JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE slims down with next issue

2000 AD sister title Judge Dredd Megazine will experience a format overhaul with its April issue. Disclosed this week via subscriber email, starting from #479 (hitting UK stores and digital April 16) the title will reduce page count from 128- to 96-pages in order to refocus exclusively on new material. The £6.99 cover price ($12.99 US) will remain unchanged. This comes as the Megazine gears towards its 35th anniversary in the fall.

According to the email:

“As we head towards our anniversary later in the year, we’re writing to let you know that there are some changes to the Megazine heading your way in coming months.”

Adding:

“…we’re retooling the Megazine to focus on its core mission of publishing new and exciting comics. Starting from April’s issue #479, the number of pages in each issue will reduce, however the number of pages of new comics will remain exactly the same and your active subscription will not be affected by this change – meaning you’ll still get the same great comics and stunning value every month!”

The same email later teases upcoming strips – including the long awaited return of Kenneth Niemand and Dave Taylor’s retrofuturist Dreddworld-reimagining Megatropolis, not seen in the pages of the Megazine since its first series concluded in 2021. Other forthcoming series teased include Dreadnoughts, Judge Anderson, and Armitage.

The first series of Megatropolis was collected but series/book two has been MIA for some time

The Judge Dredd Megazine is the monthly 128-page sister title to British scifi anthology weekly 2000 AD. It mostly contains stories set in and around the world of signature character Judge Dredd with longer page counts, accompanied by long form articles, interviews, and bonus content. It has featured a number of standout Judge Dredd stories – not least the landmark America arc – and has had other popular Dreddworld series like The Simping Detective, Devlin Waugh, Lawless, Dreadnoughts, Insurrection (we could go on).

The Megazine is no stranger to format changes since its debut in 1990. More recent readers would recall the title came packaged with a “mini-trade” of choice reprints from 2000 AD and owner Rebellion’s then newly acquired archive of British comics, which ran from 2008 until 2022. From December 2022 the Megazine expanded to 128 pages with around 60 pages featuring reprint US-format material, ostensibly IDW’s stint with the Judge Dredd license and vintage extracts from upcoming Treasury of British Comics collections. Last year one of the reprint slots was replaced by new kid-friendly material from 2000 AD’s Regened initiative, which was considered controversial among fans at the time. The remaining reprint slot at the start of this year was filled by John Wagner, Alan Grant and Dan Cornwell’s creator owned indie Rok of the Reds, reprinting the first two series in advance of the third. This appears to be continuing apace.