Judge Dredd: 'The Aggro Dome'

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'The Aggro Dome'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD Featuring Judge Dredd Prog 183

DATELINE
25 Oct 80

This prog also featured Dash Decent, The Mean Arena, Meltdown Man, Ro-Jaws' Robo-Tales and Strontium Dog strips and a Meltdown Man cover by Massimo Belardinelli.

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd Classics 64, The Complete Judge Dredd 17, Judge Dredd Definitive Ed. Bad Science, Judge Dredd Chronicles Book 2, Judge Dredd 13, The Best Of 2000AD 46 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 04.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd visits the Aggro Dome.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of an Aggro Dome.

INFORMATION
(This strip takes place in August 2102 A.D.)
Mega-City One's Aggro Dome is designed to allow citizens to work off their aggressive instincts. It features the Big Leap, Chop Wood, Vape A Teacher, Torture and an ultra-violent room in which an individual can pay to beat up a robot.

Home computers have an aggro unit which monitors aggression levels within the home. A level of 14% is considered high.

Soya Porridge is a foodstuff.

JUDGE DREDD
He is sent to the Aggro Dome to inspect it on the first day of opening. Dredd arrests an individual who escapes and causes chaos as the Aggro Dome customers turn on him and then each other. Dredd shoots out the roof to contain the fighting mob.

OTHER CHARACTERS
HOUSTON
He runs the Aggro Dome. He is punched in the face by a customer whose time ran out before his anger had abated.

THE THATCHIT FAMILY
The Home Computer Aggro Unit recommends a visit to the Aggro Dome.

ARRESTS
Hundreds. Dredd arrests the citizen that punches Houston, but he escapes. Eventually Dredd arrests everybody in the Aggro Dome.

DEATHS
At least one, Dredd kills his escaped arrestee with a heatseeker bullet. It looks like a bloodbath though, there are probably plenty of other corpses in the Aggro Dome when leads the living out.

BEST LINES
Arrestee: "J-Judge Dredd! But I didn't mean to hit him! I was just so angry..."
Dredd: "I'm sure Houston didn't mean to bleed, but he's making a real mess on that floor! Move it!"

WORST LINES
None.

CATCHPHRASES
A big leaper says "By Dok!", the victim of a shooting shouts an "Aieeeeee!" and Dredd says "No-one can escape the law!"

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
At the Aggro Dome citizens can take the big leap onto a huge representation of Judge Cal's face from The Day The Law Died.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Thatchit could be intended to be a combination of Thatcher and Cratchit.

MISTAKES
The opening caption in the original prog apparently gives the year as 2120 A.D.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Alvin Gaunt
Artist: Mike McMahon
Letters: Tom Frame

Alvin Gaunt is a gestalt entity made up of Alan Grant and Kelvin Gosnell.

REVIEW
A nice little tale with plenty of action, social commentary and humour. This is an improvement upon recent crazes to hit Mega-City One because it is localised and makes a virtue of this.