Judge Dredd Megazine is a British Anthology Comic released monthly, a 1990 Spin-Off from 2000 AD with the titular Judge Dredd as its lead story.
In the dystopian 22nd century, nations have fallen, democracy has failed and North America's sprawling Mega-City One is ruled and policed by the Judges. Joe Dredd is a living legend, a street Judge who's utterly committed to the law and has saved the city numerous times. Dredd's world is an eclectic place, with aliens, mutants, psychic powers and supernatural horrors co-existing with its advanced technology.
Dredd's Megazine stories share the same continuity as his 2000 AD stories and some major arcs will directly Crossover between the two titles.
The Megazine's other stories include some sharing the Mega-City One setting, some elsewhere in the same world as Dredd (e.g. Shimura is set in Hondo-City and Armitage is a detective in Brit-Cit) and some in other times or realities (e.g. DreadNoughts is a prequel set a century earlier and Megatropolis is an alternate timeline with a very different Mega-City One).
Other stories have absolutely no connection to Judge Dredd's continuity and may be creator owned or reprints of old material (e.g. Atomfall is a prequel for the titular video game and Lazarus Churchyard reprints a cyberpunk story originally serialised in a different comic).
Original stories in the Judge Dredd Megazine include
- Anderson: Psi-Division
- Armitage
- Atomfall (Megazine)
- Barrel And Hammer
- Cadet Dredd
- Death Cap
- The Simping Detective
Judge Dredd Megazine contains examples of the following tropes:
- Anthology Comic: A typical issue of the Megazine will contain four or five different comic stories. One of them will always be Judge Dredd, but the others can vary wildly. Many are set elsewhere in Dredd's world, or at other points in its timeline, but some are in a completely different continuity. Most are new material, but some have been reprints. Most are some kind of science fiction, but some have been historical war stories or detective stories.
- Artifact Title: The original concept was to collect Dredd and Dreddverse stories into one monthly issue, but various non-Dredd related stories, such as non-2000 AD reprints (notably, Charley's War) and indie comics have populated the Meg over the years.
- Crisis Crossover: The Nordland Rising saga in Megazine #472 and 2000 AD #2400 brings many of the comic's heroes together against an alliance of villains from the various alternate realities. The Norts from Rogue Trooper ally with Bad Company's Krool as well as Dredd's own enemies in East-Meg One, with varying results.
- Crossover: Stories will occasionally crossover with each other, or with tales in parent title 2000 AD. For 2026 arc "The Black Tower", 2000 AD's "The Oubliette" reveals what's happened to Dredd while the Megazine has Judge Rico stories showing how Mega-City One is attacked in Dredd's absence.
- The Full Name Adventures: It's a Spin-Off with Judge Dredd as the flagship story, so he's in the title. And Dredd's stories centre around the dystopian future setting of Mega-City One, so it's a Megazine rather than a Magazine.
- Pun-Based Title: Judge Dredd polices future metropolis Mega-City One, so the comic is a Megazine rather than a Magazine.
- Spin-Off: The Megazine is a spin-off from 2000 AD, the 1977 Anthology Comic that initially introduced Judge Dredd. Dredd is effectively the flagship character of both titles, and his stories are the only constant feature in them. As both share the same continuity, there are sometimes direct crossovers between his series in 2000 AD and his Judge Dredd Megazine stories.