It’s like it’s a different country or something
Judge Parker, 2/3/05
So I’ve been following Judge Parker ever since I started reading the soap opera strips at the Houston Chronicle Web site, which has been, what, two months now? You’d think I could tell you something concrete about it by now, but it’s been grinding along even more interminably than the rest of the serials, making it difficult to follow. The plotlines seem pleasingly lurid, though: one involves a pair of college students anonymously sending half-naked toga party pictures of a bitchy acquaintance to said acquaintance’s mother, so said mother would force said bitchy acquaintance to leave the state college party school where she engaged in the aforementioned semi-nude chicanery; another involved a man who (off camera, alas) apparently was tossed from an airplane somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean. The current story revolves around a woman named Gloria, who is currently rotting in a Mexican jail, arrested by a (fat, hairy, and swarthy, of course) corrupt Mexican cop on a trumped-up gun charge; now Judge Parker has to fly down there and help her out. (We think the charges are phony, anyway. Stay tuned to find out the truth! Hopefully sometime this year!)
Anyway, I felt a need to comment on this one, because I laughed aloud at the warning that this Planet of the Apes refugee gives to the man who I’m reasonably sure is the title character. You may have a fancy law school education, Judge, but did you know that they speak Spanish in Mexico? Huh? You just thought you’d shout in English and get your way, didn’t you? That sort of thing may get you more margaritas at Chevy’s, but actual Mexico is totally different! Fortunately, he’ll have plenty of time to read the entire dictionary on the plane.
Caity
February 3rd, 2005 at 7:34 pm
Actually, that’s not the title character. Judge Parker is an elderly judge who has been mentioned once and seen never since I started following the strip around September. This guy is a young lawyer whose name I can’t remember. He was added as the main character because Judge Parker was getting too old to go chase criminals, and somebody had to do it.
George Hotelling
February 3rd, 2005 at 7:59 pm
Wait, so it’s a lawyer and an old judge that fight crime? I was under the impression that in the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the district attornies who prosecute the offenders. Where are the police during all this?
Isaac B2
February 3rd, 2005 at 8:31 pm
yeah, that “you’ll need it” is a little obnoxious. who does he think he is, dissing his boss like that?
Caity
February 3rd, 2005 at 8:36 pm
http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/jparker/about.htm
Here’s the official character description listing for Judge Parker. As for where the police are, I’ve got no clue.
Dub Not Dubya
February 4th, 2005 at 12:10 am
So, this guy chases criminals so Judge Parker doesn’t have to. There, I said it. Now I’m waiting for that cease and desist order from that newspaper.
Rich
February 4th, 2005 at 6:24 am
A lot of good an “English to Spanish dictionary” will do him when he needs to understand the utterances of one of the locals. Lessee, where do I look up the word “gracias”….
Mary
February 4th, 2005 at 8:47 am
The character list on the above web site is out of date—evidently the syndicate moves even slower than its features, which boggles the mind. However, I am sufficiently old (possibly older than JUDGE PARKER!—Omigod!) to have read the strip since its early days. So here are corrections to the bios on the list:
Sam and Abbey have been married for a few years now.
The young man talking to Sam is Judge Parker’s SON, whose name I think is Randy.
Gloria is Sam Driver’s secretary.
I hope this clears things up for all you whippersnappers. (Yes, I’ve been reading Mark Trail too long too.)
Semi
February 4th, 2005 at 11:15 am
No real comment. I just wanted to say, I LOVE CHEVY’S. :)
sally
February 4th, 2005 at 11:17 am
I rarely read Judge Parker but I was captivated for a while by Sophie, who, EVERY DAY, wore the same elaborate French braid or whatever it was hairstyle — no matter what — even to bed, near as I could tell. She seems to have finally gotten tired of spending an hour a day on her hair and cut it off. I’ve also always been impressed by how much all the characters resemble one another. Sophie had a “boyfriend” for a while and I was relieved when they broke up because I was sure they were about to find out they were actually twins separated at birth.
WoodrowFan
February 4th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
It would have been more interesting if they found they were twins seperated at birth but DIDN’T break up!
Zanzibar
February 8th, 2005 at 6:01 am
Did Rex Morgan and Judge Parker originally look the same, since they were created by the same person? Or did he consciously make the styles different at the beginning?
Matt Estes
February 9th, 2005 at 2:21 pm
Actually, I don’t think the last panel would be so funny if it weren’t for the perplexed look on the face of the man being handed the dictionary; obviously, it’s never occurred to him that he might need to be able to speak and understand Spanish while in Mexico.
My prediction on what’s going to happen is that, once he actually arrives in Mexico (I realize this is a belated comment, and I don’t actually read the comic in question, so forgive me if this has already happened; but at the slow pace that soap opera strips move, I doubt it), he’ll use the dictionary to say a phrase that he thinks translates into “Can you help me find the hotel”, but due to his inexperience at proper enunciation, it’ll actually come out as “Please smell my feet as they are blue and cheese-like”. I always love how with foreign languages, no matter what it is you want to say, you’re only one mispronounced syllable away from offending everyone and getting laughed at. Or at least, that’s how it is on television, and you know tv doesn’t lie.
Zanzibar
February 25th, 2005 at 8:18 pm
No one answered my Judge Parker question. On the plus side, something something.
Dallas
March 20th, 2005 at 2:09 pm
Zanzibar…Judge Parker and Rex Morgan were created by the same man, Nick Dallis. And to answer your question, while the Judge and Rex both look similiar, no they were not intended to look alike. The Judge has probably 15-20 years on Rex. Plus, originally, the Judge always smoked a pipe. Now, the Judge has a bit of gray(white) in his hair, while Rex does not. Besides Judge Parker is illustrated by a different artist (Harold LeDoux), than Rex Morgan (Graham Nolan). LeDoux’s style is more “old school”, while Nolan, who is much younger than LeDoux, is new school.
Alan
March 29th, 2005 at 10:56 am
I’m trying to find the very first Rex Morgan M.D. comic strip. It started in 1948 but I also need the exact month and date, plus what paper(s) it first appeared on that date.
A friend of mine is doing a scholarly piece on the strip as part of his research at Western Kentucky University. Thanks !
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April 30th, 2008 at 2:56 am
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