First Look: Dredd Vs Zombies – ‘The Darkest Judge’ Collects The 2000 AD Multiversal Crossover Zombie Event This July

Spinning a darker alternative take on Judgement Day, The Darkest Judge asks what would have happened if the zombies weren’t stopped by Dredd and Johnny Alpha. (Simple answer… it would be bad. VERY bad.)

Collecting the tales published in 2022’s 2000 AD Prog 2300 and Judge Dredd Megazine #448, The Darkest Judge is a massive, multi-part, multiversal what-if tale that celebrates 30 years of the iconic Judge Dredd: Judgement Day.

But where Judgement Day saw Dredd and Johnny Alpha face down Sabbat the Necromancer and execute him before his plans could really devastate the world, the Darkest Judge sees things play out just that little bit differently.

Oh yes.  In The Darkest Judge, we’re playing “What If?”

What if Dredd and Alpha went a different way? What if, instead of executing Sabbat, they dropped dimension bombs to shift the whole zombie horde into a different reality?

Well, not only does that particular route mean death and disaster for Dredd’s world but it also devastates countless realities from the worlds of 2000 AD, with zombies infecting everyone from Rogue Trooper to Sinister Dexter, from Ace Trucking to The V.C.s.

Oh yes, it’s wish-fulfillment to the maximum, but that doesn’t mean that The Darkest Judge isn’t fabulous in going down a very different, very dark path that sees the myriad of worlds from 2000 AD’s 45 years all be swept up in the death and destruction!

There’s a preview of the book below of course.  But if you want to get more art and what’s what in the new collection, have a look at the Weekly 2000 AD for Prog 2300 and the Monthly Megazine for issue 448 – lots more details right there.

And I’d be terribly remiss if I weren’t to mention that Judge Dredd: Judgement Day (by Garth Ennis, Dean Ormston, Peter Doherty, Chris Halls, and Carlos Ezquerra) gets the Essential Judge Dredd treatment on 11 April. You can see a preview of that one here. See how lovely we are to you?

Judge Dredd: The Darkest Judge – Published by 2000 AD on 19 July 2023

By Ken Niemand, Henry Flint, Mike Carroll, Gary Erskine, Emma Beeby, Neil Googe, Karl Stock, Kieran McKeown, Dan Abnett, Russell M. Olson, Ian Edginton, D’Israeli, Arthur Wyatt, Toby Willsmer, Rob Williams, Staz Johnson, Leigh Gallagher, Kei Zama, Honor Vincent, Boo Cook, Gordon Rennie, Dan Cornwell, James Peaty, Nicolo Assirelli, Liam Johnson, Conor Boyle, Steve Yeowell.