Judgement On Gotham is the first of four cross-overs between Batman and Judge Dredd and is actually pretty impressive for a cross-over novel in that it works really well! Batman is patrolling the streets of Gotham when he hears a scream......swooping to the scene, he discovers two lovers dead and a couple of Police Officers under attack; their assailant some kind of skeletal creature who can kill with a single touch!

Quickly Batman swings into action and takes down the bizarre creature but before he can question him, a nearby Police Officer fires his gun at the thing that has murdered his partner, igniting some spilled gasoline and eruting the whole scene in flames. All that is left is some strange kind of belt which Batman picks up, handles....and promptly disappears!

The belt is a Dimension Belt and takes Batman a million light years away from his home and all the way to Mega City One. Where Mean Machine Angel is waiting, having aided Judge Death's escape from the Iso cubes and having been betrayed by his partner! Of course, Mean is none to happy and seriously kicks off but before Batman can take him down, Mean grabs the belt and transports his own way to Gotham in pursuit of the escaped Dark Judge who left him behind. And then Dredd turns up.....

Dredd has long had little patience with vigilantes and thus instantly takes umbrage at The Dark Knight; refusing to listen to his protests that Gotham is now in serious danger! Only Psi Judge Anderson's intervention stops everything getting out of hand and before long, she and Batman are fleeing the other judges and heading to the Dimension Jump labs where they can make their own way back to Batman's world. But will they be too late?

This is a great story with plenty of non-stop action and the scenes between Batman and Dredd are brilliantly concieved with some truly awesome set-pieces! ("Subdue him!") When Scarecrow turns up in the tale, joining forces with Death to cause chaos and mayhem at a charity concert, the results are a pure delight! In one memorable scene, Scarecrow sprays Death with his fear gas providing highly amusing results! At last, we get to see what Death truly is afraid of! Likewise, when Anderson peeks inside Batman's head ("This guy knows some wierd people!") we are treated to a simply divine and classic piece of comic artwork when we see a repesentation of some of the most evil villains Batman has had nto face!

In every way this book is a complete and utter classic. As well it should be! Dredd and Bats are two iconic figures and at no point does either presence out-dominate the other! This is one of my favourite graphic novels of all time and certainly my favourite ever cros-over team-up!

Not to mention, the best of these four adventures that would see Batman and Dredd team up three more times!