2000 AD #224

Aug 1981 · IPC · 0.16 GBP

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“The Gronk Affair, Part 1”

About this Issue

Prog 224 marks the first team appearance of the Dark Judges — Judge Death, Judge Fear, Judge Fire, and Judge Mortis — completing one of British comics' most enduring villain groups and fundamentally expanding the mythology of Mega-City One beyond what a single antagonist could carry. The five-part 'Judge Death Lives!' story beginning here, scripted by John Wagner and Alan Grant and rendered by Brian Bolland, was later voted the third-best story 2000 AD ever published in a 2005 reader poll, a testament to its lasting grip on the readership. The issue also runs simultaneous instalments of two other major 2000 AD strips — Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill's Nemesis the Warlock (Book One, part 3) and Alan Grant and Carlos Ezquerra's Strontium Dog: The Gronk Affair (part 1) — making it a dense snapshot of the weekly anthology at one of its creative peaks. Together, the three strips running in this single prog introduced or deepened characters — Fear, Fire, Mortis, the Gronk, Torquemada — who would anchor 2000 AD narratively for the next four decades.

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writer T. B. Grover · artist, inker Brian Bolland · letterer T. Frame · cover Brian Bolland

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History

By August 1981, editor Steve MacManus had been steering 2000 AD since prog 86 (1978), and the weekly was operating at considerable creative ambition. John Wagner and Alan Grant co-wrote 'Judge Death Lives!', with Wagner credited under his house pseudonym T.B. Grover; the practice of pen names was common at IPC to obscure how many strips a single writer was carrying simultaneously. Brian Bolland, already the definitive visual architect of both Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson (whom he co-created with Wagner in prog 149–150), was given extra lead time to design the three new Dark Judges — he produced multiple design roughs before settling on the final figures — though he still reportedly struggled to finish the pages on schedule. This would prove to be the last complete Dredd story Bolland drew for the weekly before his workload shifted almost entirely to covers and American commissions.

Trivia · 8 facts

First team appearance of the Dark Judges: Judge Fear, Judge Fire, and Judge Mortis debut in this issue alongside the already-established Judge Death, completing the core group of four.
Judge Death had previously appeared solo, first in 2000 AD prog 149 (January 1980); prog 224 marks the first time all four Dark Judges appear together.
The lead story, 'Judge Death Lives!' (progs 224–228), was scripted by John Wagner and Alan Grant and illustrated entirely by Brian Bolland — the last complete Dredd story Bolland would draw for the weekly series.
Wagner was credited under his IPC house pseudonym T.B. Grover; pen names were standard practice at the publisher to disguise how heavily a single writer was represented in any one issue.
The issue simultaneously carries part 3 of Nemesis the Warlock Book One (script: Pat Mills; art: Kevin O'Neill), featuring the ongoing conflict between the alien freedom fighter Nemesis and the fascist Grand Master Torquemada.
Also in this issue: Strontium Dog — 'The Gronk Affair' part 1 (script: Alan Grant; art: Carlos Ezquerra), centering on Johnny Alpha, Wulf Sternhammer, and the Gronk's homeworld.
The 'Judge Death Lives!' story was voted third-best story ever published in 2000 AD in a 2005 reader poll on the official 2000 AD website.
The 'Judge Death Lives!' storyline has been reprinted in numerous collected editions, including Best of 2000 AD #12, the Rebellion Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol. 05, multiple Titan Books editions, and a colorised Eagle Comics reprint (color: John Burns).