History JudgeDredd / TropesEToL

* HeroesWantRedHeads: Inverted. Galen [=DeMarco=] falls for Dredd. Whether he reciprocates her feelings is left ambiguous, but he actively spurns her advances even though he is concerned for her.

* EvilCounterpart: The Dark Judges (Death, Fire, Fear and Mortis), who come from an alternate timeline in which [[InsaneTrollLogic it was reasoned]] that since crimes were only committed by the living, life itself should be declared a crime. They get their own CatchPhrase too: "''[[OmnicidalManiac The crime isss Life, the sssentence isss Death!]]''" This is taken literally in the ''[[LighterAndSofter Lawman Of The Future]]'' [[AlternateContinuity continuity]] where Death [[spoiler: is an alternate universe Dredd who died and came BackFromTheDead [[TheDeterminator due to his unflinching sense of duty]].]]

** "I am the law" is a CatchPhrase of Judge Dredd. Specifically, it's an expression of how he is the ultimate ''agent'' of the law, not that he [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem makes up his own laws]].

** Standard procedure for dealing with Judge Death, considering the Judges' sidearm has [[AbnormalAmmo incendiary ammunition]] as part of its standard loadout, but it only destroys his host body instead of really killing him ("[[CatchPhrase You cannot kiiill what doesss not livvvve]]"). However, doing that will at least force Judge Death to retreat to acquire a new one, which means any street judge encountering him can grant enough time to alert headquarters of the menace for a response. The miracle plastic Boing has been shown to be more effective at containing Judge Death than fire, which has always released his ethereal form and allow him to possess another body.

* EvilBrit: The miniseries ''Young Death'', which reveals the origin of Judge Death, strongly implies that he and the Dark Judges are British, or [[AlternateUniverse his world's equivalent of British]]. Although the comics are made in the United Kingdom, Judge Dredd himself is a post-Apocalyptic American. Retconned in the ''Fall of Deadworld'' storyline, which establishes that the Dark Judges are from an alternate America.

* EvilMentor:
** Alien sorcerer Murd the Oppressor from the ''Judge Child'' arc is revealed in ''Judgment Day'' to have been the zombie-controlling villain Sabbat's old mentor and taught him most of the tricks of {{necromancy}}.
** The storyline "The Fall of Deadworld" set in an AlternateUniverse features the gruff Judge Fairfax as its protagonist, who just wants to ride out the ensuing apocalypse. It turns out that in Law School he was the favorite protegé of none other than [[OmnicidalManiac Judge Death]], the monster who is destroying that world. Death still wants Fairfax back in his inner circle as his fourth lieutenant.

** In "The Fall of Deadworld" Part 2, a young Judge-Tutor Sidney De'ath (aka Judge Death) is shown "building morale" among a bunch of cadets (hinted to be the other three Dark Judges) by mutilating them, one by scooping out the kid's eye with a spoon.

* ForegoneConclusion:
** Judge Death's OriginsIssue opens with the mangled body of his erstwhile interviewer being found by the Judges after the monster dumped it in a chem pit. We then flash back to show the interviewer's long meeting with Death before he killed him.
** ''Dark Judges: Fall of Deadworld''. A dystopian future where the world is ruled by a totalitarian government run by Judges. Judges having total control over all aspects of the law as well as being judge, jury and executioner. Sound familiar? Well, one day a Judge, Sidney Death, comes to the conclusion that since all crime is committed by the living, life itself a crime--punishable by death. A supernatural force comes into play, allowing Judge Death to take control of the government and enforce his law. This leads to the creation of the Dark Judges. With their rise comes the eventual extinction of humanity. The story follows regular people trying to survive, rebels seeking to overthrow the government, and ex-Judges trying to stop Judge Death. Among other things. It's also frustrating because you get attached to some of the characters but you know how it will end.

* JustBeforeTheEnd: ''The Fall of Deadworld''. It's already established that the Dark Judges exterminated their entire homeworld before their very first appearance in ''Judge Dredd'', but this story arc shows the apocalypse slowly unfolding.

* ALoveToDismember: A variant in the second ''Fall of Deadworld'' story, where the [[LosingYourHead still-conscious]] head of a recently-zombified evil Judge is cut off by his female colleague, who then kisses him before putting it on a spare body.

* GagBoobs: Vienna gets enormous breast implants when she auditions for a lousy vidscreen sitcom as the MsFanservice.

* FairCop: Psi-Judge Anderson. Also Psi-Judge Karyn (before her transformation), Chief Judge Hershey (DependingOnTheArtist) and Ex-Judge Demarco (described by Jack Point as "hotter than lesbian lava"). Though Anderson considers herself to be heading firmly into ChristmasCake territory.

** Marty Zpok, the Muzak Killer, believes that the TurnOfTheMillennium is where the world started to go wrong and purposely only listens to twentieth century music, wears twentieth century fashions and even opts for [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece twentieth century weapons]].
** One of Dredd's contacts wears late 19th century businessman outfits, complete with pocket watch and walking cane.

** Within the comic, there's stookie capsules, which dramatically slow the ageing process in humans. Since producing them requires the slaughter of a peaceful and harmless alien species, they are highly illegal.

** Variant: out in the Cursed Earth, there's a town named Fargoville after the first Chief Judge, Eustace Fargo, and whose inhabitants worship him as a deity. Fargo himself, who was a humble public servant, would doubtlessly [[StopWorshippingMe not have approved]].

* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: Walter the Wobot.

* FutureSlang: Future cursing, future cop-speak, future street-slang... You name it.

* GagNose: Citizen [[MeaningfulName Snork.]]

* ImpossiblyDeliciousFood: Umpty Candy is like this. It's so delicious that Justice Department had to ban it and exile the creator from Earth to maintain order. In the modern series, there are major criminal operations devoted to smuggling and dealing it.

* IndecisiveParody: Is ''Judge Dredd'' a satire depicting an authoritarian police state of the future, or straightforward police story about cops who do the best they can to prevent their dystopian society from falling into chaos? Depends on the story.

* InterdimensionalTravelDevice: The Dark Judges possess orbs that allow travel between dimensions, which they stole from a group of aliens who made the mistake of visiting their world. Justice Department later reverse engineers the technology to create their own dimensional teleporters. In the "Helter Skelter" story they're forced to destroy their own D-jump technology after a nearly successful invasion by Dredd's enemies from other dimensions.

** [[DidntThinkThisThrough One wonders what Mega-City One was expecting to happen had the bombs all actually hit their target.]][[note]]Perhaps they expected most of the missiles to be more conventionally shot down, and went for sheer numbers to attempt to ensure a hit?[[/note]]

* LighningLash: Wielded by Overseers.

* ImpossiblyDeliciousFood: Umpty Candy is like this. It's so delicious that Justice Department had to ban it an exile the creator from Earth to maintain order, and in the modern series, there are major criminal operations devoted to smuggling and dealing it.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Over the years, many many supporting and oneshot characters have appeared, some more memorable than others. Some of them die, some go to the cubes and [[TheBusCameBack some show up again after being absent for decades]]. The only constant is the fact that Dredd is the protagonist.