Judge Anderson

[
Arthur Ranson)] Judge Cassandra Anderson is a comics fictional character that started as a supporting character in the comic strip "Judge Dredd" of "2000 AD" and eventually rose in prominence and became the star of her own strip, which is entitled "Anderson: Psi Division". It was created by writer John Wagner and artist Brian Bolland in 1980. Since 1988, Anderson has been written almost exclusively by Alan Grant, often working with artist Arthur Ranson.

Fictional comics biography

Like her namesake Cassandra, Judge Anderson has psychic powers. In addition to being able to sense approaching danger and foresee events of the near future, as did her namesake, she also has telepathy. This allows her to read other people's minds and use mental attacks. These abilities allowed her to be a member of Mega-City One's corps of Judges as member of the Psi Division, which includes all Judges possessing psychic abilities.

Originally appearing while the city was facing the first attack by Judge Death of the Dark Judges (a group of undead Judges from another dimension who seek to destroy all crime by destroying all life) she was instrumental in stopping the attack. She has since been involved in many other attacks by the Dark Judges, who even managed to use her as an instrument of their plans for a while. Despite her efforts to end their threat, which even included exiling them to empty pocket-dimensions, the Dark Judges always manage to return eventually, ever determined to fulfil their mission. Though both sides claim it as their mission to prevail, in time Anderson and Death have become personal enemies to each other.

Meanwhile she has become a prominent member of her Division and has gained the respect of Dredd despite their differing attitudes. For instance, in the first encounter with Judge Death, Anderson eventually resorted to volunteering to become entombed in Boing to keep the fiend contained within her own body. As a result, Anderson as held in state in a place of honor with the designation, "The Supreme Sacrifice," until the Dark Judges had her freed to release their brethren and she returned to active duty.

In contrast to Dredd, she has always been critical of the weaknesses evident in the Judicial system of Mega-City One, though she has been deemed too valuable to her Division to face consequences for it. Also in contrast to Dredd, she has a sense of humor and she is able to form personal friendships with fellow Judges. She is able to feel doubt and remorse, two feelings that Dredd doesn't allow himself. But her determination to a mission she accepts as her own is similar to Dredd's, and the two have been able to cooperate effectively during a number of missions.

Judge Anderson has had a crisis of conscience following the resurfacing of childhood memories of an abusive father (as told in the story "Engram"). She was shocked to find that her Division was aware of it but had set mental blocks in her mind to make her forget. Though she understood the Division's belief that she was more effective without those scars threatening her mental health, she still didn't agree with it. This, together with the events chronicled in "Corey" (a standalone non-Anderson story concerning Anderson's friend Judge Corey's suicide), "Shamballa", "The Jesus Syndrome" and "Childhood's End" left her unable to continue serving as a Judge and she resigned. She had a series of space travels while soul-searching and eventually returned to Mega-City one (chronicled in the stories "Something Wicked" and "Satan"). Dredd has had a similar experience and they can somewhat relate to each other. Dredd and Anderson are both considered veterans currently, and are regarded with awe by younger and less experienced Judges.

After a deadly run-in with Judge Death, she was placed in a coma and infected with the psychic Half Life virus that would be released if she ever awoke. Judge Anderson was able to contain the virus within a web of psychic constructions and illusions, but she was slowly dying. A team of Psi-Judges was sent in to rescue her and destroy the virus; they succeeded in rescuing Anderson, at the cost of nearly the whole team, but Half Life passed on to Judge Gistane, who was then experimented on by the mad Judge Fauster so he could use the virus to achieve immortality. When Half Life was unleashed on the city causing a wave of mass murder, Anderson was the one who stopped it.

