Batman / Judge Dredd (1991-98)

Judgement on Gotham (1991)

Authors: John Wagner / Alan Grant | Artist: Simon Bisley | Page Count: 61

"I'm goin' into an uncontrollable butt frenzy!"

Picking Judgement on Gotham off a shelf in '91 was the most excited I've ever been for a ridiculous comic crossover event. Joe Dredd and Batman! Whoa!

I imagined the personality clash to be like two worlds colliding. Okay, it's not quite that good, but it's still pretty awesome and revisiting it again despite being twenty+ years older gave me a similar kind of joy.

In previous years Batman had faced some twisted minds in his own world, but he'd never encountered anything quite like Judge Death before. When the superfiend D-Jumps from Mega-City One to Gotham it's going to take more than a glimpse of a winged mammal suit to save the city from being Judddgggged.

You'll need to be a fan of both characters to get the most from it. Author's Wagner and Grant had more experience writing for Joe, and it shows. They don't do Batman an injustice, they capture his personality well and don't compromise his integrity, but when weighed out it's mostly Dredd's story. I'm perfectly okay with that, but it's worth mentioning in case you're here solely for Batsy.

Both worlds have their own social problems. Dredd policies his with a take-no-shit attitude, while Batman does his best to keep the darkness from overtaking his in the usual pained vigilante way. There's no buddy cop team up here. The two men don't even like each other, but that's usually what happens when two over-inflated egos are forced to occupy the same space.

There's a lot of humour throughout. Simon Bisley's fully-painted, blood-splattered style is able to be both aggressive and hilarious. I know not everyone likes his stylised work, but for me he was the perfect choice to illustrate and highlight the severity of the story.

The easiest way to get a hold of it is in the Batman/Judge Dredd Collection (2013), but it's been reduced in size, making it closer to a typical American comic. To soften the blow, the collection also includes all three sequels (see below) and the hard to find Lobo/Judge Dredd: Psycho Bikers Vs. Mutants From Hell! (1995), which I'll add at the end of this post for completeness sake.

Vendetta In Gotham (1993)

Authors: John Wagner / Alan Grant | Artist: Cam Kennedy  | Page Count: 46

"I don’t like unfinished business."

The second crossover isn't as good as Judgement on Gotham (1991). I couldn't shake the feeling that it was commissioned just to keep the pairing alive in the mind of the comic buying public, and to obviously make some easy money for someone.

Wagner and Grant attempt to redress the balance a little by making it feel more like a Batman story. They succeed, the Judge feels like an unwelcome guest in Gotham, which, I guess, is what he is.

The villain is also Batman-specific this time, but it's one of the less interesting ones, in my opinion, and the story unfolding concurrently in two different places means the drama is lacking until the big reveal; but even then it's not up to the usual standard of many of Batman's own one-shots.

Art this time is by veteran Dredd and Rogue Trooper regular Cam Kennedy. The colouring by Digital Chameleon is washed out and lazy; it's not at all complementary to his style.

The story doesn't bother with a build-up, and realistically it doesn't have to because the first book did that, so the two men skip faux pleasantries and get right down to the gritty stuff. That enables Cam to have fun with an extended fight scene in which he keeps his angles low much of the time, imbuing the characters with the sense of grandeur that they deserve.

The Ultimate Riddle (1995)

Authors: John Wagner / Alan Grant | Artists: Carl Critchlow / Dermot Power | Page Count: 48

"I seek no 'sweet release' from this life yet…"

The third crossover is slightly better than the previous one, but that's thanks mostly to Carl Critchlow and Dermot Power's wonderful art. The actual story is one that longtime comics fans will have read a variation of many, many times before.

There seems to have been an effort made to balance the work more evenly between the two protagonists this time that partially works given the setting, but ironically the setting is one of the weak aspects of the work; it lacks the dangerous unpredictability of Mega-City One or the dark majesty of Gotham.

Dredd's refusal to give up his primary concerns even when confronted with a more immediate and dangerous one is another of the reasons why it works better than before. Most people in his situation would experience an internal conflict as a result of the external one, but his insistence that the law be adhered to at all times provides a stability upon which is layered some typically cold-hearted 'Dredd style' black comedy.

Batman gets to put into practice the 'Detective' part of his nickname, instead of just being an iconic 'Dark Knight' silhouette.

Both men are forced to rely on their unique strengths to see them through the hardship, but in very different ways. It helps build the mutual respect/hate relationship that each feels for the other, but it still doesn't come close to matching the tension of the first book.

The changeover in art duties partway through the story isn't as jarring as it could've been. Both artists have a similar kind of style and use a similar colour palette, so the casual reader may not even notice the difference.

Die Laughing (1998)

Authors: John Wagner / Alan Grant | Artists: Glenn Fabry / Jim Murray / Jason Brashill | Page Count: 95

"Let the dead fluidsss flow!"

The fourth and (to date) final entry reminds the reader why the pairing was a good idea in the first place. It's almost twice as long as previous books and it uses that extra space to craft a great Dredd story worthy of his own monthly Megazine. It's atypical of a Batman story, but there's reasons that I can't go into why that's less of a problem this time.

Events spiral far out of control and it all gets a bit insane, but when you consider who the villains of the piece are, then that's all the more fitting.

The fully painted art is absolutely stunning, and the attention to detail is lovingly attended to (Alfred's coffee cup made me chuckle). I'd be happy to wait twice as long for an issue of something if it was able to meet the standards of what's on offer here.

It took considerably longer than that, though. It reportedly went into production around the time Judgement on Gotham (1991) was released! In retrospect, that perhaps explains why the two books in-between feel a little like comic filler.

I still prefer Bisley's work on the first book, but it would be hard to top that.

Often with crossover events, when the two parties go their separate ways at the end, return to their respective titles, everything returns to normal, but after Die Laughing there's a lingering feeling that for Dredd's world the memory of what happened won't quickly fade.

Lobo / Dredd:
Psycho Bikers Vs. Mutants From Hell! (1995)

Authors: John Wagner / Alan Grant | Artists: Val Semeiks / John Dell  |  Page Count: 48

"Yer too stupid ta know when yer beat!
I admire that in a man!"

I like it when the cover art does most of the work for me. What you see (right) is a perfect example of what you get between the front and back covers of the one-shot. The only thing that's slightly misleading is that despite Dredd's name adorning it he's more of a supporting character in the madness that unfolds.

The location makes Dredd's inclusion partly obligatory and partly incidental, as confusing as that sounds. But that's as confusing as it gets. It's a straightforward action comic with some great one-liners courtesy of cover stars Lobo and the Cursed Earth's most famous bastich son, the surly guy with a dial on his head that goes all the way up to 4: Mean Machine Angel.

Mean and Lobo chew up the page like it was a chocolate stage. I'd difficulty picking out a quote to use on this entry because they'd so many good lines to choose from. If you can begin to imagine how they might fit into a dangerous under-city mutie scenario, you'll be close to understanding how much big dumb fun there is to be found if you're in the right frame of mind to appreciate it.