From: mbraun@neptune.urbana.mcd.mot.com (Matt The Hoople)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: The Judda (was Re: Judge Dredd)
Date: 7 Apr 92 19:50:44 GMT
Reply-To: mbraun@urbana.mcd.mot.com
Followup-To: rec.arts.comics
Organization: Somewhere in Motorola


In article <1992Mar31.183351.1030@HQ.Ileaf.COM>, tyg@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Tom
|> Galloway) writes: I've been enjoying the Tale of the Dead Man and
|> Necropolis, but I was wondering if someone could summarize Kraken's
|> history prior to these. There are a number of references to him being a
|> Judda, but no explanation of what this was other than what I assume was
|> an attempt to take over Mega-City One.

Okay, let's see if I can do justice to Grant and Wagner-ian epic... :-)
The details below don't server as spoilers for Necropolis, but they do 
for the "Dredd In Oz" saga, so

Spoilers for "Dredd in Oz"---

It all began with SuperSurf 7--the annual illegal sky surfing event won
William Shakespeare (a.k.a Chopper).  Chopper was taken into custody by
the Justice Department, and sentenced to 10 years in an iso(lation) cube.
Naturally his fans were outraged, but, hey, that's life in the Big Meg.

Fast forward three years--time for SuperSurf 10.  This one is to be held
in Oz (Australia), and there's a rumour going through the city that the
Justice Department will release Chopper to compete this SuperSurf to
compete against the heavily favoured Australian "Jug McKenzie".  Justice
Dept. has NO intention of releasing Chopper before he's done his time.
However, it is fairly well known where he's being held, so, Justice Dept
decides to move him to other quarters.  During the public transfer,
though, some of those protesting Justice Dept's hard line help Chopper to
break free.  He hops on his board (which was being transferred with him)
and escapes custody.  He stops to visit a friend and pick up some
supplies, and then heads out across The Cursed Earth, vowing to surf all
the way to Oz, and participate in SuperSurf 10.  Or die trying.

A short while later, three armoured men (well, armoured like judges are)
teleport into the Grand Hall of Justice, announcing that they are the
Judda.  They kill judge Brufen, and get information on judges McNamee,
Defoe and Dredd.  The three split up, each to kill one of McNamee, Defoe
and Dredd.  McNamee and Defoe are killed, and their murderers teleport
away.  Dredd's out on the streets, making arrests (big surprise) when
his attacker teleports in and blasts him with an energy beam.  The perp
takes the blast, and Dredd takes out his attacker.

An analysis of tissue taken from Dredd's attacker holds a surprise,
though--it's genetically identical to Dredd's!  Putting the word Judda
together with the genetic engineering expertise, Chief Judge Silver
relates the story of Judge Morton Judd.  Judd was on the very first
Council of Five, back when Judge Fargo was the first Chief Judge.  Judd
reasoned that if they could genetically engineer judges for desirable
genetic traits, why not engineer citizens who would be more willing to
obey the law?  Although the majority of the council agreed with the plan,
Judge Fargo stated that judges are meant to guide and correct--not to
rule, and vetoed the idea.  This was not well received.

Judd and his followers attempted to assassinate Fargo for vetoing their
plan.  The attempt failed, as Fargo had anticipated their attempt.  He
sentenced Judd to be publically executed.  With help from some
sympathisers, Judd escaped that night with his followers and a supply of
the genetic stock.  Where he had gone, no one knew.  However, to all
present, it appears that the "Lost Tribe of the Judges" are back, and want
revenge (and Mega City One!)

Chopper, meanwhile, after facing killer Spanish-speaking eagles and other
nasties, manages to cross the Cursed Earth, and now faces the Pacific.  He
sets off across it, with (knowingly) too little power left in his board's
power cells.  Although he makes it most of the way, he crashes into the
ocean as a storm is approaching.  Fortunately, so is a ship.  The waves
wash him onto the ship, where he is greeted by the ship's robotic cook. The
cook (apparently the only sentient being on the ship) feeds Chopper--feeds
him what remains of the crew.  He killed them for criticising his cooking.
The cook then attacks Chopper for similar remarks, and winds up damaging
Chopper's board.  The cook falls overboard (no accident) and Chopper takes
the ship to Oz.  (He repairs his board and recharges its power cells as
well.)

Dredd is in Oz, too.  Waiting.  (Personally, I found the scene where Dredd
wounds a surfer who buzzes him and Judge Bruce to be hilarious.)  He
confronts Chopper, and is going to take him back to Mega City One with a
nice extension of his sentence for escaping custody.  The Oz Judges,
however, aren't about to let Dredd ruin what looks to be a great SuperSurf,
and take *Dredd* into custody.  So, Supersurf 10 is go, and Chopper agrees
to represent Mega City One.  Jug McKenzie isn't worried, though, and
welcomes the competition.

Three days later, three Judda attack Dredd again.  Everyone knows he's
holed up in a Oz cube, and that makes him an easy target--just as Justice
Department planned.  Matter of fact, that's one of the reasons that Dredd's
in Oz.  When the attack comes, they block the attackers' teleporters, and
capture them.  One is injured, one is killed, and the other is taken alive.
Subjected to intense questioning, the captured Judda dies of a self-induced
brain hemorrhage.  Oz Justice attempts to disassemble one of the
teleporters, but it explodes.  Dredd reckons that if they're going to find
anything out, someone better teleport back, and risk the dangers of
whatever lurks on the other side.  He takes the teleporter and a homing
device, teleports out of The Oz Hall of Justice...

