Bringing Law to the Lawless!
Lawless is a series of comic strips originally published in 2000 AD's Judge Dredd Magazine. The Space Western series stars Marshal Metta Lawson, the new Colonial Marshal of Badrock, a mining town on the planet 43 Rega run by the Munce Corporation. There she handles work gang rivalries, a psychotic Psi-Judge, the town's corporate owner, and an impending alien invasion.
Her allies include Nerys Pettifer, Kill-A-Man Jaroo, Rondo, and Sawbones.
Tropes associated with this work:
- Badass Bureaucrat: Pettifer knows the paperwork side of being a Judge inside and out.
- The Baroness: Texana Pincher, a cold-hearted Munce agent in charge of Unviable Asset Disposal who wears black Victorian-era-inspired clothes.
- Big Damn Heroes: During the Munce attack on Badrock Roy shows up with an army of Zhin'Hal warriors.
- BFG: Lawson never uses her Lawgiver because she has to fill out paperwork to account for every shot and also because it's not actually be hers. She prefers a large plasma rifle.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Pettifer. Mr. Brotherly mocks her for it once food and water rationing start.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Pettifer drops Judge Dredd's "I am the law" twice. Once it's Played for Laughs when she says it to her teddy bear. The other time it's Played Straight when she confronts an armed criminal attacking the Mek Church.
- Bounty Hunter: Rondo
- Braids of Action: Lawson has a very long one.
- Category Traitor: How the Uplifts see Jaroo after he becomes a full-time deputy.
- The Cavalry: The Zhin'Hal, and later the Special Judicial Squad, when they show up to save Badrock from Munce.
- Clean Up the Town: The reason Lawson is sent there.
- Clueless Deputy: Nerys Pettifer, before Lawson's disappearance in the Badlands forces her to take a level in badass.
- Construction Vehicle Rampage: After Badrock repels Munce's initial attack, they decide to use a supermassive earth-mover mech (basically a giant bulldozer) to flatten the town.
- Continuity Nod:
- Hetch name-checks Joe Dredd as an example of the kind of Judge Pettifer doesn't want to be like.
- There's a flashback to the events of Insurrection showing how Zia Freely became Metta Lawson.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Mr. Brotherly, the main face of Munce Corporation in Badrock.
- Dangerous Deserter: Roy Allen Katzer, a disillusioned SJS member who was believed KIA but lived outside Badrock as a hermit. He trains the Zhin'Hal warriors and helps Badrock against Munce.
- Deadly Euphemism: Munce can conduct "Unviable Asset Disposal", which means the complete destruction of entire cities.
- Doesn't Like Guns: Nerys is a Judge, but a Desk Jockey. When asked to grab her gun, she can't even remember where she put it.
- The End Is Nigh: The story takes place after the invasion of an alien race called the Zhind. Hetch, the crazy Psi-Judge, keeps predicting that the Zhind will return. Lawson and the others just write him off as crazy. At first.
- Enemy Mine: The humans, mutants, aliens, robots, and uplifts all have a tense relationship but they all unite once Munce decides to wipe Badrock off the face of the planet.
- Fair Cop: Lawson herself is noticeably attractive and is even depicted naked on a couple of occasions.
- Fantastic Racism:
- There are rivalries between different work gangs, which are the humans, the meks (robots), muties (mutants), and uplifts (sentient apes).
- There is also the native alien species, which is split into the "abs" (short for aboriginals) and the Proud Warrior Race Zhin'Hal. The abs dislike the colonists because their thoughts cause them pain, which forces them to resort to drinking. The Zhin'Hal also hate the colonists but also look down on the abs for their weakness. And they both hate the Zhind, the aliens who invaded the world shortly before the events of the story, even though they are distantly related to them.
- Fiery Redhead: Pettifer, after she Took a Level in Badass. The comic is black-and-white but the colored artwork shows her hair as red.
- Good Shepherd: Reverend Sawbones. He serves as both medic and confidante to the town regardless of whether or not they are church members. Zigzagged when the main characters realize he's selling organs out of his church but, Lawson reluctantly lets it slide because they were from dead bodies or consensual surgeries and because the town needs a doctor. He later donates his own centrifuge pump to replace Rondo's lost heart.
- Identity Impersonator: Metta Lawson is actually Marshal Zia Freely from Insurrection living under an assumed identity. This is teased when Lawson refuses to use her Lawgiver, which self-destructs if used by an unauthorized user.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Pettifer is an absolutely horrible shot, at least at first anyway.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: Hetch goes on one with Pettifer to figure out why she's lashing out at everyone. Turns out it's the stress of covering up the murder of an abusive husband.
- Meaningful Name:
- A law enforcement officer named "Lawson."
- A Pinkerton Detective named "Pinkerton."
- The Medic: Sawbones, the reverend of the Mek Church, is also a surgical robot.
- MegaCorp: Munce Corporation has its own private army of Pinkerton Detectives as well as an airforce that can completely level Badrock.
- Mind Virus: The psychoactive crystals mined in Badrock can cause psychic mutants, including their previous Marshal and a visiting carnival worker, to go insane.
- Organ Theft: The Mek Church, which admits humans willing to become cyborgs, is accused of being a scam to do this. Turns out it's partially true. The reverend does sell organs, but only those who are already dead or who died during the consensual surgery.
- Pinkerton Detective: Fargone Private Security, hired by Munce Corporation. Their leader is even named Pinkerton.
- Poisonous Captive: Hetch, Lawson's predecessor, is a Psi-Judge who went crazy and spends his days in a Psi-dampened cell in the Marshal's office warning about an impending alien invasion.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Brotherly makes misogynistic and fat-shaming comments to Pettifer.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Lawson, a Marshal who's also willing to bend rules and compromise in the name of justice. Drury, a member of the SJS, is also a bit more reasonable than his colleagues.
- Robot Religion: The Mek Church, a church of robots that preaches freedom from the weakness of the flesh. Their reverend is Sawbones, a surgical droid who doubles as the town doctor. The church also admits humans who are willing to become cyborgs.
- Space Jews: The native alien species is frequently seen at saloons, mirroring the drunk Native American stereotype. However, they're given a sympathetic reason for succumbing to alcoholism as their psychic powers make human thoughts painful to them. This is amplified by the psychoactive crystals that Munce Corporation mines.
- Space Western: A new Marshal comes to a desert mining town, complete with a saloon, outlaws, mistreated laborers, drunk and displaced natives, and a robber baron boss.
- Time Skip: The war between Munce and Badrock is interrupted when the Zhind return. The next issue takes place when Lawson is an old woman, living alone on the planet and watching over the graves of all the other characters. It's later revealed that it's a psychic vision from the Zhind, convincing her to avoid war.
- Stealth Sequel: The Zhind from Insurrection start turning up. Lawson is eventually revealed to be Zia Freely.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Pettifer has to wrestle with this when she finds out a woman murdered her abusive husband and covers it up.
- Took a Level in Badass: Pettifer after she has to take over for Lawson.
- Uplifted Animal: There's a large population of "Uplifts" in the town. Kill-a-Man Jaroo is one of them.
- Villainous Breakdown: Texana Pincher has one after Badrock defeats her initial invasion, cursing more and getting more openly emotional.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Bethany Bitoni, a male-impersonator with the stage name Tony Dancer, takes over Ted Madderson's saloon after he dies in the Munce attack.
