Judge Goodman

Judge Goodman
Chief Judge Goodman (drawn by Brian Bolland)
Publication information
Publisher	IPC Magazines Ltd; later Rebellion Developments
First appearance	2000 AD #2 (1977)
Created by	Pat Mills, Kelvin Gosnell, Peter Harris, John Wagner (writers) and Mike McMahon (artist)
In-story information
Full name	Clarence Goodman

Chief Judge Clarence Goodman is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd stories published in the British comic 2000 AD. He appeared in the first episode of Judge Dredd in March 1977 (although he was not named until issue 86), and was the first regularly recurring supporting character.

Goodman was joint deputy chief judge at the end of Chief Judge Fargo's term in office, and later continued as deputy under Chief Judge Solomon after Fargo resigned. When Fargo botched a suicide attempt, Goodman helped Solomon to fake Fargo's death. In 2057 Goodman became Chief Judge of Mega-City One and immediately created the Council of Five to assist him and began to arm up the Judges to the extent that they could challenge the military. He attempted to convince President Robert L. Booth not to initiate a world war, but to no avail, and after the Atomic Wars in 2070 he deposed Booth and became head of state, establishing the Justice Department as a stable new government.

Goodman was well liked by his people as he deliberately cultivated an image as a 'kindly uncle' figure in public. Under his leadership, Mega-City One dramatically increased its outer-space colonial presence from 2095 onwards: the resources on other worlds were necessary for humanity's survival, though he privately doubted whether Earth deserved to spread out into space.

There were three major crises during Goodman's time in power. The first of these was the outbreak of civil war between Mega-City One and Texas City, when Texas declared full independence. With the Cursed Earth a near impenetrable barrier between the cities, Goodman eventually conceded that the civil war was futile and - in a move not entirely popular with all of his colleagues - he recognised Texas City's independence. (These events apparently took place between 2083 and 2086, and were mentioned on the cover of an issue of 2000 AD and adopted in a Judge Dredd novel and the role-playing game. However they may have been retconned by the story "Origins" which implied that the cities may have become independent by mutual consent following the Atomic Wars.)