[The Batman/Judge Dredd Collection] (By: John Wagner) [published: January, 2014]

Batman

by John Wagner

When Batman crosses paths with the gleefully violent Judge Dredd, things are bound to get ugly! In these tales from the 1990s, the two crimefighters face The Riddler and The Joker and battle extra-dimensional gladiators.  A special bonus included in this collection is Judge Dredd's epic battle with alien bounty hunter Lobo.

This amazing new hardcover collects Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment On Gotham, Batman/Judge Dredd: Vendetta In Gotham, Batman/Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle, Batman/Judge Dredd: Die Laughing #1-2 And Lobo/Judge Dredd: Psycho Bikers Vs. Mutants From Hell!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Batman, Science Fiction, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Crime

Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since. He is best known for his work on 2000 AD, for which he created Judge Dredd. He is noted for his taut, violent thrillers and his black humour. Among his pseudonyms are The best known are John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter. (Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The incarnations of Justice and Law meet… and it won’t be easy!


I was able to ge ton its original publications the prestige format comic books of “Vendetta in Gotham” and the two parts of “Die Laughing”, but since I wasn’t able to find the other stories collected in this hard cover TPB, I didn’t hesitate to buy it, and therefore, I used this edition (that indeed I have) to make the overall review of all stories presented here.


The overall rating is the average sum resulted of the ratings on each individual stories.


Main Cover to the TPB collection: Mike Mignola (used previously as the cover for Vendetta in Gotham)


Judgment in Gotham

Rating: *** ( 3 stars)

Writers: Alan Grant & John Wagner

Illustrator: Simon Bisley

Letterer: Todd Klein (because he is the best letterer in the business, so always it’s relevant to mention his presence)

Dredd: I’ll tell you something else... the mask... the costume... the weapons... you know what I smell? ... I smell vigilante... And I don’t like vigilantes!

Batman: Is there any chance I could speak to someone with a little intelligence?

Anderson: Somebody lookin’ for me?

This was the epic first meeting of the America’s Most Popular Crimefigher with the Britain’s Most Popular Lawman. The artwork by Simon Bisley is something that shocked your visual senses due the awesome use of color and effects on the final artwork.

Many people use to think of Law and Justice as two things that are basically the same, but in the practice you have to realize that while both concepts try to acomplish very similar goals, at the very bottom they can’t more different if we would be talking about day and night.

Batman seeks to bring justice to the streets of Gotham City.

Judge Dredd imparts law to the streets of Mega-City One.

It’s really good that they live in different dimensions, because it would impossible for these two characters to co-exist in one single world.

So, Judge Anderson from Psi Division will have to play as an unorthodox “referee” to avoid that those two would kill each other, since their both cities are in grave danger.

The most lethal menace that Mega-City One has ever faced, Judge Death fools Mean Machine to steal a dimensional-jump belt and the deadly judge escapes to Gotham City only to combine forces with The Scarecrow, and this is only the beginning of a high-octane adventure with the safety of two cities in the balance.

Only for the mesmerizing artwork, this a must-read story, but in the narrative is basically a standard “team-up” comic book adventure where the two heroes started arguing each other and later they make an uneasy alliance to fight the real villains.

Still, it’s a pretty decent entertaining story with wonderful artwork.


Vendetta in Gotham

Rating: ** ( 2 stars)

Writers: Alan Grant & John Wagner

Illustrator: Cam Kennedy

No weapons... man to man! Just the way you wanted it!

While the Ventriloquist is developing some mysterious plan during a theater play, Judge Dredd suddenly appears in the dimension of Gotham City demanding a man-to-man fight with the Batman.

In this story the artwork is very poor and honestly the story is almost the same as poor, and while at the end it’s explained everything seems like just a weak justification to a “in-between” story to unite the past meeting of Dreed and Batman with the following one, after this.


The Ultimate Riddle

Rating: *** ( 3 stars)

Writers: Alan Grant & John Wagner

Illustrator: Carl Critchlow

I told you I didn’t want your kind of help!

