Judge McGruder
Encyclopedia
Chief Judge Hilda Margaret McGruder is a fictional character
in the Judge Dredd
stories published in the British comic 2000 AD. She was the first female Chief Judge of Mega-City One
, and the first Judge
of Mega-City One
to become Chief Judge twice (in 2104–2108 and 2112–2116). Her first names are a reversal of the first names of Margaret Hilda Thatcher
, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
at the time the character was introduced to 2000 AD.
, McGruder was appointed to eliminate corruption from the discredited Special Judicial Squad. She was head of the SJS from 2101 to 2104.
She led the resistance to the invading forces during the Apocalypse War
after Chief Judge Griffin
was killed and Judge Dredd was taken prisoner. As the only surviving member of the Council of Five
after the war, she became chief judge by default. In her first term she established herself as one of the city's most able rulers as she set about rebuilding the war-torn city.
She resigned after four years in office following the Seven Samurai incident
, blaming herself for a massacre she thought she could have prevented (although most of her colleagues were more forgiving and begged her to stay), and took the Long Walk
into the Cursed Earth
. (Her final act in office was to dismiss all of the senior judges who disagreed with her decision to resign, saying this proved they were incapable of proper judgement!) She was succeeded as chief judge by Thomas Silver
.
Her years in the Cursed Earth had had a damaging effect on her mental health, leaving her with a volatile temper, cruder mannerisms and (it was implied) a degree of multiple personality syndrome as she began referring to herself as "we". She also looked visibly older and her facial hair began to grow unchecked. She ran into Dredd during the Necropolis
crisis (ambushing his transport on assumption it contained criminals) and returned with him to fight the Dark Judges
. With Silver missing and presumed dead, she subsequently returned to the office of chief judge.
Her first task was to once more get the city and Judge force back on their feet, as well as to deal with all the dead. She decided not to appoint a Council of Five, but instead take advice from any and all Senior Judges when the time came; in an early such discussion, on Dredd's advice, she agreed to a public referendum over whether the Judges should continue to rule the city. She also became snappy with some of the Senior Judges, accusing Judge Grice
and others of coming under the Dark Judge's control due to weakness. She entered talks with Murphyville, the megacity in former Ireland
, trying to get them to sign the Judicial Charter.
The circumstances of her return to office caused a constitutional crisis in the following year, when an undead Silver returned to reclaim the office which he asserted was rightfully his. The dispute was settled by Dredd himself, who ruled in Silver's favour, before executing Silver's zombie for gross dereliction of duty during the Necropolis incident. She would go on to lead Mega-City One during the Judgement Day
crisis, personally fighting the zombie hordes on two occasions.
However, following Judgement Day her second term became increasingly beset with doubts about the quality of her leadership and her sanity. To cover up the losses of Judges from the recent crises, she began a programme of robot judges
which went disastrously wrong. However, she kept trying to revive the Mechanismo project despite clear evidence it was unworkable, and without a formal body like the Council of Five there was no way to oppose her if she would not listen to advice. In 2116 a deputation of senior judges - including Dredd - attempted to persuade her to reform the Council (with a view to then removing her from office), but they were unsuccessful, partly as she realised they'd try to do away with her. She also oversaw an attempt to remotely control the alien dune sharks in the Cursed Earth, though even the scientists working on this had no idea why she wanted it done.
Her final attempt to revive Mechanismo caused the robots themselves to try and assassinate her. By this point, Dredd was under arrest for his unlawful attempts to stop the project and McGruder's growing madness had embarrassed her on a tour of the colony world Hestia. When the assassination attempt was uncovered, and when Dredd was the sole reason she (and others) survived it, she pardoned him, scrapped the project, and agreed to stand down from office. She was succeeded by Judge Hadrian Volt
.
Declining to take the Long Walk again, she became a civilian and decided to write her memoirs. In her retirement she developed Alzheimer's disease
and her mental health rapidly deteriorated even further. When Judge Dredd heard that she had been scheduled for compulsory euthanasia
he abducted her and led her to a more honourable death fighting criminals in the Cursed Earth. The facts of her death were covered up.
A Mega-City One battleship and a street were named after her in her honour.
there was a character called Judge Evelyn McGruder who was played by Joanna Miles
. Her appearance is based on McGruder and her role in the movie is to serve as prosecutor in the trial of Judge Dredd (Sylvester Stallone
) for murder. During the trial she reveals that all lawgivers fire rounds with the DNA code of the Judge to whom the weapon belongs, thus making identification of the shooter possible with the recovery of the slugs from a victim. She successfully prosecutes Dredd. She was later shot dead along with the Council by Rico.
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...
stories published in the British comic 2000 AD. She was the first female Chief Judge of Mega-City One
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...
, and the first 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...
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...
to become Chief Judge twice (in 2104–2108 and 2112–2116). Her first names are a reversal of the first names of Margaret Hilda Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
at the time the character was introduced to 2000 AD.
Fictional character biography
After the death of the insane Judge CalJudge Cal
Chief Judge Cal is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He was loosely based on the real life Roman emperor Caligula, who is widely considered to have been insane...
, McGruder was appointed to eliminate corruption from the discredited Special Judicial Squad. She was head of the SJS from 2101 to 2104.
