The Dead Man

Lore & Background

The story is told from the point of view of Yassa Povey, a young boy living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Yassa discovers the body of a man with appalling injuries caused by acid burns, leaving him so badly disfigured that he effectively has no face left. At first believing the man to be dead, Yassa is startled when the man regains consciousness, and he runs home to get help. The townsfolk collect the injured man and take him back with them, fully expecting him to die during the night, but he survives. When he has finally recovered enough to talk, it transpires that the mental trauma caused by his injuries has caused him to lose his memory, and he has no idea of who he is. Therefore, Yassa nicknames him "Dead Man", and for want of a better alternative the name sticks. Once the Dead Man has finished recuperating, he resolves to set out on his own and retrace his steps in an effort to find out who he was. Yassa's father gives him a rifle and some clothes: a brown overcoat and a wide-brimmed hat, giving him the appearance of a character from a Western. The Dead Man sets out alone, but is followed by Yassa and his dog. When the Dead Man discovers Yassa, he forbids him to accompany him any further due to the exceptionally dangerous terrain they will be passing through, but Yassa disobeys and the Dead Man gives up trying to stop him. The rest of the story tells of their hazardous journey through the wasteland, during which they are attacked by various hostile inhabitants. Throughout the story the Dead Man is plagued by enigmatic nightmares and half-memories of the circumstances of his near-fatal injuries. During a kidnap attempt by mutants seeking food, it is established that the Dead Man is highly proficient with the rifle, and at tracking. During their journey they not only encounter mutants, but also are occasionally visited by a strange, supernatural presence: a woman dressed in black. At first beautiful, she later transforms into a terrifying monster before disappearing. Eventually the pair reach a river of acid, where the Dead Man finds traces of the clothing he was wearing when Yassa first found him. His memory slowly begins to return as he recalls running through the river, pursued by an unseen foe, and then losing his footing and falling into the acid.

Reader's Guide

The Dead Man first appeared in 2000 AD #650-662. It has been collected in trade paperbacks three times: by Titan Books, 1991; by Rebellion Developments, 2009; by Hachette Partworks in volume 21 of Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection, 2015. The story was immediately followed in the regular Judge Dredd strip by a prequel, "Tale of the Dead Man", told almost entirely in flashback, which recounted how and why Dredd resigned and took the Long Walk. This was then followed by the five-episode "Countdown to Necropolis" which set the scene for "Necropolis" proper. "Necropolis" and its numerous prologues and epilogues brought together and resolved hitherto separate plot threads that had been running through the Judge Dredd strip for the preceding four years, and collectively had repercussions that were still being felt another four years later, ending at the conclusion of the "Mechanismo" storyline. The Dead Man contained a rare depiction of Judge Dredd in which he is not wearing his features-obscuring helmet, although he is instead disfigured by his earlier falling into an acid river.

Did You Know?

• To preserve the mystery of the Dead Man story, writer John Wagner used a pseudonym, Keef Ripley, to disguise the fact that a high-profile creator strongly associated with Judge Dredd had written it.
• It was not made explicit that the story was set in Dredd's universe until the eleventh episode, in which the revelation of the Dead Man's true identity occurred.
• In the later story "Death Aid" (2000 AD progs 711–715, 719–720), Yassa is almost assassinated by a sniper as he boards his flight home; Dr Northgate intercepts the bullet and is killed.