Dredd's helmet: Has Wagner talked about this aspect of the books?

[PsychoGoatee]

Was looking to see if Wagner or Carlos have mentioned in interviews the importance of not showing Dredd's face. Or any behind the scenes notes about keeping that going over the years.

Googling it I was only able to see talk about the movies. And for behind the scenes, I remember that bit where Bisley drew Dredd's face and the editor said they can't do that. I natural my agree, it's a great thing, just wonder what's been said on it by the creators.

[Richard]

In Judge Dredd: The Mega-History (page 75) Wagner is quoted as saying: "We had to resist demands to see his face from so many quarters, but in a way it sums up the facelessness of justice − justice has no soul. So it isn't necessary for readers to see Dredd's face, and I don't want you to."

On page 22, Ezquerra says "I covered up his face ... for the simple reason that, if he was a Judge, he would have many enemies and these people wouldn't know what he looked like. So when he was off duty (without his helmet) he could pass unnoticed and go about without being recognised." (The words in brackets might have been added by the book's authors.)

[JayzusB.Christ]

That's interesting, I'd wondered about that.   They obviously hadn't realised yet that Dredd is never off duty (apart from that mandatory day off of Volt's that Dredd hates so much.

I remember reading something somewhere where Wagner expressed displeasure about Simon Fraser showing Joe and Rico' faces when they were kids, and I get where he's coming from. Bad idea.

[PsychoGoatee]

Much thanks! Great quotes, that's cool to hear.

[Dash Decent]

I like that the 'not showing his face' is incidental; a fact of the strip itself, not Dredd's desire to never remove his helmet.  That story about the reporter trying to get a photo of Dredd helmet-less really jarred with me for that reason.  Joe does remove his helmet in MC1.  We just don't get to see him clearly when he does.

[rogue69]

Didn't they say the original reason he never took his helmet off was that his face was badly disfigured

[AlexF]

Yes, but since then he's had hs face put through a face change machine and rejuve jobs several times, so it seems that even if 2099 tech couldn't fix his mug, they were able to later.

[Richard]

Since he's a clone of Fargo, everyone in MC-1 knows what he looks like anyway, because they know what Fargo looked like -- he was already famous before he created the street judges.

[Funt Solo]

[pauljholden]

I like that the 'not showing his face' is incidental; a fact of the strip itself, not Dredd's desire to never remove his helmet.  That story about the reporter trying to get a photo of Dredd helmet-less really jarred with me for that reason.  Joe does remove his helmet in MC1.  We just don't get to see him clearly when he does.

I quite enjoy the idea that he's got no problem removing his helmet, but he considers it pretty stupid to remove it in the field (whereas a lot of judges take theirs off). So the citizens probably have never seen him with it off, and Chimpsky makes reference to him being psychologically a bit weird about removing it, that tracks for me (I've also mentioned before that my head-canon with dredd's helmet is that it provides a massive tactical advantage with cameras mounted in it, giving him a sort of holographic/ar style heads up display so it would be stupid to take it off, though I can see it being a problem for Psi judges)

[JayzusB.Christ]

I'm going with PJ's holographic display thing - works for me, though Dredd's bionics add another layer of complexity to the whole thing.

Judge Hansar is a bit odd-looking, isn't she?

[Richard]

I still would.

[Funt Solo]

Mandela is goosing Rubins.