34: Judge Death

A small three-parter that would have huge ramifications, and another story that's already been analysed to Death (pardon the pun). Indeed, it is the most reprinted Judge Dredd story of all time.

Baddies are always more fun, so it’s no surprise that Judge Death gets the starring role here, but for me Anderson is the real standout character. Death is very well-realised by Bolland and his bizarre inversion of the Judges is a great conceit, but Anderson in two episodes (she doesn't even appear in the first episode!) manages to make a mark as a character and then demonstrate strength and resilience in dealing with the problem. The use of Boing, a comedy product from a fun episode, to resolve a dark and dramatic evil is also cleverly done.

A packed three episodes that will have huge ramifications – and they all work excellently. Judge Death and his superfiend cousins will take some epic twists and turns from this point on, but you can make a very solid argument that it's hard to top this initial story.