Chief Judge Fargo
Encyclopedia
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.
Fargo was commonly known as the 'Father of Justice', as he was responsible for the founding of the Judge System
and was Mega-City One's
first chief judge
. Consequently there is an annual Fargo's Day Parade in his honour, and his body lies in a sarcophagus in the Hall of Heroes in the Grand Hall of Justice
. Officially he was born in 2001 and died in 2051, though these dates are actually inaccurate. Details of his secret history were fleshed out in the story "Origins
".
." The inscription read:
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.
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:
"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.
with a degree in Law, he went into politics and by 2027 he had been appointed Government Special Prosecutor for Street Crime by President Thomas Gurney, tasked with combatting the rising gang violence in the vast urban sprawl joining Washington to New York (which would eventually become Mega-City One). After armed gangs stormed the White House
and were able to avoid jail sentences by intimidating juries, Fargo outlined a New Deal to scrap the principle of due process and create a combined police and judicial force who could fairly dispense instant justice – the Judges
. When the Judges were first deployed in April 2031, they acted mainly as an upgraded police force but soon rivalled Congress in power. Fargo served as chief judge for twenty years.
In March 2051 Fargo – despite having established a rule of celibacy for the judges – had a moment of weakness and was caught having sex with a government colleague. While the incident was hushed up and Deputy Chief Judges Solomon
and Goodman
were both willing to ignore it, Fargo was left feeling guilty over his failure to live up to his own standards. He resigned his position and attempted suicide, though the wound only left him comatose. To cover this up and to use his martyrdom as a symbol, Solomon made up a cover story about Fargo being killed in a drive-by shooting. It was not expected that he would recover but he did, though this was also covered up, and he was placed in suspended animation.
The dates on Fargo's tomb read 2001–2051. The reason for the false birthdate was lost in time, though Judge Dredd speculated: "It's the date he always used. Maybe he wanted to be thought a child of the 21st century."
When President Booth
initiated the Third World War
in June 2070, the Judges were forced to take on the job of governing the Mega-Cities of America
. Fargo was revived and made relatively stable, meeting his two clones Rico
and Joe Dredd
and being called in to help guide the Justice Department. Under his guidance, the Judges assumed command of the United States using the Declaration of Independence
as a legal precedent. Booth learned Fargo was alive and, thinking he could use this fact to discredit the Judges, tried to capture him and reveal his existence but failed due to the actions of Joe and Rico Dredd.
Until 2071, Fargo served secretly as an advisor to the chief judge, with most people believing he had died in 2051. In his last year of life he began to deteriorate mentally, and lost faith in his Judge System. He became increasingly despondent as a result, disliking the fact that the Judges had turned America into a dictatorship.
He was placed into suspended animation once more, only for his body to be stolen by renegade judges
and eventually lost in the Cursed Earth
. His body and stasis pod became an object of worship for a mutant tribe. In 2129 persons unknown – later discovered to be the New Mutant Army led by Booth – contacted the Justice Department, demanding cash in return for Fargo's body. Judge Dredd retrieved Fargo, who was revived, but the long period of being frozen had damaged his body and he soon died. His last words were to Dredd, telling him the Judges' rule was wrong and that he had to reverse it.
Fargo's hometown still exists and has been renamed Fargoville in his honour. There everyone's first name is Eustace and there is a museum about his life.
descendants still inhabit the Cursed Earth
, led by Randy Fargo. Eustace also had a sister, Arden Polders, who died shortly after the Apocalypse War
of 2104.
Although most judge cadets at the Academy of Law
are recruited from the citizens at a young age, the Justice Department also runs a cloning
programme, in which the DNA of Mega-City One's most successful judges is used to create new cadets. Clones created from the same DNA as Fargo and Dredd include:
Rico Dredd fathered a daughter, Vienna Dredd
, who genetically speaking could be Fargo's daughter. (She is Joe Dredd's niece.)
