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Chief Judge Cal(igula)

Started by JayzusB.Christ, 10 July, 2018, 07:26:25 PM

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JayzusB.Christ

Was he ever referred to as 'Caligula' in the strip? I've seen ads for collections and figurines where they call him Caligula, but (despite clearly being inspired by John Hurt's magnificent performance as the emperor in question) I can't quite remember whether the chief judge was called anything other than Cal.

Incidentally, I've also learned that the real Caligula most likely wasn't much of a nutjob really; more the type of victim of negative propaganda that Trump erroneously believes he himself is.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Greg M.

Pretty sure he's only ever referred to as Cal in the actual story - the Titan collections were titled Judge Caligula though.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 10 July, 2018, 07:26:25 PM
Incidentally, I've also learned that the real Caligula most likely wasn't much of a nutjob really; more the type of victim of negative propaganda that Trump erroneously believes he himself is.

Nero suffers from a similar bad press from what I remember.

I always thought in 'Crime and Punishment' he really looks like Pat Mills!

Dark Jimbo

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 10 July, 2018, 08:01:45 PM

I always thought in 'Crime and Punishment' he really looks like Pat Mills!

Yeah, that was deliberate, but Pat didn't think it was funny and asked that they stopped drawing Cal to look so much like him - hence that weird bit at the start of DtLD with Cal saying 'Now that I have my new haircut, I'm ready to rule Mega-City One...'
@jamesfeistdraws

Fungus

Ha! He is a ringer for P. Mills, that's excellent.
Yup, I have the Titan 'Judge Caligula' volumes, and more to the point, why rename the story completely?

JOE SOAP

Quote from: Fungus on 11 July, 2018, 01:45:12 AM
Yup, I have the Titan 'Judge Caligula' volumes, and more to the point, why rename the story completely?

It gave them an excuse to do a special fish badge and for Cal to have his own personalised version of the visage in the letter J of the Judge logo – and Judge Caligula sounds cool.


glassstanley

Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 10 July, 2018, 08:07:54 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 10 July, 2018, 08:01:45 PM

I always thought in 'Crime and Punishment' he really looks like Pat Mills!

Yeah, that was deliberate, but Pat didn't think it was funny and asked that they stopped drawing Cal to look so much like him - hence that weird bit at the start of DtLD with Cal saying 'Now that I have my new haircut, I'm ready to rule Mega-City One...'

Wasn't  Day the Law Died created first, with the Crime and Punishment trilogy written to improve the continuity with Cursed Earth? In which case, McMahon's Caligula look would have preceded the Mills look-a-like.

norton canes

That hairstyle change anecdote has been used for ages now and I don't think I've ever seen it contradicted. Prepared to be proved wrong though!

sheridan

Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 10 July, 2018, 08:07:54 PM
Quote from: Colin YNWA on 10 July, 2018, 08:01:45 PM

I always thought in 'Crime and Punishment' he really looks like Pat Mills!

Yeah, that was deliberate, but Pat didn't think it was funny and asked that they stopped drawing Cal to look so much like him - hence that weird bit at the start of DtLD with Cal saying 'Now that I have my new haircut, I'm ready to rule Mega-City One...'


Never heard that anecdote before - hope it's true!

JayzusB.Christ

I've read it somewhere, pretty sure it's true. 

By the way, thanks, all! Couldn't quite remember whether it was the actual title on the Titan album or just some ill-informed advertising somewhere else.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Richard

He was only ever called Cal in the strip.

The real Caligula went completely nuts, possibly the result of lead poisoning since all the pipes were made of lead.

BMCCOLL

... and lead in Latin is plumbum, hence plumber. Here endeth the lesson.

Colin YNWA

Also lead used in paint, often used to adorn food vessels is theorised to contributing to high levels of mental illness in the Roman Empire.

Tombo

Not to mention the pewter plates and cups they used.  Read somewhere that lead poisoning via (among other things) mulled wine in pewter drinking vessels was one of the reasons ancient Rome had a severe problem with impotency and infertility leading to a drop in population growth.

TordelBack

This is Rumour Control, here are the facts: Far as I know, there's only been one major diachronic study of lead levels in human remains, which did include some data from Imperial Rome, carried out by my erstwhile colleague the rather wonderful Janet Montgomery. That supported the idea that lead levels rose sharply in the Imperial period, and that there would indeed have been what were probably the first cases of lead poisoning in human history, but NOT that it was widespread or caused the fall of the Western Empire, which in any event ambled happily along for another 4 centuries after Caligula's time (and the Eastern Empire for arguably another 1000 years after that).  And Tetley make teabags make tea.