Morton Judd
Encyclopedia
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
comic strip and appears in progs 559-563 of the British comic 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
, in the story "Oz"
Oz (Judge Dredd story)
Oz is a mini-series featured in the comic 2000 AD, running for 26 episodes from 24 October, 1987 to 16 April, 1988....
.
Judd was originally a Judge
Judge (2000 AD)
Judge is a title held by several significant characters in the Judge Dredd series, which appears in the British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine...
, Head of Genetics at the Justice Department and a prominent member of the Council of Five
Council of Five
The Council of Five is a fictional legislature and court in the Judge Dredd comic strip appearing in 2000 AD. It first appeared in 2000 AD prog 86 ....
. He had been the one to propose the idea of cloning Judges and began this program under Chief Judge Goodman
Judge Goodman
Chief Judge Clarence Goodman is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd stories published in the British comic 2000 AD. He appeared in the first episode of Judge Dredd in March 1977 , and was the first regularly recurring supporting character.-Biography:Goodman was joint deputy chief judge at the...
- the most notable success had been Judge Joe Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
, who had been cloned from the DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
of Chief Judge Fargo
Chief Judge Fargo
Chief Judge Eustace Fargo is an important fictional character from the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He is Judge Dredd's clone father....
. He was heavily disliked by Judge Solomon
Judge Solomon
Chief Judge Hollins Solomon is a fictional character from the Judge Dredd stories in the comic 2000 AD. His first appearance in the comic was in a flashback in #68, in the 1978 story The Cursed Earth. However his main appearance is in the story Origins , as a recurring character in a series of...
for his amorality.
After the Atomic Wars
Atomic Wars
The Atomic Wars or Great Atom War is a fictional event in the Judge Dredd universe.In 2070, the possibly psychotic President Robert L. Booth started World War III by starting a nuclear war which dragged in all the major superpowers....
of 2070, Mega-City One
Mega-City One
Mega-City One is a huge fictional city-state covering much of what is now the Eastern United States in the Judge Dredd comic book series. The exact boundaries of the city depend on which artist has drawn the story...
was left in turmoil. As a result Judd proposed a radical solution to the problem of policing an overcrowded city, packed with 400 million potential criminals. The solution was to clone the citizens, as well as the Judges, to create a docile and obedient population. Although he had some support amongst many of his colleagues, Chief Judge Fargo rejected the idea, pointing out that the Judges' first duty was to serve the citizens, not to control them.
After a failed attempt to assassinate Fargo, Judd and a number of his followers were scheduled for execution. However they were rescued at the last moment and fled Mega-City One with a batch of genetic material.
Judd could not be found and was presumed dead until he reappeared almost forty years later. Judd and his followers had built a secret base inside the caves of Ayers Rock in the Radback (radioactive outback
Outback
The Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...
) of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, breeding their own army of 'Judges' called the Judda from the DNA stock he had stolen from the Justice Department. His plan was to despatch a group of them via sophisticated teleportation devices to Mega-City One in order to kill several key Judges, preliminary to his conquest of the city he regarded as rightfully his. This failed when Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
captured one of the group and used his teleportation device to return to Judd's base. Judd panicked and tried to accelerate his mass assault on the Grand Hall of Justice
Grand Hall of Justice
The Grand Hall of Justice of Mega-City One is a fictional building in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. It actually refers to three different buildings which existed at different times...
, but Dredd used Judd's device to get back there first. Forewarned, the Judges were ready for the onslaught and Dredd teleported an armed nuclear warhead back to Ayers Rock, destroying Judd and the remainder of his followers.
Legacy
- One survivor of the Judda attack was KrakenJudge KrakenJudge Kraken is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip featured in the long-running British comic 2000 AD. Although he only appeared in a few episodes, he was nonetheless a very important character in Tale of the Dead Man, in which he was given almost equal billing with Dredd, and in...
, one of Fargo's clones, who was taken prisoner and re-indoctrinated to become a judge, with a view to one day becoming Judge Dredd's replacement. Kraken became a major character in the NecropolisNecropolis (Judge Dredd story)Necropolis is a 26-part Judge Dredd epic by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, published in 1990 in 2000 AD progs 674–699. The story was the subject of extensive foreshadowing in the comic, beginning with The Dead Man , followed by "Tale of the Dead Man" , and finally three stories collectively...
storyline.
- The audio drama Judge Dredd: Jihad, published by Big FinishBig Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
, featured a last remaining Judda leading a fanatical Judd cult and trying to take over Mega-City One.