Judge Dredd: 'The Face-Change Crimes'

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'The Face-Change Crimes'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 52

DATELINE
18 Feb 78

PAGE COUNT
7

REPRINTS
Judge Death: Judge Dredd featuring Judge Death, Judge Dredd 2, Judge Dredd Chronicles Book 1, Judge Death: Classic Judge Dredd, Judge Dredd: Future Crime, Judge Death Dredd vs. Death, The Complete Judge Dredd 5 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd goes in search of some unlikely bank robbers.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of twentieth century 'celebrity' figures.

INFORMATION
The First Lunar Bank is based in downtown Luna-City.

Justice Central has its own face-changing machine. Some criminals can serve forty years on a dome repair gang.

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He suspects the Tooley brothers of using a face-changing machine to commit bank robberies so he alters his own features to appear like those of their lawyer, Manny Bloom, and records their conversations as evidence.

OTHER CHARACTERS
ALBERT, BRAD AND LAPSLEY TOOLEY
They bought a face-changing machine and altered their appearance to commit bank robberies. They first wore the faces of Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before changing again to those of Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Chico Marx respectively. When Dredd discovered they bought the machine he had them interrogated, but their lawyer, Manny Bloom, successfully got them released. Dredd replaces Bloom using a face-change machine and accompanies the Tooley brothers back to their apartment and arrests them.

MANNY BLOOM
A lawyer on Luna-1. He represents the Tooley brothers. Dredd impersonates him usng a face-change machine.

ARRESTS
Three. Dredd arrests the Tooley brothers.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Dredd: "The face is Manny's - but the fist is Dredd's."

WORST LINES
Al Tooley: "Thanks, Manny. If you hadn't got here they'd have tried to do us."

CATCHPHRASES
"That's another fine mess you've got us into" was Oliver Hardy's catchphrase.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Face-changing machines were previously seen in Judge Dredd: 'The New You'.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957) formed a double act and made over a hundred films films together. Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) is famed for his little tramp character in silent films such as The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940). The Keystone Cops were incompetant policeman that appeared in several films between 1912 and 1917. Groucho Marx (1890-1977), Harpo Marx (1888-1964), Chico Marx (1887-1961) were unsurprisingly three of the Marx Brothers and their films include Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), Duck Soup (1933), A Day At The Races (1937), The Big Store (1941) and mentioned in dialogue here A Night At The Opera (1935). In addition, Groucho presented a game show called You Bet Your Life. Although not explicitly a changed face, the Tooley's brothers lawyer, Manny Bloom, bears an uncanny resemblance to Rondo Hatton (1894-1946), who is also name-checked in the face-change parlour sales book. Hatton's distinctive features earned him roles in The Pearl Of Death (1944), Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946), House Of Horrors (1946) and The Brute Man (1946) among others.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
Dredd doesn't choose to keep his new facial features.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: Brian Bolland
Letters: Tom Frame

REVIEW
This is a brilliant concept, but it would have been undermined by poor likenesses. Thankfully the likenesses in Brian Bolland's artwork are extraordinary. The opening double page and the panel of the Marx brothers in a stolen ambulance are fantastic. Dredd's solution is great and somehow comes as a complete surprise.

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