Cassandra Anderson

Judge Cassandra Anderson is a member of the PSI Division of Judges of Mega-City One. Like her namesake Cassandra she has psychic powers. In additions to being able to sense approaching danger and foresee events of the near future, as did her namesake, she also has telepathy. This allows her to read other people's minds and use mental attacks. These abilities allowed her to enlist in Mega-City One's corps of Judges as member of the PSI Division, which includes all Judges possessing psychic abilities.

Character Biography

Originally appearing while the city was facing the first attack by Judge Death of the  Dark Judges (a group of undead Judges from another dimension who seek to destroy all crimstroying all life) she was instrumental in stopping the attack. She has since been involved in many other attacks by the Dark Judges, who even managed to use her as an instrument of their plans for a while. Despite her efforts to end their threat, which even included exiling them to empty pocket-dimensions, the Dark Judges always manage to return eventually, ever determined to fulfil their mission. Though both sides claim it as their mission to prevail, in time Anderson and Death have become personal enemies to each other.

Meanwhile she has become a prominent member of her division and has gained the respect of Dredd despite their differing attitudes. In contrast to Dredd she has always been critical of the weaknesses evident in the Judicial system of Mega-City One, though she has been deemed too valuable to her Division to face consequences for it. Also in contrast to Dredd she has a sense of humor and she is able to form personal friendships with fellow Judges. She is able to feel doubt and remorse, two feelings that Dredd doesn't allow to himself. But her determination to a mission she accepts as her own is similar to Dredd's own and the two have been able to co-operate effectively during a number of missions.

She has had a crisis of conscience following the resurfacing of childhood memories of an abusive father (as told in the story Engram). She was shocked to find that her Division was aware of it but had set mental blocks in her mind to make her forget. Though she understood the Division's belief that she was more effective without those scars threatening her mental health, she still didn't agree with it and temporarily left the force. She had a series of space travels while soul-searching and eventually returned to the force. Dredd has had a similar experience and they can somewhat relate to each other. They are both considered veterans currently and are seen with awe by younger and less experienced Judges.

After a deadly run in with Judge Death, she was placed in a coma and infected with the psychic Half Life virus that would be released if she ever awoke. She was able to contain the virus within a web of psychic constructions and illusions, but she was slowly dying. A team of Psi-Judges was sent in to rescue her and destroy the virus; they succeeded in rescuing Anderson, at the cost of nearly the whole team, but Half Life passed on to Judge Gistane, who was then experimented on by the mad Judge Fauster so he could use the virus to achieve immortality. When Half Life was unleashed on the city causing a wave of mass murder, Anderson was the one who stopped it.

Since exiting her coma, Anderson is still dealing with her increasing age; she is now pushing fifty and since being a Psi stops her from using the drugs & treatments that keep aging Street Judges like Dredd active, she knows she will eventually be unable to do her job anymore. She will eventually meet a tragic yet inevitable end.

Death

In February 2014's Judge Dredd Megazine #345, the Anderson/Psi-Division story ends with Anderson eventually committing suicide via hanging. Alan Grant’s been talking about this for some time, implying at LSCC last year that he saw it as the only logical conclusion for the character. It’s a difficult direction for that character, but it’s probably the biggest effect we’ve seen of the Day of Chaos, with Anderson despairing in the face of almost a billion deaths.

See Also

• Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby)

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