Judge Dredd may be the law, as he’s famously declared on multiple occasions, but what if there’s a better way to fight crime in the future metropolis that is Mega-City One? A new Dredd storyline launching in iconic anthology 2000 AD asks that question, and comes up with a surprising answer.

The storyline, ‘A Better World,’ was announced at 2023’s Thought Bubble comic convention, and is the culmination of years of planning for co-writers Rob Williams and Arthur Wyatt. The basic premise is simple: a test program to see if the money spent on the Justice Department would be more effective in reducing crime if redirected to social programs has succeeded. So… what do the Judges do about that?

"Arthur and I have been building up this Judge Maitland story for several years now and this is us finally fully paying off on the setup,” Williams told Popverse. “Mega-City One is a warzone every day and Dredd its chief warrior. Maitland has looked at the models and realised that something has to change - Justice Department has let her trial a 'Defund the Police' experiment in one sector and to their unease, it's working. So... does the entire system of the Judges change?"

The serial continues Williams’ longstanding collaboration with Henry Flint, who’s handled such high-profile Dredd storylines in recent years, including ‘The Small House,’ ‘Titan,’ and ‘End of Days.’ "Henry Flint has always been one of the most exciting artists in comics and he is doing extraordinary work here, stretching his storytelling muscles in a way that people are going to be blown away by, I think,” Williams explained. “For that reason, and the story's prescient theme, It's one of the most ambitious Judge Dredd stories in the strip's history."

The story launches in 2000 AD Prog 2364, released in print in the UK and digitally everywhere via the 2000 AD webstore January 10, alongside four other serials in the issue — including a new run of folk horror series Thistlebone, which takes the cover slot for the issue. Take a look at that cover, and the first four pages of ‘A Better World,’ below — and keep an eye on Popverse for a conversation with Williams and Wyatt about the storyline very soon.

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