Reviewed by Will Cooling
Title: The Batman/Judge Dredd Files
Written by Alan Grant and John Wagner
Art by Simon Bisley (4-65), Cal Critchlow (67-97), Dermot Power (98-112), Glenn Fabry (116-150), Glenn Fabry with Jim Murray and Jason Brashill (151-162), Jim Murray (162-207)
Lettered by Todd Klein, Richard Starkings (67-113), Ellie De Ville (116-207)
Editor: Scott Nybakken
Published by DC Comics
DC Comics despite a reputation for unimaginative conservativism with its mainstream publishing has in the past year made moves to build on Vertigo in its efforts to reach out to non-superhero comic audiences with a Manga division and publishing deals with France’s (booo!) Humanoids and Britain’s Rebellion. Now as readers of my many reviews of 2000AD will know Rebellion is the current publisher of 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine so the deal marked yet another attempt to market Dredd and co to the yanks. It was also another chapter in the long running business relationship between DC and 2000AD Group, a relationship that began with the first Judge Dredd/Batman crossover that was finally published in 1991. It’s therefore apt that their new collaboration is begun with a reprinting of three (of the four) Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers.
Two things made the 1990s Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers very near unique to inter-company crossovers; one that they were all written by Judge Dredd’s premier writing team John Wagner and Alan Grant and two that together they possessed an overreaching story-arc of Batman having been predicted to save Mega City from disaster. Strangely this arc happened almost by accident, it was only the commissioning of the second (Vendetta in Gotham) and third (The Ultimate Riddle) books to mask Glenn Fabry’s slowness in completing Die Laughing that created the space for the arc to be developed. It also presents a problem for this collection as the storyline arc was most heavily featured in Vendetta in Gotham where Judge Dredd tries to prevent Batman’s death by stopping him interfering with a bomb attack by the Ventriloquist. Vendetta was the only story not feature fully painted art and so (presumably) on aesthetic grounds it has been left out of this collection, which is a shame as it was a pretty nifty story. That said; its absence does give the collection a cohesive and consistent look to it.
Perhaps the most intriguing and interesting thing about these stories is the changing dynamic between Dredd and Batman. One of the things established very early on is that despite their shared ruthless determination to eradicate crime and resulting obsessive and limited lives they actually have fundamentally different values. Judge Dredd is the most famous and revered officer in a police state where Judges invested with the powers of instant justice (Judge. Jury and Executioner) control the city ruthlessly. Batman on the other hand is a vigilante, aiding the police and the people against serious criminals. To Dredd everyone is a potential criminal whilst to Batman everyone is a potential victim. This difference is most obviously seen in their attitudes to life; Dredd thinks nothing of killing a criminal whilst Batman (obviously) refuses to cross such a line. In many ways the two are the same character only place in different circumstances and moral codes. The fact that both writers are familiar with both characters, especially in the case of Alan Grant who was regarded as one of the best Batman writers at the times shines through with their expert use of both characters.
A second factor is the presence of Judge Death and later on his Dark Judges- Fire, Fear and Mortis. These are the most inventive and brilliant villains in comic book history with their twisted maxim that as all crime is committed by the living therefore life itself should be a crime leading to carnage on a vast scale. Add to that their immortality (caused paradoxically by their being dead) and their supernatural powers making them a force to be reckoned with…plus they all look bloody cool.
Anyway, the first and in most people eyes the best crossover is the hugely influential Judgment on Gotham. This sees Judge Death arriving in Gotham using a dimension jump (D-Jump) belt obtained by double-crossing the psychopathic cyborg Mean Machine (who with his four-point dial can increase his rage). A quick battle with Batman leaves him looking for a new body and ally whilst Batman’s fiddling with the D-Jump leaves him in Mega City One face to face with Mean Machine and later Judge Dredd. What follows is a riotous story complete with an unholy alliance between Judge Death and Scarecrow, the crazed pursuit of Death by Mean Machine, and the macho posturing of Judge Dredd determined to arrest and detain the vigilante Batman. Amongst it all Batman and the telepath Judge Anderson attempt to stop Judge Death and save Gotham from a fate that actually is Death.
Long time writing partners Grant and Wagner are on fire in constructing a story that mixes serious action with comedic moments such as the glorious one page panel of what Death himself is afraid of, the Mean Machine attempts to find “the bony fella” and perhaps best of all the beginning of the climatic battle at a rock concert with Death singing “I’m an alien superfiend”. There’s also the usual stock of butch put-downs that you always get with Judge Dredd and the flippant, scatty putdowns you always get with Judge Anderson. The more serious side to the story is shown with some terrific action sequences such as Death’s first appearance and also with Batman’s shock immersion in Mega City One. The writers do a terrific job in creating an atmosphere that shows just how alien the environment he now finds himself is to Batman especially with his polite but confident offer to co-operate with Dredd being forcefully treated as impertinence, whilst his interrogation shows the totalitarian nature of Dredd’s system. The story is pushed forward at a breakneck speed with decompression not even on the agenda and it’s all the better for it.
