Wednesday Worlds of Wonder JUDGE DREDD "He IS the Law" Conclusion

We Have Already Witnessed...

...assigned three cadets as hands-on trainees, Judge Dredd is about to show them "how it's done"!

Drokk!
To Be Continued in the Near Future!

Written by Andy Helfer and illustrated by Mike Avon Oeming, this never-reprinted premiere issue of DC's Judge Dredd (1994) is not linked to any other print, movie, or game incarnation...except in basic concept!
Nor, despite several standalone Batman/Judge Dredd stories and a Lobo/Judge Dredd tale, is it linked to DCU continuity...even such as it was at that point post-Crisis on Infinite Earths!

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Batman/Judge Dredd Collection

(which includes all the Batman stories as well as the Lobo one-shot)

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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder JUDGE DREDD "He IS the Law" Part 1

What Happens When Americans Take a British Comic Series about Americans...and Reboot It?

You're about to find out!

We Pause the Narrative Until Next Wednesday

Written by Andrew Helfer and illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming, this never-reprinted premiere issue of Judge Dredd (1994) was a continuation of a partnership between DC and England's Fleetway Press which began with a highly-successful one-shot combining Judge Dredd with The Batman against Judge Death and The Scarecrow!

Three more standalone stories with the combative duo followed, along with a Judge Dredd/Lobo one-shot and the comic adaptation of the Judge Dredd movie starring Sylvester Stallone, and two new series about Dredd and Mega-City One; this title, which ran 18 issues, and Judge Dredd: Legends of the Law which ran for 13 issues.
Note: Besides the standalone graphic novels, there was no interaction between the DC Universe and Dredd's reality!
Here's the book's editor, Paul Kupperberg, explaining some of the basics about this reboot and how it differs from the original British series..

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Batman/Judge Dredd Collection
(which includes all the Batman stories as well as the Lobo one-shot)
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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ALIEN WORLDS "Ride the Blue Bus"

As Our Economy Collapses, We Ask "Is This the Future Don the Con has in mind for us?"

Thanks to him, we are edging ever closer and closer to it!

This never-reprinted post-apocalyptic tale by writer Bruce Jones and artist George Perez from Pacific's Alien Worlds #7 (1984) has an odd quirk.

Both Toby's friend, Juke, and the unnamed bus driver are illustrated as Black.

Yet neither is colored differently than the blond/blue-eyed Toby!

Was this deliberate?

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George Perez

StoryTeller
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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder DUKE Ray Bradbury's "The Day Negroes Left Earth!"

Last Week, We Re-Presented Ray Bradbury's "The Last White Man"...

...so today we present the prequel to that tale...which was published after the other story!

This story, better known as "Way in the Middle of the Air", premiered in Other Worlds (July 1950) before being anthologized in The Martian Chronicles.

Duke, a Playboy competitor aimed at Black audiences published "The Other Foot" under the title "The Last White Man" in their premiere issue as we detailed HERE, but didn't run this prequel to it until their third issue in 1957, nor did they provide any introduction or editorial context to the story this time!

There's a scholarly article about "Way.../Day..." HERE which make no mention of this version of the story, but does state it has been left out of recent editions of Martian Chronicles!

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Tomorrow Midnight

Adaptations of Ray Bradbury's sci-fi stories from EC Comics!

Plus a new cover by Frank Frazetta

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Wednesday Worlds of Wonder DUKE Ray Bradbury's "The Last White Man"

From the first issue of a long out-of-print 1950s Playboy competitor comes this Ray Bradbury tale...

...which was presented only once with this title!

Intended as one of several new stories to link previously-published Mars tales in the now-legendary anthology The Martian Chronicles (1950), specifically as a sequel to "Way in the Middle of the Air", it was delayed due to editorial requests for revisions and ended up initially-appearing in 1951 in a non-science fiction magazine dedicated to short stories in every genre as "The Other Foot"...

...before finally making its' appearance in a later, equally-legendary Bradbury anthology in 1951...

How did this unusual retitling come about?

In 1957, with Playboy dominating the newsstands, a new publisher introduced an African-American counterpart called Duke, which featured Black creatives and cheesecake models.

(The centerfold models were called "Duchesses"!)

Along with acclaimed Black writers Langston Hughes, Erskine Caldwell, and Chester Hines, the premiere issue featured Ray Bradbury's short story "The Other Foot", now entitled "The Last White Man"!

Unlike most of Bradbury's works, this tale has, to date, never been adapted into any other media!

(Sadly, Duke only lasted six issues.)

AFAIK, the only time "The Other Foot/The Last White Man" has ever been cover-featured was in a rare, limited-run book produced by, of all companies, Xerox, in 1967!

Try finding a copy of it at a reasonable price (or even a clean scan of the cover)!

Note: The story this tale was a sequel to; "Way in the Middle of the Air" was also re-titled "The Day Negroes Left Earth".

Duke published it in their third issue...which you'll see next Wednesday!

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Tomorrow Midnight

Adaptations of Ray Bradbury's sci-fi stories from EC Comics!

Plus a new cover by Frank Frazetta
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