Judge Dredd: 'Block War'

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'Block War'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD Featuring Judge Dredd Prog 182

DATELINE
18 Oct 80

This prog also featured a Judge Dredd cover by Brian Bolland and Dash Decent, The Mean Arena, Meltdown Man, Strontium Dog and Tharg The Mighty strips.

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
The Best Of 2000AD 46, Judge Dredd Classics 65, The Complete Judge Dredd 17, Judge Dredd 15, Judge Dredd Epics: The Judge Child 3, Judge Dredd Epics: The Complete Judge Child Quest, Judge Dredd Epics: The Judge Child Quest, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 04 and online here.

SYNOPSIS
The Council of Five judges Dredd, while he deals with a war between cityblocks.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearances of Judges Ecks, McGruder and Quimby. First Block War.

INFORMATION
Mega-City One's Rita Tushingham Block and Ernest Borgnine Block are neighbours. They are both affluent blocks, but they engage in an inter-block war.

Dying predictions of Pre-cogs are considered less reliable.

A drunk driver can be sentenced to ten years and banned from driving for life. The Judges have access to scatter shells, a form of artillery ammunition that explode in mid-air. When the Council Of Five votes, the Chief Judge can exercise a veto to overturn their wishes. Named Judges: Judge Dodge, Judge Ecks (Head of Psi-Division), Judge McGruder (Head of the SJS) & Judge Quimby (Chief Accountant).

JUDGE DREDD
He visited forty-nine planets in his search for the Judge Child. He neglected to keep a track of his expenses. He attends the scene of a block war between Rita Tushingham and Ernest Borgnine Blocks. He orders a lead lowered between them to prevent individuals crossing from one to the other. He sentences all those involved to five years (adding another five if the fail to hand themselves in within ten minutes). This successfully ends hostilities.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE GIANT
He welcomes Dredd back to Mega-City One.

JUDGE DODGE
He assists Dredd at the scene of the block war between Rita Tushingham Block and Ernest Borgnine Block.

JUDGE QUIMBY
Chief Accountant. He sits on the Council of Five. He votes against another expedition to retrieve the Judge Child.

JUDGE ECKS
Head of Psi-Division. He sits on the Council of Five. Ecks estimates that Feyy's dying prediction regarding the Judge Child, may be only 70% accurate. He votes for another expedition to retrieve the Judge Child.

JUDGE McGRUDER
Head of the SJS. She sits on the Council of Five. She votes for another expedition to retrieve the Judge Child.

DEPUTY CHIEF JUDGE PEPPER
He sits on the Council of Five. He votes for another expedition to retrieve the Judge Child.

CHIEF JUDGE GRIFFIN
Feeling that a subsequent mission to retrieve the Judge Child would embarrass Dredd into resigning. he exercises his veto and ignores the votes of the Council of Five.

ARRESTS
Hundreds. Dredd arrests a drunk driver, bans him from driving for life and puts him in the cubes for ten years. He sentences everyone involved in the block war between Rita Tushingham and Ernest Borgnine Blocks to five years and then adds another five to any that fail to hand themselves in within ten minutes.

DEATHS
Hundreds.

BEST LINES
Dredd: "Just count what's there and subtract it from what we started with. It's quite simple!"

You can't argue with that.

WORST LINES
None.

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
This strip is the aftermath of Dredd's search for The Judge Child and there is a flashback to The Day The Law Died. The Council of Five was first seen in Crime And Punishment, where it was referred to as "a council of five".

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Nijinski Trucking shares its name with a both Vaslav Nijinsky, a Russian ballet dancer (1889 or 1890-1950), and a British racehorse (1967-1992).

Rita Tushingham is a British actress famous for her appearances in the films A Taste Of Honey (1961), The Knack...And How To Get It (1965) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). Ernest Borgnine (1917-2012) was an American actor and star of films like The Dirty Dozen (1967), Ice Station Zebra (1968), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Black Hole (1979), All Quiet On The Western Front (1979) and Escape From New York (1981), as well as Airwolf on television (1984-1987).

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: Brian Bolland
Letters: Tom Frame

REVIEW
The fallout from The Judge Child, is itself an improvement on The Judge Child. The talking heads debate of the Council of Five is brilliantly juxtaposed with the action sequences of Dredd getting the job done. Bolland's art is beautiful and the Block War itself is a brilliant concept.

Next Prog: Aggro!