The Riddler lures into a trap to the Batman and he ended in some other unknown place where Judge Dredd appears too and a whole group of deadly intergalactic fighters, where a mysterious host demands a contest of battles where only one can survive.

This story is a basic all-out rumble without much brains in the narrative but the really great artwork by Carl Critchlow is plenty enough to gain the vital third star to the rating on this particular story.


Die Laughing

Rating: ***** ( 5 stars)

Writers: Alan Grant & John Wagner

Illustrator: Glenn Fabry

Have you seen this man? The Joker. Justice Department offers ten million credits for information leading to his capture!

It seems that all journeys lead to this story. After three hard encounters between Judge Dredd and The Batman, everything seemed like a paved road conducting to this final event.

The Joker heard from the Scarecrow about the existence of dimensional-jump belts able to transport people between dimensions, so he traces one of them.
Once in Mega-City One… his plan? Oh, something small...

...to liberate ALL FOUR DARK JUDGES and joins them as the fifth inmortal Dark Judge!

Judge Mortis, Judge Fear, Judge Fire and Judge Death working along with The Joker!

And if things weren’t bad enough, Judge Mortis takes control of the current Deputy Chief Judge ordering to arrest Judges Anderson and Dredd, so with the whole Department of Justice against them, they will need the assistance of The Batman.

I think that this is more solid story of the bunch involving Batman and Dredd, a really smart use of all characters of both publishing houses and also, the incredible artwork by Glenn Fabry.


BONUS STORY!!!

Psycho-Bikers vs The Mutants of Hell

Rating: ***** ( 5 stars)

Writers: Alan Grant & John Wagner

Illustrator: Val Semeiks

Sheesh! Th’ things I do fer money! Th’ best bountyhunter in th’ biz, bodyguardin’ a mouse!

So you thought that was all, ah? Well, you were happily mistaken since this collected TPB featurig a bonus story, reprinting the crossover of Judge Dredd with Lobo!!!

The Law meets the Main Man!

Lobo is bodyguarding an intergalactic TV host since he is really needing the money, and when he thought that that was going to be an easy and boring job, a whole armed group of unknown mutants attack the dressing room of the TV host that it seems to be more that it was supposed to be.

Lobo trying to keep up with the mystery (and getting his payment) use a dimensional-jump belt from one of the beaten mutants (seriously, those dang guys of Tech 21 should be put in jail by the Judges for the extremely poor inner work about the security of such devices! It seems that anybody is able to steal a D-Belt without much trouble!) and Lobo is transported to Mega-City One where he first will meet Mean Machine...

...you can bet that nothing peaceful will come out from that!

Meanwhile, Judge Dredd is in the middle of security issue with the new president of Belgium...

...a dang brat millionaire kid who just bought that country and now he is president-for-life of Belgium and now he is doing a “diplomatic” visit to Mega-City One.

Unknown to all parties in all this mess is that their roads will meet in an underground war against an army of mutants!

Surprisingly, this is the best dang story in the whole TPB!

Crazy, funny, full of violence, just as any good Judge Dredd story should be.

Also, and while the artwork is in a totally different line than the ones done by Bisley, Critchlow and Fabry on the previous stories of the TPB, the work by Val Semeiks is just the kind of artwork that you find in a regular Judge Dredd story, so it works wonderfully here, helping to enjoy this wacko narrative but one heck of entertainment.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent cross-over, it just works so well.

The tales within are action-packed, intense and violent.

With each turn of the page it's packed full of clever dialogue and beautiful artwork.

If you're a fan of both characters, you should love this collection.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment On Gotham ☆☆☆☆
Batman/Judge Dredd: Vendetta In Gotham ☆☆☆
Batman/Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle ☆☆☆
Batman/Judge Dredd: Die Laughing #1-2 ☆☆☆☆
Lobo/Judge Dredd: Psycho Bikers Vs. Mutants From Hell! ☆☆1/2

