Judge Dredd appeared as a newspaper strip in the Daily Star from August 1981 through to 1998. The strip originally appeared in the form of a single self contained half page story in the newspaper's Saturday edition, written by John Wagner and Alan Grant and drawn by Ron Smith. While the Saturday strips, usually running to about ten panels, continued to appear, later a daily three or four panel strip was added running from Monday to Friday, which often told a continuing story in serialised form. Eventually, the self contained ten panel Saturday strip was dropped in favour of another installment of the regular three panel serial. The strips were created under the editorial oversight of 2000 AD and followed the continuity of the regular Dredd strip in the weekly 2000 AD title, often reflecting events occurring in the comic and bringing in characters from the main Dredd strip, including Judge Anderson, Judge Death, Walter the Wobot, Otto Sump and Henry Ford.
Following the departure of Ron Smith, other artists to work on the strip included Mike Collins (who was the regular artist for three years), Ian Gibson, Carlos Pino, Mike McMahon, Steve Dillon, Barry Kitson, Brett Ewins, Charles Adlard, Sean Phillips, Dylan Teague, Andrew Currie and David Bircham. Later writers to work on the strip included Alan McKenzie, Gordon Rennie, Robbie Morrison, Andy Diggle and Mark Millar. Letterers included Tom Frame, Gordon Robson, Steve Potter, Tony Jacob and Peter Knight.
Five volumes of The Judge Dredd Collection were published from 1985 to 1987 and in 1989 and 1990, the first four featuring reprints of the Saturday strips and the fifth reprinting a single complete daily serial, while the hardcover Judge Dredd Mega Collection (which should not be confused with the later partwork series of the same title) featured reprints from the first four volumes. Some of the strips were also reprinted in Judge Dredd Annuals in the 1980s. In 2014 Rebellion launched Judge Dredd: The Daily Dredds, the intention being to reprint the entire series for the first time (a lofty ambition, after the publication of 3698 installments).
The strip was briefly revived in free London newspaper The Metro between January 2004 and January 2005, but only a handful of these have ever been reprinted, in the Judge Dredd Megazine.