Comic Review: Predator vs Dredd vs Alien

For this review, we turn to Predator vs Judge Dredd vs Aliens. Yes, you did read that correctly. Two of cinema’s most scary sci-fi aliens have come to Mega-City One (and I don't mean Sly's attempt at Judge Dredd), and only Judge Dredd stands between them and the unprepared citizens. The book is roughly A4 in size and has a beautiful dust jacket, portraying the three antagonists of the tales. Hidden under the dust jacket is the matt black hard cover, with red font writing, which reminds me of the original Predator Movie font, which was a nice touch. So let us get into the stories:

Dredd VS Predator

First up in the book is Judge Dredd vs Predator. The story begins on the outskirts of Mega-City One in the Cursed Earth. A lonely scrap prospector named Gomer and his robot assistant, Ben, see what they believe to be a shooting star. Thinking that a fortune of precious metals has just crashed over the hill, Gomer investigates. Instead of finding his weight in precious metals, the poor prospector finds an alien spaceship! To make matters worse for Gomer, the ship's owners are still around; the last panel of this section is zoomed out, showing the glowing lights of Mega-City One in the distance.

In the big Meg, it's business as usual for the Mega-City 1 Judges, chasing down two gangs fighting over turf. Soon, these Judges are ambushed by an invisible assailant, pinned down and quickly injured in the one-sided fight. They call for backup, and of course, Judge Dredd responds. Arriving at the scene, Judge Dredd's bionic eyes pick up on the invisible assailant (lucky hey!). Opening fire, Dredd uses hi-ex to drive away the assailant before giving chase. The Predator, escaping Judge Dredd's explosive wrath, flees to an empty Zoomline shed. Here, Judge Dredd finally comes face to face with the Ultimate Game Hunter! A slugfest follows, with the Predator and Judge Dredd going toe to toe, resulting in a Judge Dredd loss (what the hell!). Before backup can arrive to aid Judge Dredd, the Predator escapes.

Judge Dredd, having suffered a severe beating to the body and pride, is rushed to the medical wing of Justice Central, where he spends the next five hours in a rapid healing pod. A recovered Judge Dredd slowly comes too and discovers that the Predator kill count has risen. More shockingly, the alien seems to be only targeting Judges now, thanks to seeing how much of a challenge Judge Dredd was. Luckily, the Justice Department hasn't been idle. They have formed a special task force to locate and contain this dangerous threat. Judge Dredd, in his usual polite manner, takes control of the task force and immediately pisses off the PSI auxiliary Schaefer. Schaefer is the great-granddaughter of the late Dutch Schaefer (ref. first Predator movie). Dutch was the sole survivor of a Predator encounter in the late 20th century. Now, it is up to the current Schaefer to locate the alien using her PSI abilities and some of the injured Predator's blood.

Unfortunately, results are slow in coming, and Judge Dredd and Schaefer argue about her claimed abilities with the body count rising. Schaefer storms off with the blood sample and speeds away in her car, which she promptly crashes. Due to the accident, Schaefer ingests an example of the xeno's blood (gross!). She gets a flash of the Predator's nest and an image of a captured Judge hanging nearby. Realizing this is the break they are after, Schaefer consumes the rest of the blood and forms a PSI bond with the alien hunter. Finally, with a target to chase, Judge Dredd leads the task force with support from two Wardroids against the Predator. But it's never that simple, and soon, the Predator has tallied an impressive kill ratio on the Judges. Now alone again, Judge Dredd faces off against the ultimate Game Hunter in a burning-down building. This time, though, the lawman of the future is triumphant and leaves the fallen body of the xeno to burn with the installation.

Overview

This was a great story, and I wouldn't expect anything less from a Wagner-written piece. But I felt that Schaefer, as a character, didn't add anything to the story and could have been any old psi within the department. I would have liked to have seen more effort put into her to make a more well-rounded persona. Also, if I had been Tech-Judge, I would be so pissed off at Judge Dredd for burning the aliens’ tech, though I'm sure the lawman wouldn't care. But it's an excellent start to the book.

Incubus, a.k.a Dredd VS Aliens

The second strip again involves Wagner’s scriptwriting skills, but the artist is Henry Flint this time. Flint is one of my favourite Dredd artists. So, I'm incredibly excited to get into this story. Straight off, this story is set later than the Predator story. How can I tell...well in the Predator story, Judge Dredd was armed with the MKI lawgiver, while in the Alien story, Judge Dredd has the MKII. I’m so clever.