...and into the Grand Hall of the Judda--a bizarre underground cavernous
mockery of the Grand Hall of Justice.  He kills the technicians, but not
without being detected.  Being underground, however, his homing beacon
won't work--he needs to get out!  He is pursued, and eventually
captured--but only after he attaches the homing beacon to a bat.  Dredd is
brought before Judd, who declares that Dredd is to be executed.  Judd's
version of the judges--the Judda--are beginning to teleport away to The
Grand Hall of Justice to attack there.

The bat, meanwhile has flown out of the cave and into the open, giving Oz
Justice a fix on Dredd's position.  The Grand Hall of Judda is built
into/under Ayers' Rock--a huge rock mountain in the middle of the
Australian outback.  Oz Justice immediately begin to bomb it, which causes
general chaos on the inside.  Dredd is able to get away, teleporting back
to the Grand Hall of Justice (since that's where the teleporters are set
to.)  They have their hands full with Judd's attack.  Dredd heads off to
the armoury, where he gets a nuke, and initiates its 10 second countdown.
He then attaches his teleporter to it, and teleports the bomb back to the
center of Ayres' rock, where it blows Judd and the remainder of his troops
to kingdom come.

Once the attacking Judda hear the fate of their leader, they lose heart.
Some are captured, some go down fighting, some choose to teleport back to
the nuclear hell that houses Judd's bones.

Dredd then goes back to Oz, and talks to Chopper.  He agrees to let him
race in SuperSurf 10.  However, once the race is over Chopper *will*
accompany Dredd back to Mega City 1, dead or alive.  Chopper asks how Dredd
knows that Chopper won't just run once the race starts.  Dredd says that he
knows Chopper--he wouldn't have come all this way to turn tail and escape.
Dredd says once the race is over "You're mine, but in until then, go out
there and win it for Mega City One!"

The race takes about 4 progs, and Chopper loses to Jug McKenzie by inches.
Although most of the Oz fans are happy, the Chopper fans in Oz aren't.
(They rant, and rave, and one even tosses his TV set out the window.)
Dredd says tough luck, and prepares to apprehend Chopper.  Chopper starts
to flee on his board, and Dredd fires a shot--which hits the plummeting TV
thrown out the window by Chopper's irate fan!  Dredd is intercepted by
police, fans and surfers who help Chopper get away.  Chopper heads out,
over the wall of Oz City 1, to the Radback.  The Fleetway Graphic Novel
"Song Of The Surfer" picks up his story there, and covers the bloodbath
known as SuperSurf 11.  I thought for sure that Chopper would--well, you'll
just have to read it for yourselves. :-) (It's an excellent story by John
Wagner and Colin MacNeil.)

So what's all this have to do with Judge Kraken?  Kraken's one of the
Judda.  Taken from Dredd's (and Fargo's) genetic stock, Kraken looks
exactly like Dredd, and has almost identical reflexes and judgement.  With
such similar physical attributes, a psychic link is also possible--it's
part of the bloodline.  (Man, I hope they reprint some of those stories.)

One of the nice things about a weekly like 2000AD is that they can have a
few 6 or 8 page stories that are good by themselves, and by just putting
one here, and there, they can use the passage of time in the reader's world
to help convey the passage of time in the storyline.  By telling stories in
such small fragments, the passage of story time seems very close to "real
time".  So if you have one story now, and one two months from now, you have
6 story parts in between, and to the readers, two months have passed.  If
you do this in a monthly, "you have maybe one "episode" between story
installments.  (Remember when Marvel claimed that _The_'Nam_ was going to
work in "Real Time"?  Where'd that go?)  As the months went by in Dredd's
world, and in the reader's, it was being hinted that Kraken was being
groomed for something.

What American followers of Dredd haven't seen are a few of these one-shot
stories that were stuck in here and there.  Justice Department knows Dredd
is getting older (he's about 45 or 50 in the current 2000AD episodes).  But
to the people, he *is* the Justice System.  As mentioned in _The_Dead_Man_,
if he retires, who knows what the consequences would be.  Dredd is larger
than life to joe-average citizen in the street.  Justice Department has
been grooming Kraken to be Dredd's replacement.  That's why he was given
Dredd's badge.  Though Dredd's face might be behind the visor, the man
wearing Dredd's badge in _Necropolis_ isn't Dredd--it's Kraken.

I *think* that _Dredd_Rules_ #9 has a Kraken story in it.

The art on the Oz series is excellent.  Will Simpson turns in an exemplary
job.  Brendan McCarthy always does a great job with Dredd, and this series
is no exception.  John Higgins even does a couple of progs, and this is
typical work for his Dredd--fantastic!!!  I REALLY REALLY hope that
Fleetway releases an album of this storyline.  It ranks right up there as
one the truly great Dredd epics (IMHO).

(Whew!)
					m@

+-mbraun@urbana.mcd.mot.com-+--I watch the TV every night --------------------+
|   Matt Braun -- Motorola, |    I stay awake by satellite                    |
|  Urbana, IL Design Centre |  I hope and pray the nightmares                 |
+---------------------------+--- stay away today...   ------------------[DD]--+
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics