Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died – When Ancient Rome Informed Science Fiction

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana (1908).

Knowledge of history is powerful. Learning from past events – whether recent, decades old, or in antiquity – can help make informed decisions and avoid mistakes in the future, shaping policy and societal values. As you’ll soon discover, it can also help inspire fiction. In the case of 1978-1979’s Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died, John Wagner (using John Howard as a pen name) and a roster of artists (Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins, Brian Bolland, Gary Leach, Ron Smith, and Brendan McCarthy) borrow from ancient Rome to tell an epic set in the year 2100. Here, they’re inspired by history to expand on ongoing Judge Dredd themes, dialling them up to eleven.

For those unfamiliar with Judge Dredd, it’s a dystopian science fiction series set in Mega-City One, a city that spans most of the eastern United States. The people are governed by the Justice Department, an authoritarian police force that is judge, jury, and executioner rolled into one. Judge Dredd is Mega-City One’s greatest hero, who is strictly dedicated to enforcing the city’s laws – even if the reader may find it unjust. Through this framework, the comic conveys dark satires about authoritarianism, fascism, policing, and other facets of society.

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 2 cover by Gary Leach.

In The Day The Law Died (and the ~20 pages that help set it up), Judge Dredd has just returned to Mega-City One after a mission in the Cursed Earth. While he gets a hero’s welcome, not everyone is happy to see him when he’s framed for murdering journalists. As readers quickly discovered, it’s Deputy Chief Judge Cal (the Justice Department’s second-in-command) who has framed Dredd, resulting in a powerplay for the seat of Chief Judge. However, readers soon discovered that Cal is a madman, enacting humiliation on his subordinates and policies on a whim that result in mass imprisonment or executions for the most minor infractions. Judge Dredd and a ragtag group of judges rebel against Chief Judge Cal, attempting to take him down.

How does Roman history inform this Judge Dredd tale? If you’re familiar with Roman emperors, you might’ve made the connection that Chief Judge Cal is inspired by Caligula, the third emperor of Rome who ruled from 37 to 41 AD. As chronicled by Suetonius and other ancient scribes, Caligula is synonymous with madness. Wagner and co lean into this with Chief Judge Cal, using parallels from history to inform this story.

Judge Dredd: The Dy The Law Died panels by Brett Ewins.

For instance, Caligula was noted for finding joy in humiliating people. In this story, there are multiple instances of this, like making the mayor act like a chicken at gunpoint or forcing a judge to strip down to his boxer shorts because he lost his badge. (A fun little detail with the latter is that this judge remains in this attire for the remainder of the story, whether he’s at the base of operations or doing his job on the street.)

Other times, the comic creates a parallel to fit the conditions of Dredd’s world. Where Caligula was able to rise to power by garnering favour from the Praetorian Guard, Cal can do so through abusing his power as the head of the Special Judicial Squad – a kind of internal affairs of the Justice Department. While not a perfect one-to-one analogy, it works well within the framework of the world and the story being told.

Judge Dredd: The Dy The Law Died panels by Mike McMahon.

The parallels also lean into the ridiculous. It was said that Caligula was planning to appoint his favourite horse as a Roman consul. While historians debate whether Suetonius’ account ever happened or if it was actually a cruel joke on the senate, it helped paint the image of a mad emperor. In The Day The Law Died, the creative team runs with the idea and makes it more absurd by having Judge Cal appoint a goldfish to the office of Deputy Chief Judge. The absurdity solidifies Cal’s madness – with Mike McMahan rendering him with bulging eyes and mouth open wide as he holds the goldfish bowl over his head – highlighting that he has gone off the rails and is not just a cruel figure.

There are visual analogues as well. Cal’s appearance becomes decidedly more Roman when he comes to power. He ditches his contemporary (for when the comic was made) shoulder-length hair for the much shorter Caesar cut. His nose also becomes more pronounced with a high bridge and an eagle-like curve.

Judge Dredd: The Dy The Law Died panel by Mike McMahon.

Using the Roman analogies works well within the framework of Judge Dredd. The concept of Chief Judge is not too dissimilar to a Roman emperor, and the scale of Mega-City One would rival the Roman Empire at its peak. Using the parallels helps drive the central themes of authoritarianism that Judge Dredd is known for, and uses it to examine how ultimate power corrupts. Wagner’s script establishes this theme early in the story when Cal proclaims, “I am the law!” It’s a line that’s practically Dredd’s catchphrase – using it as the embodiment of that law being enforced – but it’s flipped on its head when Cal uses it. Here, Cal proclaims himself the ultimate power. Further proclamations add that he’s “the living law”, giving himself a divine element. (Caligula claimed he was the living embodiment of the god Jupiter.) These statements are demonstrated in his governance style, ruling in a Trumpian approach that’s both erratic and reflexive, and through the implementation of harsh laws and conditions that have dire penalties.

While there’s an entertainment value to it, making the stakes astronomical for Dredd and his crew, the absurdity works in favour of the central theme. It shows what can happen when power goes unchecked and the consequences of it. By using Roman history as a base, The Day The Law Died gives readers a cautionary tale about the corruption of power that goes all the way up to eleven. 

Judge Dredd: The Day The Law Died (and stories that build up to it) was serialised in 2000 AD Prog 86-108 and have been collected in trade paperback and Judge Dredd Complete Case Files Volume 2. These can be found at all good comic books shops, online retailers, eBay, Amazon/Kindle, and the 2000 AD webshop.