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scans_dailyIn a similar vein to my previous series of posts about Dredd's clone-family, I thought I'd put together a bit of a history of one of my favourite supporting characters, Galen DeMarco. This is the first of two posts; the second should hopefully be up later in the week.
Roughly 19 pages of scans beneath the cut.
The Pit
DeMarco first appeared in "The Pit", a story that ran from progs 970 to 999. It's a significant story because most people regard it as marking the beginning of the modern era of Judge Dredd, the first time the strip widened its focus from Dredd's solo adventures to become more of an ensemble police procedural. (It was also, sadly, the era of dodgy early computer colouring, so some of the art has not aged very gracefully. Sorry.)
The Pit is the nickname of Sector 301, a run-down area of the city that's become a dumping ground for problem Judges. Dredd is temporarily assigned to a desk job as Sector Chief there to turn the place around. He takes a particular interest in Galen DeMarco, a promising young Judge who doesn't seem to fit among the screw-ups. But DeMarco's hiding a secret of her own:
DeMarco voluntarily took a transfer to the Pit to be with her boyfriend Hal Warren. They've been carrying on an affair in secret, since Judges are supposed to be celibate. But despite the party line about relationships being a distraction, DeMarco's a real high achiever, and she impresses Dredd with her attitude. He puts her in charge of his probe into corruption at the Sector House.
DeMarco's equally impressed by Dredd's attitude, and is already thinking about breaking off her affair with Warren, who's clearly grating on her nerves. However, Dredd's still suspicious about her presence, and assigns an outside Judge to follow her when she's off duty. His agent almost catches her with Warren, but has to divert to deal with a violent crime in a nearby apartment.
DeMarco's secret is out, but while she's sorry for the coverup, she refuses to accept that having a relationship was wrong:
Dredd puts DeMarco on suspension; Warren, having abandoned his duty, gets a harsher punishment. He doesn't take it well.
Warren gets arrested for attacking Dredd. With the situation in Sector 301 unsettled, Dredd can't afford to have his best Judge benched for long, so he reinstates DeMarco fairly quickly.
Rioting errupts across the sector, and Warren escapes his prison transport in the confusion. He gets the jump on DeMarco and takes her hostage.
DeMarco's not intimidated by her ex, but agrees to arrange the money he wants when he threatens to start shooting random citizens.
They fly over the scene of the riots, and DeMarco is galvanised into action when she sees her patrol partner Eddie Lee hurt in the fighting below.
Warren falls to his death, which DeMarco isn't too distressed about; she's much more upset about the death of her partner Eddie. The riots are quelled, and Dredd moves on from his temporary assignment, confident that the Judges he's left at the Pit are up to the job.
After the Pit
DeMarco pops up in a couple of other stories over the next few years, and it's clear that Dredd has a great deal of respect for her. In the "Hunting Party", progs 1033-49, she's his first choice when the Chief Judge asks him who he wants for backup. The two of them escort a group of cadets on a trip across the Cursed Earth, where problem cadet Renga gets overly friendly with one of the locals.
Renga ignores all warnings, and interferes with a sacrificial ritual to rescue the girl he likes.
DeMarco's part in the cadet run comes to an early end when Dredd has to leave her behind to watch over a bunch of brainwashed kids they've rescued. He's remarkably apologetic about it, by Dredd's standards:
DeMarco next shows up in the story "Missing" (prog 1078-1083) where the Chief Judge assigns her to look into Dredd's disappearance on the grounds that she's one of the people who knows him best.
(Dredd is eventually found alive and whole. Just in case you were worried.)
Beyond the Call of Duty
In "Beyond the Call of Duty", progs 1101 to 1110, DeMarco receives a promotion to Sector Chief. She asks for Dredd to be temporarily assigned to her command to help her assess her people.
She also acquires a new transfer called Roffman, who... is a little bit overzealous.
Roffman has no street experience, and screws up when DeMarco sends him out to get some, injuring another Judge in a friendly fire incident.
Convinced there's a conspiracy at work, Roffman bugs DeMarco's quarters, and believes he's caught her in another unjudicial relationship. He passes the evidence on to Dredd, who goes straight back to DeMarco with it.
A bit of a milestone in Dredd's personal history, there.
This was the cliffhanger of prog 1106 - and, therefore, seems like anevil appropriate place to break off this post until I return with part two. In the meantime, I leave you with the cover to prog 1107, which is one of my personal favourites:
In part two: Dredd's reaction, what happened to DeMarco after that, and an appearance by another awesome female character of the Dreddverse.
Roughly 19 pages of scans beneath the cut.
The Pit
DeMarco first appeared in "The Pit", a story that ran from progs 970 to 999. It's a significant story because most people regard it as marking the beginning of the modern era of Judge Dredd, the first time the strip widened its focus from Dredd's solo adventures to become more of an ensemble police procedural. (It was also, sadly, the era of dodgy early computer colouring, so some of the art has not aged very gracefully. Sorry.)