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept, two very different crime fighters from the 90s go head to head, when they're not saving !each other's butt. Some great full page graphics! Fascist Judge Dredd from Mega City arrests Batman for vigilantism, while Batman who never kills must deal with judge, jury and executioner.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I make not apologies for this book - this is a lesson in pure nostalgia -the reason I say this is that I read the majority of these titles while at university. One of my best friends at university was a huge 2000AD fan and was slowly trying to get a complete collection (I wonder how far he got). as a result each week he would have it delivered and yes I remember these titles as another friend who was a huge Batman fan has introduced me to some of the most iconic and famous comic stories out there (Nightfall, killing joke, death in the family, year 1)

Well this book has finally collected them all together - and thankfully in all their full glory. What a load of violent pointless fun they were. Yes they are exactly what you would expect from the class of two great characters but also the writers and artists involved with this project.

The stories follow a very loose arc as you would expect - more to justify the relationship between the two rather than as a longer over reaching storyline. However it does work well as you can see how their interactions develop and I must admit wonder how future stories would develop.

These are definitely the products of the 90s and I wonder if we will get the see such stories again I am not expect but what I can say is that its great that someone has got them all collected together in one volume. As I said to start with a huge trip through my university days.

[Jim Gorman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a graphic novel cross over with Judge Dredd meeting up with Batman. It was a fun read, with two characters I enjoy.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll cop to mostly skimming this one.


Pun intended, bro.

Though I'm a sucker for a dank crossover, combining these two characters felt more like peanuts and bubble gum than macaroni and cheese. There was some pretty wild art to admire here and there but for the most part I found the comics difficult to follow and visually overwhelming.

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Yep.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and easy read. It's also the first Judge Dredd stuff I've read, which is pretty bad for a British comic book nerd in his 20s (sue me, I'm still learning!).

It never spends too much time going into the how and why of things, it's more 'Dredd and Batman together. Let's roll with it and have some fun!'.

High point of the book was Joker making it into Megacity One, becoming immortal, only to find it all taken away from him on his return to Gotham. He thought he finally had the upper hand on Batman. Think again!

Low point was probably the Lobo crossover that finished the book. He's a character that's never really appealed to me much (but I am someone who reluctantly got into Deadpool recently and has never read any Judge Dredd before, so what do I know?). But it did have a character called Buttface with a Butt for a face, which was pretty hilarious.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art was incredible in this collection of stories. The stories themselves were kind of dumb, but fun, in that pure cheese 90’s schlock way. Being that this was a Judge Dredd crossover, I didn’t really expect much more than that in the storytelling department.

[David Cordero · Rating 3 out of 5]

We got Dredd, Batman, the Dark Judges, Riddler and Joker. We even got Lobo on this weird journey through some of the best artists of the 80s and 90s.

[Jason Ray Carney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun crossover collection. Judge Dredd and Batman start out fighting eachother and eventually grow to understand eachother and cooperate. The idea that Batman, a shadowy vigilante operating outside the law, and Judge Dredd, a stubborn advocate (personification) of state law, would come together in tentative alliance, is interesting. It was also interesting to compare the heroes' different setting: the cyberpunk dystopia of Mega City brings into focus the more 1930s/1940s vibe of Gotham. But despite their differences, the settings seemed similar. A lot of the art in this collection was way too stylized. I can't completely tell, but many issues seem to be done in oil pastels or colored pencils with a wide-ranging palette and lots of different colors in each frame; moreover, the representations are really out there, almost like Ralph Steadman's psychedelic work. For my part, that style was too much for an entire issue and didn't feel appropriate for Batman or Judge Dredd. There is a Lobo and Judge Dredd issue that is kind of a bonus that appears at the very end. This was fun and satirical.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holy Drokk, Batman! A crossover between the bat vigilante and the fascistic future policeman? Unfortunately it’s not as good as it sounds and somehow John Wagner managed to get four books out of this unlikely team-up. Full review here!

