16: John Cassevetes Is Dead

A simple story that is effectively told with Colin MacNeil's stark black-and-white line work, John Cassevetes is Dead works to reinforce one of the key features of totalitarian states - the attempt to eliminate the past that didn't include that state. Setting the strip in the 22nd Century allows John Wagner to use the present day as the distant past, and the idea that publications we read today - even just simple newspapers - might one day be banned publications reinforces the idea that the world of Judge Dredd is only just over the line of implausibility.

This story could be a manual in how to tell an effective story in just 5 pages. Once again we get a little snapshot of life in Mega-City One, and the freedoms that have been lost in the name of "safety" under the Judges. Most chillingly, Dredd doesn't even seem to know why they've banned these publications. This little story marks another chink in the armour against Dredd's world and what he stands for.