Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham
Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham | |
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Mean Machine Angel | |
Page count | 60 pages |
Publisher | DC Comics Fleetway Publications |
Creative team | |
Writers | Alan Grant John Wagner |
Artists | Simon Bisley |
Letterers | Todd Klein |
Colourists | Simon Bisley |
Editors | Steve MacManus Dennis O'Neil |
ISBN | 1-56389-022-4 |
Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham is the first of four
Publication history
Judgment on Gotham was released as a
Synopsis
In Mega-City One, Dredd arrests Batman for possession of illegal weapons (the contents of his
In Gotham, Batman's enemy the Scarecrow, and his henchman, Benny, break into the City Morgue to steal the raw materials for his hallucinogenic "fear-toxin". Promised a "feast of fear" in exchange, the Scarecrow becomes partners with Judge Death. After killing Benny, Death attempts to turn on the Scarecrow, who stops him with a dose of his fear toxin (exposing Death to visions of cute, fluffy bunnies and My Little Ponies) and directs him to a heavy metal concert featuring a band called Living Death. Meanwhile, Mean Machine demolishes a bar and is directed to the same concert.
As Death slaughters the heavy metal band, Batman, Anderson, and Dredd appear. In the battle that follows, Death is on the verge of killing Dredd when Batman uses a batarang to destroy his physical body while Anderson imprisons his spirit in her mind. Mean Machine, stuck in a berserk frenzy that demolishes the stage, is subdued after a pinpoint shot from Dredd destroys the mood-controlling dial on his head. The Scarecrow is likewise captured.
Dredd prepares to take Anderson and Mean Machine back to Mega-City One, and insists that Batman come along to complete his "sentence". They are close to blows when Anderson persuades Dredd to drop the charges against Batman, especially since she warns that Death must be delivered to proper containment before he successfully breaks free from her mind. As they depart, Dredd admits that Batman is a "bit of a tough guy", implying some respect.
Character handling
In this version, the Scarecrow is given a ghoulish, almost phantom-like look, as compared to his contemporary appearance in DC Comics wherein his costume resembled that of a conventional scarecrow.
Alec Worley, who wrote a trilogy of novellas chronicling Cassandra Anderson's first year as a Judge, wrote in his foreword to the omnibus edition that he first became captivated by her character based on her appearance in Judgement on Gotham, noting that Bisley had chosen to draw her as "more like a musclebound Tori Amos than the chic Debbie Harry lookalike she had been under Brian Bolland".[1]
Reception
Igor Goldkind was 2000 AD's marketing consultant at the time and recalls one successful event:
I also organised more professional press conferences before major signings and national comic book signing tours, which hadn't really been done on a big scale in this country before. I remember the Judge Dredd vs. Batman graphic novel signing launch at the Virgin Megastore at Oxford Circus in London amazed even the police with the numbers that lined up around the block to get their book signed by Simon Bisley, John Wagner and Alan Grant. The store manager said it was a bigger draw than when David Bowie had done a signing the month previously.[2]
Judgment on Gotham won a number of comics industry awards, including the 1992
Other Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers
This was the first of four joint adventures, all by the same writers[4] – the other three were:
- Batman/Judge Dredd: Vendetta in Gotham (1993), art by Cam Kennedy
- Batman/Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle (1995), art by Carl Critchlow and Dermot Power
- Batman/Judge Dredd: Die Laughing #1-2 (1998), art by Glenn Fabry and Jim Murray
References
- ISBN 978-1781085554, Introduction
- ^ "2006 interview with Igor Goldkind". 2000adreview.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2011-04-05. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
- ^ "Newswatch: UK Awards Named", The Comics Journal #149 (March 1992), p. 22.
- ^ "2000AD Online - thrill zone". 2000ad.org. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
External links
- Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham at 2000 AD online
- Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham at the Grand Comics Database
- Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Review