In 2070 Judge Morton Judd
proposed genetically engineering the citizens of Mega-City One, but Fargo believed the Judges were meant to serve the citizens rather than control them, and he vetoed the plan. After attempting to assassinate Fargo, Judd fled the city with a batch of stolen genetic material, including Fargo's, and used it to create the "Judda", a private army of clones (including Kraken). Joe Dredd personally killed Kraken and another of Judd's Fargo clones (whose name was not given in the comic), and arrested another called Simeon (who was presumably later executed). All of the Judda were eventually killed.
, Fargo was played by Max von Sydow
. Fargo is the Chief Judge of Mega-City One
and is a "legend" to other Judges, and set the standard that others aspired to when he was a street judge. He was also one of Dredd (Sylvester Stallone
)'s tutors when Dredd was a student at the Academy of Law
. As Chief Judge he no longer works on the streets focusing exclusively on the Academy and serving on the Council of Five
. He is concerned with the high number of Dredd's summary executions, and so orders Dredd to start lecturing Ethics for two days a week at the Academy. When Dredd is accused of murder his trial is judged by the Council of Five
which Fargo heads. Fargo is highly distressed when Dredd is found guilty and is able to get the sentence commuted from death to life imprisonment by retiring and taking the Long Walk
out to the Cursed Earth
. Dredd is captured by the Angel Gang
(also in the Cursed Earth) and Fargo comes to his rescue but sacrifices his life in the process. With his dying words he explains to Dredd the Council of Five's secret cloning program (known as the Janus Project) initiated forty years previously that created Dredd and Rico (Armand Assante
) from his DNA.
between 1994 and 1995 featured a very different version of Fargo, who turned out to be evil. Chronologically, his first appearance is in 1998 as a hotshot District Attorney prosecuting an environmental terrorist. When supporters of the defendant raid the courtroom in an attempt to rescue the suspect, Fargo draws a firearm and kills them, arguing to the judge that such is the result of a weak justice system. It is implied that this event allowed Fargo to rise to power and eventually instate the judges as arbiters of the law. As this version of Fargo is a grown man in 1998, a year before the 2000 AD Fargo is even born, he is much older during most of the comic series.
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 in 2000 AD. He is Judge Dredd's clone
Human cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not usually refer to monozygotic multiple births nor the reproduction of human cells or tissue. The ethics of cloning is an extremely controversial issue...
father.
Fargo was commonly known as the 'Father of Justice', as he was responsible for the founding of the Judge System
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...
and was Mega-City One's
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...
first chief judge
Chief Judge of Mega-City One
Chief Judge of Mega-City One is the title of several supporting characters in the Judge Dredd comic strip published in 2000 AD. The chief judge is dictator and head of state of Mega-City One, a fictional future city of around 400 million people in 22nd-century America...
. Consequently there is an annual Fargo's Day Parade in his honour, and his body lies in a sarcophagus in the Hall of Heroes in 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...
. Officially he was born in 2001 and died in 2051, though these dates are actually inaccurate. Details of his secret history were fleshed out in the story "Origins
Origins (Judge Dredd story)
Origins is one of the longest Judge Dredd storylines to run in the pages of British comic 2000 AD. Making extensive use of flashbacks, it tells the story of how the Judges of Mega-City One rose to power. It was written by John Wagner and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra, who between them created...
".
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 DiedJudge Cal
Chief Judge Cal is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He was loosely based on the real life Roman emperor Caligula, who is widely considered to have been insane...
." The inscription read:
Ron Smith (artist)
Ron Smith, born 1924, is a retired British comic artist whose career spanned almost almost fifty years, during which time he built a solid reputation as one of the most popular and well respected illustrators working in his field....
. 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.
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....
." This was in a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
in #559, drawn by Brendan McCarthy
Brendan McCarthy
Brendan McCarthy is a British artist and designer best known for his work in comic books, film and television.- Biography :Brendan McCarthy, of Irish descent, was born in London. Brendan soon began painting and drawing his own home-made comics....