This story begins with Judge Dredd on crowd control in a Southern Sector of Mega-City 1. The crowd is protesting the building of a new power tower, and who could blame them after the last one became an active volcano. With the sector road grinding to a halt, we come across a very sweaty and sick-looking Jimmy Godber. Who is trying to get to the Eisenhower Hospital? But Godber is not alone. Two armed assailants are chasing him. Soon, gunfire is echoing in front of the Hospital, which gains Dredd's aggressive response. The assailants are soon dealt with, and Judge Dredd takes a sick Godber into the hospital.

Within moments of reaching the medical staff, Godber begins to suffer fits. As the Judges struggle to restrain the citizen, his chest bursts open in a fountain of gore. A worm-like creature from within the injury appears and escapes into the hospital vents. Judge Dredd, unsure what he had seen, immediately quarantined the hospital and called in the Justice Department's specialists. This elite team is called the 'Verminators' and specializes in pest control of the future. Equipped with the best armour and weapons, the team is expected to clear out pests, from rad roaches up to nests of albino sewer gators. The 'Verminators' team comprises Packer, Butterman, Wilson, Maier, Marinello, Fisk, Millar, Orson and Shook. Straight away, Packer orders all the wards into lockdown to restrict movement in the hospital. And launches a hover camera into the vents. Feeling this situation is under control, Judge Dredd heads off with Judge Giant and Judge Sanchez to investigate Godber's background.

Soon, it becomes apparent that they are dealing with an off-world creature, and the death toll starts rising rapidly and not wanting to give too much away. All I can say is the next few pages are classic Alien movie scenes, as the teams find out the hard way about these aliens. There's gore, blood, acid, missing body parts, acid, confined spaces, and did I mention acid? There is even a fight scene of Judge Dredd versus an Alien on top of a moving Zoom train, which is epic! But as the case unravels, we discover the real mastermind behind this infestation is Mr. Bones. A mutant who was banished to the Cursed Earth as a child and forced into becoming a space pirate. During his time as a freebooter, Mr. Bones' hatred for the justice department grew. Then, one day, he came across the aliens and had the answer for his revenge. Harvesting the eggs, Mr. Bones and his mutant band of merry men transported the eggs to the undercity and set about growing a hive directly beneath Justice Central! With fear that the Judges are onto them, Mr. Bones brings his plans forward. Blasting a hole into the basement levels of Justice Central, hundreds of aliens can swarm in. Judge Dredd and Judge Giant find themselves swamped by the Xenos threat. This leads to an epic last stand, with a justice death toll unheard of since the Apocalypse war. There’s only one thing the team can do: a classic suicide mission which leads to a face-to-face encounter with a Queen! These previous fifteen-odd pages are so action-packed that if I went into any accurate detail, you would still be reading for another week. But rest assured, our future lawman will deal with the bugs in an unforgiving way.

Overview

This story was epic! I have no other way to describe it. It was full-on action-packed from the first page to the last. The suspense had me on a knife's edge, and I couldn't help but grimace when the explosives were used on a bug. The acid blood led to some tremendous gory artwork by Flint. This story is now one of my all-time favourites.

Final Thoughts

Well, now to the final review. But how do I review this book? I will keep it simple and split it into likes and dislikes.

Likes

1) Wagner knows how to tell a tale. Combine this with Henry Flint, and we get an epic story.

2) Creature features are always fun. Aliens and Predators, oh my! Best sci-fi-horror villains of the 20th century.

3) Action-packed, both strips, especially the Alien one, gripped me from start to finish.

4) The Acid, oh, how it burned!

Dislikes

1) Schaefer didn't feel like a real character and seemed rushed.

2) How Judge Dredd deals with the Aliens/Predators. He destroys all traces of them. This seems unrealistic to me, as I'm sure Justice Central would love to experiment on them both. But it also makes sense as they don't want these stories becoming the main cannon in the Judge Dredd timelines.

Overall, this book was a fantastic read and well worth every penny. I know I want to re-read it, which is a good sign. So, with all considered, this book scores a solid 4 out of 5.

As always, let me know what you think. Do you like crossover tales? Do you hate them? Would you change them? What crossover would you like to see happen? Please drop me a comment below, and until next time. Thanks.