Judge Dredd: The Darkest Judge

by Kenneth Niemand, Dan Abnett, Emma Beeby

The latest Judge Dredd epic, featuring zombies infecting the whole 2000 AD multiverse. All of your favourite characters have been turned in to zombies, in this fast-paced standalone horror story!

What if at the end of Judge Judgement Day a different strategy was used in order to stop the zombie invasion? Instead of Judge Dredd executing Sabbat the Necromagus this plan involves dropping dimension-bombs to shift the whole zombie horde into a different reality. This means disaster for all the other characters published in the pages of 2000 AD as the zombies infect everyone from Rogue Trooper to Sinister Dexter, from Ace Trucking to The V.C.'s. There is now a whole multiverse of zombies that need killing, and only a few heroes left to take care of business!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

Published July 18, 2023

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bunch of fun

Clearly this was a fun alternative, what if type story that gave a cheesy excuse to tie in a lot of characters, art and artists from different stories, and it really was enjoyable. There were some bits that were a bit bland and predictable, it is a zombie story after all and we've seen almost everything I can imagine at this point, but it was cool seeing role reversals and such. Overall not bad.

[Horror DNA · Rating 5 out of 5]

A crossover that spanned the pages of 2000AD and sister publication Judge Dredd Megazine, this ambitous event spans a whole 2000AD-verse. As a multiverse succumbs to the hordes of the dead, writer Kenneth Neimand posits an alternate reality in which Dredd inadvertantly destroyed everything, everywhere, all at once. A fun twist on the character, and a canny reversal of Garth Ennis's Dredd as the ultimate unbeatable baddass. As Dredd falls to the zombie hordes, this collection of stories is bookended by Johnny Alpha's quest to restore normality to the world(s). And with Dredd now turned (being 'the darkest Judge' of the title), he's going to need all of the help he can get.

You can read Joel's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.

[Alex Sarll]

Dredd-ful anniversary celebration of the already not-great zombie event Judgement Day – and I say that despite Judgement Day being one of my earliest 2000AD memories. In this version, the living tried to take out Sabbat with some kind of dimensional bomb that only served to spread the zombie plague across the multiverse; cue undead versions of loads of 2000AD characters past and present. It was a pleasant surprise to see the likes of Ampney Crucis again, but in precisely none of the component strips did we get anything more insightful or entertaining than the obvious 'It's so-and-so BUT THEY'RE UNDEAD!!!'

[Simon Heldreich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh.

[Bo Malpas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very pleasant!

[Luke Costin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun what if story tying in all of the many worlds of 2000ad. It’s not deep or original but worked for what it was trying to achieve.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a typical Dredd story, but some of the characters were interesting.

[Sam Goyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A zombie apocalypse takes over many 2000AD strips. Although some of the stories are ok, this doesn’t feel like a Judge Dredd book because he’s hardly in it.