Judge Griffin

Judge Griffin
Chief Judge Griffin (drawn by Brian Bolland).
Publication information
Publisher	Rebellion Developments
First appearance	2000 AD prog 27 (1977)
Created by	John Wagner and Ian Gibson

Chief Judge Griffin is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He was not named until his third appearance.

He was chief judge of Mega-City One between 2101 and 2104 (1979 to 1982).

Before becoming chief judge, Griffin was principal of the Academy of Law, and personally trained whole generations of the city's judges, including Judge Dredd, Judge Cal, and the first Judge Giant. During a fight to the death between Dredd and a crooked Judge Gibson, Griffin had every cadet brought in to watch as "it will be a valuable lesson".

When the insane tyrant Chief Judge Cal usurped control of the city, Griffin gathered his Academy staff and several other Judges, including Giant, together to form a rebel organisation. The wounded Judge Dredd was taken to one of their safehouses and Griffin called for him to be their leader. The two of them fought side by side during the guerilla conflict and were among the few rebel Judges that survived to the end. Following Cal's death, Dredd was the unanimous choice of the judges for the office of chief judge, but Dredd declined and nominated his old mentor Griffin instead.

Griffin maintained a great respect for Dredd; when the other members of the Council of Five questioned Dredd's actions after the Judge Child quest, it was Griffin who staunchly defended Dredd and his judgement, reminding the others of Dredd's actions during the reign of Judge Cal. Griffin vetoed an inquiry into Dredd and the possibility of another quest to find the Judge Child.

Griffin was leader of his city during its peak, and proved to be a capable ruler. However his term of office proved to be a short one. Early in the Apocalypse War of 2104 he was captured by the enemy and brainwashed, to be used as a puppet quisling leader for propaganda purposes, to encourage the surrender of the war-weary population. Since a rescue operation would have been impossible, Dredd found it necessary to assassinate him instead. Griffin actually managed to fight back through the brainwashing to confess his guilt live on air just before this event.