She led the resistance to the invading forces 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...
after Chief Judge Griffin
Judge Griffin
Chief Judge Griffin is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He was chief judge of Mega-City One between 2101 and 2104.-Fictional character biography :...
was killed and Judge Dredd was taken prisoner. As the only surviving 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 ....
after the war, she became chief judge by default. In her first term she established herself as one of the city's most able rulers as she set about rebuilding the war-torn city.
She resigned after four years in office following the Seven Samurai incident
Shojun the Warlord
Shojun, Warlord of Ji was a fictional villain in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD in 1986. He had powerful psionic abilities and attempted to take over the world....
, blaming herself for a massacre she thought she could have prevented (although most of her colleagues were more forgiving and begged her to stay), and took the Long Walk
The Long Walk (Judge Dredd)
The Long Walk is an event occasionally depicted in the long-running British comic strip Judge Dredd, which appears in 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine. It also featured in the 1995 film starring Sylvester Stallone....
into the Cursed Earth
Cursed Earth
The Cursed Earth is a part of the fictional universe from the Judge Dredd series that appears in the UK comic book 2000 AD.-Background:...
. (Her final act in office was to dismiss all of the senior judges who disagreed with her decision to resign, saying this proved they were incapable of proper judgement!) She was succeeded as chief judge by Thomas Silver
Judge Silver
Chief Judge Thomas Silver was chief judge of the fictional city of Mega-City One in the Judge Dredd comic strip.-Fictional character biography:...
.
Necropolis (Judge Dredd story)
Necropolis is a 26-part Judge Dredd epic by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, published in 1990 in 2000 AD progs 674–699. The story was the subject of extensive foreshadowing in the comic, beginning with The Dead Man , followed by "Tale of the Dead Man" , and finally three stories collectively...
crisis (ambushing his transport on assumption it contained criminals) and returned with him to fight the Dark Judges
Dark Judges
The Dark Judges are recurring villains in the fictional Judge Dredd universe recounted in the UK comic 2000 AD. They are Judge Death, Judge Fire, Judge Fear and Judge Mortis. Later storylines added the "Sisters of Death" , to their ranks...
. With Silver missing and presumed dead, she subsequently returned to the office of chief judge.
Her first task was to once more get the city and Judge force back on their feet, as well as to deal with all the dead. She decided not to appoint a Council of Five, but instead take advice from any and all Senior Judges when the time came; in an early such discussion, on Dredd's advice, she agreed to a public referendum over whether the Judges should continue to rule the city. She also became snappy with some of the Senior Judges, accusing Judge Grice
Judge Grice
Judge Grice was a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. Created in 1990 by John Wagner and Steve Dillon, Grice later had his own spin-off series, Purgatory by Mark Millar and Carlos Ezquerra...
and others of coming under the Dark Judge's control due to weakness. She entered talks with Murphyville, the megacity in former Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, trying to get them to sign the Judicial Charter.
The circumstances of her return to office caused a constitutional crisis in the following year, when an undead Silver returned to reclaim the office which he asserted was rightfully his. The dispute was settled by Dredd himself, who ruled in Silver's favour, before executing Silver's zombie for gross dereliction of duty during the Necropolis incident. She would go on to lead Mega-City One during the Judgement Day
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...
crisis, personally fighting the zombie hordes on two occasions.
However, following Judgement Day her second term became increasingly beset with doubts about the quality of her leadership and her sanity. To cover up the losses of Judges from the recent crises, she began a programme of robot judges
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...
which went disastrously wrong. However, she kept trying to revive the Mechanismo project despite clear evidence it was unworkable, and without a formal body like the Council of Five there was no way to oppose her if she would not listen to advice. In 2116 a deputation of senior judges - including Dredd - attempted to persuade her to reform the Council (with a view to then removing her from office), but they were unsuccessful, partly as she realised they'd try to do away with her. She also oversaw an attempt to remotely control the alien dune sharks in the Cursed Earth, though even the scientists working on this had no idea why she wanted it done.
Her final attempt to revive Mechanismo caused the robots themselves to try and assassinate her. By this point, Dredd was under arrest for his unlawful attempts to stop the project and McGruder's growing madness had embarrassed her on a tour of the colony world Hestia. When the assassination attempt was uncovered, and when Dredd was the sole reason she (and others) survived it, she pardoned him, scrapped the project, and agreed to stand down from office. She was succeeded by 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:...
.
Declining to take the Long Walk again, she became a civilian and decided to write her memoirs. In her retirement she developed Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
and her mental health rapidly deteriorated even further. When Judge Dredd heard that she had been scheduled for compulsory euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
he abducted her and led her to a more honourable death fighting criminals in the Cursed Earth. The facts of her death were covered up.
A Mega-City One battleship and a street were named after her in her honour.
Film version
In the 1995 feature 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...
there was a character called Judge Evelyn McGruder who was played by Joanna Miles
Joanna Miles
Joanna Miles is an American actress.Miles was born in Nice, France, the daughter of Jeanne Miles, an American painter, and Johannes Schiefer, a French painter art curator. She immigrated to the United States, and was naturalized a citizen, in 1941...
. Her appearance is based on McGruder and her role in the movie is to serve as prosecutor in the trial of Judge 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...
) for murder. During the trial she reveals that all lawgivers fire rounds with the DNA code of the Judge to whom the weapon belongs, thus making identification of the shooter possible with the recovery of the slugs from a victim. She successfully prosecutes Dredd. She was later shot dead along with the Council by Rico.