Judge Hershey
Encyclopedia
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 was chief judge
for nine years. She also had her own solo series, Judge Hershey, in the Judge Dredd Megazine
(1992–1996).
in 2102 at age eighteen, 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. 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.
When Chief Judge McGruder resigned her position in 2108, Hershey became the youngest ever member of the Council of Five
. 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. 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.
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. 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 elected. 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.
Following the murder of Deputy Chief Judge Herriman in 2120, Volt appointed Hershey to that post. The following year she became acting chief judge following the suicide of Volt at the end of the Second Robot War
. She was subsequently elected chief judge in her own right, trouncing the only other candidate, Judge Loblaw.
At over nine years, Hershey had the longest reign (2122–2131) of any chief judge since Clarence Goodman
, and the longest since the comic strip began in 1977. She brought about several liberal reforms, and kept Dredd close as she still valued his advice and experience. She reigned through several major threats, such as the Total War bombings and a Xenomorph
invasion of the Grand Hall of Justice
, as well an attempted assassination by Armon Gill
.
While slightly more moderate than earlier chief judges, she still made use of black operation
s and aggressive foreign policy. In 2128 she used a covert assassin to make neighbouring Neocuba's leader think East-Meg Two was trying to assassinate him, thus destroying the alliance between the two states and ensuring that Neocuba became more loyal to Mega-City One; the same assassin was also used to hack into Brit-Cit
's computer systems for the purposes of espionage. In the same year, she oversaw the conquest of Ciudad Barranquilla
under the guise of humanitarian intervention. Despite Dredd's misgivings over these acts, he has described her as "the best chief judge we've ever had."
In 2130 she repealed the anti-mutant laws
(largely at Dredd's insistence), making her unpopular with the public and many judges. In the following year senior judges began a campaign to have her voted out of office and replaced with a hardline candidate who would reinstate those laws. Judge Dan Francisco
won the election by a landslide. The new chief judge appointed Hershey to a position on another planet.
Hershey returned to Mega-City One two years later and returned to street duty in Sector 95.
Hershey played by Diane Lane
, she is portrayed as a newly graduated Judge who has been a Street Judge for only a year and is shown to be more sympathetic to perps than Dredd (Sylvester Stallone
), and also in contrast to Dredd she has a personal life and friends. When Dredd is accused of murder he selects Hershey as his defence because "she was at the top of her class in interpretational law" and she appears to be the nearest thing he has to a friend. After she fails to exonerate Dredd, and he is sentenced, she continues to investigate the case and uncovers the Janus Project - a secret cloning program that the Council of Five
initiated forty years previously that created Dredd and Rico (Armand Assante
) from Chief Fargo's (Max von Sydow
) DNA. Hershey and Dredd discover that the Janus Project has been reinstated by Rico, and the pair manage to defeat Rico and prevent evil clones from taking over the city.
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 (although an episode in the comic portrayed an evil Hershey from an alternative timeline
attempting without success to seduce Dredd).
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
series that appears in British comic 2000 AD. For nearly two decades she regularly appeared as Dredd's sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
, before being promoted to become his superior: she was chief judge
Chief Judge of Mega-City One
Chief Judge of Mega-City One is the title of several supporting characters in the Judge Dredd comic strip published in 2000 AD. The chief judge is dictator and head of state of Mega-City One, a fictional future city of around 400 million people in 22nd-century America...
for nine years. She also had her own solo series, Judge Hershey, in the Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd: The Megazine is a monthly British comic magazine, launched in October 1990. It is a sister publication to 2000 AD. Its name is a play on words, formed from "magazine" and Dredd's locale Mega-City One.-Content:...
(1992–1996).
Fictional character biography
Shortly after her graduation from the Academy of LawAcademy of Law
The Academy of Law is a fictional place of learning appearing in the Judge Dredd series that appears in the British comic 2000 AD.-Fictional history:The Academy of Law is where the Judges of Mega-City One are trained...
in 2102 at age eighteen, Judge
Judge (2000 AD)
Judge is a title held by several significant characters in the Judge Dredd series, which appears in the British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine...
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
Judge Child
The Judge Child was an extended storyline in the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd that ran from issues 156 to 181 in 1980. It introduced a character with the same name...
, who had been abducted by the Angel Gang
Angel Gang
The Angel Gang is a group of villains in the Judge Dredd comic strip, published in 2000 AD magazine in the UK.-History:The most infamous and feared band of thugs ever to come out of Texas City, the Angel Gang were responsible for a near endless string of crimes with one overriding common factor -...
. Working closely with Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
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
Mega-City One
Mega-City One is a huge fictional city-state covering much of what is now the Eastern United States in the Judge Dredd comic book series. The exact boundaries of the city depend on which artist has drawn the story...
