"The Brotherhood of Darkness"
Mega City One Year: 2099
Published 19th March 1977, 2000ad Prog: 4 (The Complete Judge Dredd #1 and Judge Dredd the Complete Case Files 01)
Parts: 1
Written by Malcolm Shaw
Illustrated by Mike McMahon
Letters by Bill Nuttall
Synopsis
As Judge Dredd is merrily getting his licks and kicks in on a bunch of Mega-City One- invading mutants, known as the Brotherhood of Darkness, he is notified that they have kidnapped the Mayor’s son. Dredd quickly dons the cloak of a fallen member of the Brotherhood as a means to infiltrate the group as they make their escape into the atomically affected wilderness outside Mega City One’s walls, making note that the mutants can only see in the dark due to these surroundings.
Here Dredd finds the Mayor’s son who has been put to work as a slave. As the Brotherhood celebrate their victory, Dredd uses the opportunity to eliminate the guards and round up the Mayor’s sun and other hostages. Inevitably, as they are about to escape they are spotted by the mutants, but Dredd, retrieving his Lawmaster he “stole” as part of his disguise, activates the full beam headlights and fires flares on the mutants, blinding them and allowing Dredd to successfully escape with the hostages.
Mutant life outside of Mega City One’s walls will continually play a part in Dredd’s world. Interestingly we’re only three strips in and already we get a vision of what lurks outside of Mega City One. This is of course ahead of The Cursed Earth mega epic that would begin just over a year later, possibly why it wasn’t named here as such. Despite the unique nature of the titular group, we get more of a glimpse of Dredd with a range of emotions. He is a servant to the law for sure, but from the first page he is visibly and audibly enjoying slaughtering invaders into the city. This is of course not Dredd in his true form, as he would become a more typical emotionally absent figure, with all eyes on the job and little else. McMahon’s artwork is great here. That first page tells the core of the story before its kidnap and rescue element. Its just Dredd, kicking ass, against the baddies of the week. Its fantastic.
Line of the strip: “This sure beats handing out speeding tickets…!”
Be back next time citizens for “Krong”!
