I’ve just come across this excellent Tumblr offering some great pieces on the world of Judge Dredd and 2000AD. The creator – “Judge Anon” – is publishing a series of articles on the history of female Judges in the comic that makes for a great read. Here’s a small taste from the first part…
“…Eventually the question of who was the first female judge to appear in the strip popped out, and what followed was a two-pronged archeology labor through Case Files and Progs that yielded some interesting results. For clarity’s sake I’m only gonna be referring to the main progs here, no annuals or yearbooks included, but I’ll be happy to make a separate post for them if the need arises. So without further ado, let’s take a trip to the late 1970s and talk about ladies in leather for a while, shall we?Women judges are first mentioned in 2000AD prog 98, dated February 1979, but curiously enough not on the actual Judge Dredd strip. Or in any other comic strips. No, the first mention of a female judge happens in the Nerve Centre letters page, courtesy of one earthlet J.W. Richardson:
“Now, 2000AD was originally very much a Boys’ Comic, and that isn’t a euphemism. IPC Magazines, the prog’s original publisher, was very staunchly divided between Girls and Boys mags, each with their own separate offices and such. But while 2000AD was by design aimed at the lads, it didn’t stop them from garnering a certain amount of female readers. It did, however, stop them from featuring any actual female characters, save for a precious few exceptions…”
• Read the first part via the link below and the second part is here. There’s also a fun item published 1st April on a similar theme I’ll let you find for yourselves.
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, Links