several more… with city blocks in the background named after John Wagner and Alan Grant, paying tribute to the two scripting titans of Dredd’s world.

This month’s issue sees the start of a stunning new Dredd thriller, “Terror Rising”, by the ‘America’ team of John Wagner and Colin MacNeil; Brit-Cit Psi-Judge Lillian Storm goes underground in her pursuit of the mysterious box in “Storm Warning: The Relic” by Leah Moore, John Reppion and Tom Foster; Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson has more than her hands full keeping the town in check as the carnival kicks off in “Lawless: Between Badrock and a Hard Place” by Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade; and “Demon Niic”  faces the Assassin Apostles, by Paul Grist! Plus, in the bagged graphic novel this month, we catch up with Carl and Kilquo in the “Freaks” sequel “Faces” by John Higgins and Mindy Newell.

• Judge Dredd Megazine Issue 365 is on sale this Wednesday from all good newsagents and comic book stores, as well as digitally through the DRM-free 2000AD webshop and the 2000AD apps for Apple and Android devices

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: 2000AD, British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: Adventure Comics, Barry Kitson, Cam Kennedy, Coin MacNeil, Comic Genres, Comics By Country, Current British Comics, Dan Abnett, downthetubes News, Frank Quitely, Fraser Irving, Glenn Fabry, Gordon Rennie, Jim Baikie, John Higgins, John McRae, John Reppion, John Wagner, Judge Dredd, Judge Dredd Megazine, Leah Moore, Mindy Newell, Missionary Man, Paul Grist, Peter Doherty, Phil Winslade, Rebellion, Rebellion, Sean Phillips, SF Comics, Si Spurrier, Tom Foster