Judgement Day

Judgement Day is a Judge Dredd story co-starring Johnny Alpha. It is written by Garth Ennis, illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra, Peter Doherty, Dean Ormston and Chris Halls, and lettered by Tom Frame. As well as Dredd and Johnny Alpha, it features Chief Judge McGruder, Judge Hershey and Judge-Sergeant Joyce.

The plot concerns a black magician from the future called Sabbat, who is basically an obvious cross between Judge Death and Walter the Softy (yes, really), raising an army of zombies in an attempt to take over the world. Dredd and a coalition of Judges attempt to stop him with the help of Johnny Alpha, who has been sent back in time in pursuit of the necromancer. The zombies sing a pastiche of 'I Wanna Be Like You' from the Disney film The Jungle Book, and the South American Judge turns out to be cowardly and treacherous ("N-n-no need for torture, Senor [sic] Sabbat! I'll tell you everything!"). The story would be completely forgettable were it not for the death toll: Mega-City Two, Djarkata, Sino-City, South-Am and Brasilia, with a combined population of two billion people, were nuked to prevent the citizens (presumed zombified) from being turned into Sabbat's weapons. This is why Mega-City Two, despite Dredd's valiant effort to save it from the 2T(FRU)T virus, is no more.

Judgement Day was later published as volume 37 of Judge Dredd: The Mega Collection. This volume contained an interview with Garth Ennis, in which he described the story as a "no-hoper" with a "feeble villain" which was written "poorly" and featured "incredibly repetitive" zombies. "As for the scenes where the cities get nuked, who cares? The sheer drama of Part 23 of The Apocalypse War makes the sequence look like a series of damp farts." Ennis also claims to have been "floundering around without the wit or experience to come up with anything decent." Whatever one's opinions of the story, one is left with a profound admiration for Ennis' honesty.