Chief Judge Cal is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He was loosely based on the real life Roman Emperor Caligula, who was insane. Luna 1 Justice Department=hiddenStructure style=vertical-align: top; This article is about the comic-book character Judge Dredd. ... 2000 AD logo 2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction oriented comic. ... Roman Emperor is the term historians use to refer to rulers of the Roman Empire, after the epoch conventionally named the Roman Republic. ... Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus (August 31, 12 – January 24, 41), most commonly known as Caligula, was the third Roman Emperor and a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 37 to 41. ...

Judge Cal was head of the Special Judicial Squad, the feared Internal Affairs unit of judges responsible for weeding out corruption in the Mega-City One Justice Department. However he exploited this position to blackmail errant judges into working for him as assassins, instead of arresting them, as he built up his powerbase and prepared to seize control of the city. His career advanced rapidly and he became deputy chief judge of Mega-City One in the year 2100. By the following year he was ready to make his move. Judge is a title held by several significant characters in the Judge Dredd series, which appears in the British comic book 2000 AD. In the fictional future history of the series, the role of Judge combines those of judge and police officer, thus avoiding long legal wrangles by allowing for... The SJS or Special Judicial Service, in the fictional Judge Dredd universe created by 2000 AD, are sometimes referred to as the Judges of the Judges. ... Mega-City One is a huge fictional city covering much of what is now the Eastern United States in the Judge Dredd comic book series. ... Mega-City One is a huge fictional city covering much of what is now the Eastern United States in the Judge Dredd comic book series. ...

His assassins stabbed Chief Judge Goodman to death in the street, whereupon he automatically succeeded to the city's highest office. He had Judge Dredd shot and the mayor arrested, and immediately began a despotic reign of terror. By this time the power had gone to his head and he became openly insane. He appointed his own pet goldfish to the vacant position of deputy chief judge (just as the emperor Caligula appointed his horse a senator), and made criticising the chief judge a capital offence. He was able to get away with this because he had brainwashed the majority of the judges into obeying his every order. Judge Goodman is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd stories published in the comic book 2000 AD. Goodman succeeded Cheif Judge Fargo as Chief Judge of Mega-City One shortly after the Atomic Wars of 2070 and was well liked by his people. ... Luna 1 Justice Department=hiddenStructure style=vertical-align: top; This article is about the comic-book character Judge Dredd. ...

Judge Dredd had survived, however, and with the help of a handful of colleagues who had escaped being brainwashed he lead a revolt by the citizens against Cal's insane tyranny. But Cal had anticipated this and recruited an army of alien mercenaries, the Kleggs, a reptilian race of soldiers-for-hire. The revolt was quickly quashed with widespread loss of life. Dredd and the small number of survivors went into hiding and began a guerrilla campaign of resistance.

When the oppressed population tried to flee the city Cal built a wall one mile high around the entire city to keep them in, enslaving millions of people to perform this task. The wall was covered in gun emplacements to shoot anyone who tried to escape. He then decided that his city was now so perfect that to preserve its perfection forever he would execute his entire population of 800 million people. Execution chambers were set up all over the city.

Dredd managed to stop the executions by having Deputy Chief Judge Fish assassinated, which the superstitious Cal took to be an omen that the executions would lead to more misfortune. However when no citizens turned up for his pet's funeral he decided to punish the citizens by outlawing happiness. He appointed Grampus, the Klegg leader, as his new deputy and launched a crackdown on all items that could possibly cause happiness, ordering all luxury items to be burned in the street.

As Cal's madness rapidly worsened he soon reverted to his earlier plan to execute the whole population again, this time by releasing toxic gas over the whole city to kill everybody at once. When even his own SJS judges turned against him he began killing them too. Eventually Dredd managed to sabotage the brainwashing machines which Cal had been using to control the judges, and he led the loyal judges against Cal's Kleggs and SJS in a final battle to save the city. When Grampus and his Kleggs tried to surrender (having been allowed to leave before the gas was to be released) they were mercilessly shot down. Even then Cal almost regained the upper hand at the last moment, when Dredd and his fellow judges were captured. It fell to Fergee, a common criminal and outcast from the city, to save the day by killing Cal just before he could press the doomsday button. The SJS or Special Judicial Service, in the fictional Judge Dredd universe created by 2000 AD, are sometimes referred to as the Judges of the Judges. ... Fergee is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd universe, first introduced in prog 100 of the UK comic book 2000AD. Finding himself on the wrong side of the law more than once, Fergee finally sought refuge from the Judges in the Undercity. ...

For his leadership of the resistance movement Dredd was acclaimed as a hero and was offered the office of chief judge, but he declined, preferring to return to his chosen career in law enforcement. Instead he nominated his former mentor and tutor, Judge Griffin, who had fought with him against Cal from the beginning. Chief Judge Griffin never forgot the debt he owed Dredd and personally intervened on his behalf in a future crisis when the future of Dredd's own career was in the balance.

Legacy

Although dead, Cal continued to harass Mega-City One from beyond the grave. Over twenty years after his demise, a disc with his computer files on it -- long thought lost -- resurfaced, containing the evidence Cal had used to subvert and blackmail corrupt judges when he was head of SJS. Several of these judges had risen to very senior positions in the Justice Department over the years, believing their dark secrets to be safe. By this time the SJS had been cleaned up and a wave of arrests followed, resulting in significant political fallout.

Not long after that, in 2123, Mega-City One was attacked by another incarnation of Cal, from a parallel universe in which he had not been insane but had actually killed Dredd and ruled the city ever since. This alternative-history Cal took over the Grand Hall of Justice, killing hundreds of judges in the process, and crucified all his prisoners in the street. He was finally stopped by Dredd and killed (again with the help of a civilian, Darien Kenzie), but only after considerable loss of life.

Main appearances

• Judge Cal first appeared in 2000 AD prog 86 and died in prog 108.
• His other incarnation first appeared in prog 1252 and died in prog 1261.