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A truly odd collection of 4 tales of Batman and Judge Dredd. On the whole I would say I found it enjoyable. The differing styles of Batman vs Dredd are obvious- Dredd is far more lethal and violent. He also comes off as a dunce. The story starts with a Mega-City 1 criminal coming to Gotham and running into Batman. Batman is then sent to MC1 and is nearly arrested by Dredd. This starts the collection and establishes their relationship. Then the next few stories wrap up their team up against the Dark Judges. In between we have some of the Gotham criminals working with the criminals from MC1. Riddler and Joker figure prominently. The stories are unique and original, though I hesitate to call them good. Dredd's stories tend to be different from the standard Batman style. It certainly is more of an acquired taste than anything else. In general, I would state that this is not my cup of tea. perhaps a lack of depth to the story is more apt. Dredd's story is more about the setting and the strange aliens that populate the setting more so than any inherent quality of the story itself. In a collection I didn't think them awful and throw in the strangeness of watching the Joker interact with Dredd and Batman was amusing. The Riddler story was interesting as well. However compared to far better written Batman stories, these really fall short. They have more of a rushed quality that capitalizes on the interaction of these two storied crime fighters. Dredd is a rather one-dimensional character and that can be problematic in any long series with him as the star. Batman helps flesh out the story more. The art has a very Arkham Asylum feel to it. Some of it is rather good in a bizarre way. Again it is not suited for everyone. In a collection like this I thought it decent, though normally I would find it appealing. The collection ends with a Lobo/Judge Dredd teamup story that is just ok. None of these stories have that "wow! great story" or even "wow great writing" feel that makes for a truly great comic. It is more of a "huh that's weird" style. I am glad I bought this for my collection but it did not make we want to go out and read the rest of the Dredd series. I don't think it's really suited to the style or the writing I look for in my books. The Ultimate Riddle (with the Riddler) and Die Laughing (with the Joker) were my two favorites and even those two at best are 3/5 material. I would only recommend this to big Judge Dredd fans. Normal batman fans may either love or hate this collection. The depth of the story is shallow. This collection works primarily due to the convergence of these two very different crime fighters having to work together and complement each other. An odd but certainly unique addition to my collection.

[Robert Hood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, beautifully drawn and produced. It's also grotesquely surreal, visually, and reading it is like plunging into some sort of drug-induced nightmare. While not the best of either Dredd or Batman, the stories have the irresistible attraction of bringing these two iconic characters together -- one a law enforcer who is ultraviolent and willing to kill in accordance with his world's unforgiving laws, the other a vigilante who does what the police can't do in his world but avoids killing at all cost. Their trans-dimensional interactions bring Batman to Mega-City One, where he becomes a fugitive, and Dredd to Gotham, where he's faced by villains different from his own but equally bizarre and deadly. Gradually they develop respect for each other as their core similarities clarify through surface differences. For me, the best of the four Dredd/Batman stories is "Die Laughing" where the Joker goes to Dredd's world and creates havoc in tandem with Judge Death. The fifth story features Dredd and interplanetary bikie psycho, Lobo -- which is fun but seems a little out of place -- it's included for DC/2000AD cross-over completists, I guess. All up, a very welcome and unique collection for fans of either character, or both.

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wtf I never thought I would give a rating this high to a Batman crossover from the early 90s. I’ve always thought the idea was stupid, but honestly this is a really solid collection with jaw dropping eye popping art. I love the surreal feel to the are in these stories, especially the first one with Simon Bisley’s art. I know next to nothing about Judge Dredd but maybe I’ll read some in the future. I’m definitely going to look more into 90s Batman crossovers.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like many comic omnibuses, this volume features great stories and excellent artwork. Unfortunately, some suggestive images, freaky visuals, and dashes of profanity messed this up, and the last story really lost me.

[Jason Pym · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very mixed bag.

Judgement on Gotham - 5 stars
Art by Simon Bisley, one of my favourite artists, written by John Wagner, co-creator of Judge Dredd and one of my favourite comic writers. This is a league apart from anything else here. Funny, violent, stylish. Just get this one and forget the rest of this book. Also, of all the Batman / Dredd crossovers, this is the only one that doesn't feel awkward.

Vendetta in Gotham - 2 stars
The Alan Grant story, revolving around the Ventriloquist/Scarface villain would be fine if it was darker - instead it just comes across as inane. Though the campy ridiculousness of him (them?) fits with Adam West type Batman I guess. As in Judgement on Gotham, Dredd and Batman irritate each other, but here it's played out as a witless fight. The art by Cam Kennedy is not great. Skip it.

