2000 AD #1981

The tagline "The Law Lives" says it all on this striking cover to 2000 AD #1981, where a battered Judge Dredd — rendered in impressive detail by Jon Davis-Hunt — is seen from a dramatic low angle, his cracked and bloodied helmet clutched in gauntleted hands while a defeated, bruised figure looms behind him. The composition radiates a hard-won, boots-on-the-ground defiance that makes the image immediately arresting. Inside, Michael Carroll continues "The Lion's Den Part Four" with art by PJ Holden and colors by Adam Brown, keeping this 2016 prog firmly in must-read territory.