Trollheart

Okay, time for something a little different. Although I'm going through the Dredd (and other 2000AD character) stories chronologically, the magazine began in 1977 and is still running today, so there are well over 2000 issues. With that in mind, and a timeline of nearly forty years to get through, it will be a while before I get to the better stories (and let's be honest: some of the early ones don't quite cut the mustard, do they?) so to stem boredom - both in my readers (yes, you two over there! Don't be shy...) and myself, I'm going to introduce two new sections which will allow me to “jump forward” on occasion, and get to the gold without having to wait to wade through some of the ... um, not gold.

First is

Take your best shot!

This is basically a random Dredd story. No secret to how it's done: take 1 to 1960 (approx number of progs I have to choose from) and throw them into a random number generator. The number of the prog that comes up determines the story I write. Could be a year from the current one, could be ten, or thirty. So what comes up this first throw?
1662
That's a problem, as it's smack in the middle of a multi-part story, which I don't want to get into so soon. So instead I'm going to cheat slightly, and take the number of the prog preceding the opening of that story, which happens to be
1649
where we find this story:

Title: “Under new management”

First print date: August 19 2009
Prog appearance: 1649
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carl Critchlow
Total episodes: 1

This might take some getting used to. We're jumping thirty years ahead, to a Mega-City One which is changed and may be unfamiliar, or even unrecognisable to some of us. There is a new administration being sworn in as the story opens, though the Chief Judge (see? I told you they eventually settled on that!) is hurt, and in a medical vehicle on his way to hospital. Meanwhile his administration has enacted tough new laws banning the immigration of mutants into Mega-City One (so, just like the good old days we've been reading about, then! They must at some point have relaxed their hardline attitude towards mutants in the city, but now they've gone back to the way things used to be, it would seem) while a human, one Bradley Jinks, awaits his fate for the murder of seven mutants. We're told he has been sentenced to thirty years in the “time stretcher”, which hopefully will be explained to us.

Jinks, under heavy guard, meets with his lawyer to see how his plea has been taken. He is admanant that muties don't count, and killing them should not be a crime. He says that Francisco, the new Chief Judge, understands this, thinks as he does, which is why, he says, the new occupier of the highest office in the Hall of Justice has enacted these harsh new anti-mutant laws. Jinks's lawyer, however, does not inspire confidence, being a robot firstly and secondly seeming to be a city-provided rather than a private one. And we all know how hard they work on their cases! There is big news coming out of Justice Central: the whole Council of Five, the legislative and advisory body to the Justice Department, have been replaced with men and women loyal to the new Chief Judge. There is a fleeting refernce to a previous associate of Francisco, who suffered an “accident” that took his life. It would seem that something is rotten in the state of Mega-City One!

In an antechamber, outgoing Chief Judge Hershey waits to be called, and ruminates over the decisions that have brought her to this pass, in particular her support of Dredd over some unnamed issue, which will probably take us ten years to find out about. Dredd himself is summoned to see the Acting Chief Judge, who is running things while Francisco is recovering in hospital. The man, a new appointee called Sinfield, advises him that it would be best if he disappeared for a while, following what he calls “the mutant fiasco”. Dredd is being reassigned to The Cursed Earth, the blasted nuclear wilderness that stretches between the main Mega-Cities, the remnants of what was once North America, now raddled and radioactive and home to a variety of deadly mutant species. Dredd has been here before. Sinfield tells him that deportations of mutants from Mega-City One will soon begin, and Dredd is the ideal person to oversee the “relocations”. He sees it both as a punishment, which it is, and a way of removing him from presenting any kind of threat to the new administration, which it also is.

Hershey, handing over the Chief Judgeship to Francisco, is advised to “spend some time off-world”, at least “until this mutie thing dies down.” She doesn't seem bitter or resentful, in fact she tells her successor that he fought a fair campaign, and seems more upset with herself than anyone. Obviously, as we're coming in sort of in the middle of this whole arc, I don't know what she means by siding with Dredd, but they've been friends (inasmuch as the tough lawman has friends) since the early days, so it's probably not surprising that she supported him. It's clear though that whatever decision she made, it led - perhaps directly, perhaps not - to her ousting and Dredd's soon-to-be confirmed exile.

Back at the Hall of Justice, as Jinks awaits news of his reprieve, a phone call comes through, but it is not the one he was hoping for. His appeal has been turned down, and he is subjected to the time stretcher, which appears to be a device which artificially ages you. Jinks was sentenced to thirty years, and was fifty-one, so that should have made him eighty-one years old after the event, but his heart was unable to take it and he dies on the time stretcher. There is little sympathy wasted on him.

