Comic Review // Judge Anderson PSI FILES 01
I'm starting to get through some of the comics piling up. This time, we have reached the first collected tales of Judge Dredd's occasional partner, Judge Anderson. These stories come from 2000ad Annual of 1984 and Progs 416-427, 468-478, 520-531, 607-609, 612-622, 635-647, 657-659, 669-670, 712-717 and 758-763, plus an additional story of Judge Corey from 2000ad Special 1989)
As you can tell from the above information, these stories are collected over a long period of Judge Dredd's time. While you read this, please keep in mind the timeline. Doing the books in sequence would slot this title around the complete case file number 7 and then into number 8.
It collects all of Anderson's tales from 1984 to 1991.
Judge Anderson was a fan-favourite supporting character in Judge Dredd's stories, so it was only a matter of time before she got her own strip. As you will notice, Anderson is almost the direct opposite of Judge Dredd and shows emotion, even empathy, towards victims and preps. This makes a nice change from the old Stone-faced totalitarian outlook on life.
Enough intro. Now, on to the stories.
Review
Story: Four Dark Judges - Judge Anderson is conned into travelling back to Dead World. Where she, unleashes the four Dark Judges? Now it's a race against time to stop them and save herself from a one-way trip to Titan. Can Anderson, Judge Dredd, and the justice system stop another rampage of this fearsome foursome?
Highlight: The Dark Judges! Can't beat the foursome on a killing spree, these are some of my favourite villains ever. Their logic, though twisted, is correct: crime is only committed by the living.
Story: The Possessed - A cult has kidnapped a Juve in hopes of opening a gateway to a demonic world. Can Judge Anderson save the kid and close the gateway, or must she resort to hard-ass tactics?
Highlight: The Mega City cultists. They had a comical presence and fulfilled the classic horror movie role.
Story: Hour of the Wolf - An East-Meg Psi hit squad has critically injured Judge Anderson. Whilst the pre-cog is in medbay she is plagued by vision of a wolf destroying the city. But who is the wolf?
Highlight: There is only one real highlight of this tale, but if I tell you about it, it will ruin the story. I know, such a lame cop-out.
Story: Contact—Judge Anderson is in deep space and is making first contact with an alien race that can only communicate via telepathy.
Highlight: Judge Anderson convincing a fellow Judge to believe that the aliens are, in fact, giant, poisonous, man-eating mutant alien maggots!
Story: Beyond the Void - Abbot Costello, the great Mahatma, has searched out Nirvana and crossed over into the void. But not all is as it seems, and someone or something is waiting for him. Can Judge Anderson find the monk to stop her arch-nemesis from returning?
Highlight: That's right, good old Judge Death is back and still chilling out in limbo. He adds the right mix of creepiness and comedy to this tale while making sure we know he will be back!
Story: Helios - Dr Helios is out for revenge, and once more, party girl Judge Anderson is on the scene. I fine it weird how PSI Judge get free time and the ability to go clubbing. Just doesn't sit right with me.
Highlight: Mutated psi slaves full of rage and murder!
Story: Judge Corey: Leviathan's Farewell - A little Judge Corey filler. Judge Corey is an empath (unlike Anderson's Telepathy), and this causes her to feel all the pain and suffering of others around them, which seems to be taking its toll on her. Her case leads her to the sea, where she meets the last of the humpback whales and psychically connects with the animal. The experience is too much for Judge Corey, who is next to the humpback whale as it dies.
Highlight: Judge Corey, originally a sidekick for Judge Anderson. It was nice to see her getting some love and a fuller back story, shame it was her last tale.
Story: Triad - Three Juves are all linked by their dreams, but someone is manipulating them to commit acts of psi-terror on Mega City One. It falls to Judge Anderson to work out what is really going on.
Highlight - The Blockness monster arrives in a block park lake to terrorize the residents.
Story: The Prophet - Call me Bill is the Prophet robot and is calling for the end of the fleshy ones. But something doesn't seem right about Bill, why is his fluids red like the fleshy ones?
Highlight: Call me Bill's wife pretending to be a TV!
Story: The Random Man- In a city of little choice, how much damage can fate and a dice cause? What would happen if you let dice decide your every move? Would you follow blindly?
Highlight: The artist of this strip, Carlos Ezquerra, is by far my favourite Mega-City artist.
Story: The Screaming Skull - Eb is being haunted by his past mistakes and is indeed of help. Soon Anderson is on hand but can the dead really haunt the living?
Highlight: Kalvin King- A fun underwear sales rep, meets a grisly end but proves life is worth living, especially in Mega City One.
Story: Engram - Whilst out in the Cursed Earth, Judge Anderson suffers a fall and experiences a moment which will alter her future.
Highlight: Judge Anderson reliving the past that made her into a Judge, this is a pretty dark tale to be honest and definitely not what I expected.
Story: Bonus Strip: The Haunting- Dr Levin has been possessed by the Demon Dahak. So it's now up to Judge Anderson to go in and clean house.
Highlight: Judge Anderson's psi image entering Levin's mind, it is just like riding a slide!
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed the Anderson Psi Files. Having only read about her via Judge Dredd and some IDW. Seeing how the PSI department operates and runs in Mega City One is nice. I also like how they transplanted Orlock into her stories and made him into her long-running nemesis alongside Death. I'm excited to get the next book and start reading as they are all new and fresh stories. So how to rate a new series and how it made me feel.....Well, it's easy. In this case, it is fun, interesting and well-rounded. This is a character that has had some time spent in it's creation, I feel they learnt from Judge Dredd and made sure they had a realistic character to build stories from.
Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