The Ultimate Riddle - 3 stars (4 star art brought down by a 2 star story)
This is terrible. But it does show just how good and how difficult it was to create Judgement on Gotham. The art is by Carl Critchlow, who created Thrud the Barbarian. When that was in single page black and white in the old White Dwarfs it had the same feel of 1980s satirical Dredd. He recently did a longer, kick-started colour version with a story of sorts. It was not a great read, but the art style was great - sharp angular lines and flat colours. Here he's gone for a Bisley rip off, and it looks great. The writing is not good, it's by Alan Grant again, derivative and lifeless. The Riddler was always an off-putting character though.

Die Laughing - 3 stars
Glenn Fabry art (he did a lot of the best Slaine stuff). Mostly looks amazing, with two horrible exceptions - he cannot paint women. Where the men look lean Judge Anderson looks very old and very ill, or weirdly muscled like she is covered in metal cords. The other problem is occassionally he'll replace his realistic eyes with huge, Warner Brother's style cartoony ones, that really jars with the rest of the art style. To the point that it takes you out of the story, which is a shame. It's a great story - the Dark Judges invade a sealed-off pleasure world of the Seventh Day Hedonists, the 'Megasphere.' It is a 2000AD story, the Joker fits in well, Batman feels tacked on and irritatingly self-righteous. Plus it would have been more entertaining if they'd spent more time on them causing carnage in the 'sphere, but still.

Psycho Bikers vs. The Mutants from Hell (Dredd and Lobo, not Batman) - 4 stars
Big, stupid, violent fun. This is how it should be. Alan Grant/John Wagner story. Lobo is such a great fit for 2000ad.

[Michal Puchovský · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stretol sa temný s bizarne drsným a bola z toho neprekvapivo kvalitná rúbanica s perfektnou kresbou.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a huge Judge Dredd fan, but seeing him up against Batman makes for an interesting dichotomy - you have the vigilante with a strict moral code facing down the face of justice with no qualms at excessive violence. The first couple of stories touch on this a little but are more notable for the very 90's 2000AD inspired art, very reminiscent of Sam Keith, with very exaggerated and grotesque imagery. The highlight of the surprisingly thick volume is the Batman/Judge Dredd:Die Laughing story, where Joker ends up in MegaCityOne. It's a bloodbath of over-the-top violence and destruction that definitely feels like it owes more to Dredd than Batman, but still manages to tell a fairly coherent story. The book ends with a Dredd/Lobo story which juxtaposes how reined in Dredd's stories with Batman were by going full tilt insane.
This isn't a book that's going to bring new fans to Dredd or Batman, but I think people who are already fans of one or the other will find things to appreciate in it.

[Alan Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly great collection in a beautiful hardcover edition. Some of the best artwork anywhere by some of my favourite artists (Simon Bisley, Glenn Fabry, Carl Critchlow). And the stories! Batman and Dredd together - how can you go wrong? Brilliant stuff.

I'm not really sure why the Dredd/Lobo crossover story is included in here. It's a good fun yarn, but Batman isn't in it, so I don't understand why it's in the "Batman Judge Dredd Collection".

[Charlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't going in expecting high drama in this, and wasn't disappointed. Fabry's artwork is great.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of stories which I have read as issues, but as nice to get them collected together. Plus a Lobo and Dredd story thrown in was a nice extra surprise

[Eamonn Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This luxurious hardback edition features four long stories printed on glossy, high quality paper. All are written by John Wagner and Alan Grant who cut their teeth on Judge Dredd and other strips at 2000AD before moving on to even greater fame and glory. The first yarn is ‘Judgement on Gotham’ in which Judge Death turns up in Gotham. Judge Death is one of the four Dark Judges who believe that since all crime is committed by living people then life itself is a crime which must be eliminated. Having wiped out all life in their own world they frequently cross to the world of Judge Dredd to do more wiping. From there Judge Death got to Gotham and Batman gets to Mega-City One when he puts on the trans-dimensional teleportation belt. As in all good buddy stories, he and Dredd don’t hit it off at first, though there is plenty of hitting. As the story develops old Batman villain the Scarecrow teams up with Judge Death. Warning; contains extreme violence and some very odd looking people. They look odd because they are drawn by Simon Bisley whose work is not entirely to my taste.

