2000 AD #970
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeProg 970 marks the opening chapter of 'The Pit,' one of the most character-rich Judge Dredd epics of the 1990s and the first appearance of Judge Galen DeMarco, a supporting character significant enough to later anchor her own strip and recur across decades of continuity. By stranding Dredd in a desk assignment as Sector Chief of the city's most dysfunctional precinct, writer John Wagner shifted the long-running series decisively toward procedural police drama, expanding the emotional and ethical vocabulary of the Dreddverse well beyond the action-satire template. The issue also falls mid-run in the 'Medusa Offensive' arc of ABC Warriors, itself part of Pat Mills's ongoing 2000 AD universe, meaning prog 970 carries debut and developmental weight across two major strips simultaneously. Its subsequent adaptation into a full-cast Penguin audio drama confirms how durably this material has resonated outside the original weekly format.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By 1995, 2000 AD was published by Fleetway Publications and operating under conditions of corporate turbulence — ownership had shifted from IPC to Robert Maxwell's company and then to Egmont UK, a publisher whose primary business was Disney material, creating an uneasy editorial climate for the comic's veteran creators. John Wagner, co-creator of Judge Dredd, used 'The Pit' to demonstrate what the character could sustain beyond large-scale city-threatening catastrophes, writing all 30 episodes himself at a moment when, as contemporary critics noted, other writers were being tried on the strip with mixed results. The arc's rotating artistic team — Carlos Ezquerra for the opening stretch, then Colin MacNeil and Lee Sullivan, later Alex Ronald — reflects both the production realities of a weekly anthology and the era's reliance on a bench of established house artists.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Prog 970 is the opening installment of 'The Pit' (progs 970–999, 1995–1996), a 30-episode Judge Dredd story written entirely by John Wagner.
- First appearance of Judge Galen DeMarco, who later became the protagonist of her own strip and recurred prominently in the 1999 epic 'The Doomsday Scenario.'
- First appearance of Judge Guthrie, a rogue undercover judge who serves as a key informant throughout the arc.
- Judge Buell, also listed in the catalog index, is introduced during 'The Pit' and placed in command of Dredd's internal task force.
- The opening episodes of 'The Pit' were drawn by Carlos Ezquerra, Dredd's co-creator, with Colin MacNeil and Lee Sullivan rotating in for later chapters; Alex Ronald also contributed.
- Prog 970 also falls within the ABC Warriors 'Medusa Offensive' arc (progs 964–971), written by Pat Mills and illustrated by Kev Walker, featuring Hammerstein, Blackblood, Deadlock, Joe Pineapples, Mek-Quake, and Mongrol.
- The complete 'Pit' arc was collected in a standalone Rebellion trade paperback (first edition 2008) and subsequently included in Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files volumes 24 and 25.
- A full-cast audio drama adaptation of 'The Pit,' featuring Joseph Fiennes as Dredd, was produced and released by Penguin Audio in partnership with Rebellion Publishing.
Cast · 29 characters
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