, 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
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...
had been chief judge between 2058 and 2101. Another story, "The Cursed Earth," had implied that 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...
had been chief judge in 2070.
Writer John Wagner
John Wagner
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...
, who had written both "Oz" and "The Day the Law Died," eventually decided to resolve these problems by writing "Origins
Origins (Judge Dredd story)
Origins is one of the longest Judge Dredd storylines to run in the pages of British comic 2000 AD. Making extensive use of flashbacks, it tells the story of how the Judges of Mega-City One rose to power. It was written by John Wagner and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra, who between them created...
." In an interview in 2006 he said:
"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
Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra , who has also worked under the alias L. John Silver, is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra...
'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
Dream sequence
A dream sequence is a technique used in storytelling, particularly in television and film, to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flashforward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other element. Commonly, dream sequences appear in many...
or similar device.
Fictional character biography
Eustace Fargo was born on 9th January, 1999. Graduating from HarvardHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
with a degree in Law, he went into politics and by 2027 he had been appointed Government Special Prosecutor for Street Crime by President Thomas Gurney, tasked with combatting the rising gang violence in the vast urban sprawl joining Washington to New York (which would eventually become Mega-City One). After armed gangs stormed the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and were able to avoid jail sentences by intimidating juries, Fargo outlined a New Deal to scrap the principle of due process and create a combined police and judicial force who could fairly dispense instant justice – the Judges
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...
. When the Judges were first deployed in April 2031, they acted mainly as an upgraded police force but soon rivalled Congress in power. Fargo served as chief judge for twenty years.
In March 2051 Fargo – despite having established a rule of celibacy for the judges – had a moment of weakness and was caught having sex with a government colleague. While the incident was hushed up and Deputy Chief Judges 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...
and 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...
were both willing to ignore it, Fargo was left feeling guilty over his failure to live up to his own standards. He resigned his position and attempted suicide, though the wound only left him comatose. To cover this up and to use his martyrdom as a symbol, Solomon made up a cover story about Fargo being killed in a drive-by shooting. It was not expected that he would recover but he did, though this was also covered up, and he was placed in suspended animation.
The dates on Fargo's tomb read 2001–2051. The reason for the false birthdate was lost in time, though Judge Dredd speculated: "It's the date he always used. Maybe he wanted to be thought a child of the 21st century."
When President Booth
President Robert L. Booth
Robert Linus Booth is a fictional character from the British comic strip Judge Dredd in 2000 AD. He was the last President of the United States and the man who initiated the Atomic Wars.-Fictional character biography:...
initiated the Third World War
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....
in June 2070, the Judges were forced to take on the job of governing the Mega-Cities of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Fargo was revived and made relatively stable, meeting his two clones Rico
Rico Dredd
Rico Dredd is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD magazine. He is the brother of Judge Joe Dredd, the strip's eponymous lead character.-Appearances:...
and 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...
and being called in to help guide the Justice Department. Under his guidance, the Judges assumed command of the United States using the Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
as a legal precedent. Booth learned Fargo was alive and, thinking he could use this fact to discredit the Judges, tried to capture him and reveal his existence but failed due to the actions of Joe and Rico Dredd.
Until 2071, Fargo served secretly as an advisor to the chief judge, with most people believing he had died in 2051. In his last year of life he began to deteriorate mentally, and lost faith in his Judge System. He became increasingly despondent as a result, disliking the fact that the Judges had turned America into a dictatorship.
He was placed into suspended animation once more, only for his body to be stolen by renegade judges
Morton Judd
Morton Judd is a fictional character from the Judge Dredd comic strip and appears in progs 559-563 of the British comic 2000 AD, in the story "Oz"....
and eventually lost in the Cursed Earth
Cursed Earth
The Cursed Earth is a part of the fictional universe from the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD.-Background:...