Quotes
Vid announcer: “Chief Judge Dan Francisco was today moved to a med-bay. Within the Grand Hall of Justice this morning the new administration issued its first edict, halting all mutant imigration. While the city's mutant population nervously awaits developments, the fate of many normal citizens also hangs in the balance, among them the notorious Bradley Jinks, whose sentence of thirty years in the time stretcher for the gruesome killing of seven mutants is due to be carried out this morning.”
(Interesting developments. Yes, thirty years have passed, and you'd expect a lot to have changed, and it has. But it would appear that the original idea of mutants being banned from Mega-City One was relaxed, and then repealed (as the broadcast mentions the “city's mutant population”) probably under the more progressive and sympathetic rule of Chief Judge Hershey. Now, with her defeat and exit, the new adminsitration looks to re-establish the old laws, not only banning mutant immigration to the city, but, as the new head tells Dredd, actively expelling its current mutant population. Back to square one, it would seem.

It's also worth noting that the newsreader, or his or her scriptwriter anyway, considers even a homicidal maniac more of a “normal citizen” than one who has been warped through no fault of his or her own. The fact that Jinks “only” killed mutants may have something to do with that tolerance.)

Robo-lawyer: “Eye contact with client: exude confidence. I can confidently say that your plea for clemency is in the Chief Judge's hands at this moment, Bradley.”
Jinks: “How long's it gonna take? They're gonna Stretch me in an hour!”
Robo-lawyer: “Best symapthetic voice. Reassuring pat. I assure you, he understands the urgency. Oh yes. I can't guarantee a result, of course, but I've a good feeling about this Bradley. A very good feeling.”
Jinks: “You mean it? Yeah, yeah. That's how I feel too. I mean, muties: they're gonna kick them all out ain't they? What do they matter? It's normal cits like you and me...”
(Let's break this down. Jinks is obviously trying to convince himself he will be reprieved, and has fooled himself into believing the robot has his best interests at heart. This is unlikely. The droid is going through a programme, as evidenced by the (rather ill-advised) way he steps through the parameters - “Exude confidence. Reassuring pat” - and has obviously been supplied by the City, so will not be, shall we say, very good. Jinks sees mutants not even as people, so believes that his crime is not that great, and when the robo-lawyer tells him “I've got a good feeling” he stupidly believes it, forgetting that robots don't have feelings. Also, he thinks the new Chief Judge, with his public anti-mutant stance, will be on his side. Perhaps he is. But it would be a poor first act indeed for the new administration to pardon Jinks, and send the uncomfortable message that it's okay to kill muties. Even if it is.)

Acting Chief Judge Sinfield: “You've been too closely associated with the whole mutant fiasco, Dredd. We feel it would be wise to remove you from the firing line for a while. Some time out of the City would be good for us all.”
Dredd: “My punishment, is it?”
Sinfield: “It has been decided to establish new townships in the Cursed Earth. Modern developments where mutants can live decent, productive lives without fear of prejudice or violence.”
Dredd: “When do the expulsions start?”
Sinfield: “We feel you would be the ideal candidate to administer justice there. No-one else seems to care quite so much for mutant rights.”
(Let's break this down, too. Dredd realises of course he is being censured, punished for, presumably, siding with the mutants against the incoming adminsitration. Though we have jumped thirty years and can't possibly know what happened, it's not too hard to take a wild guess and say that Dredd and Hershey supported mutant rights, something happened (some massacre/catastrophe/tragedy by or involving the mutant population of Mega-City One) and Hershey was voted out. With her went Dredd's (probably) only ally, and he was left to stand alone.

In a sort of revival of the apartheid that plagued South Africa for so long, or the plight of the citizens of the Gaza Strip in Israel, or perhaps even harking back to the plight of Jews in World War II, mutants will now be removed forcibly from the City and sent to live in “townships” created for them in the Cursed Earth. The word could not have been better chosen, and conjures up the filth and poverty of shanty towns like those in South Africa. Here, the Acting Chief Judge assures Dredd with absolutely zero sincerity, the mutants will be free to live their lives free of fear, whereas of course right now they are feared and rejected, and if they're not, the new administration will ensure they are. Dredd, as (apparently) a champion of mutant rights, is being sent to “administer justice” there, which really means he too is being exiled to the Cursed Earth, and basically the new Chief Judge couldn't care less what happens to him.

Having opposed (we assume) the new administration, Dredd is now as he was then their enemy, and Sinfield and Francisco know that, were he left in the City, with whatever powerbase he retains, he would prove a problem and possibly even mount a challenge against the new Chief Judge, rallying people to his cause as the new rule of law tightens around Mega-City One. They don't wish to make a martyr out of him by having him executed (one assumes this might be within their legal power) or jailed, a focal point for a possible backlash and threat to their rule, so they couch the exile in flowery words and non-committal phrases, such as “some time away from the city would be good” and “best man to administer justice there”.

But Dredd can see through the bullshit. He hasn't survived as long as he has without being able to tell when he's being fed a line, and when Sinfield reveals the plan to build townships in the Cursed Earth, Dredd's terse question “When do the expulsions start?” is not even denied by the ACJ. He knows that Dredd knows this “resettlement” is far from voluntary, and amounts to ethnic cleansing of Mega-City One, but he is not about to admit it. Instead, he avoids the question, but Dredd has had the answer a long time ago.)

