Judge Francisco

Judge Francisco
Illustration by Mike Collins
Publication information
Publisher	Rebellion Developments
First appearance	2000 AD prog 1520 (2007)
Created by	John Wagner, Rufus Dayglo
In-story information
Full name	Dan Francisco

Judge Dan Francisco is a fictional supporting character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He was chief judge of Mega-City One twice (2131–2132 and 2132–2134, or 2009 to 2012 in the comic). In 2013 he appeared in his own series in the Judge Dredd Megazine.

Before becoming chief judge, Francisco was a street judge and the subject of a 24-hour reality show called The Streets Of Dan Francisco – a major public relations boost for Justice Department. Despite his experience, however, he would often do what the audience expected rather than what made the most sense, due to the unremitting pressure from the constantly present cameras. Francisco was well-meaning and affable, and Dredd viewed him as a good judge, albeit one being continually manipulated by others.

In 2131 Judges Sinfield, Cardew and Millan began a campaign to run Francisco as a candidate to replace Judge Hershey as chief judge, running on an anti-mutant platform. He was elected by a landslide, thanks to an attempted assassination by a mutant gang. It later transpired that this had been set up by an anti-mutant group to ensure his victory, but the vote was unaffected by this revelation.

Depicting Francisco becoming chief judge in a story published in 2009 may be a reference to Barack Obama becoming President of the United States earlier that year; 2000 AD publishers Rebellion Developments have sold "campaign badges" of him, with the slogan "Change We Can Believe In!"

When Francisco took office, he appointed a completely new Council of Five which included his backers Sinfield, Cardew and Millan. He appointed Sinfield deputy chief judge. Though Francisco survived the assassination attempt, he remained in a serious condition for some time. While he remained hospitalised, Sinfield was briefly acting chief judge.

Mutant townships in the Cursed Earth were set up, to which to expel the mutant citizens. Francisco also had Hershey and Dredd given new postings, off-world and in the townships respectively, until the mutant issue died down; how much of this was his own idea and how much was Sinfield's remains ambiguous. However, after discovering the conditions of the townships were little better than temporary shanty towns, Francisco forced through an increase in expenditure over Sinfield's objections, believing there was a moral duty to do the clearances "with humanity and generosity." This led Dredd to reappraise his original assessment of him.