Judge Anderson

Creation

Judge Anderson was created by Brian Bolland and John Wagner, to be used in Rebellion comics. Her first appearance is in 2000 AD #150, which was released in February, 1980.

Origin

Judge Cassandra Anderson first appeared in 2000AD prog 150 (illustrated by Brian Bolland), where her slighty offbeat character was a good contrast to Mega-City’s senior lawmaker, Judge Dredd. Having long blonde hair and wearing make up, it was apparent from the outset that she was somewhat different from the average Judge on the beat in Mega-City One (comic reviewer Stuart Smith regards her as the moral opposite of Dredd). Anderson is part of Psi-Division, has telepathic powers, can read minds and influence other people. Anderson first appeared in the Judge Dredd story – Judge Death. Another character who attained prominence within the strip, eventually leading to their own spin-off stories. On their first encounter, Anderson traps Death inside her and has to be encased in Boing (a hard jelly-like substance) to stop the Dark Judge from escaping.

Both returned in the Judge Dredd strip ‘Judge Death Lives’ in prog 224, where Death (and by extension, Anderson) is rescued by the other Dark Judges, Fear, Fire and Mortis. From this point onwards, Anderson continued to appear in the strip, assisting Dredd when he requires psychic assistance.

In Prog 416, Anderson finally got her own strip in 2000AD. In stories scripted by John Wagner and Alan Grant. Anderson was never the dumb blonde and managed to totally escape comic book cheesecake imagery when Arthur Ranson took over art duties on her story. Some of Anderson’s best storylines have been written by Alan Grant and drawn by Arthur Ransom, starting with Shamballa in Prog 700.

When Judge Dredd got his own spin-off comic – Judge Dredd The Megazine, Anderson’s stories started to appear here. These include Grant and Ranson’s ‘Jesus Syndrome’ and ‘Half-Life’.

Despite being set in the future, time in Judge Dredd’s world moves at the same pace as our own and the young blonde bombshell is now an elder stateswoman in her fifties in Mega City One, with shorter hair and a (little) more decorum.

Other Media

Film

Dredd (2012)

In the 2012 reboot Dredd, actress Olivia Thirlby takes on the role of Judge Anderson. As a trainee assigned to Judge Dredd, Anderson and he respond to a call from the 200-story block of Peach Tree. There the ex-prostitute and drug lord Ma-Ma, and her clan, supply and distribute the drug Slo-Mo to people in Mega-City One. Judge Anderson is the only known Judge with psychic powers, or at least the only one with powers as advanced as hers.