Posted in: Comics, Rebellion / 2000AD | Tagged: Anthrax, Charlie Benante, Judge Anthrax, judge dredd, judge dredd megazine, mcm, Scott Ian
Scott Ian & Charlie Benante Create “Judge Anthrax” In Judge Dredd #500
Anthrax band members Scott Ian and Charlie Benante create a new character Judge Anthrax for Judge Dredd Megazine #500 out next year
Article Summary
- Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Charlie Benante co-create Judge Anthrax, a new Dark Judge debuting in Judge Dredd Megazine #500.
- Judge Anthrax arrives in a double-length 2000 AD story with John Reppion and Kieran McKeown for 2027’s milestone issue.
- Scott Ian’s Judge Dredd fandom dates to 1986 and inspired Anthrax’s I Am the Law, a tribute packed with 2000 AD lore.
- Charlie Benante and Scott Ian previously brought Judge Dredd into Anthrax projects, including Z2’s Among the Living graphic novel.
Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante are big Judge Dredd fans, and boy do their own fans know it. And now they are both are creating a new Dark Judge character for the world of 2000 AD named after their own band, Judge Anthrax, for Judge Dredd Megazine #500, out from Rebellion in 2027 for Judge Dredd and 2000 AD‘s fiftieth anniversary year, part of their January/February 2027 solicits and solicitations as they team up with writer John Reppion and artist Kieran McKeown for a new double-length story also featuring Judge Dredd, The Dark Judge. And you can ask Rebellion all about it at MCM London Comic Con today…
“A new Dark Judge arrives with a bang, and Judge Dredd is right in their crosshairs! Who is the mysterious and powerful Judge Anthrax – and what are their intentions for Dredd’s home of Mega-City One?”
In early 1986, while promoting Anthrax’s second album Spreading the Disease in the UK, guitarist Scott Ian walked into London’s Forbidden Planet and discovered Judge Dredd and 2000 AD. He has described being immediately struck by the character’s hard-edged style and the quality of the art and at the time, 2000 AD was difficult to find in the United States, so Scott Ian made a point of hunting down issues on subsequent trips and even helped push the New York Forbidden Planet to start stocking the title. That fandom directly shaped the band’s next album. “I Am the Law,” the lead single from 1987’s Among the Living, is an explicit tribute to Judge Dredd. The lyrics name-check Mega-City One, the Academy of Law, the Apocalypse War, Judge Anderson, the Cursed Earth, and Dredd’s role as judge, jury and executioner, complete with the comic’s distinctive “Drokk it!” The single reached No. 32 on the UK charts.
The 12-inch single’s artwork featured Judge Dredd’s badge with the Anthrax logo incorporated into the design, set against an American flag. According to Scott Ian, the rights holders were unusually accommodating. They licensed the imagery without demanding a large fee and were reportedly pleased that an American metal band wanted to promote the character in a market where he was still relatively unknown. That cooperative relationship has continued for decades whenever the band has used Dredd-related artwork on merchandise.
In 2021, Z2 Comics published the Among the Living graphic novel to mark Anthrax’s 40th anniversary. The anthology features stories inspired by each track on the album, narrated by a redesigned version of the band’s Not Man mascot. For the “I Am the Law” chapter, Scott Ian wrote an original 13-page Judge Dredd story in partnership with 2000 AD and Rebellion, drawn by longtime Dredd artist Chris Weston. The story was approved as official 2000 AD continuity and has been described as offering a possible glimpse at a final fate for the character. Drummer Charlie Benante, himself a longtime fan and artist, contributed related cover art featuring Dredd and Judge Death.
And now the latest chapter arrives with Judge Dredd Megazine #500, the 100-page milestone issue that kicks off 2000 AD‘s 50th anniversary celebrations in early 2027. Judge Dredd Megazine #500 will also contain new stories by Liam Johnson, Ales Kot, Michael Carroll, Rob Richardson, Paul Marshall and Antonio Fuso with vampiric exorcist Devlin Waugh and Judge Anderson. Meanwhile, in 2000 AD, Judge Dredd: The New Future is a new series from Rob Williams and Laurence Campbell.They will also have the 2000 AD 50th Anniversary Specialwith John Wagner, Robbie Morrison, Ian Edginton, Pat Mills, Dan Cornwell, Simon Fraser, Mike Perkins, Ian Culbard and Brian Bolland featuring new stories with Judge Dredd, Robo-Hunter, Nikolai Dante, Brink plus a surprise return of a classic series, and the Visual History To 2000AD covering fifty years by Scott Montgomery, Brian Bolland, Simon Bisley, Dave Gibbons, Kevin O’Neill, Carlos Ezquerra and more, in hardcover, and kick off the Judge Dredd Compact Comics, collecting the earliest black-and-white strips from 1977.
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