Posted in: Comics, Rebellion / 2000AD | Tagged: John Wagner, judge dredd, mike perkins
John Wagner returns to 2000AD with Mike Perkins for Judge Dredd: Death Of A Judge for the 7th of January, 2026AD
Article Summary
Judge Dredd co-creator John Wagner returns to 2000AD in 2026 with Death Of A Judge, alongside Mike Perkins
Rebellion teases whether this new Judge Dredd story may be Wagner’s final contribution to the series
The 2000AD line-up features top creators like Peter Milligan, Dan Abnett, Ben Wheatley, and more
Wagner shaped Judge Dredd’s legacy, co-creating legendary arcs with satirical, political depth
Judge Dredd co-creator John Wagner is returning to 2000AD for a new Judge Dredd story, with artist Mike Perkins, Death Of A Judge. With Rebellion Publishing stating “In 2026, Death comes to Mega-City One as John Wagner returns to Judge Dredd – for the final time?”
“Incredible SF action from the Eisner-nominated UK anthology! 2000 AD kicks off 2026 with a stunning line-up – Judge Dredd is targeted by a mysterious assailant in ‘Death of a Judge’ by John Wagner and Mike Perkins; an undercover cop learns more about Junkfall in ‘The Discarded’ by Peter Milligan and Kieran McKeown; Herne is given a series of tasks in ‘Herne & Shuck’ by David Barnett and Lee Milmore; Azimuth continues, courtesy of Dan Abnett and Tazio Bettin; and a brand-new Dreddworld series starts from ‘Kill List’ and ‘A Field in England’ director Ben Wheatley and Simon Coleby – Judge Dee is a psi-operative with a shocking secret!”
John Wagner is a renowned British comics writer. Alongside Pat Mills and the late Carlos Ezquerra, Wagner is best known as the co-creator of Judge Dredd in 1976, while developing the new sci-fi anthology comic 2000 AD. Inspired by the success of tough-cop stories like his earlier One-Eyed Jack take on Dirty Harry, Wagner proposed an extreme version: a futuristic police officer who serves as judge, jury, and executioner in a dystopian mega-city, named after the reggae artist Judge Dread. Wagner jas written the majority of Judge Dredd stories since, making it 2000 AD’s longest-running and most iconic feature. He often collaborated with Alan Grant in the 1980s under pseudonyms like John Howard or T.B. Grover, adding depth, satire, and epic arcs like The Apocalypse War, Democracy, and Origins, blending dark humour, political commentary, and action, evolving from a near-robot enforcer into a more introspective figure questioning the fascist system he upholds. He also co-created Strontium Dog, Robo-Hunter, and Button Man, and wrote extensively on Batman for DC Comics, where he also wrote the graphic novel A History of Violence, adapted into a film by David Cronenberg. He also co-created The Bogie Man, which was turned into a TV movie starring Robbie Coltrane.
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