History[]
Judge Sam is a character from the 2000 AD strip Judge Dredd. Two years after he became a fully fledged Brit-Cit Judge he went to Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, to help the Justice Department of Mega-City One rebuild their prison there. Judge Sam's input was needed because had trained as an architect, and because Mega-City One's resources were depleted after the events of Chaos Day. The other Judges on Titan were annoyed by Sam's wide-eyed wonder at finding himself on an alien moon. Most Judges are strictly utilitarian, but Sam allowed himself a few moments to stop and gaze in awe at the vast ringed planet hanging in the sky above him before starting work.
When a ship from Enceladus (another of Saturn's moons) crashed near Mega-City One and brought with it a strange form of energy that caused the city to be enveloped in ice, the prison rebuild crew, including Judge Sam, were ordered to go to Enceladus and carry out investigations. On Enceladus, Judge Sam became increasingly convinced that a higher power had guided him there for a reason. The team found a huge shaft leading miles below the moon's surface. While climbing down it, the other Judges fell and died, but Sam made his way to the bottom. He found a gigantic cavern full of alien ice spiders who had the remains of Aimee Nixon and other criminal ex-Judges who had escaped from the prison on Titan. These remains were being kept in capsules and used somehow, via the aliens' eldritch energy, as templates to power the gigantic ice monsters that were by that point overrunning Mega-City One. The monsters had the personalities of Nixon and her fellow convicts. Mega-City One was saved when Judge Sam destroyed all the capsules with the cannon he was carrying.
After climbing back to the surface of Enceladus, Judge Sam was saved by a Justice Department spaceship and taken to Mega-City One. Still believing that a higher power had a purpose for him, he asked to become a Mega-City Judge, and was accepted. Sam helped Dredd to uncover a secret network of tunnels riddling the Grand Hall of Justice, used by a covert group of Judges who were using the alien energy from Enceladus to augment their stealth technology. With this energy they could become invisible and walk through walls, like ghosts, and they used this ability to kill pro-democracy activists. Sam invented a device that would enable Dredd, Giant, Dirty Frank and SJS Judge Gerhart to see these 'ghosts', but the first pair they caught committed suicide before they could be questioned.
Sam continued to aid the investigation, but was murdered by Dirty Frank, who proved to be under the mental control of the elusive Judge Smiley.
Powers and abilities[]
Abilities
Finding and arresting perps; being a highly skilled architect; seeing patterns; courage and determination.
Strength level
Peak human male.
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; spacesuit (when on Titan).
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[]
- Appearances of Judge Sam
- Character Gallery: Judge Sam
- Images that feature Judge Sam
- Fan-Art Gallery: Judge Sam
- Judge Sam quotations
Discover and Discuss[]
- Search News for: Judge Sam · Edward Sam · Judge Sam