Judge Dredd the Megazine #52
Judge Dredd The Megazine #52 sits at the creative heart of one of the Megazine's most ambitious simultaneous anthology runs during its fortnightly Volume 2 period — delivering ongoing chapters of Shimura's 'Outcast' arc, Anderson's 'Postcards from the Edge,' and Missionary Man's early exploits, all at once. It is part of the concentrated mid-1994 run that established Hondo City's Shimura mythos as a serious, tonally distinct corner of the Dredd universe, while also providing some of the earliest published professional work by a then-obscure Frank Quitely. The issue arrives during a fertile editorial moment when the Megazine had just won back-to-back UK Comic Art Awards for Best Ongoing Publication (1992 and 1993), affirming the title's ambitions beyond simple Dredd spin-off territory.
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Published by Fleetway as part of Volume 2's fortnightly run — 83 issues issued from May 1992 to July 1995 — issue #52 appeared in late April/early May 1994. The volume had settled into a rotating anthology model pairing a main Dredd strip with standalone Dredd-universe series, including Shimura and Missionary Man, both of which were among the newer additions to the Megazine's stable. Writer Robbie Morrison was relatively new to professional comics when he developed the Shimura concept, and the 'Outcast' serial beginning at #50 was drawn by Colin MacNeil, who had already established his Megazine credentials on the acclaimed 'America' story with John Wagner.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue #52 is part of Volume 2's fortnightly run (Fleetway, 1992–1995), published in late April/early May 1994, within a stretch of issues covering the same concurrent story arcs as issues 50–55.
- The Shimura strip running through this issue — the 'Outcast' serial (Megazine 2.50–2.55) — was written by Robbie Morrison and drawn by Colin MacNeil, and features Judge Inspector Takashi Shimura, Aiko Inaba, and Itami as central Hondo City characters; Morrison named Shimura after the lead actor of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.
- Shimura's debut story (Megazine 2.37, 1993) and the 'Outcast' arc were drawn by Frank Quitely in his prequel episodes — one of his very first professional comics assignments, predating his high-profile US work with Grant Morrison.
- Missionary Man, featuring Preacher Saul Cain — an ex-Texas City Judge turned Cursed Earth fundamentalist — had launched in Megazine 2.29 (May 1993) with art by Frank Quitely; by issue #52, the strip was in its 'Bad Moon Rising' arc.
- Anderson: Psi-Division's 'Postcards from the Edge' serial (running across Megazine 2.50–2.60) features Cassandra Anderson and was written by Alan Grant, continuing the long-running creative partnership between Grant and the character he had scripted almost exclusively since 1988.
- The Creep strip, also running in this period, is a darkly comedic series set in Mega-City One that featured in the same issues as Shimura and Missionary Man in the Megazine's mid-1994 lineup.
- The Judge Dredd 'Giant' story arc running from Megazine 2.50 onward features Judge Dredd alongside supporting Judges including Judge Giant and Judge Goon.
- The Megazine had won the UK Comic Art Award for Best Ongoing Publication in both 1992 and 1993, reflecting the editorial ambition of the title during the period in which this issue was published.