The Fall of Deadworld is a comic series set in the Judge Dredd universe written by Kek-W and drawn by Dave Kendall. It was preceded by Dreams of Deadworld.
In the Mirror Universe that would one day become known as Deadworld, a coup in the capital puts mysterious beings known as Dark Judges in power. Things rapidly go from bad to worse for the denizens of this world as sinister Judges are sent out to every quarter to pass 'judgment' on the people. The young girl Jess Childs teams up with the renegade Judge Fairfax to escape this onslaught.
This comic provides examples of:
- Badass and Child Duo: Judge Fairfax takes it upon himself to protect Jess after her entire family has been murdered by the Dark Judges and their acolytes.
- Bait-and-Switch: While Ava is being pinned by a horde of dog-zombies, one of the Sov generals has the opportunity to snipe her down. She doesn't, aiming at a stray Dog Ava missed instead.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: At the end of Part 7 of Retribution, Eunomia reveals that she was the "order and balance" to her sisters’ chaos – The Law. Death responds with a line usually reserved for Dredd:Death: I am the law!
- The Coup: Twice.
- Early into the story, Sidney and the other Judges stage a coup and take over the capital, setting the stage for their crusade against all life on Deadworld.
- After Death and The Sisters fall out, the Sisters find a recently-converted Casey tweed and put him in a position to oust Death. He succeeds, only for the other Judges to snub his authority; not that it matters since Judge Death eventually comes back anyway.
- Eldritch Location; The First Veil, which serves as the home-dimension of the Sisters Of Death. It’s an illusory plane of horrors held together by deceit and illusions that drudge up your worst memories and fears. In Retribution, Judge Fairfax and his crew contend with ghosts of their memories and pasts while trying to save Jess from Nausea and Phobia.
- Enemy Mine: Twice, during Retribution.
- Eunomia and the recently-returned Judge Death briefly (emphasis on "briefly") put their feud aside to take down Casey Tweed after he injects himself with enough Dead Fluids to link with a "necro net" of corpses to evolve into a wall of flesh.
- Ava forcibly conscripts the Sovs into working with her crew against the onslaught of Dark Judges.
- Evil Mentor: In Law School, Fairfax was the favorite protegé of none other than Judge Death, the monster who is destroying that world. Death still wants Fairfax back in his inner circle as his fourth lieutenant.
- Eye Scream: In 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.
- Foregone Conclusion: 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.
- Given Name Reveal: The spirit posing as "Byke" was outed as a third Sister Of Death, but her name wasn’t revealed until Retribution: Eunomia.
- Headbutting Heroes:
- Suzanne Tanya pursues Eunomia in the belief she’s working with Judge Death (she's not), unaware they’d actually been fighting one another. She damages Destyny’s body, forcing Eunomia to possess her instead.
- Ava Eastwood rebuffs the Sovs' attempts at diplomacy, instead throwing her weight around to force them to work with her to save the day. Said Sovs promptly start plotting their downfalls.
- Just Before the End: 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.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Death takes shelter in the First Veil while Casey (who thinks he's usurped Death) and the other factions clash with one another.
- A Love to Dismember: A variant in the second story, where the 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.
- Negatives as a Positive: During their confrontation in Retribution, Judge Death (of all people) berates Ava Eastwood’s stubbornness and brutality, since it meant she’d’ve been too strong of heart to corrupt into a Dark Judge.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Death and the Sisters erupt into a heated argument at one point, revealing that each sees the other as an expendable resource. The Sisters promptly go behind his back and recruit Casey Tweed into a coup attempt. Casey supposedly usurps him, only for the Judge to possess his father's body after a time of inactivity and come back.
- Orcus on His Throne: Chief Judge Death spends most of his time in this story holding court in Sector House 13 (at this point, the Hall of Injustice hadn't been built) and sends orders to his minions from there.
- Pet Rat: Judge Fairfax was the Chief Judge's "fixer" before the coup d'etat staged by the Dark Judges. This is why Judge Death is interested in turning Fairfax into his fourth main lieutenant.
- Playing Both Sides: During Retribution, Judge Fear jumps into the battle between Judge Death and Casey Tweed, declaring that he has no masters or allies. He attempts to scare Judge Death with his face, only to instead turn on Casey and consume him when that trick fails.
- President Evil: Inverted. There's a U.S. President leading La Résistance against the new Chief Judge, who is an Omnicidal Maniac. However, the President himself is just a stooge for that reality's East Meg One, and is disposed of as soon as he loses his usefullness to them.
- Prequel: Dreams of Deadworld and Fall of Deadworld are stories set on the homeworld of the Dark Judges before they travelled to Judge Dredd's dimension.
- Psycho Serum:
- The Dark Judges use a version of their dead fluids to make people go kill-crazy. The ones that best respond to the stuff become new recruits.
- In Part 2, it's shown that even the regular Judges were injected with aggressors and de-inhibitors from their training as cadets onwards to make them compliant thugs. It didn't work on the future Judge Death because he was already a psychopath.
- Seeing Through Another's Eyes: A graphic example when a recently turned-evil psionic Judge uses a foot soldier's ripped-out eyeball to see what's happening elsewhere.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: While in the First Veil, the Sisters Of Death taunt Fairfax’s crew over their corruption of Jessica Childs. Fairfax’s response?Fairfax: AW, SHADDUP! (Everyone fires their weapons at the Sisters)
- Token Heroic Orc: It's eventually revealed that "Byke" is actually the spirit of a "third Sister" of Nausea and Phobia trying to protect life rather than destroy it.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Before Ava's confrontation with Judge Death can go anywhere, Judge Fire arrives and speeds off with him on a Lawmaster, Death fully-intent on retaliation.
- Villain Takes an Interest: Judge Fairfax was once an acolyte of Judge Death, who still wants to recruit him as one of his lieutenants after they had a falling out. Fairfax just wants to ride out the apocalypse.
- We Can Rule Together: After Byke saves Psiren from the Sisters, they try to coax their "third sister" into joining them in their crusade against life. Byke's spirit flees instead of humoring them.