The House That Dredd Built: A Brief History of Rowdy Yates Block

Fancy having Judge Dredd as your neighbour?

That’s the reality the residents of Rowdy Yates Block have been living with since the earliest days of Judge Dredd, when the greatest lawman of the future moved in!

You’d think the presence of the one and only Dredd would make life for the residents safer and more secure, but the opposite has proven to be true.

In this week’s Prog, Dredd prepares to say ‘Adios, Rowdy Yates’, courtesy of artist/writer Chris Weston. But as always, life in this block is never simple – from the madcap antics of his robo-servant and landlady to assassination attempts and giant monsters.

So as the end for this venerable landmark looms, it’s the perfect time to delve into a potted history of the block that Dredd called home.

“It was a mandatory billeting, designed to attune a judge to the chaos of block society – to fathom the inner lives its inhabitants and their strange customs. At best, it was a place where he could study his law books in relative solitude _ or simply have a bath… But, for a brief while, it might have become the closest he ever had to a home.” – ‘Judge Dredd: Adios, ‘Rowdy Yates’’ (2000 AD Prog 2234 (2021)).

Named after a character from the 1960s TV western series Rawhide, ‘Rowdy Yates’ is a fitting link to one of the inspirations behind Judge Dredd – actor Clint Eastwood. Although it wouldn’t receive its famous name until later, readers first saw inside the block in the story ‘Krong’ (2000 AD Prog 5 (1977)), when Dredd investigated a series of grisly murders – including one of his own neighbours – and discovered that classic movie monsters were to blame.

Considering his reputation as a no-nonsense lawman, it seems odd that Dredd lived in a normal city block, rather than his usual ten minutes in a Justice Department ‘sleep machine’, but the move came about through then-Chief Judge Goodman’s scheme to foster better community relations by embedding street Judges in the community.

Whether he liked it or not, by 2099 Dredd was used to spending time trying to relax when off duty in his apartment, albeit usually interrupted by his cleaning lady, Maria, and then by his rhotacistic robo-servant Walter the Wobot, who first appeared in Prog 10 and returned three issues later with his trademark speech impediment, as he helped Dredd battle Call-Me-Kenneth’s robot rebellion.

This comedy pair were a regular feature of early Dredd stories, with Maria always trying to get Dredd to settle down and Walter sycophantically trying to do worm his way into the lawman’s affections. 

And although Dredd did occasionally find Rowdy Yates a useful, contemplative space, his apartment always turned out to be a magnet for trouble…

The most famous stand-off in the strip’s history happened in Rowdy Yates, as former judge Rico returned from serving twenty years on the prison moon of Titan to exact revenge on the man who put him there – his own clone brother, Judge Dredd! Using the apartment’s atmospheric controls to suck the air from the room, the horrifically disfigured Rico laid in wait for the showdown he’d been plotting for years…

You could never know who was going to be there when there was a knock at the door – especially when that knock might turn into a head-butt! In ‘Destiny’s Angels’ (2000 AD Progs 281-288 (1982)), Mean Machine and Fink Angel (literally) burst in during their quest for revenge against Dredd, kidnapping Maria and leaving Walter in pieces.

Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant. Artist: Carlos Ezquerra. Letters: Tom Frame

Not even Dredd’s ablutions were sacrosanct. In ‘In the Bath’ (2000 AD Prog 626 (1989)), Dredd was ruminating on his advancing years while luxuriating in the bath, when his reverie was interrupted by two hapless perps who blew open his front door in a search for loot. Without even rising from the tub, Dredd subdued the bungling duo and even had them handcuff themselves to await their trip to the cubes.

Script: John Wagner. Art: Jim Baikie. Letters: Tom Frame

The most famous Rowdy Yates moment didn’t even take place in the block itself. After finally beating the Sov assassin Orlok in ‘Block Mania’ (2000 AD Progs 236-244 (1981)), Dredd succumbs to the effects of a massive dose of the Block Mania contaminant that has caused the city to erupt in fighting. When a fellow Judge rushes to his aid, a feral Dredd turns on them while shouting the immortal line: ’I’m with Rowdy Yates Block! Who you fighting with?’.

Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant. Artist: Brian Bolland. Letters: Steve Potter

With Maria gone, later turning up as a homeless alcoholic who wanted nothing to do with Dredd (2000 AD Progs 643-645), and Walter in and out of the cubes, Dredd apparently spent less and less time at his apartment.

After seemingly encountering the Sisters of Death in the dawning horror of ‘Necropolis’ (2000 AD Progs 674-699 (1990)), Dredd’s replacement, Kraken, found a copy of the Mega-City Book of the Law amongst Dredd’s possessions in the old apartment, its annotated margins betraying the old man’s doubts about the Judges’ legitimacy.

Script: John Wagner. Art: Carlos Ezquerra. Letters: Tom Frame
Script: John Wagner. Art: Carlos Ezquerra. Letters: Tom Frame

And following the Robot War orchestrated by crime lord Nero Narcos, Dredd returned to his apartment (2000 AD Prog 1169 (1999)) to find both a recently-freed Walter the Wobot and also one of Narcos’ robot assassins – resulting in yet more property damage to the unfortunate block.

Script: John Wagner. Artist: Paul Marshall. Colours: Chris Blythe. Letters: Tom Frame

Dredd actually left Rowdy Yates almost two decades ago, passing the “gloomy little cave” on to his younger clone, the new Judge Rico.

Script: John Wagner, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra, Letters: Tom Frame

“Haven’t come here much these past years… Never agreed with the policy anyway — ‘fostering better relations with the community’. As long as they obey the law and keep out of my hair, that’s all the relations I need. Cubicle in the Grand Hall will do me just as well — leave this for a younger man.” – Judge Dredd ‘Leaving Rowdy Yates’, 2000 AD Prog 1280 (2002)

While the new occupant gave the block hospitality committee exactly the same kind of frosty reception as his predecessor, the rather ‘warmer’ welcome from the perps lurking in the parking garage showed that life at Rowdy Yates was never quiet so long as Dredd was about.

Goodman’s scheme never did quite pan out and there may not be much love lost between Judge Dredd and Rowdy Yates, but now, almost twenty years later, he prepares to say a final goodbye in ‘Adios, Rowdy Yates’ – appearing in 2000 AD Prog 2234, on sale now!

So for one last time, we’re with Rowdy Yates Block – who you fighting with?