Authors: John Wagner / Alan Grant | Artist: Cam Kennedy | Page Count: 46
“I don’t like unfinished business. And I don’t like vigilantes!”
The second Batman/Judge Dredd crossover isn't as good as Judgement on Gotham (1991). I couldn't shake the feeling that it was commissioned just to keep the pairing alive in the mind of the comic buying public, and to obviously make some easy money for someone.
Writers Wagner and Grant attempt to redress the balance a little by making it feel more like a Batman story, and they succeed. The Judge now feels like an unwelcome guest in Gotham, which, I guess, he actually is.
The villain is also Batman specific this time, but he’s one of the less interesting ones, in my opinion. And the story unfolding concurrently in two different places means the drama is lacking until the big reveal, but even then it's not up to the usual standard of the Batman one-shots.
Art is by veteran Dredd/Rogue Trooper regular Cam Kennedy. The colouring by Digital Chameleon is washed out and lazy; it's not at all complementary to his style. The story doesn't bother with a build-up, and realistically it doesn't have to because the first book did that, so the two men skip faux pleasantries and get right down to the gritty stuff. That enables Cam to have fun with an extended fight scene in which he keeps his angles low much of the time, imbuing the characters with the sense of grandeur that they deserve.
2½ time wasters out of 5
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