History[]
Lenny Zero is a character from the world of Judge Dredd who occasionally has his own strip. He grew up in a mopad (a mobile home constantly travelling the highways of Mega-City One at breakneck speeds). While he was still a child Zero's father died trying to escape from one of Judge Caligula's work gangs, and he watched his mother jump off the city wall and be vapourised by an anti-missile laser. The last he saw of her was a cloud of smoke slowly dispersing over the Cursed Earth. It was her dying wish that her son enrol at the Academy of Law and train as a Judge, so that in the cut-throat world of the city he would be the hunter rather than the hunted.
Zero worked as an undercover Judge in the Wally Squad for fifteen years. In 2122 AD he quit after trying to steal from Mega-City mob boss Little Caesar Piccante because he wanted to start a new life off-planet with his lover Mona. Unfortunately, Mona turned out to be Judge Kramer, an SJS (Special Judicial Squad) Judge who was also undercover. When she tried to arrest him so he could be sent to prison on Titan for twenty years, Zero blew her left hand off to facilitate his escape.
Kramer became Zero's sworn enemy, dedicated to bringing him to justice — which isn't surprising, as her hand was replaced by a bionic one which reminds her of him every single day. She now believes him to be dead after an orbital weapons platform blew up the spaceship he was escaping in, not knowing that Zero had left the ship and eluded the Judges' blockade moments before it took off. For his part, Zero maintains a tortured love-hate obsession with Kramer, whom he has never forgiven for lying to him.
After wiping Little Caesar Piccante's bio-chipped personality from the body of the ten-year-old it was inhabiting, Zero was free to pursue a career as a criminal in the Big Meg's underworld without fear of mob reprisal. In 2134 AD he hatched an audacious plot to rob the Justice Department vaults with the assistance of a number of associates, including Shuggy Bear, Max Normal, a psychic called Mink, a DJ called Afro Dizzy, and Orlok's satellat. The plan was successful, but the money was later stolen from the gang by a sentient ATM called Johnny Cash (who, ironically, used it to finance an escape to a paradise planet with no extradition treaty of the sort that Zero had wanted for himself). On the bright side, during the caper a robot to whom Zero owed a large amount of money was killed. Also, Zero had managed to infiltrate Justice Department and influence senior SJS Judge Buell to cause Judge Kramer to be one of the Judges guarding the money, all of whom were incapacitated by an aphrodisiac gas, so that he could get a recording of her and her fellow Judges having an orgy. His life has made him not so much a charming rogue as a massive sleazebag with a taste for revenge porn.
Powers and abilities[]
Abilities
Playing shuggy; money laundering; armed combat; double-crossing people.
Strength level
Average human male.
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment
NightShades (have an integrated heads-up display, give him 360° vision and can intercept and record audio transmissions).
Transportation
Stolen Otomo K-9000 bike; mopad he lives in after leaving Justice Department.
Weapons
Quick-draw pistols (will explode if a code phrase is said).
Notes[]
- Lenny Zero's usual artist is Jock, but he has had one story illustrated by Ben Willsher.
- Zero has had the two implants on the left side of his forehead since he was a child living with his parents.
- Zero's adventures are collected in volume 18 of Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection, which is entitled Undercover Brothers and focuses on the Wally Squad.
Trivia[]
- In tennis, a score of zero is called 'love' (because if you do something for love, you do it for nothing).
- A flashback to Zero's childhood showed him playing with a Call-Me-Kenneth action figure.
Links[]
- Appearances of Lenny Zero
- Character Gallery: Lenny Zero
- Images that feature Lenny Zero
- Fan-Art Gallery: Lenny Zero
- Lenny Zero quotations
Discover and Discuss[]
- Search News for: Lenny Zero · Leonard Zero · Lenny Zero