Judge Hershey

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Judge Hershey

Judge Dredd and Chief Judge Hershey (painted by John Burns)
Publication information
Publisher Rebellion Developments
First appearance 2000 AD prog 162 (1980)
Created by John Wagner and Brian Bolland
In story information
Full name Barbara Hershey

Chief Judge Barbara Hershey is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd series that appears in British comic 2000 AD. For nearly two decades she regularly appeared as Dredd's sidekick, before being promoted to become his superior. She also had her own solo series, Judge Hershey, in the Judge Dredd Megazine (1992-1996).

Contents

[edit] Fictional character biography

Shortly after her graduation from the Academy of Law in 2102 at age eighteen,[1] Judge Hershey was the surprise choice to join the crew of the spaceship Justice 1 for the dangerous deep-space mission to find the Judge Child, who had been abducted by the Angel Gang. Working closely with Judge Dredd every step of the way, she came through the mission with great credit and was highly commended in his personal log. Hershey returned to the streets of Mega-City One a tougher and infinitely more experienced judge, but she was ill-prepared for the attack of Fink Angel some months later, when he came seeking revenge on the Judges responsible for the deaths of his brothers and his father.[2] The young judge barely escaped, but she had already developed a knack for survival - a knack which came in useful during the Apocalypse War when Hershey was called upon again by Judge Dredd to join his "Apocalypse Squad" for a daring commando raid which ended the war.[3]

When Chief Judge McGruder resigned her position in 2108, Hershey became the youngest ever member of the Council of Five.[4] Her meteoric rise up the Justice Department's "greasy pole" saw her hotly tipped to become chief judge in due course, but she denied any real ambitions in this direction.[5] Even so, she soon experienced the power that goes with the office when she was asked to serve as acting chief judge while McGruder - back for an unprecedented second term of office - attended a crisis meeting of judges from all over the world to find a way to defeat Sabbat the Necromagus in 2114.[6]

Around this time (1992) Hershey starred in her own spin-off series, written by Robbie Morrison, Paul Neal and Igor Goldkind, and illustrated by varying artists including Kevin Cullen, Xuasus, Marc Wigmore and Siku.

In 2116 Hershey was part of the delegation of Senior Judges who tried to convince McGruder to reform the Council of Five - inactive since McGruder's return to power - but the Chief Judge refused to comply, as she suspected Hershey was after her job.[7] McGruder's judgement had definitely become questionable, but she insisted on remaining the only voice at the top of the Justice Department until one of the "Mechanismo" robot judges she was so enthusiastic about tried to kill her. Realising her error at last, McGruder wasted no time in tendering her resignation and she entrusted Judge Hershey - along with SJS Chief Niles and Psi Division Chief Shenker - with the job of running the Justice Department until a new chief judge could be selected. Hershey was the only one of those three who actually put their name forward for the post, expressing her desire for more open government. Her liberal views did not go down well with her colleagues, however, and she received only 13 votes in the ballot among Senior Judges, while the new chief judge, Hadrian Volt, won with 208.[8]

Following the murder of Deputy Chief Judge Herriman in 2120, Volt appointed Hershey to that post.[9] The following year she became acting chief judge following the suicide of Volt at the end of the Second Robot War.[10] She was subsequently elected chief judge in her own right, trouncing the only other candidate, Judge Loblaw.[11]

At over eight years (as of 2008), Hershey has had the longest reign of any chief judge since Clarence Goodman, and the longest since the comic strip began in 1977. She has brought about a few more liberal reforms, and keeps Dredd close as she still values his advice and experience.[12] She has reigned through several major threats, such as the Total War bombings and a Xenomorph invasion of the Grand Hall of Justice, as well as Armon Gill attempting to assassinate her.

While she is slightly more moderate than earlier chief judges, she still makes use of black ops and aggressive foreign policy. In 2128 she used a covert assassin to ensure neighbouring Neocuba's leader would think East-Meg Two was trying to assassinate him, thus destroying the alliance between the two states and making it be more loyal to Mega-City One; the same assassin was used to hack Brit-Cit computer systems to help in espionage.[13] In the same year, she oversaw the covert takeover of Ciudad Barranquilla under the guise of humanitarian intervention.[14]

[edit] In other media

A different version of Judge Hershey appeared in the Judge Dredd film played by Diane Lane. The film drew criticism from fans of the comic because of a scene in which Hershey kisses Dredd, something which the comic version of the character would never do. (Ironically, an episode in the comic portrayed an evil Hershey from an alternative timeline attempting without success to seduce Dredd). [15]

She appeared as a playable character in the arcade levels of the 2003 computer game Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death.

[edit] Bibliography (solo stories)

  • Judge Hershey:
    • "Down Time" (by Dave Stone and Paul Peart, in Judge Dredd Megazine #2.09, 1992)
    • "The Not-So-Merry Wives of Windsor" (by Robbie Morrison and Xuasus, in Judge Dredd Megazine #2.12, 1992)
    • "Deathsquads" (by Peter Cornwall and Yan Shimony, in Judge Dredd Megazine #2.14-2.17, 1993)
    • "Asylum" (by Robbie Morrison and Siku, in Judge Dredd Megazine #2.25-2.26, 1993)
    • "A Game of Dolls" (by Igor Goldkind and Kevin Cullen, in Judge Dredd Megazine #2.27-2.30, 1993)
  • Judge Hershey:
    • "The Harlequin's Dance" (by Igor Goldkind and Kevin Cullen, in Judge Dredd Megazine #2.37-2.40, 1993)
    • "Spider in the Web" (by Paul Neal and Marc Wigmore, in Judge Dredd Megazine #3.09-3.10, 1995)
    • "Barbara" (by Paul Neal and Marc Wigmore, in Judge Dredd Megazine #3.11, 1995)
    • "The Enemy" (by Paul Neal and Marc Wigmore, in Judge Dredd Megazine #3.12-3.13, 1995-1996)
    • "Sacrifices" (by Paul Neal and Marc Wigmore, in Judge Dredd Megazine #3.09-3.10, 1996)

[edit] References

  1. ^ 2000 AD #162; 1178
  2. ^ 2000 AD #193-196
  3. ^ 2000 AD #269-270
  4. ^ 2000 AD #457
  5. ^ Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 2 #53
  6. ^ 2000 AD #792
  7. ^ Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 2 #53
  8. ^ 2000 AD #915-918
  9. ^ Judge Dredd Megazine vol. 3 #53
  10. ^ 2000 AD #1167
  11. ^ 2000 AD #1178
  12. ^ 2000 AD #1466
  13. ^ Megazine #245
  14. ^ Megazine #246-249
  15. ^ 2000 AD #396, 1984. However Dredd was not fooled, and so he shot her.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Hadrian Volt		 Chief Judge of Mega-City One
2122–present
(Acting chief judge 2114; 2115; 2121–2122)		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Paul Herriman		 Deputy Chief Judge of Mega-City One
2120–2122		 Succeeded by
unknown
Preceded by
Hilda McGruder		 Ruler of Mega-City One
2116
(with Judge Shenker
and Judge Niles)		 Succeeded by
Hadrian Volt
(with Council of Five)
v • d • e
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