Judge Dredd vs. Aliens

"Judge Dredd vs. Aliens" is an intercompany crossover, featuring the Judge Dredd and the Alien from the film Alien franchise. It was published weekly in "2000 AD" in 2003.

Characters

Judges include:

*Judge Dredd
*Judge Giant
*Judge Sanchez, only a month out of the academy
*Judge Hershey
*Mechanismo
*Brubaker, the first judge to become infected by the creatures

A team of pest controllers (Verminators) also took a prominent role:

*Packer, the leader of the team
*Millar
*Marinello
*Fisk, Marinello's fiancee
*Wilson
*Maier
*Butterman
*Orson
*Shook

Villains include:

*Jimson James "Jimmy" Godber, a small-time crook
*Carlos Lenning (AKA Jeremiah), an anti-judicial activist
*Frank Rimm (AKA Futsie), another activist
*Mr Bones

Plot

A shoot out at a traffic jam draws the attention of the judges. Jeremiah is chasing Godber as he tries to make it to Eisenhower Hospital. After shooting the armed man they help Godber inside but it is too late for him and a chestburster tears him open. Dredd summons the Verminator team and goes to follow up various leads on the criminals.

The Verminators seal off the hospital and start their search. Meanwhile, the judges find that Godber had a plan to train the Aliens to take part in pit fighting. Following further leads they discover warehouse containing alien eggs, as well as Godber's dead neighbour (killed in revenge for noise pollution) and some dead face huggers. Whilst investigating Brubaker gets attacked by a facehugger emerging from a hatching egg and those jumping to his aid discover that the alien bleeds acid. By this point the judges realize the situation is far more dangerous than it initially appeared.

As the body count shoots up the judges rush back to the hospital but more deaths are happening there. Evacuating the hospital they eventually eliminate the second alien but reassessing the evidence makes them realise there may be more aliens out there. Jeremiah's driver, Futsie, is still at large but he has descended into the Undercity where he meets up with Mr Bones, the architect of the whole evil plan.

Walking Futsie further into his lair, Bones outlines his plan for the 'Incubus' (the name given to the Aliens here). He discovered them during his days as a space pirate and brought some back to help with his revenge on Mega-City One. It rapidly becomes clear that there is a vast hive beneath the city and ready to be unleashed.

Throwing Futsie to the monsters he prepares the final stages of his plan. The Alien hive has been grown right under the Grand Hall of Justice and he uses a shaped charge to blow out the dividing wall flooding the place with hordes of killer aliens. Things go badly for the judges and even with the assault squads and the Verminators things look grim for everyone. Luckily Giant has fought his way to the sub-armoury and has been given the codes to activate four Mechanismo robo-judges.

They finally turn the tide and force the creatures back underground. In the fight Sanchez is also taken and Dredd goes in alone to bring her back. Unfortunately they both get infected and have to find a way to kill off the aliens, and save themselves, if possible. They escape,tearing off a tag that was keeping the Aliens away from Bones. The Aliens advance, tearing Bones to pieces. Dredd and Sanchez discover the Alien Queen, the source of all the eggs. When they attacked, even the tags didn't stop the Aliens. They are under a power tower (a tower that draws magma from the earths core to warm mega-city one). Dredd and Sanchez open fire, hoping the tower will break and the lava will kill the Aliens. However it is too strong, and the Aliens were closing in. However,the leader of the Verminators (Packer) flies in, shooting herself. Her rocket explodes, breaking the tube which causes the magma to flow all over the Aliens. They escape, and doctors remove the chestburster before it can kill Dredd and Sanchez. The doctors want to study the Aliens, but judge kills the Aliens and states he's just not the motherly type.

Publication

Published weekly in "2000 AD" and as a four-issue mini-series by Dark Horse, it has been collected into a couple of volumes:

*"Judge Dredd vs. Aliens: Incubus" (with writers John Wagner and Andy Diggle and artist Henry Flint, in "2000 AD" prog 2003 and #1322-1335, Dark Horse, 4-issue mini-series, 2003, tpb, Rebellion, paperback, 104 pages, 2003, ISBN 1-904265-10-3, hardcover, 112 pages, 2007, ISBN 1-905437-14-5, Dark Horse, paperback, 104 pages, 2004, ISBN 1-56971-983-7)

ee also

*Predator vs. Judge Dredd

References

*comicbookdb|type=title|id=9135|title="Judge Dredd Vs. Aliens: Incubus"
* [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=ALIENS 2000 AD profile]

External links

* [http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/reviews/extra/2004/dreddaliens/dreddaliens.shtml Review of the hardback trade]