Judge Dredd (comics)/WMG

We do know what Judge Dredd looks like.

We have never seen HIS face, but we have seen Fargo's! In an early story (prog 377), five judge clones are hijacked on their way to Texas City. We see the faces of the original judges, one of whom is Judge Fargo. The first judge, logically Fargo seeing as he gets mentioned first and the other four shortly afterwards with less flair, even has the right sort of chin.

• • Did he keep his hat on all through the Dead Man arc? I suppose he must have done, otherwise the bionic eyes should have been a dead (uh... sorry) giveaway.
    • We see Dredd's full, disfigured face multiple times throughout that story, including his eyes, but had it not been for one character pointing out how his eyes just don't look natural, I doubt the casual reader would have been able to pick up that they were bionic by just looking at the artwork.
      • He is, however, far more disfigured from his encounter with the Sisters of Death at the beginning of this tale than he's ever been suggested to be in any other tale; even the parts of his face that we'd always see are horribly scarred.
  • Even earlier, during the Rico Dredd story, there's a flashback which shows a young Rico with his helmet off, and since Rico is a clone-brother of Joe... he's not bad-looking, given the chin.
  • The same story shows Joe sans helmet. He and Rico are seen on a firing range in profile. However, there is a fan theory which states that, due to the immense amount of pummelling, surgery etc. that Dredd has received over the years, he probably doesn't look much like that any more.
  • It's also hinted that Dredd's face is somehow disfigured, in an early strip he reveals his face to some thugs (covered to the audience by a big 'CENSORED' sticker) and they seem pretty horrified.
  • His hair fell out and he can't admit because of his bad people skills.
    • Funnily enough, that WMG was a plot point in one story where Dredd was faced with a group of bald extremists.

The uniform is more important than the judge.

Slap the uniform on someone with a modicum of ass-kicking skills and send them out on the street. The judge uniform is SCARY. But as the comics show, any judge who is not Dredd is pretty much cannon fodder. Propaganda judges are perfect. If they succeed and capture some criminals, great. If they blast a few people, who cares? If they get blasted, so what? Ten judges walking down the street tends to be more a crime deterrent then anything else.

• So are you saying Dredd's secretly a Legacy Character Dread Pirate Roberts style? Would explain why we never see his face.
  • An idea explored (Disastrously) in the comic at one point when Dredd quits. Also they tend to be quite good for named Judges showing up years later and so on, it is not just Dredd. That aside it is interesting to note that in Hondo Cit you can only see a judge's name if you are wearing a Judge helmet. To all other citizens they are nameless, faceless, avatars of Justice.
• Also, the current Chief Judge, Dan Francisco, was a propaganda judge with his own tv show The Streets Of Dan Francisco, a sort of Cops parody where Dan had to perform his duties in a manner that entertained the audience. Also, there's Judge Pal and the Pals Club where juves would inform on perps in exchange for prizes.

Judge Dredd takes place in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Consider:

• Hive cities/ Mega cities
• Eagle motifs, ps(i/y)kers, manliness and Shoulders of Doom all around
• Both purge mutants and criminals with equal zeal
• An Arbitrator Foreboding is mentioned in Ciaphas Cain
• Commissars and Judges are empowered to shoot criminals on sight if need be
• Judge Death and pals / Daemons or Champions of Nurgle

Their Earth-like planet was colonised waaaaaaay back when the Emperor was still alive, but got cut off from the rest of the universe by a big warp storm. When it subsided, the planet was forgotten by all the Imperium and civilisation underwent an evolution parallel to Earth's history up to the late twentieth century, then split off into the Judge Dredd timeline. When people looked for a new emblem for the Judges, faint memories, generations old, reminded them of the Adeptus Arbites and the eagle symbol. They chose Fargo as a very distant version of the God-Emperor, for he founded them.

• Well this makes some sense, given that Games Workshop has often admitted that Judge Dredd was a major influence.
• Considering the Adeptus Arbites actually have a special unit called Judge Dread (sic), a far more likely theory is that Judge Dredd takes place in the past of Warhammer 40,000, and the Adeptus Arbitres grew out of the Judge system, with Dredd (or a clone who also had the surname Dredd) as a founding member. Hey, the Emperor needs somebody to enforce the law.

"Day of Chaos" is going to be John Wagner's last story before retirement.

It's got PJ Maybe, Sovs, AND the Dark Judges. With all of Dredd's surviving perennial enemies, it sure looks like Wagner intends to go out with a bang, as there's really no way to top this.

Judge Dredd takes place in the future of the Vertigo Comics series American Vampire.

• Skinner Sweet reproduced either before or after he became the first American Vampire, and his line led to the Angel Gang.

Judge Dredd takes place in the same universe as Law and Order Special Victims Unit.

• Dredd's bloodline has its roots in Stabler's. C'mon, just compare the chins. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Judge Munch either.