Origins (Judge Dredd story)
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"Origins" | |
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2000 AD prog. 1505 (Sept 13 2006), art by Brian Bolland. Issue containing the first episode of "Origins." | |
Publisher | Rebellion Developments |
Publication date | 13 September, 2006 – 2 May, 2007 |
Genre | |
Title(s) | ISBN 1-905437-23-4 |
"Origins" is one of the longest
Wagner explained:
There were many unresolved questions about the origins of the
Judge system and some apparent contradictions that required sorting out... It's a task I'd always shied away from because of the difficulty of making sense of it all while still telling a story that was worth reading – but I knew that sometime it had to be done, if for no other reason than my own satisfaction.[1]
2000 AD editor Matt Smith has expanded on this to touch on the contents:
John has always been waiting for the right story to come along to tell Dredd's origins... And in this case he's come up with a riveting plot that will keep readers intrigued and excited, as well as filling in some of the backstory that we've never seen before –
Chief Judge Fargo taking control of Mega-City, etc. The fact the story comes just as 2000AD is approaching its 30th year anniversary gives it a nice sense of history too.[1]
Publication history
"Origins" was preceded by a five-episode story called "The Connection", written by John Wagner and drawn by Kev Walker. It appeared in progs (issues) 1500-1504 and was immediately followed by "Origins" in progs 1505-1519 and 1529–1535. It had been intended that the final episode would appear in the comic's celebratory thirtieth anniversary issue, but publication was interrupted because artist Carlos Ezquerra moved house during his work on the story. The editor decided to permit him time to finish the strip himself rather than replace him with another artist.
Plot summary
![]() | This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (June 2010) |
"The Connection"
The prologue story introduces a team of
Meanwhile, Dredd, between his efforts to catch the mutants, has recurring dreams about his clone father,
"Origins"
Premise
The box is delivered to
Since Fargo was believed to have died in the year 2051, and the mission takes place in 2129, much of the story consists of Dredd explaining to the members of his team how it is that Fargo might still be alive – a secret history which was concealed from the public for decades.
Flashbacks
The middle chapters of "Origins" cover Fargo's life history, and how he founded his Judge System in 2031. After serving twenty years as chief judge, however, Fargo succumbed to a moment of weakness and had an illicit affair with a female colleague, something strictly forbidden by the Judges' code of celibacy. Unable to cope with his own lapse in the exacting moral standards he had inflexibly demanded of his subordinates, Fargo tendered his resignation to the President of the United States. Spurning the entreaties of his two deputies,
Fearing that their political enemies would use the scandalous circumstances of Fargo's resignation and injuries to destroy Fargo's legacy, Solomon and Goodman covered them up. Using sophisticated video technology, they faked footage of Fargo bravely sacrificing his life in the line of duty, gunned down in a brutal drive-by shooting. This enabled them to present Fargo as a martyr, increasing public support for the Judges.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0e/Judge_Solomon2.jpg/120px-Judge_Solomon2.jpg)
This deception had been conceived while Fargo's doctors had predicted that he would not survive long. However Fargo defied their expectations and began to slowly recover. He was therefore kept in a secret medical facility, isolated from the world so that the cover-up would not be discovered. When his condition began to deteriorate again, Chief Judge Solomon had him cryogenically frozen in suspended animation until such time as medical science could cure him.
By 2070
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e2/Judge_Goodman2.jpg/120px-Judge_Goodman2.jpg)
Consequently, another of Booth's aides turned against him and provided Goodman with evidence of Booth's earlier crimes. Goodman made the evidence public, and public opinion turned against Booth. A demonstration outside the White House became a massacre when troops opened fire on the crowd. But the evidence of election fraud was not conclusive, and impeachment proceedings against Booth were too slow for Goodman to protect his position, for Booth had discovered that Fargo was alive and had been revived from suspended animation. Booth sent troops to arrest Fargo, intending to expose the myth of his death and thereby destroy the Judges' reputation for integrity.
Joe and Rico Dredd, cadets at the time, managed to rescue Fargo from capture. However Goodman realised that urgent action was needed to defeat Booth, and the constitutional mechanism for trying him and removing him from office could not be completed in time. On Fargo's advice, Goodman deposed Booth, suspended Congress, and usurped the government of the United States. For his crimes Booth was sentenced to 100 years in suspended animation, to let posterity decide his ultimate fate. Goodman became dictator of the United States (which soon split into three sovereign city-states), with Fargo – his existence still a secret – advising him from behind the scenes.
However Fargo soon deteriorated again. He also became demoralised, having intended that the overthrow of democratic government should be temporary, and regretting his own part in establishing a lasting dictatorship. Shortly after surviving an assassination attempt by renegade judge
Conclusion
Thirty years later Booth's cryogenic machinery failed, and he was inadvertently revived. Judge Dredd resentenced him to life working on a farm in the Cursed Earth, to make amends for the destruction he unleashed on America. (This was first portrayed in the 1978 story "The Cursed Earth".)
Instead however Booth raised an army of mutants, the "New Mutant Army," who he intended to use to overthrow the Judges and become president again. By 2129 he had discovered Fargo's stolen cryogenic unit, which had been lost in the Cursed Earth when Judd's agents' hovership crashed. When Dredd attempted to exchange the ransom for Fargo, Booth double-crossed him and put him on trial for treason, intending to execute him. However Dredd had anticipated this and planned a timely rescue by his comrades. Taken hostage for use as a human shield, Booth was killed by his own side during the ensuing battle.
Back in Mega-City One, Fargo was revived again, but this time he did not survive. His final words were spoken to Dredd alone: "We created a monster ... we're the monster!" He told Dredd that the Judges had gone too far and had destroyed America, and urged Dredd to do everything he could to undo it.
Dredd's reaction to this plea was not shown, but when Chief Judge Hershey asked him what Fargo's last words had been, Dredd lied and pretended that Fargo had said something else less controversial. Fans speculated at the time that this indicated that this theme may be followed up in later stories. This speculation was soon proved correct.
Epilogue
"Origins" was soon followed up in a series of stories, starting with "
This story also featured the return of some of the mutant
Supporting characters
"Origins" introduced some new characters, Dredd's cousin
In addition to the judges who appeared in the flashback episodes described above, the following characters appeared in the story in the "present day" of 2129, as members of Dredd's team:
Collected editions
Both stories were released as a
" by Hachette Partworks in 2015.References
- ^ SFX magazine#148, October 2006. Page 48
- ^ 2000 AD progs 1542-1545
- ISBN 1-905437-23-4
External links
- Origins trailer
- Dredd: Origins - A Mega Epic In The Making..., by Regie Rigby
- Interview with John Wagner about Origins, by Forbidden Planet
- Script for the first episode of Origins
Reviews
- "Judge Dredd: Origins – a comic that should be a movie", by Rob Leane, The Guardian, 12 September 2014
- Den of Geek, 18 November 2014
- Big Comic Page, 5 March 2015