A new Judge Dredd storyline recently published in 2000 AD Prog 2364 sees the female Judge Maitland defund the Judges by reallocating the budget from the Judges to education and seeing crime drop.
2000 AD Prog 2364 (2024), 2000 AD
Speaking with ComicBook.com about their latest storyline writers Arthur Wyatt and Rob Williams explained why they decided to inject the nonsensical defund the police movement into Judge Dredd.
Williams admitted the storyline is indeed a Defund the Police narrative telling the outlet, “I think I was somewhat wary of writing a ‘Defund the Police’ story in Dredd’s world when the riots were taking place in America. It just seemed a little too on-the-nose. But there’s been some distance since, which makes it easier. Makes it more about the ideas at play here.”
2000 AD Prog 2364 “A Better Place” (2024), 2000 AD
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Williams went on to confirm that Judge Matiland plans to upend the entire social order of the Judge Dredd world through her Defund the Judges campaign, “Judge Maitland being a very good, brave accounts Judge, and running numbers and seeing the obvious – that the Judges on the streets of Mega-City One are fighting a war on the citizens every day, and that isn’t sustainable – that’s just something that seemed ingrained in her character.
He added, “And how Maitland’s been built by writers like me and Al Ewing and Arthur – she’s going to push against the status quo and tell the powers that be her findings, and that’s going to cause problems. Because she’s effectively showing the Judges that their entire societal system doesn’t work and needs to change. So that was a story that had huge dramatic potential. This could change Dredd’s world.”
2000 AD Prog 2364 “A Better Place” (2024), 2000 AD
Later in the interview, Wyatt admitted he’s using the storyline to inject his own personal politics and ideas, “Well, I lived through the years 2020 to 2021 in America with a crippling social media addiction and an inability to look away from bad shit happening… I sure have some OPINIONS on things. And thematically, Dredd is all about policing and social order and the structures of power, so it’s all grist for the mill that’s going to feed into that.”
He added, “If the stories didn’t say anything there wouldn’t be any point to them, and honestly, whenever real-world events have gotten uncomfortably close to what’s on the page in the past I’ve always felt bad for not going further. But it has to work as a story and fit in the setting – anything that can do that is absolutely on the table.”
2000 AD Prog 2364 “A Better Place” (2024), 2000 AD
Williams concurred, “I like to think we’ve tried to be sensitive here, but as always, your mileage may vary. It’s, hopefully, the type of story that will cause some debate. Arthur was living in a city in the US where there were major riots over this issue, so he felt it in a first-hand way. But, ultimately, this is a Judge Dredd story. Dredd has a long history of brilliantly prescient and pertinent social satire and dramatization.”
He then defended pushing this narrative and even claimed he’s predicting the future by pointing to a previous Judge Dredd story, “Go read Mike Molcher’s I Am The Law for a detailed and very enjoyable exploration of the strip’s history in this regard and how it’s often, unfortunately, predicted what’s coming in the future. Just the way that in recent years, all across the world, democratic regimes seem to be falling to be replaced with autocratic ones, shows that Judge Dredd is as important a warning note now as it ever was.”
2000 AD Prog 2365 (2024), 2000 AD
It also seems apparent they will use Dredd to make it clear their opinion on this issue is the correct one. When asked about Dredd’s role in the story, Williams said, “Dredd’s no great thinker. He’s The Law, force of will, gut instinct, and the boot and the fist of this regime. But he’s not stupid, either. It’s war on the streets every single day. He’s lost countless colleagues over the years. And he’s aging, getting ground down by it all as anyone does in a life of longevity. I think he knows something needs to change, maybe, but he doesn’t know the consequences. That’s for others to work out.”
Wyatt added, “I can see it meaning different things for the Judges and for Dredd. By the time the story is up, I could see some trajectories getting changed…”
Not only does it appear they will use Dredd to try and promote their braindead ideas, but the main character opposing the defund the Judges movement is media mogul Robert Glenn. Williams explained, “There’s media mogul Robert Glenn who, in a Fox News/GB News style, sees an opportunity to weaponize this to promote his own business interests, consequences be damned.”
2000 AD Prog 2365 “A Better Place” (2024), 2000 AD
YouTuber Arch reacted to these comments and the idea of defunding the Judges saying, “Defund the Judges in the Judge Dredd universe. Right, well, just roll the outro music, I guess there’s nothing I can add to that. There is no absurdity I can heap upon this to make it worse. There is no exaggeration or comedic overplay I can commit to here that makes this in any way more inherently ridiculous. There really is no way to mock what is already mocking itself.”
Arch would also address the idea that Williams and Hyatt are trying to push the defund the police movement noting how dumb it was and how their argument was clearly destroyed by reality.
“We don’t need to have this argument,” the YouTuber stated. “We’ve already had this argument just a couple of years ago. And I was at the time, I was, ‘Do it. Defund the police. Come on, shut down the entire police department. I dare you. And we will swiftly find a resolution to this conundrum of ours. Well, certain places in America did and it was followed by a sudden spike in violent crime.”
He then mocked, “That was a violent twist wasn’t it? As sharp and sudden a turn as the sun rising in the f***ing morning.”
Furthermore, he noted, “And the various cities that did indeed try this, swiftly reversed course and refunded the police. Because as it turns out human society to remain a society does indeed need laws and order. I know, shocking. It’s only something we’ve known for an absolute fact for the last 10,000 odd years as a species. But, hey, details. Surely, it’s changed in the last few decades, right?”
2000 AD Prog 2365 “A Better Place” (2024), 2000 AD
Arch specifically took issue with Williams’ comments about the media mogul Robert Glenn and for all intents and purposes suggested Williams and Wyatt look in a mirror.
He said, “So you’re saying is that there’s a guy that uses this to push his own political point of view, his own agenda. Wow! That is pretty terrible. Hold on. What are you doing right now? Authors? What are you doing right now, writers? ‘We’re pushing our own ideology in Judge Dredd.’ Yes, yes, that’s correct. Are you at least making your own thing to push it? ‘No, no we’re abusing somebody else’s thing to do it.’ Okay, you’re worse than Fox News and GB News then because at least they have created their own things. And you can disagree with their points of view, but at the very least they have built an audience based on their points of view. You are merely shanghaiing another audience to further your politics.”
“If Fox News and GB News are the scum then you are the rats that eat it, and there is no mistaking it,” Arch asserted.
2000 AD Prog 2365 “A Better Place” (2024), 2000 AD
What do you make of 2000 AD pushing a defund the police narrative in Judge Dredd?
