2000 AD #798

Peter Doherty's striking cover for this August 1992 prog pulls no punches — a battered, blood-streaked Judge Dredd slumps with his head thrown back, helmet cracked and armour bearing the marks of a brutal encounter. The cover's blunt challenge — "Judge Down! Dredd — K.O. or D.O.A.?" — sets the stakes unmistakably as part 19 of the sprawling "Judgement Day" saga unfolds inside. For fans following Mega-City One's toughest lawman through Garth Ennis's script and Doherty's gritty line work, this is one weekly prog you'd have been reaching for the moment it hit the newsstand.