Judge Anderson: Hour of the Wolf

by Alan Grant, John Wagner, Barry Kitson (Illustrator)

In Mega-City One, some cases - and some criminals - are too bizarre for even the feared Judges (including Dredd!) to crack. That's when they call for Psi Division, the elite psychic department of the Judiciary - and Psi's top judge, Cassandra Anderson! In Hour of the Wolf, when Anderson starts getting psychic 'flashes' of a wolf stalking Mega-City One, she can't quite identify why they're so alarming - until an assassin almost kills her! Soon she finds herself caught in a race against time to stop an old, terrible threat to the city from resurfacing! And in Helios, Anderson must face another Psi - with the power to drive ordinary citizens into a psychotic, murderous fury!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Alan Grant was a Scottish comic book writer known for writing Judge Dredd in 2000 AD as well as various Batman titles during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is also the creator of the character Anarky.

Alan Grant first entered the comics industry in 1967 when he became an editor for D.C. Thomson before moving to London from Dundee in 1970 to work for IPC on various romance magazines. After going back to college and having a series of jobs, Grant found himself back in Dundee and living on Social Security. He then met John Wagner, another former D.C. Thompson editor, who was helping put together a new science fiction comic for IPC, 2000 A.D., and was unable to complete his other work. Wagner asked Grant if he could help him write the Tarzan comic he was working on; so began the Wagner/Grant writing partnership.

The pair eventually co-wrote Judge Dredd. They would work on other popular strips for the comic, including Robo-Hunter and Strontium Dog using the pseudonym T.B. Grover. Grant also worked on other people's stories, changing and adding dialogue, most notably Harry Twenty on the High Rock, written by Gerry Finley-Day. Judge Dredd would be Grant's main concern for much of the 1980s. Grant and Wagner had developed the strip into the most popular in 2000AD as well as creating lengthy epic storylines such as The Apocalypse War. Grant also wrote for other IPC comics such as the revamped Eagle.

By the late 1980s, Grant and Wagner were about to move into the American comic market. Their first title was a 12-issue miniseries called Outcasts for DC Comics. Although it wasn't a success, it paved the way for the pair to write Batman stories in Detective Comics from issue 583, largely with Norm Breyfogle on art duties across the various Batman titles Grant moved to. After a dozen issues, Wagner left Grant as sole writer. Grant was one of the main Batman writers until the late 1990s. The pair also created a four issue series for Epic Comics called The Last American. This series, as well as the Chopper storyline in Judge Dredd, is blamed for the breakup of the Wagner/Grant partnership. The pair split strips, with Wagner keeping Judge Dredd and Grant keeping Strontium Dog and Judge Anderson. Grant and Wagner continue to work together on special projects such as the Batman/Judge Dredd crossover Judgement on Gotham. During the late 1980s, Grant experienced a philosophical transformation and declared himself an anarchist. The creation of the supervillain Anarky was initially intended as a vehicle for exploring his political opinions through the comic medium. In the following years, he would continue to utilize the character in a similar fashion as his philosophy evolved.

Grant's projects at the start of the 90s included writing Detective Comics and Strontium Dog, but two projects in particular are especially notable. The first is The Bogie Man, a series co-written by Wagner which was the pair's first venture into independent publishing. The second is Lobo, a character created by Keith Giffen as a supporting character in The Omega Men. Lobo gained his own four issue mini series in 1990 which was drawn by Simon Bisley. This was a parody of the 'dark, gritty' comics of the time and proved hugely popular. After several other miniseries (all written by Grant, sometimes with Giffen as co-writer), Lobo received his own ongoing series. Grant was also writing L.E.G.I.O.N. (a Legion of Super-Heroes spin-off) and The Demon (a revival of Jack Kirby's charac

Reviews

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another re-read that I didn't put into GR the first time around. There are 4 stories in this trade collection but together they make up a complete story arc.

Hour of the Wolf
The Brainstem Man
Colin Wilson Block
Helios

Several different artists and it's always amazed me how each one seems to give Anderson a different hairstyle while keeping others, such as Judge Hershey, consistent:) Rereading these I find I had forgotten just how totally ruthless the Judges are.
3 and a half to 4 stars overall.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title story here is best, with Grant and Wagner freeing the infamous Orlock from captivity and doing the first of the Sov-Block’s revenges for the Apocalypse War. This sort of plot seems to have become a bit of a favourite and you can already see elements of the early stages of Day of Chaos in how this is set up. Helios itself is an odd story, with Grant kind of a bit at a loose end without Wagner and the Brainstem Man feeling like something already a bit old hat in a Dredd story and accordingly not much of a threat at all. There’s an interesting story in here though and it’s nice to see Cass and Corey’s friendship before the latter becomes the root cause of Cass’s departure from the Psi Judges a few years down the road