. His body and stasis pod became an object of worship for a mutant tribe. In 2129 persons unknown – later discovered to be the New Mutant Army led by Booth – contacted the Justice Department, demanding cash in return for Fargo's body. Judge Dredd retrieved Fargo, who was revived, but the long period of being frozen had damaged his body and he soon died. His last words were to Dredd, telling him the Judges' rule was wrong and that he had to reverse it.
Fargo's hometown still exists and has been renamed Fargoville in his honour. There everyone's first name is Eustace and there is a museum about his life.
Clones and family
Eustace Fargo had a twin brother, Ephram Fargo, who the people of Fargoville refuse to speak of and have wiped from their historical records. Ephram's mutantMutants (Judge Dredd)
Mutants are a recurring theme in the Judge Dredd science-fiction stories published in British comics 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine...
descendants still inhabit the Cursed Earth
Cursed Earth
The Cursed Earth is a part of the fictional universe from the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD.-Background:...
, led by Randy Fargo. Eustace also had a sister, Arden Polders, who died shortly after the Apocalypse War
Apocalypse War
The Apocalypse War is a storyline from the comic strip Judge Dredd, first published in British comic 2000 AD in 1982. A sequel to the story "Block Mania", it was written by John Wagner and Alan Grant and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra...
of 2104.
Although most judge cadets at the Academy of Law
Academy of Law
The Academy of Law is a fictional place of learning appearing in the Judge Dredd series that appears in the British comic 2000 AD.-Fictional history:The Academy of Law is where the Judges of Mega-City One are trained...
are recruited from the citizens at a young age, the Justice Department also runs a cloning
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
programme, in which the DNA of Mega-City One's most successful judges is used to create new cadets. Clones created from the same DNA as Fargo and Dredd include:
- Judge Joe DreddJudge DreddJudge 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...
- Rico DreddRico DreddRico Dredd is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD magazine. He is the brother of Judge Joe Dredd, the strip's eponymous lead character.-Appearances:...
- Judge RicoJudge RicoJudge Rico is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD magazine. He chose the name Rico to commemorate Rico Dredd.-Character biography:...
- Judge 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...
- Cadet Dolman
- Cadet Nimrod
Rico Dredd fathered a daughter, Vienna Dredd
Vienna Dredd
Vienna Dredd or Vienna Pasternak is a fictional character from the Judge Dredd comic strip, first appearing in prog 116 of the British comic 2000 AD in 1979....
, who genetically speaking could be Fargo's daughter. (She is Joe Dredd's niece.)
In 2070 Judge Morton Judd
Morton Judd
Morton Judd is a fictional character from the Judge Dredd comic strip and appears in progs 559-563 of the British comic 2000 AD, in the story "Oz"....
proposed genetically engineering the citizens of Mega-City One, but Fargo believed the Judges were meant to serve the citizens rather than control them, and he vetoed the plan. After attempting to assassinate Fargo, Judd fled the city with a batch of stolen genetic material, including Fargo's, and used it to create the "Judda", a private army of clones (including Kraken). Joe Dredd personally killed Kraken and another of Judd's Fargo clones (whose name was not given in the comic), and arrested another called Simeon (who was presumably later executed). All of the Judda were eventually killed.
Appearances
Stories that have featured Fargo are:- "The Day the Law Died!" (written by John WagnerJohn WagnerJohn Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...
, with various artists; art on relevant episode (no. 19) by Ron SmithRon Smith (artist)Ron Smith, born 1924, is a retired British comic artist whose career spanned almost almost fifty years, during which time he built a solid reputation as one of the most popular and well respected illustrators working in his field....
, in 2000 AD #89–108, 1978–79) - "Dredd Angel" (written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, with art by Ron Smith, in 2000 AD #377–383, 1984)
- "Oz" (written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, with various artists; art on relevant episode (no. 15) by Brendan McCarthyBrendan McCarthyBrendan McCarthy is a British artist and designer best known for his work in comic books, film and television.- Biography :Brendan McCarthy, of Irish descent, was born in London. Brendan soon began painting and drawing his own home-made comics....
