Judge Dredd

Few characters in comics history have commanded the page — and the imagination of readers — quite like Judge Dredd, who burst onto the scene in the very first issue of 2000 AD back in 1977, a Bronze Age debut that helped define an entirely new kind of British comics storytelling. Created by Ken Armstrong, Pat Mills, and Massimo Belardinelli, this iconic lawman has remained a fixture of 2000 AD and Rebellion's publishing universe for nearly five decades, racking up an extraordinary 2,741 catalog appearances and an impressive 60 collector-recognized key issues — a testament to just how central he is to the medium. Sharing pages with celebrated figures like Psi Judge Anderson, Johnny Alpha, and Finnigan Sinister, Dredd exists at the beating heart of a rich, interconnected universe that has only grown more compelling with time. If you're serious about comics — especially the bold, satirical, and visually daring tradition of British sequential art — Judge Dredd is absolutely essential reading.