2000 AD publisher Rebellion have announced John Wagner, Alan Grant & Simon Bisley‘s Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham Anniversary Edition, a deluxe hardcover rerelease of the first crossover between the two signature characters in 1991.
According to a Rebellion press release:
“Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham Anniversary Edition promises to be a stunning showcase of one of the 1990s’ most iconic comics crossovers!
“Originally published in 1991, Judgement on Gotham pitted the Ultimate Lawman against the Dark Knight Detective, with Judge Dredd and his psychic colleague Judge Anderson forced to team up with Batman after the undead arch-fiend Judge Death escapes from Mega-City One to Gotham City and, alongside The Scarecrow, wreaks havoc – from murdering the masses to headlining a rock concert!”
Judgement on Gotham will be released as an oversized 14.2 x 10.9 inch hardcover on May 6, retailing for £29.99. A 2000 AD webshop-exclusive hardcover, limited to 1000 copies, will also be available, priced at £34.99. Preorders are now open. Unfortunately – presumably due to licensing reasons – the book will only be sold exclusively to the UK market.
Akin to Rebellion’s recent Pat Mills & Simon Bisley’s Slaine: The Horned God Anniversary Edition in 2024 (and the company’s Definitive line), the Judgement on Gotham Anniversary Edition will be based on high quality rescans of the archived film, using modern techniques.
The Batman/Judge Dredd crossover was a partnership between Judge Dredd’s then-publisher Fleetway and DC Comics, with each splitting publishing rights for the US and UK markets. DC’s US release of the book was nominated for multiple awards, including a 1992 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album (New), ultimately losing to Will Eisner‘s To the Heart of the Storm (Kitchen Sink Press). Artist Simon Bisley received two nominations on the back of the book for Best Cover Artist and Best Artist – winning the latter category. Back in the UK, the book received a Penguin Books Award for Best Graphic Novel and a UK Comic Art Award for Best Original Graphic Novel. The crossover also helped raise the profile of Judge Dredd Stateside – with further crossovers with Batman being commissioned.
Judgement on Gotham was a pivotal moment for artist Simon Bisley, earning him an Eisner Award, raising his profile beyond the British market, and (combined with his work on Slaine: The Horned God) helped drive a resurgence of painted art in comics on both sides of the Atlantic.
The powerhouse writing partnership of John Wagner and Alan Grant had a definitive run on Judge Dredd (then published by Fleetway) in the pages of 2000 AD through the 1980s, and the pair had begun working on DC’s signature Dark Knight Detective in 1988, with Alan Grant sticking around for an extensive run on the Batman books. During that time, Grant co-created Batman characters Anarky, Victor Zsasz, and the Ventriloquist – and helped further develop and popularise Roger Slifer & Keith Giffen character Lobo.
