Albion British Comics Database Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Chief Judge Silver

Chief Judge Silver
Real name
Thomas Silver
Current alias
Chief Judge Silver
Aliases
Judge Silver
Alignment
Affiliation
Universe
Base of operations

Characteristics
Gender
Eyes
Hair
Unusual features
When he's a zombie, yes
Status
Citizenship
Marital status
Occupation
Judge
Education
Academy of Law
Origin
Place of birth
First appearance
Death

2000 AD prog 457
2000 AD prog 735

History[]

Thomas Silver is a supporting character in the 2000 AD strip Judge Dredd. He began his career as a street Judge in Mega-City One, serving in the Atomic War and the Second American Civil War. To his later shame, in the early 2070s he was a supporter of Morton Judd's plan to genetically engineer more docile citizens, which was vetoed by Chief Judge Fargo. Retiring from active duty after an injury in 2096, he became principal lecturer in Applied Violence at the Academy of Law, and was eventually appointed to the Council of Five by Chief Judge McGruder. Following McGruder's decision to take the Long Walk, Silver was appointed Chief Judge in 2108.

Silver was the most hardline, right-wing Chief Judge in the city's history up to that point, frequently using ruthless underhand tactics to turn situations to his advantage, including sabotaging the Democracy movement with a deliberate smear campaign and using undercover Judges to turn a peaceful protest march into a riot, which resulted in a massacre. When, in 2112 AD, Judge Joseph Dredd resigned and took the Long Walk after becoming uneasy about Silver's actions and his own complicity in some of them, Silver responded to this by hushing up Dredd's departure and replacing him with his clone, Judge Kraken, whom Dredd himself had previously pronounced unfit for service.

Just a few weeks later, Silver's catastrophic lapse in judgement caused disaster when the unstable Kraken was turned by the Dark Judges, causing the Necropolis disaster which claimed the lives of 60 million citizens. Silver fled in the city's hour of need and attempted suicide out of shame, but was captured alive by Judge Death, who murdered him but then had him revived as a zombie with his mental faculties intact so that he could be tormented by seeing the gradual destruction of his city. When Judges Dredd and McGruder returned to end the threat, the now undead Silver fled again and hid to escape destruction. He resurfaced months later and attempted to reclaim his position from McGruder, who had been reinstated, but she pointed out that he was medically dead, though with the Council of Five gone there was nobody left to rule on whether or not this was legally a bar to holding office.

Both Chief Judges eventually agreed to let Dredd decide the matter and he ruled in Silver's favour since Silver had never resigned or been removed from office, formally reinstating him. He then convicted the Chief Judge of dereliction of duty and executed him by immolation, so McGruder became Chief Judge again by default. Silver's ashes were swept away by a cleaner, but his ghost still haunts the Grand Hall of Justice.

Powers and abilities[]

Abilities

Leadership skills.

Strength level

Elderly human male who gets regular exercise.

Weaknesses

Abysmally bad judgement.

Paraphernalia[]

Equipment

Accessory pouch containing three heatseeker shells; helmet containing internal visor display (including infra-red) and respirator; uniform made from plasti-steel reinforced material.

Transportation

Lawmaster bike.

Weapons

Lawgiver handgun which can fire six types of shell: heatseeker, rubber ricochet, incendiary, armour-piercing, high explosive and standard execution. Also daystick and bootknife.

Links[]

Discover and Discuss[]

Advertisement