Judge Hershey

Judge Hershey
Judge Dredd and Chief Judge Hershey (painted by John Burns)
Publication information
Publisher	Rebellion Developments
First appearance	2000 AD prog 162 (1980)
Created by	John Wagner and Brian Bolland
In-story information
Full name	Barbara Hershey

Chief 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 junior colleague, before being promoted to become his superior in 1999. She also had her own solo series, Judge Hershey, in the Judge Dredd Megazine (1992–1996).

Shortly after her graduation from the Academy of Law 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 proved 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.