, in 2000 AD #545–570, 1988) - "The Cal Files" (written by John Wagner, art by John BurnsJohn Burns (comics)John M. Burns is an English comics artist, with a career stretching back to the mid-1960s.- Biography :His initial work was as an illustrator for Junior Express and School Friend...
, in 2000 AD #955–959, 1995) - "The Connection" (written by John Wagner, with art by Kev WalkerKev WalkerKevin "Kev" Walker is a British comics artist and illustrator, based in Leeds, who worked mainly on 2000 AD and Warhammer comics and the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering...
, in 2000 AD #1500–1504, 2006) - "Origins" (written by John Wagner, with art by Carlos EzquerraCarlos EzquerraCarlos Sanchez Ezquerra , who has also worked under the alias L. John Silver, is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra...
, in 2000 AD #1505–1519 and 1529–1535, 2006–2007)
Film version
In the 1995 feature filmJudge Dredd (film)
Judge Dredd is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Danny Cannon, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Armand Assante, and Max von Sydow. The film is based on the strip of the same name in the British comic 2000 AD...
, Fargo was played by Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
. Fargo is the Chief Judge of Mega-City One
Chief Judge of Mega-City One
Chief Judge of Mega-City One is the title of several supporting characters in the Judge Dredd comic strip published in 2000 AD. The chief judge is dictator and head of state of Mega-City One, a fictional future city of around 400 million people in 22nd-century America...
and is a "legend" to other Judges, and set the standard that others aspired to when he was a street judge. He was also one of Dredd (Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
)'s tutors when Dredd was a student at the Academy of Law
Academy of Law
The Academy of Law is a fictional place of learning appearing in the Judge Dredd series that appears in the British comic 2000 AD.-Fictional history:The Academy of Law is where the Judges of Mega-City One are trained...
. As Chief Judge he no longer works on the streets focusing exclusively on the Academy and serving on 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 is concerned with the high number of Dredd's summary executions, and so orders Dredd to start lecturing Ethics for two days a week at the Academy. When Dredd is accused of murder his trial is judged by 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 ....
which Fargo heads. Fargo is highly distressed when Dredd is found guilty and is able to get the sentence commuted from death to life imprisonment by retiring and taking the Long Walk
The Long Walk (Judge Dredd)
The Long Walk is an event occasionally depicted in the long-running British comic strip Judge Dredd, which appears in 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine. It also featured in the 1995 film starring Sylvester Stallone....
out to the Cursed Earth
Cursed Earth
The Cursed Earth is a part of the fictional universe from the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD.-Background:...
. Dredd is captured by the Angel Gang
Angel Gang
The Angel Gang is a group of villains in the Judge Dredd comic strip, published in 2000 AD magazine in the UK.-History:The most infamous and feared band of thugs ever to come out of Texas City, the Angel Gang were responsible for a near endless string of crimes with one overriding common factor -...
(also in the Cursed Earth) and Fargo comes to his rescue but sacrifices his life in the process. With his dying words he explains to Dredd the Council of Five's secret cloning program (known as the Janus Project) initiated forty years previously that created Dredd and Rico (Armand Assante
Armand Assante
-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...
) from his DNA.
DC Comics version
A short-lived Judge Dredd comic published by DC ComicsDC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
between 1994 and 1995 featured a very different version of Fargo, who turned out to be evil. Chronologically, his first appearance is in 1998 as a hotshot District Attorney prosecuting an environmental terrorist. When supporters of the defendant raid the courtroom in an attempt to rescue the suspect, Fargo draws a firearm and kills them, arguing to the judge that such is the result of a weak justice system. It is implied that this event allowed Fargo to rise to power and eventually instate the judges as arbiters of the law. As this version of Fargo is a grown man in 1998, a year before the 2000 AD Fargo is even born, he is much older during most of the comic series.