The Pit is the nickname of Sector 301, a run-down area of the city that's become a dumping ground for problem Judges. Dredd is temporarily assigned to a desk job as Sector Chief there to turn the place around. He takes a particular interest in Galen DeMarco, a promising young Judge who doesn't seem to fit among the screw-ups. But DeMarco's hiding a secret of her own:
DeMarco voluntarily took a transfer to the Pit to be with her boyfriend Hal Warren. They've been carrying on an affair in secret, since Judges are supposed to be celibate. But despite the party line about relationships being a distraction, DeMarco's a real high achiever, and she impresses Dredd with her attitude. He puts her in charge of his probe into corruption at the Sector House.
DeMarco's equally impressed by Dredd's attitude, and is already thinking about breaking off her affair with Warren, who's clearly grating on her nerves. However, Dredd's still suspicious about her presence, and assigns an outside Judge to follow her when she's off duty. His agent almost catches her with Warren, but has to divert to deal with a violent crime in a nearby apartment.
DeMarco's secret is out, but while she's sorry for the coverup, she refuses to accept that having a relationship was wrong:
Dredd puts DeMarco on suspension; Warren, having abandoned his duty, gets a harsher punishment. He doesn't take it well.
Warren gets arrested for attacking Dredd. With the situation in Sector 301 unsettled, Dredd can't afford to have his best Judge benched for long, so he reinstates DeMarco fairly quickly.
Rioting errupts across the sector, and Warren escapes his prison transport in the confusion. He gets the jump on DeMarco and takes her hostage.
DeMarco's not intimidated by her ex, but agrees to arrange the money he wants when he threatens to start shooting random citizens.
They fly over the scene of the riots, and DeMarco is galvanised into action when she sees her patrol partner Eddie Lee hurt in the fighting below.
Warren falls to his death, which DeMarco isn't too distressed about; she's much more upset about the death of her partner Eddie. The riots are quelled, and Dredd moves on from his temporary assignment, confident that the Judges he's left at the Pit are up to the job.
After the Pit
DeMarco pops up in a couple of other stories over the next few years, and it's clear that Dredd has a great deal of respect for her. In the "Hunting Party", progs 1033-49, she's his first choice when the Chief Judge asks him who he wants for backup. The two of them escort a group of cadets on a trip across the Cursed Earth, where problem cadet Renga gets overly friendly with one of the locals.
Renga ignores all warnings, and interferes with a sacrificial ritual to rescue the girl he likes.
DeMarco's part in the cadet run comes to an early end when Dredd has to leave her behind to watch over a bunch of brainwashed kids they've rescued. He's remarkably apologetic about it, by Dredd's standards:
DeMarco next shows up in the story "Missing" (prog 1078-1083) where the Chief Judge assigns her to look into Dredd's disappearance on the grounds that she's one of the people who knows him best.
(Dredd is eventually found alive and whole. Just in case you were worried.)
Beyond the Call of Duty
In "Beyond the Call of Duty", progs 1101 to 1110, DeMarco receives a promotion to Sector Chief. She asks for Dredd to be temporarily assigned to her command to help her assess her people.
She also acquires a new transfer called Roffman, who... is a little bit overzealous.
Roffman has no street experience, and screws up when DeMarco sends him out to get some, injuring another Judge in a friendly fire incident.
Convinced there's a conspiracy at work, Roffman bugs DeMarco's quarters, and believes he's caught her in another unjudicial relationship. He passes the evidence on to Dredd, who goes straight back to DeMarco with it.
A bit of a milestone in Dredd's personal history, there.
This was the cliffhanger of prog 1106 - and, therefore, seems like an
In part two: Dredd's reaction, what happened to DeMarco after that, and an appearance by another awesome female character of the Dreddverse.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-09 03:10 pm (UTC)And I even like the colouring on that first bit - Dredd stories don't need to look pretty and I think it really works for the story.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-09 03:41 pm (UTC)Me too. ♥ "Doomsday For Mega-City One" (which I'll be covering in the second of these DeMarco posts) was actually the first Dreddverse story I ever read, since I was looking to try out some 2000AD from the library and that one had great art and an awesome-looking female lead. She's been my favourite character next to Dredd himself ever since.
And I even like the colouring on that first bit - Dredd stories don't need to look pretty and I think it really works for the story.
Carlos Ezquerra's colouring from "The Pit" is fine by me, though I have heard some people dislike it (I think that's mainly in comparison to his earlier hand-coloured stuff, though). It's the pages done by other artists on that arc that went a bit alarmingly muddy and orange. Luckily for my purposes here I didn't need to post any of the really eye-burning ones.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-09 05:19 pm (UTC)Also, is it just me, or does Dredd's constant scowl seem almost goofy as hell every other panel?
Also also--Dredd was cloned? O_O
no subject
Date: 2012-07-09 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-09 05:47 pm (UTC)And yes, Dredd is a clone of Fargo, the man who created the justice system. The Judges make clones of all their best people, who come out of the clone tanks as five-year-old children and immediately start training to be Judges. Which is why Dredd is so... Dredd.
As
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Date: 2012-07-09 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-07-09 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-09 06:06 pm (UTC)Going to have to icon that cover.
That is all.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-09 06:24 pm (UTC)DeMarco is awesome. ♥
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Date: 2012-07-09 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-07-09 11:20 pm (UTC)