In the 2080s speed and volume eating, ‘scoffing’, became a competitive sport and extreme obesity became the desired body image for many Mega-City citizens. In retaliation to the percieved injustice of the food restrictions following the Apocalypse War, militant elements of the obese founded the ‘League of Fatties’ believing they had an inalienable right to food, which they would take by any means necessary. Whilst an individual Fattie might seem a less than threatening figure, the first food raids saw massed wedges of obese activists trundling forward supported by their BeliWheels®. With their layers of flab providing a natural armour against anything but the most lethal weapons, little could stop them once momentum was gained. Large numbers of ‘Skinnies’ and ‘Bones’ were crushed in the stampedes and from belly flops but, after the death of several Judges trying to protect a food storage facility, a crackdown was swift. Most Fatties were confined to special Fat Blocks, kept on strict diets for the maintenance of public order and their own protection until their weight fell below the 300-kilogram mark.

For millions of Mega-City One’s citizens there can be no greater symbol of the law than Judge Joe Dredd, not even the Statue of Judgement itself. The mere mention of his name is enough to give even the most hardened criminals pause. Dredd has been appointed a temporary member of the Council of Five on several occasions. However, he is only truly content when patrolling the streets dispensing the law directly and his well-known dislike of bureaucracy keeps him well away from the Hall of Justice. If it is true that a man can be measured by the quality of his enemies then Dredd will take some beating. Over the years, he has clashed with mad Chief Judges, transdimensional denizens of Deadworld, super agents of the Sov Bloc, necromancers and powerful mutant pre-cogs. Yet it’s probably safe to say that from Dredd’s perspective bringing one of these individuals to justice is no more important than the prosecution of a citizen for littering or a juve for spraying graffiti on a wall. Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law!