Here is the latest cool comic book moment in our year-long look at one cool comic book moment a day (in no particular order whatsoever)! Here's the archive of the moments posted so far!

Today we take a look at a particularly dramatic moment during the Apocalypse War in 2000 A.D.

Enjoy!

The Apocalypse War told the story of the invasion of Mega-City One (home of Judge Dredd) by the Soviet city East-Meg One.

It lasted about 25 progs (give or take a couple).

At one point in the story, the Soviets capture Judge Dredd's mentor, Chief Judge Griffin and brainwashed him into urging the resistance fighters (include Dredd) to give up the fight and surrender.

Now Griffin was a long-time supporting cast member in the book (I believe he appeared within the first few dozen issues of 2000 A.D.), so what follows next in 2000 A.D. #261 is a major deal.

Dredd sneaks into East-Meg One and confronts his brainwashed friend during a live broadcast (one of those staged Q & A programs), and whatever part of the "real" Griffin that remained within him managed to rebel and admit, on live TV, that it was all a fraud. Dredd then kills him on live TV, and in an especially dramatic twist, appears to kill himself, as well!!

Of course, Dredd faked his own death and in the end, he and some other Judges manage to drop a bunch of nukes on East-Meg One, killing almost a billion people, which basically takes the fight out of East-Meg One and more or less ends the Apocalypse War.

This was a great story, courtesy of one of the best Dredd creative teams ever - Alan Grant and John Wagner, with Carlos Ezquerra on art.