Judge Rico

[callmeberty]

I'm a new 2000ad reader - and I don't quite understand this Judge Rico thing...

I know Rico Dredd was Joe Dredd's clone brother who was sent to Titan... But reading the weeks anniversary edition, there's this Judge Rico guy - I'm confused....

Sorry if this makes me sound increadibly dumb...


-Berty

[Jenny-Mek]

It's a new Rico... there were at least two clones called that, and at least seven cloned Dredds in all...

[callmeberty]

Thanks

Also,
Can someone tell who Judge Lopez was?
please
-Berty

[Leigh S]

I recommend you read the Judge Child saga to find out...however, if you cant wait -

Judge Lopez was a judge who, along with Hershey, accompanied Dredd on the  mission to find the Judge Child, who had been kidnapped by the Angel Gang.  The gang had then escaped into outer space.  

In order to get a clue as to where they were, Dredd obtained a drop of oracle spice, which grants its user the ability to see things in an oracle stylee (hence the name).  However, Dredd was warned that it was potentially fatal.  Dredd chose Lopez to take the spice, as he was the most receptive and it proved to be the death of Lopez, hence his brooding in this weeks story.

[paulvonscott]

Dredd's agony was due to the fact...

Lopez, who he didn't get on with, had facial hair and they'd had a bit of a bust up about it already.  When the Oracle spice came along, Dredd chose Lopez to take it, saying he was the best candidate.  Lopez took it but not before he accused Dredd of victimising him.  Lopez took the spice, did what needed to be done but it killed him.  Lopez' words to some extent haunted Dredd, and he often questioned himself as to whether Lopez may have been right, or as he said in the strip, if Dredd couldn't have taken the spice himself, and maybe survived.  Another higlight in for what was for me a fantastic story.

The new Rico took his name after Dredd told him of his own opinions of the original rico, and it casts his downfall in a much more tragic and ambiguous light.  I'm ashamed to say I almost blubbed like a wee girly bairn reading that story.  The end is fantastic.  Hunt it out and read.  One of the best Dredd stories of the late twentieth/early twenty first century era (I'm in the 25th with Buck Rogers at the moment)

The new Rico has the the sole of a 50 year old dredd in his 20 year old body, he really needs to mellow out a little.  I'm sure the streets of mega city are knocking a few rough edges off him.
But I like him, check out the Sector House story for more great rico antics (shouldn't have said antics, but I did)

Cheers

PVS

[W. R. Logan]

I'll try and keep this brief.

In Dredd Angel Prog 377 - 383 Mega-City 1 send five clones to Texas City to boost their Judge stock. One of the clones is taken from the DNA of Fargo, same as Dredd.
15 years later the Fargo/Dredd clone, (as we now discover his blood was taken from Dredd not Fargo) Is returned to Mega-City 1 in a story called Blood Cadet Prog 1186 - 1188. In the story the clone is called Dredd but to save confusion he decides to change his name to Rico, in order to give the name a second chance.

Lopez, Judge with a moustache on the Judge Child Quest Prog 156 - 181. Dredd decided that Lopez would be more perceptible to the oracle spice, which would let the individual taking it see into the future and help track down the Judge Child. It worked Lopez saw the future but it killed him.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.