Review by Karl Verhoven

The Darkest Judge is an unusual departure for 2000AD in presenting an alternate telling of events earlier in the continuity. Historians would term it ‘counterfactual’, or it’s What If? if you’re a Marvel fan.

In Judge Dredd’s established continuity the zombie apocalypse arrived in the form of a villain from the Strontium Dog series, and was eventually dealt with at great cost. This version spills over into several other 2000AD series, and despite being sold as a Judge Dredd graphic novel, only Kenneth Niemand and Henry Flint’s set-up and conclusion concentrate on Old Stony Face. If you’re inclined to overlook the deception, there’s a clever integration of other features via the use of reality-breaching devices shunting the zombies into other dimensions, with Flint’s sample art briefly showing the effect on some 2000AD favourites not otherwise featured. As Niemand explains it “For Dredd’s world Judgement Day is over. For these other worlds their Judgement Days are here and now”. Cue chapters of Rogue Trooper, Survival Geeks, Mean Arena, Sinister Dexter, Ampney Crucis, Sam Slade and Strontium Dog before reverting to Dredd.

The results are mixed. Less imaginative creators just go with expanding zombie rampages, with an exception made for Ian Edginton and D’Israeli’s atmospheric Ampney Crucis story set in the trenches during World War I. There’s a genuine pathos to Mike Carroll and Gary Erskine showing an infected Rogue Trooper now barely controlled by chips he’s sworn to return home, and Strontium Dog’s desperate mission plays out well under Rob Williams and Staz Johnson. Sinister Dexter as zombies show the same efficiency as usual, with Dan Abnett building toward an amusingly gruesome finish, but Russell M. Olsen’s art is disappointing to anyone brought up on Simon Davis.

There’s then another Dredd interlude before a further sequence of 2000AD favourites seeing Johnny Alpha attempting to gather a team to help him sort things out. Let’s keep them under wraps, as part of the fun is seeing who his allies are, but these are generally better outings for greater unpredictability.

Once the allies are assembled, it’s back to Niemand, now with Leigh Gallagher to wrap things up. This almost stands alone as a separate desperate battle, as Dredd’s intention of how things should play out differs greatly from Johnny Alpha’s. It’s a thrilling finale, impeccably drawn by Gallagher, but can’t quite compensate for the overall disjointed nature. It’s been pleasing seeing old friends again, but the uneven quality diminishes the pleasure.