History[]
Dirty Frank is a character from the 2000 AD strip Low Life. An erudite and cultured but deeply unhygienic individual, he was originally Judge Frank, a street Judge in Mega-City One. Then he lost an eye and, apparently, his mind on a mission for the secretive Judge Smiley, then Chief of Black Ops. It seems that he both saw and did things which drove him over the brink of sanity, telling Smiley, "I can't go back! I died out there! I felt it happen!" Smiley threw him a lifeline: become a completely different person and thereby wipe away all memories of what he had witnessed and the acts he had committed. Now calling himself 'Dirty Frank' (there may be a reason for the name beyond his body odour), the insane but deeply loyal Judge joined the Wally Squad in 2103 AD. He wound up living in the Low Life, the city's most crime-ridden area, under the nominal supervision of his controller Judge Thora.
An effective Judge despite his apparent lunacy, Frank (who habitually refers to himself in the third person) has been instrumental in saving the city from numerous threats. In the three-way crossover Trifecta he defeated (after being hypnotized and rendered partly amnesiac by Smiley) the shark-man Enormo Overdrive, who was plotting to conquer the city alongside Judge Carolyn Bachmann and Archmime Turner. He also rescued Chief Judge Hershey from an army of alien ice monsters led by his former friend Aimee Nixon.
Frank was barely tolerated by much of Justice Department, but had the grudging respect of Judge Dredd. Ultimately, though, it was revealed that Frank's mental problems stemmed from guilt over having participated in the slaughter of innocents orchestrated by Smiley, and Smiley was able to take control of Frank, forcing him to murder Judge Sam. When Smiley tried to force Frank to kill Dredd, though, Frank fought his mental conditioning and shot himself instead, apparently dying of his self-inflicted wound later...at least, according to Chief Judge Hershey.
It was eventually revealed that Frank's death was faked by Hershey for reasons of her own, and his mental instability seemingly cured, as he resurfaced to assist Hershey on a clandestine mission after her own faked death. Frank's missing right eye was replaced by the med Judges who saved his life, but he later lost his left eye while working for Hershey. He has since begun to exhibit symptoms of his old personality disorder again.
Powers and abilities[]
Abilities
Sneakiness.
Strength level
Corpulent human male.
Weaknesses
Reduced depth perception; mad as a box of frogs.
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment
Child's badge saying "I am 2"; teddy bear with eye patch; water wings; swimming goggles.
Transportation
Pedalo; Judge Dredd's Lawmaster (occasionally).
Notes[]
- Frank had a cameo in 2000 AD prog 2000 (published September 2016) which was drawn by Boo Cook. He was shown being menaced by Gene the Hackman, whom he may have inadvertently angered by his habit of speaking his idiosyncratic inner monologue out loud.
- Frank is one of the few people who can get away with calling Judge Dredd 'Joe'.
Trivia[]
- Henry Flint, Frank's co-creator, decided to model his distinctive appearance on that of legendary comics writer Alan Moore.
- Frank's Wally Squad ID is Dizzy24682X.
Links[]
- Appearances of Dirty Frank
- Character Gallery: Dirty Frank
- Images that feature Dirty Frank
- Fan-Art Gallery: Dirty Frank
- Dirty Frank quotations
Discover and Discuss[]
- Search News for: Dirty Frank · Frank · Dirty Frank