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. The young judge barely escaped, but she had already developed a knack for survival – a knack which came in useful during the Apocalypse War
Apocalypse War
The Apocalypse War is a storyline from the comic strip Judge Dredd, first published in British comic 2000 AD in 1982. A sequel to the story "Block Mania", it was written by John Wagner and Alan Grant and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra...
when Hershey was called upon again by Judge Dredd to join his "Apocalypse Squad" for a daring commando raid which ended the war.
When Chief Judge McGruder resigned her position in 2108, Hershey became the youngest ever member of the Council of Five
Council of Five
The Council of Five is a fictional legislature and court in the Judge Dredd comic strip appearing in 2000 AD. It first appeared in 2000 AD prog 86 ....
. Her meteoric rise up the Justice Department's "greasy pole" saw her hotly tipped to become chief judge
Chief Judge of Mega-City One
Chief Judge of Mega-City One is the title of several supporting characters in the Judge Dredd comic strip published in 2000 AD. The chief judge is dictator and head of state of Mega-City One, a fictional future city of around 400 million people in 22nd-century America...
in due course, but she denied any real ambitions in this direction. 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
Judgement Day (Judge Dredd story)
Judgement Day was a Judge Dredd story published with alternating episodes in both 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1992. It was the first crossover between the two publications; three more have since followed...
in 2114.
Around this time (1992) Hershey starred in her own spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
series, written by Robbie Morrison
Robbie Morrison
Robbie Morrison is a British comics writer most known for his work in 2000 AD and as the co-creator of popular character Nikolai Dante .-Biography:...
, Paul Neal
Paul Neal
Paul Neal is a British comics writer. He has worked for Fleetway Publishing on Judge Dredd Megazine and the long running science fiction anthology 2000 AD in the late 1990s. Much of his work was created in collaboration with the artist Marc Wigmore....
and Igor Goldkind
Igor Goldkind
Igor Goldkind was a marketing consultant who worked for a number of publishers, before moving into writing comics. He currently works in semantic web development and web-based marketing.-Biography:...
, and illustrated by varying artists including Kevin Cullen, Xuasus
Xuasus
Xuasus is the pseudonym of Spanish comicbook artist Juan Jesus Garcia .-Biography:Xuasus' chunky, fully painted style was admired by David Bishop, editor of the Judge Dredd Megazine, in the early 1990s, and the artist was commissioned to work on a number of well-known characters, including Judge...
, Marc Wigmore and Siku
Siku (comics)
Siku is the pseudonym of British/Nigerian artist and writer Ajibayo Akinsiku, best known for his work in 2000 AD.-Biography:Siku studied design and printing at the Yaba’s School of Art, and theology at the London School of Theology....
.
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. 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
Mechanismo
Mechanismo is the title of a Judge Dredd story published in the British comic Judge Dredd Megazine in 1992. It was the first story in a series of stories published over the next two years in both the Megazine and 2000 AD, most notably the epic "Wilderlands." The stories concern 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
Judge Niles
Judge Rog Niles is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in British comic 2000 AD. He first appeared in 2000 AD prog 706 . He is the head of the Public Surveillance Unit...
and Psi Division
Psi Division
Psi-Division is a fictional organisation in the Judge Dredd and Anderson: Psi-Division comic strips in 2000 AD and Judge Dredd: The Megazine. It is the branch of Mega-City One's Justice Department that deals in supernatural phenomena, using Judges with psychic abilities. Psi-Judges are often...
Chief Shenker
Judge Shenker
Judge Shenker is a fictional supporting character in the Judge Dredd and Anderson, Psi Division comic strips in British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine. He is the head of Psi Division...
– with the job of running the Justice Department until a new chief judge could be elected. 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
Judge Volt
Chief Judge Hadrian Volt is a fictional character from the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He was chief judge of Mega-City One between 2116 and 2121 .-Fictional character biography:...
, won with 208.
Following the murder of Deputy Chief Judge Herriman in 2120, Volt appointed Hershey to that post. The following year she became acting chief judge following the suicide of Volt at the end of the Second Robot War
The Doomsday Scenario
The Doomsday Scenario is the collective name of a series of Judge Dredd comic stories published in 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1999...
. She was subsequently elected chief judge in her own right, trouncing the only other candidate, Judge Loblaw.
At over nine years, Hershey had the longest reign (2122–2131) of any chief judge since Clarence Goodman
Judge Goodman
Chief Judge Clarence Goodman is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd stories published in the British comic 2000 AD. He appeared in the first episode of Judge Dredd in March 1977 , and was the first regularly recurring supporting character.-Biography:Goodman was joint deputy chief judge at the...
