Publication History
The character Fargo was first introduced to readers when his tomb was shown in 2000 AD #107, near the end of the story "The Day the Law Died." The inscription read:
| “ | "Here lies Judge Fargo 2001–2051 First Chief Judge of Meg... Father of Justice" |
” |
Fargo was next mentioned six years later in issue #377, in the story "Dredd Angel." In this episode it was explained that Fargo's DNA was being used to produce clones, but the writers had not yet decided that Dredd himself was one of Fargo's clones. Consequently a detailed picture of Fargo's face was allowed to appear in #377, drawn by veteran Judge Dredd artist Ron Smith. Since it was not revealed until #389 that Dredd and Fargo shared the same DNA, and therefore (presumably) the same features, the rule that Dredd's face is never shown in the comic did not yet apply to Fargo. Once this was established however, Fargo's face was never shown again, and the Ron Smith picture may not be regarded as a true depiction of Dredd's face, having effectively been "retconned" away.
Fargo first appeared "in person" in the story "Oz." This was in a flashback in #559, drawn by Brendan McCarthy, who drew the chief judge with his face obscured by a helmet visor. (Fargo remains the only character to appear in the Judge Dredd strip wearing a helmet while chief judge.) This flashback was set in 2070, and showed Fargo alive and ruling as chief judge. This created two discrepancies between "Oz" and "The Day the Law Died" – not only did it contradict the date on Fargo's tomb, but the earlier story had also stated that Judge Goodman had been chief judge between 2058 and 2101. Another story, "The Cursed Earth," had implied that Judge Solomon had been chief judge in 2070.
For more details on this topic, see Judge Solomon#Continuity controversies.Writer John Wagner, who had written both "Oz" and "The Day the Law Died," eventually decided to resolve these problems by writing "Origins." In an interview in 2006 he said:
| “ | 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. | ” |
"Origins" resolved these issues, as described below. This story, which told of the history of the Judges in a sequence of flashbacks, also showed how the Judges' uniforms had evolved over time, and consequently Fargo was portrayed in a different uniform to that depicted by McCarthy. "Origins" artist Carlos Ezquerra's design (pictured above) may now be regarded as definitive.
"Origins" is the only story in which Fargo appears other than in a flashback, dream sequence or similar device.
Read more about this topic: Chief Judge Fargo
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