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JUDGE DREDD NEVER TAKES HIS HELMET OFF (but…)
- his clone father used to!
We’ve seen Joe Dredd’s clone father, Chief Judge Fargo, on several occasions over the years but we’ve been shown Fargo’s face clearly only once…*
[ * excluding the DC line of comics cera 1994 in which Fargo features widely and always unhelmeted - but DC’s line was, to my mind, non-canonical, overly-convoluted and rather dull despite some nice artwork. ]
In an expositional flash-back during prog 377’s Dredd Angel part one we’re given a singular, long and lingering look at the face of Fargo; The Father of Justice.
Although; it wasn’t until Prog 389’s A Case for Treatment (by T.B.Grover and Ron Smith; published 27th Oct 1984) that we actually learn that Joe Dredd is a clone of Fargo…
…chances are that Ron had no idea he was drawing Dredd’s face, which might also explain Fargo’s more-than-passing likeness to Dredd-creator John Wagner (aka T.B.Grover, John Howard, etc)
“How do you feel about your origins - about being a clone?”
“…to be of the same blood as Fargo - The Father of Justice, it was a great honour.”
- Psychiatric Examiner Rheinhart and Judge Dredd. (Prog 389)
Scan from Dredd Angel; Part One -2000 AD prog 377 (04/08/84) by T.B.Gover, with art by Ron Smith.
