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"The crime is life, the sentence is death."
—Judge Death

The "alien super-fiend" Judge Death is the founder and leader of the Dark Judges, and he is considered an arch-enemy to Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson. Because he cannot be permanently killed, he is the most recurring villain of the Judge Dredd stories. He is one of Judge Dredd's most notorious adversaries.

Biography[]

According to Judge Death, he was originally born Sidney De'Ath (pronounced "Dath" since the "E" is silent), a human boy who at an early age enjoys torturing animals, even tricking the family dog Woofie into leaping to his death. His father, a traveling dentist, hates people and takes pleasure inflicting pain on patients, even killing some. After Sidney attempts and fails to kill his own sister, his father sees a kindred spirit and makes the boy his apprentice. Sidney later concludes that being a Judge would give him greater opportunity to cause death without penalty, so he turns his own father over to the authorities. Favored for his actions, Sidney is allowed to activate the electric chair that executes his father.

After honing his skills and framing a fellow trainee for his own crimes, Sidney De'Ath becomes a merciless Judge on his Earth, sentencing people to death for even minor offenses, arguing this ensures no repeat offenders. He decided to make his new nickname "Judge Death" his official name. After executing his mother and sister, he meets three like-minded, younger Judges who become his lieutenants. He later meets the two dark witches known as the Sisters of Death, Phobia and Nausea, learns they have similar views of life and death, and falls in love with the pair. The Sisters reveal they can make others undead through "Dead Fluids", endowing power and removing the sin of being alive. Judge Death and his lieutenants are transformed into the undead Dark Judges. Judge Death then kills his home's Chief Judge, declaring himself now in charge and proclaiming life itself is a crime and the sentence is death.

After eliminating all life on his Earth, turning it into Deadworld, the other three Dark Judges are satisfied they can rest now but Judge Death is increasingly restless. When aliens explorers from another dimension appear, Death kills them and takes their dimension-hopping technology, concluding he must spread death to other Earths too. The other Dark Judges don't think this is necessary, so Death travels alone to Judge Dredd's Earth. Despite his power, he is defeated by Judge Dredd and Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson. After his body is destroyed, his mind is telepathically imprisoned by Anderson. He is freed a year later, becoming a frequent menace to Mega-City One and Dredd while developing a particular hatred for Judge Anderson. Judge Death later remarks that he and Anderson share a telepathic link and he can never truly rest while she still lives.

Following the Necropolis story where the Dark Judges temporarily controlled Mega-City One, Judge Death hides, eventually renting an apartment at the Sylvia Plath block from nearly blind landlady Mrs. Gunderson, using the alias "Jay De'Ath". During this time, Death tells his life story to journalist Skuter, later killing him when the man sells a truncated version of the story to a tabloid. He then travels to the DC Comics version of Earth in Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham, meeting the villain Scarecrow before being defeated by Batman, Judge Dredd, and Judge Anderson. Imprisoned in Anderson's mind again, he is brought back to Dredd's Earth and his spirit is imprisoned in a special cell. Over the next several years, Death escapes a few times only to later be imprisoned once again, sometimes within a special "glasseen crystal" that can only be destroyed with liquid nitrogen.

During The Wilderness Days (Judge Dredd Megazine #209-216, 2003-2004), Judge Death travels under the name "Jay De'Ath" and considers the scope of his quest. He concludes he has made his task harder by killing victims face to face when weapons of mass destruction would destroy greater numbers. After destroying Las Vegas and its entire population, the Judges defeat him again.

Gallery[]

Judge Dredd
Main Characters Judge Dredd - Judge Hershey - Judge Anderson - Judge Beeny - Judge Buell - Galen DeMarco - Dirty Frank - Judge Edgar - Chief Judge Fargo - Judge Francisco - Judge Giant - Judge Goodman - Judge Griffin - Judge Guthrie - Judge Janus - Judge Karyn - Judge McGruder - Judge Niles - Judge Rico - Judge Shenker - Judge Silver - Judge Solomon - Judge Volt - Detective-Judge Armitage - Inspector Shimura - Devlin Waugh - Johnny Woo - Judge Larter - Judge Jack - Judge Agee - Judge Bennett - Judge Castillo - Judge Dekker - Judge Goon - Deputy Cheif Judge Herriman - Judge Kruger - Judge Munn - Judge Perrier - Judge Prager - Judge Minty - Detective-Judge Steel - Detective Judge Trant - Judge Kazan - Chief Judge Ohno - Judge-Inspector Akio Anaba - Judge Marshall Lawson
Recurring Villains Angel Gang - Mean Machine Angel - Elmer Angel - Junior Angel - Link Angel - Judge Bachmann - Oola Blint - President Booth - Judge Cal - Dark Judges - Rico Dredd - Armon Gill - Judge Grice - Morton Judd - Kleggs - Judge Kraken - Mechanismo - Stan Lee - Marty Zpok - PJ Maybe - Nero Narcos - Orlock - Shojun the Warlord - Judge Sinfield - Call-Me-Kenneth - Mr. Moonie - Murd the Oppresor - Owen Krysler - Don Uggie Apelino - Captain Skank - Father Earth - Kazan - Bulgarin - General Blood'n'Guts - Satanus - Satan - Fink Angel - Ratty - Rhode Island Red - Phobia - Nausia - America Jara - Cesare - Judge Mortis - Judge Fear - Judge Death - Judge Fire - Manners - Ramses - Trapper Hag - Sabbat - Wu Yang - Yin Mie - Randolph Whitely - Judge Choke - Judge Sleep - Judge Sludge - Judge Burroghs - Judge Fistula - Judge Skinner - Judge Stigmata - The Seven Samurai - Rex Peters - Slocum - Kenny Who? - Nosferatu - Grampus - Heavy Metal Kid - Ratty - Elvis - The Warlords - DeGaulle - The Joker - The Scarecrow - The Riddler - Arnold Wesker - Lobo - Judge Kurten - Pink Eyes - Aimee Nixon - Mr. Bones - Effil Drago San - Bella Bagley - Dune Sharks - Xenomorphs - Ueno Hama - Raptaurs - The Explosive Man - Judge Sherman - Ankhhor - President Clinton Box - Pamelina Oswin
Other Characters Chopper - Vienna Dredd - Fergee - Yassa Povey - Jacob Sardini - Walter the Wobot - Henry Ford - Spikes Harvey Rotten - Tweak - Tony Tubbs - Otto Sump - Mrs. Gunderson - Sensitive Klegg - Jack Point - Maria - Benneet Beeny - Grunwalder - Old Joe Blind - Max Normal - Toots Milloy - Mr. Harke - Mr. Burr - Jim Grubb - Dave the Orangutan - Nimrod - The Creep - Johnny Alpha - Wulf Sternhammer - The Fargo Clan - Randy Fargo - Jubal Fargo - Hocus Ritter - Batman - Harry Henson
Storylines America - The Apocalypse War - Block Mania - City of the Damned - The Cursed Earth - Day of Chaos - Democracy - The Doomsday Scenario - The Hunting Party - The Judge Child - Judgement Day - Mechanismo - Mutants - Necropolis - Origins - Oz - The Pit - The Robot Wars - Tour of Duty Trifecta - Wilderlands
Crossovers Judge Dredd vs. Aliens - Judgement on Gotham - Predator vs. Judge Dredd - Mars Attacks Judge Dredd
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