Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died!, Part 8

NAME
Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died!, Part 8

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. and Starlord Prog 96

DATELINE
20 Jan 79

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd 11, The Complete Judge Dredd 9, Judge Dredd Epics: Judge Caligula 2, Judge Dredd Epics: The Complete Judge Caligula, Judge Dredd Epics: The Day The Law Died and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 02.

SYNOPSIS
Cal brings the exodus from Mega-City One to an end.

FIRSTS & LASTS
The first appearance of the wall.

INFORMATION
(This strip takes place over the course of three weeks)

Millions of people leave Mega-City One for the Cursed Earth, until Cal's forces attack and the exodus ends.

Chief Judge Cal has makes it illegal to talk, run or stop and introduces a fresh air tax. Defacing an image of Judge Cal is punishable by death. The Judges turn to schoolchildren to inform on their parents. He orders the construction of a mile-high wall around the city using prisoners, robots and recent arrestees as a workforce. Named Judges: Deputy Chief Judge Grampus, Judge O'Leary (SJS), Judge Rice. Judge Wilkins,

A flyer is a pedal-powered helicopter.

Kleggs have the hounds of Klegg.

JUDGE DREDD
He leads an attack against the wall and successfully blows a hole in it. He still inspires the citizens of Mega-City One.

OTHER CHARACTERS
CHIEF JUDGE CAL
He appoints Grampus as Deputy Chief Judge. Once the exodus is over, he orders the building of a mile high wall around the city in three weeks and authorises the use of Mega-City One's criminals and robots as a workforce.

DEPUTY CHIEF JUDGE GRAMPUS
Cal appoints him Deputy Chief Judge and give him absolute power in preventing the exodus from Mega-City One. He orders an airstrike on those leaving the city and the exodus is over.

WALTER THE WOBOT
He was arrested and put to work on the wall.

ARRESTS
At least seven. Walter is arrested to work on the wall. Six citizens are arrested for being 'Dreddists'.

DEATHS
Probably hundreds. Grampus orders the refugees be shot from the air. A citizen is killed trying to escape over the wall with a flyer, while another is shot for writing Dredd Lives! over an image of Cal.

BEST LINES
Cal: "Ungrateful scum, I'll squeeze them till the pips squeak!"

WORST LINES
Unknown: "Eat lead, ugly!"

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says awwested, cweep, Dwedd, gweat and wotten.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Pipsqueak squeezes (see BEST LINES), come from British politician Eric Campbell-Geddes (1875–1937) who said during a rally before the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, "We shall squeeze the German lemon until the pips squeak!"

Cal's wall encloses Mega-City One, but there is an obvious parallel with the Berlin Wall. It was a large concrete wall with guard towers, anti-vehicle trenches and an area known as the "death strip" which individuals were not permitted to enter. It was constructed by East Germany from 1961 to completely cut off West Berlin to prevent mass emigration and defection that affected the rest of the communist Eastern Bloc after World War II.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
In 'Mutant Land', a McMahon provided some conspicuous graffiti in '78 (presumably 2078).

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: M. McMahon
Letters: T. Frame

REVIEW
It's good to see Dredd on the back foot in another great episode. It's interesting that Cal's gone off the idea of mass exterminations and replaced it with a wall to incarcerate his citizens, thereby making living in Mega-City One literally a fate worse than death.

Next Prog: The Hunt!