I'm a little late here, but my number 5 pick would be...

JUDGE DEATH





Although he first appeared in 2000 AD's Judge Dredd strip circa 1980, that first appearance passed me by. It was Death's second appearance in the "Judge Death Lives" storyline from 1982 that first caught my attention. I was already a fan of Judge Dredd and regularly followed the adventure's of Mega City One's toughest lawman in my best friend's copies of 2000 AD (pocket money was tight, I bought Star Wars, he bought 2000 AD and we read each other's comics). But I vividly remember the impact that this second appearance of Death and the other Dark Judges had on us both at age 11.

For one thing, a supernatural character like Death was unusual in the Judge Dredd strip, which usually pitted the titular character against more Earth-bound criminals, grotesques and darkly humourous adversaries. Then there was Judge Death's striking appearance, being that of a twisted, undead, horror version of the Judges themselves, which was an utterly fantastic visual.




...and, although Death was clearly the star of the show, the "Judge Death Lives!" storyline also introduced us to the other Dark Judges: Judge Fear, Judge Fire and Judge Mortis -- all of whom ran Death a close second in the striking visual stakes...




Of course, it helped immeasurably that artist Brian Bolland drew such detailed and pretty pictures, but it was the creepy character designs and backstory that sold the characters to me. Today, Judge Death is easily in my Top 3 all-time favourite Judge Dredd villains, so he had to be in my Top 5 for this event.