10 Insanely Detailed Comic Book Worlds That Blew Fans' Minds

7. Mega-City One - 2000AD

Regardless of the fact Judge Dredd tends to be misconstrued literally all of the time (satire, folks - it's satire), one thing everyone can appreciate is how vibrant the comic's dystopian setting actually is.

Forged in the fires of nuclear armageddon, the Mega-Cities of 2000AD are crime-ridden and imposing, spanning hundreds of miles at a time. Readers can thank the late Carlos Ezquerra in pioneering Dredd's dystopian locale, as it was his initial sketches for the comic that forced a rethink from setting Dredd in a future version of New York and shifting it to a whole other kind of city.

But why is Mega-City so captivating? What sets it apart from the deluge of dystopias that populate the medium? Well for one, stylistically, the megalopolis is all-encompassing; it represents the be-all and end-all of life on the eastern seaboard. Then there's the social and judicial framework sported within its towering buildings. The Judges are feared, and operate with no oversight whatsoever. They represent a horrifying, fascistic future of what a police state could become, and it's from that premise that the comic extracts its appeal, inverting the image of the hero into something horrifying.

The stories are grim, and the world even grimmer. It's Dredd pure and simple, and that's why it works.