Of course what the story is famous for is the fantastic full painted artwork of Simon Bisley. Bisley was an increasingly popular artist in Europe with his fully painted work on Slaine the Horned God providing 2000AD with its first major hit across the Channel and was beginning to influence other artists such as Glenn Fabry, Colin MacNeil and others to pick up their paint brushes. Here he produces what is in my mind is his finest artwork as his linework whilst showing the anarchic spirit that his later work possessed but its tighter and less self indulgent than such work (a fact probably caused by the extremely tight editorial controls that meant he had to submit pencils first before painting over them). This tightness is shown in his fantastic character design with his rough, edgy angular style of later eyes just shown in places whilst his steroid using Batman and Judge Dredd combining a mixture Tom of Finland preposterousness and genuine menace. His paints are of a similar quality with the slightly murky and brownish quality of the early parts of The Horned God (an effect he admits to being caused by him mixing his paints wrongly) long gone. Instead we get an extremely clear and naturalistic palette, which combined with some well-judged monochrome panels give you a fantastic looking story. With the art and writing at such a high quality this an absolute classic and hasn’t aged in the slightest despite being almost 15 years old.
On the back of this success, a sequel was commissioned called Die Laughing with Glenn Fabry meant to paint it like Bisley. However, Fabry fell behind, which meant that two fill-ins were commissioned the second of which The Ultimate Riddle is reprinted here. This sees Dredd and Batman thrown into an inter-dimensional contest of eight warriors by the Emperor Xero, a being in possession of a spectre of immense power. The contest is a hunt with Batman chosen as quarry, with only the one who kills him being allowed to leave alive. Despite this Dredd and Batman team up even if Dredd’s more violent methods disgust Batman. This is probably one of the most plot light books in comic history with the plot being a barely disguised excuse for lots of shooting and other violence. That said it’s not a bad read by any stretch of the imagination with some nice character moments curtsey of the perp that was dragged along with Dredd when he was ‘beamed up” and a great rendition of the Riddler. The supporting characters are slightly generic but still enjoyable to watch especially as they on the whole provide great visuals for the artists.
Speaking of which we get two this time with Carl Critchlow and Dermot Power sharing art chores. Critchlow’s work is the best with his detailed and muscle heavy linework providing for some great looking character designs whilst his action scenes are enjoyable even if they like the energy of Bisley’s. His paints are highly naturalistic with a subdued and unintrusive palette of colours that never overwhelms the linework. Dermot Power’s artwork on the other whilst good lacks the impact of Critchlow’s artwork due to its thick paints and smaller (if similarly detailed) character designs. Still both do the job and provide some class and depth to what is a lightweight (if fun) story.
We finally come to the last in the series, 1998’s Die Laughing. This sees Joker head to Mega-City One to free Judge Death in return for the secret of immortality only to also free the other three Dark Judges. Together they plan a murderous rampage at the seventh day hedonists Megasphere, which was about to be sealed off from the rest of the Big Meg. They soon gain control of Deputy/Acting Chief Judge Herriman with the aim of silencing Anderson, only for her to escape to Gotham and get Batman’s help. This was the main selling point of the collection for me, as this is the only crossover I’ve never read and boy it didn’t disappoint. To my mind the writing here is the best in the series with Wagner and Grant letting loose with some excellent comic moments such as Herriman’s slow disintegration and with the carnage in the Megasphere creating terrifically violent and/or funny moments including a fantastic double page spread of the five Dark Judges in action. However, the star of the story has to be the new Dark Judge Joker with the writers writing a fantastic version of the character with his put downs and zaniness shown in all their glory whilst never diminishing him as a genuine threat. They also use him to underline the fact that unlike him, the Dark Judges are zealots who believe in what they do and whose passion for their mission means that they will never stop. This contrasting of them with Joker is inspired. The relationship between Batman and Dredd is also shown to be more functional and very nearly friendly not only with their parting but also with the advice that Dredd gives Batman throughout the story and the simple fact that he allows Batman to work alongside him. Whilst the writers (in particular Grant) are stilled annoyed at the delays in my mind this story reads better with the character development of the two “fill in” stories; which makes it a shame that Vendetta was left out.
As for the art, well once again we get some fantastic pages. Glenn Fabry having been commissioned to do the lot instead does only half the pages but even with this limited amount he shines with his Joker being a fantastically cheeky (if surprisingly understated) version with a certain boyishness to him. His Dark Judges are excellent with Death in particularly being superbly realized. That said his naturalistic and detailed art doesn’t always fit in with the tone of the story, which is the most blackly comedic of the four so its to its advantage that he departs at around the halfway point (he provides linework for other to paint over for 10pages but his style is overwhelmed to the point where it looks virtually indistinguishable from Murray’s) especially as this is the point where the story really picks up with the arrival of Batman to Mega City One and the Dark Judges to the Megasphere. We then get the fantastic artwork of Jim Murray, proving that 2000AD didn’t learn the lesson of Bisley quick exit to American comics after Judgment on Gotham of not advertising its hottest prospects to DC, much to the benefit of this story. His style is perfectly suited to the closing half of the story with its cartoony exaggeration and rich, thick paints being perfect in capturing the mayhem of the Dark Judges rampage. His character designs are fantastic with the same steroid quality as Bisley/Critchlow only taken to the max whilst his approach to the Dark Judges is deliciously OTT as are his anarchic battle scenes that take place on such Gothic and Noir backgrounds as a roller coaster and the Love Boat. It is a tour de force with his masterful use of facial expressions making him the perfect artists to capture the abundant humour the script. An absolute corker of a story to end the series.
Overall, this is a collection of two classics in Judgment on Gotham and Die Laughing and one lightweight if fun story in The Ultimate Riddle. Add that up and you have an excellent collection; whether you like Dredd or not it doesn’t alter the fact that this contains two of the best Batman stories around with some of the best art that the character has ever had. In addition, you get to see the DC Comics debuts of high profile artists Simon Bisley and Jim Murray who would go on to achieve success in America. An absolute must read of a collection.