Chief Judge Francisco: “This isn't exile, Hershey. I have the deepest respect for the work you have done. I hope before long you can return; when the mutant business is sorted out, perhaps. I would be very grateful to have a Judge of your abilities to call upon.”
Outgoing Chief Judge Hershey: “Thank you once again. My congratulations. You fought a fair campaign, Chief Judge. I wi sh you luck. I hope you know what you've taken on.”
(Similar to the treatment Dredd is getting, Hershey is being removed from the picture. She is no doubt still a powerful figure and a possible rallying point should Chief Judge Francisco's edicts not go down as well with the citizens as he hopes. When he mentions “this mutant business” you could substitute “The Jewish question”. It's clear he wants her nowhere near Mega-City One - even Earth - while he “sorts things out”. She, for her part, seems a trifle naive (though again we don't know the full story) and congratulates him, saying he fought a fair campaign. I wonder? But now with both his main adversaries dealt with, it would seem nothing stands in the way of the new Chief Judge running this city as he sees fit.)

Robo-lawyer: “Hang on, Bradley. They're putting me through now. Yes, I see. Yes. Yes. Yes? Yes? (Getting more "excited" or at least animated with each "Yes?") It's a no, I'm afraid.”

Those clever little touches
I like the way that, as Dredd and Hershey are both reaping the rewards of standing against the new Chief Judge and his cronies, the panels jump from one to the other, so that we can see the treatment may be slightly differently meted out, but essentially it's the same. They are the defeated enemy, and are being dealt with similarly. It is a little confusing, as one minute you're looking at Sinfield talking to Dredd, the next panel you see Francisco's face and a shoulder and eagle emblem, and it takes a moment before you realise he's talking to Hershey. But well done and very effective.

Laughing in the face of death

The new incoming Chief Judge's name is Francisco. DAN Francisco! Not to mention his second, Acting Chief Judge Sinfield, sounds more than a little like a certain comedian.

The antics of the robo-lawyer, its matter-of-fact way of processing the case, are quite amusing, mostly because we know that most lawyers, if given the chance, would carry out their cases this way too. Too many of them only care about the money, or winning, and not their client or their client's victim, if there is one.

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Where there appears to be a punishment instigated that may have been created to deal with the no doubt overcrowding of iso-cubes. Since virtually everything is a crime in Mega-City One, it would appear that more cubes are occupied every day. In the Stallone movie, one of the Council of Five, Judge Silver I think, protested that they needed to be able to hand out death sentences for lesser crimes. That hasn't happened, I don't think, but now it would appear that for murder and other captial crimes a man or woman's lifetime can be sped up in a thing called the Time Stretcher, which prematurely ages the prisoner by whatever number of years the sentence calls for. Of course, as we see here, sometimes it's too much for the human heart to bear and it just snaps, resulting in an actual death sentence.

Messages

Again I'm guessing, but considering that Dredd is being punished by the victorious Chief Judge, it seems fair to assume that he was against him in some battle, legal or otherwise, and was certainly on the wrong side in this “war”. The message is twofold then: to the victor goes the spoils and though some men may be magnanimous in defeat, some will turn on their enemy and exact a terrible price. Dredd, however, does not show any signs of regret for “backing the wrong team”, and seems resigned to, even having been expecting, what comes his way.

The Dichotomy of Dredd

Again, we're talking thirty years forward in time here, but originally when we met him Dredd was resentful of mutants, even hated them, whereas now he appears to have been fighting for their rights. I guess anyone can change over time, but it will be interesting, as we go along, to mark the events that led to this, at our time, most unexpected change.

Nothing changes?

Prejudice is eternal, and man will always have and want someone to blame his misfortunes on. We who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Ask any Jew, or Native American, or aborigine. Ask the Incas and the Aztecs, the ancestors of today's African Americans, and the Sunni and the Shia. Ask the Croats and the Serbs, the Chechnyians and the Ukrainians, or any group in history oppressed by another, stronger one.

Final note: Yes, it's three decades on and of course printing techniques have come on in leaps and bounds since the seventies, but it still knocks me sideways the quality of the printing in 2009 as opposed to that in 1977. It's almost like comparing a Mini Minor to a Rolls Royce. The colours are more vibrant, more alive, more ... dramatic somehow. There also appear to be more of them. Whereas back in the earlier Progs we have yellow, red, black, blue, green (and then only partially, maybe one page or one panel on a page) here there are golds, russets, mauves and crimsons.

And every page is in colour (at least, in this Prog) with the drawings almost seeming three-dimensional. Even the lettering is better, more refined, less cartoony, more ... mature, I guess. You can't imagine speech-bubbles with BANG! And ZOK! And THWAK! As they were in the original Progs. Here, it's much more refined and it's almost like reading a novel than a comic. There are also a lot of --- I don't know what the technical term is --- captions? --- those small boxes that describe the action, scene or even sometimes characters' thoughts without being speech balloons. This gives the magazine a much more introspective, cultured appearance. Art, rather than comic book.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018