Judge Kraken

Judge Kraken
Kraken as a Dark Judge. Illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra.
Publication information
Publisher	IPC Magazines, Fleetway Publications, Rebellion Developments
First appearance	2000 AD #583 (July 16, 1988)
Created by	John Wagner Alan Grant

Judge Kraken is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd comic strip featured in the long-running British comic 2000 AD. Although he only appeared in a few episodes, he was nonetheless a very important character in Tale of the Dead Man, in which he was given almost equal billing with Dredd, and in the epic story Necropolis, in which he actually replaced Dredd as the lead character in the first half of the story. Kraken first appeared by name in 2000 AD #583 (July 16, 1988).

Kraken was cloned from the DNA of Chief Judge Fargo, and was therefore effectively Judge Dredd's twin brother (since Dredd was also cloned from the same source). However he was actually many years younger than Dredd.

Kraken was originally not a judge but one of the Judda, a rogue army of clones created by the renegade Judge Morton Judd from the DNA of Mega-City One's greatest judges, and hidden in a secret base within Ayers Rock. In 2110 Judd sent his army into the Grand Hall of Justice, using teleporters in a surprise attack in an attempt to take control of the city and install himself as chief judge. After Dredd foiled the attack (killing Judd and most of the Judda), Kraken was taken prisoner. When the other prisoners were either executed or committed suicide, he alone was spared.

Kraken underwent a lengthy process of deprogramming in order to overcome his loyalty to the Judda. He was then trained to become a judge. Chief Judge Silver secretly intended that Kraken would eventually replace Dredd, who had been showing increasing signs of disillusionment with the Justice Department.

Matters finally came to a head in the events recounted in the story Tale of the Dead Man, when Dredd was assigned to supervise Kraken (now a rookie judge) to assess his suitability for graduation to full street judge. Kraken performed impeccably, his skills and judgement outshining even those of his assessor. However Dredd was able to detect lingering traces of loyalty to the creed of the Judda, and therefore failed Kraken. Consequently Kraken's original death sentence for his role in the Judda incursion was reimposed.