Since exiting her coma, Anderson is still dealing with her increasing age; she is now almost fifty, and since being a Psi stops her from using the drugs and treatments that keep aging Street Judges like Dredd active, she knows she will eventually be unable to do her job.

tories

Graphic

The following graphic stories feature Judge Anderson and were printed in 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine:

Anderson as main character
* "Judge Death" - Script: John Wagner, Artist: Brian Bolland, Letters: Tom Frame - 2000AD #149-151
* "Judge Death Lives" - Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Brian Bolland - 2000AD #224-228
* "Revenge" (a.k.a. "Four Dark Judges") - Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Brett Ewins (1-7), Cliff Robinson (8-10, 12), Robin Smith (11) - 2000AD #416-427
* "The Possessed" - Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant as R. Clark, Artist: Brett Ewins, Letters: Tom Frame - 2000AD #468-478
* "Hour of the Wolf" - Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Barry Kitson and Will Simpson - 2000AD #520-531
* "Contact" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Mark Farmer - 2000AD #607-609
* "Beyond the Void" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Mick Austin - 2000AD #612-613
* "Helios" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: David Roach - 2000AD #614-622
* "Triad" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson - 2000AD #635-644
* "The Prophet" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: David Roach - 2000AD #645-647
* "The Random Man" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra, Letters: Steve Potter - 2000AD #657-659
* "The Screaming Skull" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: David Roach - 2000AD #669-670
* "Shamballa" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson - 2000AD #700-711
* "Engram" - Script: Alan Grant, David Roach, Artist: David Roach - 2000AD #712-717, #758-763
* "Wonderwall" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Sampson - 2000AD #1045-1049
* "Crusade" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Sampson - 2000AD #1050-1061
* "Danse Macabre" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Angel Unzueta - 2000AD #1076
* "Witch" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Sampson - 2000AD #1087-1089
* "The Great Debate" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Sampson - 2000AD #1090
* "Lawless" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Trevor Hairsine - 2000AD #1102-1103
* "Horror Story" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Sampson - 2000AD #1132-1137
* "Semper Vi" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Sampson - 2000AD #1140
* "R*Evolution" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson, Colour: Fully Painted, Letters: Annie Parkhouse - 2000AD #1263-1272
* "Blythe Spirit" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: David Roach - JD Meg Vol II 8
* "Reasons to Be Cheerful" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson (1) and Siku (2) - JD Meg Vol II 10-11
* "The Witch?" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson - JD Meg Vol II 14
* "Jesus Syndrome" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson, Letters: Annie Parkhouse - JD Meg Vol II 22-24
* "Childhood's end" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Kevin Walker, Colour: Fully Painted, Letters: Steve Potter - JD Meg Vol II 27-34
* "Voyage of the seeker" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Mark Wilkinson - JD Meg Vol II 37
* "Postcards from the Edge" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Sampson (1, 10-11), Tony Luke (2, 8), Charles Gillespie (3, 9), Arthur Ranson (4), Xuasus (5-7) - JD Meg Vol II 50-60
* "Postcard to Myself" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Sampson - JD Meg Vol II 73
* "Something Wicked" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Sampson (1-3), Charles Gillespie (4-7) - JD Meg Vol II 74-80
* "Satan" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson, Letters: Steve Potter - JD Meg Vol III 1-7
* "The Protest" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson - JD Meg Vol III 14