, and the longest since the comic strip began in 1977. She brought about several liberal reforms, and kept Dredd close as she still valued his advice and experience. She reigned through several major threats, such as the Total War bombings and a Xenomorph
Xenomorph (Alien)
The Alien is a fictional endoparasitoid extraterrestrial species that is the primary antagonist of the Alien film series. The species made its debut in the 1979 film Alien, and reappeared in its sequels Aliens , Alien 3 , and Alien Resurrection , two crossovers Alien vs...
invasion of the Grand Hall of Justice
Grand Hall of Justice
The Grand Hall of Justice of Mega-City One is a fictional building in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. It actually refers to three different buildings which existed at different times...
, as well an attempted assassination by Armon Gill
Armon Gill
Armon Gill, also known as the Chief Judge's Man, is a fictional villain from the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD.-Fictional character biography:...
.
While slightly more moderate than earlier chief judges, she still made use of black operation
Black operation
A black operation or black op is a covert operation typically involving activities that are highly clandestine and often outside of standard military protocol or even against the law.-Origins:...
s and aggressive foreign policy. In 2128 she used a covert assassin to make neighbouring Neocuba's leader think East-Meg Two was trying to assassinate him, thus destroying the alliance between the two states and ensuring that Neocuba became more loyal to Mega-City One; the same assassin was also used to hack into Brit-Cit
Brit-Cit
Brit-Cit is a huge fictional city in the fictional universe of British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd. It is also the home of Sam Slade in some of 2000AD's Robo-Hunter stories. The city covers the south of England and bordering on the Black Atlantic...
's computer systems for the purposes of espionage. In the same year, she oversaw the conquest of Ciudad Barranquilla
Ciudad Barranquilla
Ciudad Barranquilla, also known as Banana City, is a huge fictional city covering much of Central America in the Judge Dredd comic book series. Its name comes from the real city of Barranquilla in Colombia, although it is generally placed around the Buenos Aires city in Argentina...
under the guise of humanitarian intervention. Despite Dredd's misgivings over these acts, he has described her as "the best chief judge we've ever had."
In 2130 she repealed the anti-mutant laws
Mutants (Judge Dredd)
Mutants are a recurring theme in the Judge Dredd science-fiction stories published in British comics 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine...
(largely at Dredd's insistence), making her unpopular with the public and many judges. In the following year senior judges began a campaign to have her voted out of office and replaced with a hardline candidate who would reinstate those laws. Judge Dan Francisco
Judge Francisco
Chief Judge Dan Francisco is a fictional supporting character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He is chief judge of Mega-City One.-Fictional character biography:...
won the election by a landslide. The new chief judge appointed Hershey to a position on another planet.
Hershey returned to Mega-City One two years later and returned to street duty in Sector 95.
Judge Dredd film
In the 1995 Judge Dredd filmJudge Dredd (film)
Judge Dredd is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Danny Cannon, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Armand Assante, and Max von Sydow. The film is based on the strip of the same name in the British comic 2000 AD...
Hershey played by Diane Lane
Diane Lane
Diane Lane is an American film actress.Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at the age of 13 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine...
, she is portrayed as a newly graduated Judge who has been a Street Judge for only a year and is shown to be more sympathetic to perps than Dredd (Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
), and also in contrast to Dredd she has a personal life and friends. When Dredd is accused of murder he selects Hershey as his defence because "she was at the top of her class in interpretational law" and she appears to be the nearest thing he has to a friend. After she fails to exonerate Dredd, and he is sentenced, she continues to investigate the case and uncovers the Janus Project - a secret cloning program that the Council of Five
Council of Five
The Council of Five is a fictional legislature and court in the Judge Dredd comic strip appearing in 2000 AD. It first appeared in 2000 AD prog 86 ....
initiated forty years previously that created Dredd and Rico (Armand Assante
Armand Assante
-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...
) from Chief Fargo's (Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
) DNA. Hershey and Dredd discover that the Janus Project has been reinstated by Rico, and the pair manage to defeat Rico and prevent evil clones from taking over the city.
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 (although an episode in the comic portrayed an evil Hershey from an alternative timeline
Alternate history (fiction)
Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...
attempting without success to seduce Dredd).
Judge Dredd computer game
She appeared as a playable character in the arcade levels of the 2003 computer game Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. DeathJudge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death
Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death is a first-person shooter video game based on the Judge Dredd character from the 2000 AD comic series, developed by Rebellion Developments. It was released on October 17, 2003 in Europe and February 8, 2005 in the United States...
.
External links
- Judge Hershey at 2000 AD online