Judge Dredd: 'Whitey’s Brother'

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'Whitey's Brother'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Annual 1978

DATELINE
1st September, 1977.

PAGE COUNT
4

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files 01

SYNOPSIS
Whitey's brother attempts to get him released and hold Mega-City One to ransom.

FIRSTS & LASTS
Whitey's reappearance is the first time that a perp has returned to the strip.

INFORMATION
The year is 2099 A.D.

In Mega-City One's New York area, the World Trade Centre is destroyed, while Welch Logan's hideout is a hanger in range of his electronic jamming devices at the edge of the city.

Justice H.Q. monitors aerial activity with 'scopes', and has a records department staffed by at least 72 clerks.

JUDGE DREDD
He is on patrol when Welch Logan's disrupters cause the road to collapse out from under him and he loses another lawmaster. Logan wants Dredd to release his brother 'Whitey'.

OTHER CHARACTERS
THE GRAND JUDGE
The correct fom of address is "Your honour".

'WHITEY'
His full name is William Logan. He has an elder brother called Welch Logan. Dredd has him released from Devil's Island prison to accede to his brother's demands and has him returned as soon as his brother is dead. He threatens to escape.

WELCH
He worked as a particle physicist for the Morima Corp. Welch Logan did molecular research into disrupting the electrical bonds between matter. He has been missing believed dead for five years (2094), during that time he has developed an armoured silicone bubble to protect himself and smaller floating devices armed with disrupters capable of turning buildings to dust. He uses these latter devices to demand his brother's release, four million credits and Dredd be delivered to him or he will destroy the city a building at a time. Dredd relents and takes 'Whitey' to him. Dredd kills Welch using one of his own devices against him.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
One. Dredd kills Welch with one of his own devices. It's not made clear if there was anyone in the destroyed buildings or not, but Dredd calls Welch a murderer which implies there was.

BEST LINES
Dredd: "You should be thankful, Whitey! At least you're still alive!"
Whitey: "Alive? You call this living? But I'll get off this place one day, Dredd! And when I do..."

WORST LINES
Dredd; "And you don't care how many people you murder to do it!"
Whitey: "Right, Dredd, but you ain't gonna be around to see it! I'm gonna blow your head off."

Why didn't you do that in the one-way transport?

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
This strip sees the return of Whitey from Judge Dredd: 'Judge Whitey' and M.A.C. from Judge Dredd: 'The Wreath Murders'.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
Dredd says "It takes more than a punk with a gun to kill a Judge!", which ironically is exactly what put Whitey in prison.

RETROSPECT
The World Trade Center in New York would indeed be destroyed on the 11th of September 2001.

NOTES
None.

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

Script: Steve Moore
Artist: Mike McMahon

REVIEW
This strip has a great story and is a huge improvement on 'Videophones', but the lettering is still awful. The artwork varies somewhat, but the falling Lawmaster crushing a car, Welch's bubble and the last panel all look great. The subsequent connotations of the World Trade Center notwithstanding it's a nice touch that this strip keeps to the New York theme of 'Judge Whitey'. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed seeing Whitey back.

The End