‘Vendetta in Gotham’ is a clever time-paradox story in which Dredd comes to Gotham and has a long fight with Batman, providing plenty of good action sequences. Further plot description would spoiler it but the Ventriloquist features prominently.
The art by Cam Kennedy was more to my taste than that in the previous story, having a bit of a Gene Colan look about it. I say ‘more to my taste’ rather than ‘better’ because these things are very personal. A lot of labour goes into the graphics and it is unfair to denigrate hard working professionals. I am a product of my genes and my environment (Marvel comics of the sixties and seventies) but should not let my own illogical preferences bias readers who may well love this modern gory stuff.

The Riddler, unsurprisingly, is the opening villain in ‘The Ultimate Riddle’ but he is only a pawn in a bigger game. Batman, Judge Dredd and an assortment of other violent chaps are gathered together to fight for the amusement of His Tyrannical Holiness the Emperor Xero. Batman’s policy of not killing people puts him at a severe disadvantage, as Dredd is keen to point out. The basic idea of good guys being forced to fight is obviously not new but it was well done and with a clever ending. The art by Carl Critchlow (pages 114-145) and Dermot Power (pages 146-149) was perfectly good. I should mention that, despite a tendency for one page poster images here and there, the storytelling in all these episodes is just fine; it’s always easy to follow what’s going on. That’s very important in comics.

Both story and art seem to get better and better as you work your way through the book, up to a point. That point was the long and excellent tale entitled ‘Die Laughing’. Batman’s arch-villain The Joker is teamed with Dredd’s arch-villains the Dark Judges in a long, convoluted tale with many moments of macabre humour. As befitting the best story this one had great art, though it did seem to get a bit exuberantly cartoon-like with the minor characters towards the end. No doubt one’s eyes do bulge when one encounters the Dark Judges but I’m not sure if they bulge quite as much as this. There is a cameo appearance by English actor Richard Wilson on page 220, in the bottom left hand corner. At least, it looks like him. Richard played Victor Meldrew in ‘One Foot in the Grave’ but might be better known now for ‘Merlin’, certainly in fantastical genre circles.

The last story ‘Lobo/Judge Dredd; Psycho-Bikers vs. The Mutants from Hell’ is the point, mentioned above, at which things stop getting better. They don’t get very much worse though and I enjoyed this piece of violent hokum quite a bit. Lobo is hired to protect a shape-shifter who, it turns out, has used a dimension hopper to go on the lam from Mega-City One. Chasing him for payment, Lobo goes to Dredd’s home town and ends up in a big fight with certain mutants. I think Lobo and Judge Dredd are the Psycho-Bikers of the title. The art by Val Semeiks and John Dell was appropriately ludicrous and the colours by Gloria Vasquez were suitably bright.

Obviously, appealing to fans of both Batman and Judge Dredd is a marketing man’s dream. Double your money and take it away, as they used to say on telly. The script and art here seem to me more from the Dredd stable but to be honest I haven’t seen much modern Batman. It could be similar. In any case, fans of both heroes might like to take a look.

Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/

[tony dillard jr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1990s was the cross-publication crossover era. After a brief blip in the late 70s, the DC and Marvel universes went through most of the 1980s without the two sides ever meeting. Then in the 90s with Marvel facing bankruptcy, the worlds of the two big publishers collided. Not to be outdone, the major indy publishers followed suit. Shi meet Daredevil. The Ninja Turtles meet Savage Dragon. And Batman meet everyone!

That's how the DC Universe came to meet the citizens of Mega City One!

In Judgment on Gotham, a futuristic piece of tech transports the feared Judge Death to Gotham City. In a melee with Death, the Batman gets his hand on the dimensional warping gadget and finds himself in Mega City One facing down the one and only Judge Dredd! Meanwhile, back in Gotham, Judge Death forms an unholy alliance with the Scarecrow!

