Is Judge Dredd being erased from Wikipedia?

By John Freeman on January 20, 2020

Judge Dredd – Dark Judges by Brian Bolland © Rebellion Publishing Ltd

It seems someone has been doing some pruning Wikipedia, resulting in the deletion of some Judge Dredd-related articles, including an extensive feature on Judge Death – although a snapshot of the page survives on the archive site Wayback Machine.

While concerns about the removal of the page have been raised on the 2000AD forum, however, let’s hope this is just some spring cleaning by Wikipedia to tidy up pages lacking sources, and not some attempt to expunge Judge Dredd by crazed keyboard-savvy thrill suckers.

Investigating, the removal of the Judge Death page, for example, looks like it was some time coming. A warning about its unclear sources had been in place since October 2015, and the final Wayback snapshot in December 2019 announces the page – which it seems had not been updated since 2017 – had been targeted for deletion, pending page discussion.

A 17th December 2019 snapshot of the Judge Death Wikipedia Page, highlighting a warning that it was due for deletion

Wikipedia visitors looking for Judge Death are now being directed to its “List of Judge Dredd Characters” Page. The popular reference site has a detailed guide to its Deletion Policy, and only administrators can completely delete Pages, and they can be undeleted on appeal.

Whatever the reasons for the removal, the Page was a useful, quick reference guide to Judge Death and some feel having it was good to have such a resource on Wikipedia, a first point of call for may web users initial research into comics and comic characters, before delving deeper on the web. Given the reported disappearance of similar Dredd-related pages on the Fandom Wikia service, it’s a shame to see introductory reference guides like this disappear.

Of course, there’s nothing to stop 2000AD from adding a guide to Judge Death to its web site, and a fairly new fan web site with no connection to publisher Rebellion – judgedeath.co.uk, a domain registered last June – features much more information on the character, as noted by artist PJ Holden, and opinions on stories, the latter something that could never feature on Wikipedia.

Let’s just hope the site doesn’t cross the line when it comes to copyright and is renewed when the domain expires later this year, and isn’t hijacked as past British comics-related sites have been, such as the once legendary Sevenpenny Nightmare!

WEB LINKS

• Wayback Machine – Wikipedia Judge Death Page Snapshot – 17th December 2019

• There’s a British Comics Work Group who fine tune Wikipedia’s British comics pages – details here

• 2000AD Official Site: 2000ad.com

• “Disappearing Dredd” discussion thread on the 2000AD forum

• Judge Death Fan Site: judgedeath.co.uk | Twitter

Judge Dredd, Judge Death © Rebellion Publishing Ltd.

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as 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.