"The Dead Man" was immediately followed in the regular "Judge Dredd" strip by a prequel, "Tale of the Dead Man", told almost entirely in flashback, which recounted how and why Dredd resigned and took the Long Walk. This was then followed by the five-episode "Countdown to Necropolis" which set the scene for "Necropolis" proper. "Necropolis" and its numerous prologues and epilogues brought together and resolved hitherto separate plot threads that had been running through the "Judge Dredd" strip for the preceding four years, and collectively had repercussions that were still being felt another four years later, ending at the conclusion of the "Mechanismo" storyline.