Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died!, Part 17

NAME
Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died!, Part 17

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. and Starlord Prog 105

DATELINE
24 Mar 79

This prog bore a Judge Dredd cover by Brian Bolland and also featured Dan Dare, Ro-Busters, Robo-Hunter and Strontium Dog strips.

PAGE COUNT
5 and a half.

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd Epics: Judge Caligula 2, Judge Dredd Epics: The Complete Judge Caligula, The Complete Judge Dredd 10, Judge Dredd 12, Judge Dredd Epics: The Day The Law Died and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 02.

SYNOPSIS
Walter slanders Dredd in order to get closer to Cal and vital evidence.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First Judge Dredd not to feature Judge Dredd.

INFORMATION
(This strip takes place over four days)

Cal appoints Walter the Wobot as Mega-City's First Robot Judge. Named Judges: Judge Walter, Judge Wicks.

The Daily Mega and 3000AD are publications for sale in Mega-City One.

JUDGE DREDD
Walter accuses him of beating him, taking bribes and killing Chief Judge Goodman.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE WALTER THE WOBOT
He lies to Cal about his mistreatment at the hands of Dredd and the Chief Judge elects not to kill him. Instead Cal appoints him Judge Walter. He appears on several television programmes to repeat his story. He uses the opportunity to get inside Justice Central's Crime Briefing Room to steal a tape. Slocum catches him and marches the robot see Cal, who has Slocum pickled and returns the tape to Walter.

CHIEF JUDGE CAL
He invests Walter as a Judge.

JUDGE SLOCUM
He accuses Cal of being mad when he makes Walter a Judge. Slocum catches Walter stealing a briefing tape that incriminates Cal, but before he can inform the Chief Judge he is injected with a paralysing agent, his face forced into a grin and then his body pickled.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
One. Judge Slocum is killed by the pickling process.

BEST LINES
Cal: "By the way, Judge Walter - Slocum dropped this tape. Put it in the Briefing Room on your way past."

WORST LINES
Walter: "Cwipes and double cwipes!"

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says (or thinks) bwave, bwibes, bwiefing, cweep, cwime, cwuel, Dwedd, dweadful, Fwank, gweat, gween, howwible, hungwy, pwetty, pwide, scwub, sowwy, thwilled, tweat, twuncheon, twy, ungwateful, wascal, wemember, wich, wubbish, wip, Wobin, wobo-shweds, wobot, woom, wotten, Wussel, but manages a Dredd.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
As Walter courts the media the presenters are parodies of contemporary TV journalists: Wobin Knigt is Robin Day (1923-2000), while Wussel is Russell Harty (1934–1988).

MISTAKES
Due to Walter's speech impediment it isn't clear whether his handler is Judge Wicks or Judge Ricks.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: J. Howard
Artist: Ewins/McCarthy
Letters: Thomas

REVIEW
The Dreddless part follows Walter and shows us an insight into what the Walter The Wobot strip could have been. Slocum's demise is brilliantly bizarre and the artwork is wonderful.

Next Prog: From Out Of The Sewers!