Glenn Fabrys art definitely looks the most colourful and polished out of all the stories but its also just ridiculous. Joker wants to live forever so jumps dimensions with that belt, talks Judge Death into making him the fifth judge, and the five of them wreak havoc in a biodome devoted to hedonism - with Dredd and Batman on their tail.
I was looking forward to Die Laughing the most as who doesnt enjoy a good Joker story? Unfortunately this is easily the worst of the anthology and also the longest. As a Batman fan, its interesting to see how he fared against ridiculously over-equipped hunters, especially as he still follows his no killing, no guns rule in a setting filled with contestants with no such hang-ups. Its fantastical and silly as we see Batman and Dredd take on bizarre characters in some kind of castle. Batman and Dredd get transported to an alternate dimension via more hi-tech gadgetry, this time in the hands of the Riddler, and are forced to compete in a battle royale to the death with numerous other toughs from alternate dimensions. The story does a decent bait and switch in the final third though and Cam Kennedys art is easier on the eye than Bisleys - light! Ultimate Riddle is my favourite of the collection maybe because its the most out there. Vendetta in Gotham sees Dredd visiting Gotham ostensibly it seems to have a re-match with Batman and the two have an elaborate fight sequence similar to Family Guys Peter and the Chicken fights.
Also he draws Anderson as a muscle chick which makes her look kinda gross when you see her in her skivvies. Simon Bisleys art might put you off - his figures can look ridiculously cartoony and exaggerated. Its not an amazing story but its more or less serviceable set-up as a vehicle for the two characters to show off their own strengths while kind of working as a team. The two tango before Dredd finally gets that Batman is a good guy and then they set off to stop Death and Mean Machine. Batman stops him (of course) and afterwards touches the belt thus transporting him to Dredds stomping ground.
But how do these two disparate characters cross paths? Well, in the first story, Judgment on Gotham, Judge Death gets his claws on a transdimensional belt, allowing him to jump dimensions from Mega City One to judge the living in Gotham. The Batman/Judge Dredd Collection features all 4 crossover stories and, bizarrely, 1 crossover story featuring Dredd and Lobo. Holy Drokk, Batman! A crossover between the bat vigilante and the fascistic future policeman? Unfortunately its not as good as it sounds and somehow John Wagner managed to get four books out of this unlikely team-up.
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