Judge Dredd Vs. Aliens: Incubus #1 - Dark Horse Comics

JUDGE DREDD VS. ALIENS: INCUBUS No. 1, March 2003

Published weekly in the British comic “2000 A.D.”, as well as monthly by “Dark Horse Comics”, this cross-company mini-series must have had both "Dredd-heads" and fans of the “Aliens” franchise drooling at the prospect of Mega-City One’s toughest lawman battling one of “nature’s most adaptive and deadly killing machines.” For whilst Old Stoney Face already enjoyed a history rich with such notable extra-terrestrial foes like the Kleggs, Trapper Hag, the Nosferatu and Raptaurs, all of them arguably paled into insignificance when compared to the cultural impact of H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph XX121; “Gotta warn them! They don’t know what they’re dealing with!”

Delightfully, John Wagner and Andy Diggle’s script for Issue One of “Judge Dredd Verses Aliens: Incubus” doesn’t disappoint either, providing plenty of pulse-pounding action straight from the book’s get-go as low-life Jimmy Godber desperately attempts to avoid a bullet in the head from the criminals he double-crossed, whist simultaneously trying to reach Eisenhower General Hospital for medical assistance. Readers familiar with the “highly aggressive endoparasitoid extra-terrestrial species” will know exactly what is coming next, but such foreknowledge doesn’t stop the Judges’ first encounter with a Chestburster from still being a wonderfully shocking experience for all concerned.

Just as impressive as the Alien’s introduction is the collaborative writing team’s establishment of Packer and her Verminators. Despite the pest controllers being quite numerous, and resultantly struggling to attain much ‘screen time’ within this twenty-four page periodical, each individual still manages to demonstrate their own distinctive characteristics, personal beefs and ambitions, before “humanity’s ultimate nightmare” begins to whittle down their roster.

Undoubtedly this comic’s biggest highlight however, has to be Joe Dredd’s exploration of a rental warehouse at City Bottom and the lawman’s sense-shattering slugfest with an adult xenomorph. Dynamically pencilled by artist Henry Flint, and riddled with enough Ovomorphs to make even the biggest fan of Pat Mills’ co-creation somewhat nervous as to his future, this action-sequence is packed full of some truly jaw-dropping moments of horror. Whether it be Brubaker taking a Facehugger smack in his face, Pitt losing her fingers to a splash of the extra-terrestrial’s deadly blood, or Gomer and Earl literally been dissolved where they stand by a torrent of concentrated molecular acid, Wagner and Diggle are utterly merciless in their dissolution of the Senior Street Judge’s ill-prepared squad.

Writers: John Wagner & Andy Diggle, Art: Henry Flint, and Colors: Chris Blythe