The Lawgiver

The Lawgiver was a character in the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd. He appeared in progs 63 - 64 during The Cursed Earth story.

The Deliverance
The Lawgiver is a leader of a small town in the Cursed Earth who has a young couple on trial for stealing food from their leader. They plead for mercy but he refused and finds them guilty and sentences them to death by being eaten by the Devil's Lapdogs, who are a swarm of flying mutant rats that devour everything in their path and can kill a human being with one bite. When the Devil's Lapdogs are close to the town, the Lawgiver asks the couple who are going to be executed if they want to send a message to their loved ones, they beg for mercy again but the Lawgiver states that he wished he could be merciful but he has no choice because it is the law. Dredd then appears and shouts that he is the law and demands that the couple be let go. The Lawgiver says how Dredd may be the law in Mega-City One but he is the law in the town. He then tells Dredd that he's arrested for interfering with the law in the town and the guards force Dredd to drop his weapon, they then send him to his cell.

The Judgement
After the Lawgiver announces that the Devil's Lapdogs within a few moments, Dredd asks what the horror their looking forward to is and the Lawgiver snaps that the Lapdogs are their punishment for the Atomic Wars which caused the Cursed Earth. He then explains who the Devil's Lapdogs are and states how their town is always the one targeted for the attack. They here the squeaking and the Lawbreaker orders to sound the sirens and announces that the Lapdogs are here. The Lapdogs arrive with the swarm making the sky completely black.

The Attack of the Devil's Lapdogs
The Lapdogs arrive with the swarm making the sky completely black. The inhabitants try to hold them back but they start swarming the town and the Lapdogs proceed to kill the defenders and devouring the town. The couple who are about to be executed await their punishment and in the Town Jail, Dredd desperately begs the Lawgiver to let him rescue the couple but the Lawgiver refuses, stating that this is Judgement for their wrong-doings. Dredd was then rescued by Spikes Harvey Rotten bashing through the door with his bike and Dredd rescues the couple and tells them to get to cover. Dredd then tells Spikes to turn on his siren and ride out of town, the Lawbreaker breaks down about being defied and while ranting he was eaten by a swarm of the Lapdogs. Dredd explains to Spikes that the towns sirens is drawing the Lapdogs in like magnets and the sirens on their bikes will lure the Lapdogs away from the town. The Lapdogs then land on Dredd but before they could bite him he sets his bike on fire and jumps of his bike, burning the Lapdogs. He then finds a final Lapdog on his left foot and realises that it is a king rat and it is intelligent enough to know to bite Dredd the moment he pulls out his gun so Dredd manages to grab the King Rat by the neck and proceeds to strangle it to death. After the battle, Dredd tells the town that it isn't the last they seen of the Lapdogs but if they erect sirens away from the town it will draw the Lapdogs from the town.