Vendetta in Gotham sees Judge Dredd in Batman's backyard and he's come with a sentence on the Dark Knight- a death sentence!

The story Die Laughing is supposed to be the next story. According to the ending of Vendetta in Gotham, that's where things wrap up. Yet, for some reason, The Ultimate Riddle came next. It has Batman, The Riddler and Judge Dredd enslaved by a powerful being who has joined the mightiest fighters in the galaxy in a no holds barred battle royale.

Vendetta in Gotham wraps things up with the Joker joining forces with the Dark Judges in Mega City One!

Finally, the last Czarnian, Lobo is hired to protect an intergalactic children's host who happens to get kidnapped by the mutants of Mega City One. The story was a wild ride. What would you expect from a 1990s era Lobo story? Not sure why this one was added to a collection of Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers. But I am glad it was. Now if we could get a Lobo/Deadpool crossover!

5 amazing adventures. The level of violence, gore and naked flesh would make this a Vertigo property. But I guess DC saw a cash cow and thought they'd lose sales and they might of! I'm sure 2000AD didn't care one bit. But this is definitely not something for all ages. Maybe not mature audiences only type stuff. But please don't buy this for your under 11 years old Batman fans!

[Arjun Iyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blurb: When a Knight meets a Paladin, there's property damage.

One of the most entertaining crossovers that I've read in recent times. The best? no. But certainly one of the most entertaining. Being a product of the 90's (which is certainly a very divisive era for comic book readers), the stories do suffer the flaws of over-drawing and/or ridiculous anatomical proportions, but one cannot deny that the artwork looks great and it really captures the essence of the two protagonists, Gotham with it's smokey, mysterious aura and Mega City with it's futuristic design tempered by old-world decay and violence.

In this collection, the only story worth it's salt is 'Die Laughing' featuring the Clown Prince of Crime, Joker. However, one needs to read the previous stories in order to understand the build-up to this one and the previous stories are enjoyable for their dark humor and in particular the interaction between Batman and Judge Dredd which is a full-on macho fest. Admittedly Dredd comes off as more of the 'macho' thug but then again that is why he's the Paladin of the Law. Bravado and an unwavering belief that Law must prevail above all else gives him that air of an unyielding religious zealot. This is why I loved the collection, because I never thought I'd see a character that can make Batman look mild in terms of temperament.

My only gripe with the collection is the final bonus story featuring Lobo. Now there was a story I was really looking forward to reading, however, sadly Lobo and Dredd have a minimal interaction beyond the usual sharing of expletives in a few panels. And that's a shame because for me the art in Lobo/Dredd was by far the best, but that's the way the Lawgiver shoots I suppose.

P.S.: I liked the attention to detail with regards to the language of the characters. They each used their own world's vernacular and rarely (if ever) were there moments where you would think, "Wait a minute, a guy from the 22nd Century wouldn't say something like that."

[Christian Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, this was a middling book in the great mythos of Judge Dredd, one of my favorite comic book characters. I've been reading The Complete Case Files and am now up to 16 (and wish I had known they were all on Goodreads, or I would have reviewed each individually. I don't want to start halfway through, so too late now). Right around Case Files 16 is when the Batman/Judge Dredd Collection takes place. It consists of four stories, and I'll describe each in turn.

The first deals with Batman fighting Death and Dredd, as well as The Ventriloquist. The story was average at best, but I thought the artwork was utterly fantastic and lifelike. I've seen a lot of criticism toward the artwork in this issue, so maybe I'm unique in my belief, but I loved it.

The second story involved Batman and Dredd fighting The Riddler in a sort-of cosmic arena. Average artwork and average story, in my opinion.

The third story was the most interesting of the bunch. Dredd and Batman fought all of the Dark Judges, along with a new one - Joker! It took place in a microcosm of Mega City One that revolved around hedonism and pleasure. Truthfully, it was quite fun to read and brought back the great artwork from the first story.

