Personality[]
Galen DeMarco is a hardbitten and cynical character. Barbara Hershey thinks of her as a "quitter" because she left the Judges, but in fact she has a strong work ethic and will do whatever it takes to get a job done.
History[]
DeMarco was first introduced in the Judge Dredd arc known as "The Pit" a story about Judge Dredd being sent to oversee and turn around one of the worst performing Sectors in Mega-City One, a place that had long since become a dumping ground for Judges that had screwed up.
Before the Pit[]
DeMarco came from a very rich family, being the daughter of a billionaire who had her inducted into the Academy of Law. Galen didn't want to leave her father, whom she loved dearly, but joined the Academy from a desire to please him. Her father was murdered by his subordinates, who had warped his charitable foundation into a scam that preyed on poor people. DeMarco was a cadet Judge at the time, seventeen years old, and didn't take any compassionate leave or attend her father's funeral. She inherited his 16 billion credit fortune, but chose to remain a Judge rather than pursue a billionaire lifestyle.
The Pit[]
Galen first met Judge Dredd while serving (at her own request) in Sector 301 also called "The Pit".[1] Judge Dredd found DeMarco to be one of the most competent Judges in the Pit, and was curious as to how such a promising Judge had ended up there, so after putting her in charge of rooting out the Sector's corrupt Judges he had another Judge, Judge Castillo investigate her.
Castillo discovered that DeMarco was secretly having an unjudicial liaison with another Judge named Warren. Dredd dismissed Warren for dereliction of duty, but DeMarco redeemed herself by putting her job before saving her reputation, and was allowed to remain a Judge. She later killed Warren after he kidnapped her in an attempt to seize her fortune.
Promotion to Sector Chief[]
After many successful missions, including a Hotdog Run into the Cursed Earth[2], and a search and rescue mission to find a kidnapped Judge Dredd[3], DeMarco was promoted to Sector Chief.[4] One of DeMarco's first orders was to bring Judge Dredd into her sector, and onto her team. Judge Dredd was unsure about her reasons for doing this, and after a short period it became apparent that DeMarco had actually grown to have feelings for him, she kissed him out of the blue. Dredd chose not to report her misconduit.
Resignement[]
DeMarco's misconduit was later discovered by Dredd's enemy in Justice Department, Judge Edgar, who decided to investigate further, bringing in DeMarco and having her drugged and interrogated, hoping to implicate Dredd in an unjudicial liaison. After that, DeMarco resigned from Justice Department rather than undergo the "compulsory re-education" that Chief Judge Volt demanded.[5]
After resigning from the Justice Department, Galen became a private investigator. She used to be assisted by a talking gorilla called Travis Perkins until he was killed. Dredd trusts Galen and occasionally enlists her help when he needs the assistance of someone who has law-enforcement skills but isn't part of Justice Department.