Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Matt Smith
Artist: Carl Critchlow
Release Date: 13th August 2014

After receiving a powerful psi-flash of a heist at the Megapolitan Museum of Modern History, Judge Anderson investigates the scene and is subsequently attacked by a mutant psychic who blacks out the entire area, rendering all but Anderson unconscious. Upon discovering that the attack was actually a cover for the theft of an old Cursed Earth map, Anderson sets out on the trail of the perps in a bid to determine it’s importance.

Taking place after the events of Judge Dredd: Year One, this new mini series opens a window into the past of Judge Anderson, and seeks to establish IDW’s vision for the character. For the uninitiated, Cassandra Anderson is a powerful psychic with telepathic and precognitive powers, and an officer in Mega City One’s Psi-Division. This series takes place in the early years of her career in the Justice Department, prior to her pairing with Dredd, and details her first adventure outside of Mega City One.

Clearly not looking to re-invent the character from scratch, writer Matt Smith retains the traits that helped define the original 2000AD incarnation. He depicts Anderson as a sharp, insightful Judge motivated by a strong sense of duty, but also as someone who intuitively understands the weight of responsibility her abilities bring. Over the course of this first issue we learn a little of Anderson’s past via flashback, as opposed to her own recollection, as at this time Anderson has no memory of her parents or her life before her training as a Judge, a plot point sure to be resolved over the course of the series. By the end of the issue, a number of questions are raised regarding the notion of a wider conspiracy, and we are introduced to the possible mastermind behind the theft.

On art duties, Carl Critchlow captures the visceral atmosphere of the dystopian world to a degree, but I found his daytime rendering of the city a little too clean, almost uptopian. That said, the splash page depicting Anderson’s vision of the Alabama Morass is a particular highlight; the claustrophobic, overgrown nature of the environment nicely mirroring that of Anderson’s more familiar surroundings of the Mega City.

A serviceable re-introduction to the character, wrapped in a neatly poised conspiracy tale.

Rating: 3/5

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The writer of this piece was: Martin Doyle
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