The last story was a Lobo/Judge Dredd miniseries. I thought it was rubbish and convoluted. I could barely get through it.

Overall, it's a decent collection, but nothing next to the individual stories of Batman and the great Judge Dredd. I prefer reading each individually, but it's always nice to see characters team up.

I'll probably review individual Dredd TPBs from here on out. "America" will be next!

[Adrian J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are all so different. The ones which were good were REALLY good; the ones which were not-good were REALLY not-good.

JUDGEMENT ON GOTHAM
Not-good. Judge Death is again treated like a pathetic has-been; the attempts at humour are far too crude to work. Once again, Anderson breaks all sorts of rules which would see other Judges executed, but there are no repercussions for her.

VENDETTA IN GOTHAM
Good. Judge Dredd returns to Gotham with unclear motives; when they do become clear, it does a great job of highlighting the differences between characters like Dredd and characters like Batman.

THE ULTIMATE RIDDLE
Good. I could see the twist coming a mile off, but the action was fun.

DIE LAUGHING
Good... barely. Having the Joker become a Dark Judge and join the attack on the Megasphere was neat, but having him "on par" with the Dark Judges once again lessened their menace. I would have greatly preferred a story where they still dominated the Joker, only for him to emerge as the "last Dark Judge standing" at the end.

LOBO / DREDD
Not-good. I kept thinking Lobo must be a 2000AD character and was shocked to learn he wasn't. He was written exactly like one, down to the language. It was unclear where Uncle Funkle existed in the DC Universe or not. I couldn't keep track of the crossover-y bits of the story, and the rest of it wasn't that interesting.

Such a mixed bag.

[Fandom SK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recenziu pre Fandom.sk napísal Ivan Kučera. Úryvok z recenzie:

V crossovere Batman/Soudce Dredd sa maskovaní bojovníci proti narastajúcej kriminalite objavujú na vrchole síl. Nečudo, scenáre písali najpovolanejší z najpovolanejších: Dreddovi otcovia John Wagner a Alan Grant. Mimochodom, podľa Wagnerovho grafického románu v roku 2005 kontroverzný režisér David Cronenberg natočil gangsterku s Viggom Mortensenom História násilia.

Wagner a Grant idú rovno k veci. Kašlú na presahy, filozofiu, náročné zápletky. Batman nesedí na pouličnej lampe a nerozjíma nad životom. Sudca Dredd nemá životnú krízu, v rámci ktorej by uvažoval, že zavesí helmu na klinec a začne štrikovať. Wagner a Grant sa nemaznajú s nikým a s ničím, nepracujú v rukavičkách, neprekračujú zbytočne a nudne okolo horúcej kaše. Hlavy a iné časti tiel sú oddeľované od zvyškov tiel, prichádzajú na scény príšery od výmyslu sveta, exotickí netvory, obludní a nechutní mutanti, Joker, telepati. Je to veľké, je to hlučné, je to zábavné, je to zvrátené a nečakane krvavé...

Celú recenziu nájdete na Fandom.sk https://www.fandom.sk/clanok/recenzia...

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read almost all the Dredd crossovers, as well as 5 or 6 of the Complete Case Files. There is no doubt that the Batman/Judge Dredd Collection is the best.

It really should't be a big surprise. You have Gotham's protector against Mega City One's ultimate lawman. Both are badasses who don't take anyone's shit and aren't afraid of anything. Pitting the 2 against each other, or placing them in cahoots is a damn near perfect setup. Can't believe it was never more of a thing.

Also gotta hand it to the super gritty artwork of Cam Kennedy and Carl Critchlow. Made for a much darker feel.

Only complaint is the last story, Lobo is a great character and one of Alan Grant's creations, but putting him in Mega City One against Dredd just didn't really do it for me.

[Julio Bonilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sentence is death!

This crossover has Batman and Judge Dredd joining forces, even though at the same time they hate each other.

*Judge Dredd was introduced back in 1977 in the UK, while Batman is a DC property that was created in 1939. Dredd is impulsive, while the Dark Knight is calm.

I think the dialogue needed work. Most of the characters are yelling at each other.