Fiction Reviews
Batman - Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham
35th Anniversary Edition(1991 / 2026) John Wagner, Alan Grant & Simon Bisley, 2000AD – Rebellion, £34.99, hrdbk, 64pp ISBN 978-1-837-86758-5
It is hard to believe that it has been 35 years since the original publication, in 1991, of the Batman and Judge Dredd crossover, the first of three, called Judgement on Gotham, but it is, and if they could keep the quality of story-telling up and lengthened them then I would easily be up for more; as would, I suspect, many others.
Two lovers are quietly making out one night in Gotham City when Judge Death materialises and purges them of sin. Two cops turn up and Death offs one of them but before the other gets Death's attention Batman arrives and, after a short fight, accidentally kills Death on some street railings. Death migrates, leaving his body, in spirit form to the ether: 'you cannot kill what does not live'.
Yet, in inspecting a bracelet on Death's body, Dredd is transported to the futuristic Mega-City One, materialising next to Mean Machine (the last extant member of the Angel Gang, with a dial mood controller on his head and an artificial, mechanical arm). Mean Machine is upset: he had apparently a deal with Judge Death to steal a dimension jump bracelet and together they would rule mega-City One, and even the whole cotton-pickin' 'yoonyverse'!
But Judge Dredd is on Mean Machine's trail and arrests both him and Batman.
In interrogation, Dredd senses that Batman is a vigilante and the two confront, but – long story short – telepathic Judge Anderson (of Psi Division) tries to persuade Dredd that he and Batman must go back to Gotham City to save it from the ministrations of Judge Death…
Add in one of Batman's arch enemies, the Scarecrow, and Judgement on Gotham is a fine tale. Having said that – and it may well be me – I was not taken with Simon Bisley's somewhat exaggerative style of artwork: I prefer something more realistic. But, as said, it may well be me as Bisley won a Best Artist Eisner Award for his artwork in this graphic novel. Nonetheless, the full-page artwork of the many characters and scenes Psi Judge Anderson sees in Batman's mind and later our glimpse of Judge Death's mind, after he is subject to the Scarecrow's dust, are both wonderful.
So now we come to this 35th anniversary (2026). This new edition of the original Batman/Judge Dredd crossover is not only reprinted in a larger format than ever before (says the publisher) but uses brand new scans of the original printing film from 1991 – carefully restored by Rebellion’s experienced reprographics teams – 'to present Bisley’s groundbreaking fully-painted artwork in a glorious new light' (again says the publisher)…
You will have noticed that I had said 'says the publisher' twice now and the reason is that I don't trust their hype not least because I have found the promotional material on their website (accessed July 2026) to have a couple of errors including their allusion to the original date of publication being 1991 ('originally published in 1991') and also 1992 ('brand new scans of the original printing film from 1992' on the same webpage))! If 2000AD are to bring out a 64-page hardback for an eye-watering £34.99 then the very least they can do is apply a bit of care and attention!
However, it is 'reprinted in a larger format than ever before'. My own original 1991 edition was itself printed in a large format (at 22cm x 31cm), much larger than 2000AD's' current graphic novel size and on a par with the old Hamlyn format early 2000AD graphic novel size which makes me wonder if an even bigger one is warranted. In fact this new edition's dimensions are 25.1cm x 36.1cm which is significantly larger (I am guessing the artwork's full size?), but here purchasers may want to identify whether it will fit on bookshelves. Regardless, I am not sure that this is worth the £34.99, even for a hardback, as we only get 64 pages! (My original's large format paperback cost £4.99 in 1991 which is equivalent to approximately £13.93 in 2026.)
This new hardback 35th anniversary edition, even if larger, will be for some a tad expensive and so possibly is therefore really only for the current, die-hard generation of collectors who missed out the first time round. Personally, I would have preferred that 2000AD and its owners, Rebellion, had brought out a combined edition of all three Batman-Dredd crossovers at a more affordable per page count price (a lot of fixed cost goes into that hardback cover). This new edition is really for collectors.
Nonetheless, this edition is a bit of an SF comics landmark and so deserves another airing. Who knows if we will get a paperback edition or a combined one of all three adventures in the future? Meanwhile, I am still awaiting the final volume (now many years overdue) of Judge Dredd: The Complete P. J. Maybe vol. 2 to accompany the incomplete volume so far. My view of whoever does 2000AD's graphic novel production and marketing is somewhat 'could do better'. Something I regret having to say since I have been a squaxx dek Thargo since the late 1980s but, as you English say, c'est la vie.
Jonthan Cowie
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