Story: The Brotherhood of Darkness
Appears: 2000AD Prog 4
Issues: 1
Writers: Malcolm Shaw
Art: Mike McMahon
Dated: 19 March 1977

Plot: Dredd rescues the mayor’s son from a band of mutants.

Verdict: Another tantalising glimpse into this future world. We journey into “a wilderness from the atomic wars” outside Mega-city one. It’s the Cursed Earth but without its catchy name. Blind mutants, 40ft insects and 20th century vehicles.

Dredd still talks like Superman but his internal monologue, which needlessly narrates his actions, is no longer spoken aloud. He dons a disguise and defeats his enemy in a non-lethal way. Brains over brawn. Although when his gun runs out of bullets he uses a crossbow, first as a crossbow then as a club.

Round panels, art and text that bleeds across borders and no two panels the same size means this has a really dynamic feel and you believe you experience a lot of action in only four pages, the first of which is full page art.

And the closing line from Dredd is very philosophical. “Tomorrow I’ll be shot at with laser cannons instead of ancient crossbows. That’s civilisation for you.”

Deep, man, deep…