* "Half-Life" - Script: Alan Grant/Tony Luke, Artist: Arthur Ranson, Colour: Fully Painted, Letters: Annie Parkhouse - JD Meg 214-217
* "WMD" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson, Colour: Fully Painted, Letters: Annie Parkhouse - JD Meg 221-226
* "Lock-in" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson, Colour: Fully Painted, Letters: Annie Parkhouse - JD Meg 227-230
* "City Of Dead" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson, Colour: Fully Painted, Letters: Annie Parkhouse - JD Meg 231-236
* "Lucid" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Arthur Ranson, Colour: Fully Painted, Letters: Annie Parkhouse - JD Meg 238-241
* "Big Robots" - Script: Alan Grant, Dave Taylor (concept), Artist: Dave Taylor, Letters: Ellie De Ville - JD Meg 257-261Anderson as minor character
* "The Apocalypse War" - Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra - 2000AD #245-270
* "The Graveyard Shift" - Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Ron Smith - 2000AD #335-341
* "City of the Damned" - Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Steve Dillon (1, 5-7, 12-13)/Ron Smith (2-3, 10, 14)/Kim Raymond (4, 11)/Ian Gibson (8-9) - 2000AD #393-406
* "Tomb of the Judges" - Script: John Wagner/Alan Grant, Artist: Ian Gibson - 2000AD #496-498
* "A Total Near Death Experience" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Barry Kitson, Letters: Tom Frame - 2000AD #629-630
* "And The Wind Cried" - Script: Alan Grant, Artist: Mike Collins and Peter Ventner - 2000AD #637
* "Necropolis" - Script: John Wagner, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra - 2000AD #674-699
* "Nightmares" - Script: John Wagner, Artist: Steve Dillon - 2000AD #702-706
* "Death Aid" - Script: Garth Ennis, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra - 2000AD #711-720
* "Return of the Assassin" - Script: John Wagner, Artist: Cam Kennedy, Colour: D'Israeli, Letters: Tom Frame - 2000AD #1141-1147
* "The Trial" - Script: John Wagner, Artist: Simon Davis, Colour: Charlie Adlard, Letters: Tom Frame - 2000AD #1148-1150
* "Trial of Strength" - Script: John Wagner, Artist: Neil Googe and Stephen Baskerville (inks 2), Colour: Trevor Hairsine, Letters: Tom Frame - 2000AD #1151-1152
* "War Games" - Script: John Wagner, Artist: Neil Googe (1), Mike McMahon (2), Charlie Adlard (3), Andy Clarke (Pencils 4-5), Stephen Baskerville (Inks 4-5) , Colin Wilson (6-7), Colour: Trevor Hairsine (1-3), Chris Blythe (4-5), Janet Gale (6-7), Letters: Tom Frame - 2000AD #1153-1159
* "Endgame" - Script: John Wagner, Artist: Charlie Adlard, Colour: Chris Blythe, Letters: Tom Frame - 2000AD #1160-1164
* "A Night 2 Remember" - Script: Pat Mills/Gordon Rennie/Robbie Morrison/Dan Abnett/John Tomlinson/Alan Grant/Grant Morrison/Mike Carey/Andy Diggle/Garth Ennis, Artist: Kevin O'Neill/Frazer Irving/Ian Gibson/Simon Davis/Kevin Walker/John Higgins/Steve Yeowell/Anthony Williams/Jock/Dave Gibbons, Letters: Tom Frame (pages 1-9), Dave Gibbons (page 10) - 2000AD #1280
* "My Name is Death" - Script: John Wagner, Artist: Frazer Irving, Letters: Tom Frame - 2000AD #1289-1294
* "Placebo" - Script: Rufus Dog, Artist: John McCrea, Colour: Angus McKie, Letters: Simon Parr - 2000AD #1405
* "Judgement" - Script: Gordon Rennie, Artist: Ian Gibson, Letters: Annie Parkhouse - 2000AD #1523-1528

Novels

Mitchel Scanlon has written several Judge Anderson novels that have been published by Black Flame:
* "Fear the Darkness" (February 2006)
* "Red Shadows" (May 2006)
* "Sins of the Father" (February 2007)

Awards

*1983: Won "Character Most Worthy of Own Title" Eagle Award
*1986: Nominated for "Favourite Supporting Character" Eagle Award

ee also

* Judge Dredd
* Sov Judge Orlok
* History of Mega-City One

External links

* [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page=thrillviewer First Anderson strip - Judge Death (requires logon)]
* [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=ANDERSON 2000 AD profile]
* [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=reprint&page=gnprofiles&choice=psi1&Comic= 2000 AD Graphic Novels]
* [http://www.2000adonline.com/index.php3?zone=droid&page=interview&choice=7 Interview with Anderson creator Alan Grant]
* [http://www.igibson.demon.co.uk/Anderson.htm Ian Gibson Judge Anderson artwork]