2000 AD #10
2000 AD Prog 10, published 30 April 1977 by IPC Magazines, opens the first multi-part Judge Dredd story — 'The Robot Wars' — marking the moment the strip shifted from self-contained single episodes to serialised, character-driven narrative. It is also the first Dredd story written by co-creator John Wagner, whose return to the character after an early departure is widely credited with cementing Dredd as 2000 AD's defining strip. The issue simultaneously introduces two characters who would shape the Dredd universe for decades: Call-Me-Kenneth, the rogue carpenter-droid whose robot uprising became the template for large-scale sociopolitical satire in the series, and Walter the Wobot, Dredd's long-running robotic companion. Together, these debuts established the tension between authoritarian law and the rights of sentient beings as a permanent thematic engine of Judge Dredd.
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Before Prog 10, the first seven Dredd strips had been handled by a rotating group of freelance writers — Peter Harris, Pat Mills, Kelvin Gosnell, Malcolm Shaw, and others — while co-creator John Wagner had walked away from the strip, disillusioned after a proposed buy-out of the young comic fell through. Wagner returned to write the Dredd strip starting with the Prog 9 prologue and the Prog 10 opening chapter of 'The Robot Wars,' a storyline that ran through Prog 17. The episode in Prog 10 was scripted by Wagner and drawn by Carlos Ezquerra — also the co-creator of Dredd and the artist of that issue's cover — making it the first time the character's two principal creators worked together in print on a Dredd story. Ezquerra's cover for Prog 10 was only his second 2000 AD cover and he would not produce another for nearly two years.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by IPC Magazines on 30 April 1977 as part of the weekly anthology 2000 AD (prog numbering system).
- Contains Part 1 of 'The Robot Wars,' the first multi-part / serialised Judge Dredd story, running across Progs 10–17 (with a prologue in Prog 9).
- First appearance of Call-Me-Kenneth: a rogue carpenter-droid and the primary villain of 'The Robot Wars,' described in the strip as the first major antagonist in Judge Dredd's history.
- First appearance of Walter the Wobot: a canteen servo-droid who allies with Dredd during the robot uprising; he does not yet display his signature speech impediment (pronouncing R as W), which develops in Prog 13.
- Script credited to John Wagner; art on Part 1 credited to Carlos Ezquerra — the first time both Dredd co-creators collaborated on a published Dredd strip. The full Robot Wars arc used a rotating art team including Ron Turner, Mike McMahon, and Ian Gibson.
- Ezquerra also provided the cover illustration for Prog 10, depicting the Dredd/robot conflict — his second 2000 AD cover.
- The issue also carried ongoing strips Dan Dare, Flesh, Harlem Heroes, Invasion (a Dartmoor two-parter), and M.A.C.H.1, plus a cut-out Flesh card game on the back cover.
- The 'Robot Wars' story from this issue has been reprinted multiple times: in the Judge Dredd Annual 1986, Judge Dredd: The Early Cases #1, The Complete Judge Dredd #1 (Fleetway/Eagle), and Rebellion's ongoing Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Vol. 01.
Cast · 3 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
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Savage and Silk head to Dartmoor Prison to rescue Samual Frost, but as they escape across the moor, they run into the moor monsters.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).