John Wagner

Alan Grant

Simon Bisley

Judgment on Gotham

Batman, Judge Dredd

“THE CRIME ISSS LIFFFFE— THE SSSENTENNCCCE ISSS DEATHHH!”

God, I loved this book. Two of my favorite comic book characters, Batman and Judge Dredd, together for the first time, and what a ride it was! I adore when books like this don’t take themselves too seriously. The world of Dredd is deeply satirical (though it varies from writer to writer), and he’s best written as an over-the-top critique of the American judicial system and our culture’s police worship. Judge Dredd, good guy with a gun? Eh.... When compared to Judge Death, though, he must be. Judge Death is one of my absolute favorite comic book villains (and the supplier of the quote you see above). What is he? Where did he come from? Not very important. He’s here to do the devil’s business, and he has a blast the whole time he’s doing it. The whole story was fast-paced and deeply, darkly humorous, with so many scenes of laughs undercut by shocking and purposely excessive violence. The art helps in this regard, as it perfectly matches the tone of the book, all of its surrealism and excess. I’ll have to look more into this Simon Bisley guy, because he reminds me of some of my favorite artists of his era, like Dave McKean or Bill Sienkiewicz (did i spell that right?). Anyway, it may be blasphemy to give this pulp the same amount of stars as The Great Gatsby, but I just adored every second of reading this. Definite recommend to anyone that loves absurd 90’s comics with crazy art and a plot that doesn’t matter much compared to the joy you feel reading it.

Batman, Judge Dredd Judgment on Gotham

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