Judge Dredd: 'Dr. Panic'

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'Dr. Panic'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Annual 1979

DATELINE
1 Sept 1978

The second 2000 A.D. Annual also featured Judge Dredd, Tharg's Future Shocks, Invasion, M.A.C.H.1, Dan Dare, The Phantom Patrol, Guinea Pig and Doctor Sin strips alongside four one-off text stories and features about subjects like lunar timekeeping on the moon, cruise missiles and profiles of Von Braun, Gagarin, Glenn, Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins and Verne.

PAGE COUNT
8

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03 and Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd investigates a series of deaths and takes on Dr. Panic.

FIRSTS & LASTS
None.

INFORMATION
(This strip is set in 2099)

Mega-City One has more crime than other cities. The Mega-City Morgue has at least 45 levels and requires security clearance for entry. The Cosmo Café is a dining establishment. The Panic Robot Repair Company operates out of a warehouse on the Lower Eastside.

Anti-Caffeine Laws forbid the use of Synthi-Caf. Gambling is illegal.

100 Credit banknotes are in circulation.

JUDGE DREDD
His security pass number is A14472. He investigates the tramp deaths and Max Normal leads him to Dr. Panic's Suicide Alley. Dredd is captured and set against a Robo-Judge with a single bullet. He shoots out the electricity supply, steals Panic's gun and destroys the Robo-Judge.

OTHER CHARACTERS
WALTER THE WOBOT
He serves Dredd Synthi-Caf despite the Anti-Caffeine Laws.

MAX NORMAL
Dredd gives him 2,000 credits for information on the Panic Robot Repair Company.

DR. PANIC
A cyborg. He runs the Panic Robot Repair Company as a front for Suicide Alley, a games arcade with deadly stakes. Dredd arrests and sentences him to 20 years in the time stretcher

ARRESTS
One. Dr. Panic is sentenced to 20 years in the time stretcher.

DEATHS
Corpse 568 is the fourteenth tramp murdered in ten days. Dredd witnesses the fifteenth .

BEST LINES
Dredd: "This is the fourteenth death, Judge - in ten days we've had fourteen killings of the city's down and outs - they're the dregs of society, but..."
Morgue Attendant: "...They have a right to live...very true, citizen!"

WORST LINES
Dredd: "Walter! Will you shut up snivelling and clean up that mess you've just made while I'm gone!"

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says bwought, fwightening and howwid. Dredd says "Stomm!" twice and brilliantly asks "Who the drokk are you, Tin-Face?"

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Set as it is in 2099, this could take part at any point between Max Normal's first appearance in 'The Comic Pusher' and Dredd's appointment to 'Luna 1'

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
Synthi-Caf is illegal? Dredd drinks it all the time!

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Unknown
Artist: Brett Ewins & Brendan McCarthy

REVIEW
The artwork of Dr. Panic himself is fantastic, everything else here is pretty dreadful.