The Judge Child was an extended storyline in the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd that ran from issues 156 to 181 in 1980. It introduced a character with the same name. Written by John Wagner and drawn by Mike McMahon, Brian Bolland and Ron Smith, the story also introduced the popular villain "Mean Machine" Angel and the future chief judge Judge Hershey, as well as drastically expanding the scope of the Judge Dredd universe. Consequences of the Judge Child story affected a number of plotlines for the next eighteen years, as well as leading to a notable sequel, City of the Damned. The story is also notable as introducing Alan Grant as Wagner's long-term co-writer of the series (beginning in the final episodes set on Xanadu).