Block Mania
| "Block Mania" | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | IPC Magazines Ltd |
| Publication date | 31 October – 26 December, 1981 |
| Genre | |
| Title(s) | 2000 AD #236-244 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | John Wagner, Alan Grant |
| Artist(s) | Mike McMahon, Ron Smith, Steve Dillon, Brian Bolland |
| Editor(s) | Tharg (Steve MacManus) |
| Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 05 | ISBN |
Block Mania is a Judge Dredd story, which ran in British comic 2000 AD #236-244, in 1981. The story itself is a prologue for the longer storyline "The Apocalypse War", which immediately follows the conclusion of "Block Mania".
The story opens with what seems to be a typical block war, as seen in the previous Dredd stories. However it soon becomes apparent that it is not an isolated incident, but that conflagrations are breaking out amongst hundreds of city blocks in Mega-City One. Eventually the conflict spreads city-wide, where millions of citizens are involved in violent riots, with the intent of murdering one another. During the last episode of the series it becomes apparent that the outbreak has been engineered by East Meg One agent, Orlok, infecting the city's water supply with a drug. The story thus acts as a prologue to the next major storyline, "The Apocalypse War".
The story is also notable for the death of the original Judge Giant at the hands of Orlok.
In 1987 Games Workshop produced a board game based on the above story, and other stories that had featured Block Wars. The game simulated a Block War between two City Blocks, with each player deploying personnel and playing cards to attack the other player's block.
A supplement, Mega Mania was released, increasing the number of Blocks (and thus players) to four.
A two-page rules expansion, Happy Hour, was published in White Dwarf #94. It added new Citi-Defence equipment including plascrete virus, nerve gas, and sucker guns.
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