Judge Dredd: 'Mugger's Moon'

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'Mugger's Moon'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 19

DATELINE
2 July 77

This prog also featured Invasion, Dan Dare, Flesh, Harlem Heroes and M.A.C.H.1 strips nestled behind the first of twenty-five consecutive supercovers. They're very nice, but I have no idea what makes them so super. This one is by Brian Bolland.

PAGE COUNT
5

REPRINTS
The Complete Judge Dredd 2 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd goes after muggers and bystanders alike.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First script by Gerry Finley-Day and first art by John Cooper.

INFORMATION
The year is 2099 A.D. (this strip takes place during the night of a full moon, which for the record in 2099 would be either 7th Jan, 5th Feb, 6th Mar, 5th Apr, 4th May, 3rd June, 2nd July, 1st & 30th Aug, 29th Sept, 29th Oct, 27th Nov or 27th Dec).

Mega-City One is the most advanced city on the planet. Anti-litter campaigns have cleaned up its streets. Clean air laws have given it a pollution free atmosphere. Vehicles charged with gross pollution of the atmosphere are condemned to immediate destruction. Petrol burning cars are required to have an exhaust purifier fitted. Drivers are still required to carry licences.

Heat Seeker Bullets, nicknamed 'hot shots', are number 6 on a Judge's pistol and can pass through multiples victims. Judge's carry pollution meters.

JUDGE DREDD
He expects to be busy on a night with a bright moon and calls it a Mugger's Moon. Dredd is clearly appalled with the motorist who abandoned his fellow citizen to die.

OTHER CHARACTERS
F. NIXON
He has no criminal record. He abandoned someone during a mugging. Nixon drives an old twentieth century petrol burning car which cost him a fortune, During the mugging his exhaust purifier is pulled off and Dredd prosecutes him for gross pollution of the atmosphere and destroys his vehicle accordingly.

ARRESTS
None. Although Dredd does destroy a car for gross pollution.

DEATHS
Three. Dredd shoots three muggers, Lou, Gerry and a third unnamed mugger, with one heatseeking bullet.

BEST LINES
Mugger: "We'll take your money, sucker- But we'll hurt you, too- Just for fun!"

WORST LINES
Mugger: "He's got Lou and Gerry with a 'Hot Shot'! I'm getting out of here!"

You might still be alive if you hadn't made a speech about it.

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
The car is an old 20th century petrol burner and "cost a bomb", which recalls Judge Dredd: 'Antique Car Heist'.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
This strip may may have been inspired the belief that crime rises dramatically around a full moon. Statistically this has been largely disproven.

MISTAKES
One of the mugger's smashes the headlight on Dredd's Lawmaster, but it seems to be working fine at the end of the strip.

RETROSPECT
The exhaust purifier in this strip pre-dates the particulate filter in Diesal cars and although it didn't come before the catalytic converter it was still published long before they were in widespread production.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
There are no credits printed in the strip itself and so the following are taken from Barney.

Script: Gerry Finley-Day
Artist: John Cooper
Letters: Jack Potter

This is the first of four Judge Dredd strips written by Gerry Finley-Day. He also wrote for Ant Wars, Blackhawk, The Collector, Invasion, Dan Dare, Fiends Of The Eastern Front, The Hand, Harry Twenty, Jake's Platoon, Rogue Trooper and The V.C.'s

John Cooper would go on to draw another seven strips for Judge Dredd, as well as Abelard Snazz, M.A.C.H.1, Armitage, Tharg's Future Shocks and Tharg's Terror Tales.

REVIEW
This strip is bleak in tone and the artwork feels more seventies than other Dredd so far. On the surface this strip wouldn't seem to tell us much insight into Dredd, but the way he deals with Nixon shows that his ethics extend beyond the letter of the law.

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