A new examination of how Judge Dredd predicted modern policing is heading our way next year with the release of Michael Molcher’s I am the Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future.
Judge, jury and executioner, Judge Dredd is the brutal comic book cop policing the chaotic future urban jungle of Mega-City One, created by John Wagner and Carlos Equerra and launching in the pages of 2000 AD in 1977.
But what began as a sci-fi action comic quickly evolved into a searing satire on hardline, militarised policing and ‘law and order’ politics, its endless inventiveness and ironic humour acting as a prophetic warning about our world today – and with important lessons for our future.
Blending comic book history with contemporary radical theories on policing, I Am The Law takes key Dredd stories from the last 45 years and demonstrates how they provide a unique wake up call about our gradual, and not so gradual, slide towards authoritarian policing.
From the politicisation of policing to ‘zero tolerance’, from violent suppression of protest to the rise of the surveillance state, I Am The Law examines how a comic book warned us about the chilling endgame of today’s ‘law and order’ politics.
The book is written by Michael Molcher, who is no stranger to Judge Dredd, having been the publicity manager for 2000 AD for more than a decade and producing an extensive series of critical pieces on Judge Dredd for Hachette Partwork’s Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection series.
I am the Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future by Michael Molcher will be released on 21 February 2023 in the US and on 23 February 2023 in the UK. Pre-order here.