Preview: ‘The Essential Judge Anderson’ Vol. 3 — More Alan Grant Excellence

by Richard Bruton

The Essential Judge Anderson series gets to its third volume, collecting more of Alan Grant‘s character-defining tales of Mega-City One’s premier Psi-Judge…

We’ve already seen plenty of Psi-Judge Anderson in both the Essential Dredd volumes and the two Essential Anderson volumes. The former deals with the earliest meetings with the dark fiend, Judge Death, the latter with the incredible, metaphysical journies into the unknown of Shamballa and Satan, both illustrated so beautifully by Arthur Ranson.

Now we have a third volume of the Essential Anderson. In truth, it’s one essential tale, Childhood’s End, and four tales that, as good as they are, lack the more introspective, mystical elements of ‘Childhood’s End’, ‘Shamballa’, and ‘Satan’. Of course, given that it’s Alan Grant writing them all, that’s not to say that those four extras aren’t all quite perfect examples of how to write Anderson – after all, Grant was the writer who always seemed to know how to bring out the true essence of the character, looking past the Judge to the vulnerable, conflicted, very human character underneath it all.

Judge Anderson: Childhood’s End – By Alan Grant and Kev Walker

This is a volume collecting more of Grant’s character defining Anderson tales, including his previously uncollected trio of Judge Death stories, along with a timely reminder, with the Kaiju ridiculousness of ‘Big Robots’, of just how great an artist Dave Taylor was.

It’s so fitting to see an example of his incredible art, so full of his Euro-influenced stylings, art that would finally find a home here at 2000 AD, in this volume, tragically released in the week of his death.

Judge Anderson: Bad Robots – by Alan Grant and Dave Taylor

But it’s ‘Childhood’s End’ that takes centre-stage here, another of Grant’s explorations of what it means to be Judge Anderson, exploring the dichotomy of the Psi who taps into human emotions yet is part of a regime where the rule of law is all. In Shamballa and Satan, Grant had Anderson take on the philosophical, the mystical, the magical reality of her existence. Now, in ‘Childhood’s End’, he pits Anderson against Gods on Mars, delivering a true page-turner of a tale – because Grant could always tell a tale that thrilled you – whilst still delving far deeper into things, this time an exploration of all that made humanity what it is.

It’s no surprise that all three of these Essential Anderson volumes thus far have featured exclusively the writing of Grant. He really was the writer who got under the skin of the character and gave her so much depth. There was no one who truly got Anderson the way Grant did, and the five stories here just go to prove it once more.

ESSENTIAL JUDGE ANDERSON: CHILDHOOD’S END – WRITTEN BY ALAN GRANT, ART BY KEV WALKER, DAVE TAYLOR, DAVID ROACH, JAKE LYNCH.

PUBLISHED BY 2000 AD ON 27 AUGUST 2025

CHILDHOOD’S END – BY ALAN GRANT, KEV WALKER, LETTERS BY STEVE POTTER – JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE 2.27-2.34