Unfortunately, Nightcrawler and the rest of Excalibur (minus the lost Kitty Pryde, who accidentally made her way home early) end up maybe one universe over from Dredd's. Maybe two, since the Marvel Universe already had a perfectly good (or at least, usable...) Dredd analog in Simonson's Justice Peace.
Arriving in a Mega-City One-styled future, complete with "Justicers" and anti-mutant laws, Excalibur has to deal with the law and the mob. As was typical for the Cross-Time Caper stories, there are several analog versions of the team and others: Kit Pryde runs the mob, although she may just be the point for demon sorceress Illyana Rasputin. (Amusingly, Illyana wears Dr. Strange's blue outfit, minus only the cloak.)
A Justicer with the unlikely name of Cadbury turns out to be a human version of Kurt; but there are laws against mutants, and Kurt's facing "genetics modification," then a jail term just for his appearance.
Meggan and Captain Britain end up in the Black Atlantic (at least, that's what Dredd's version was called) the polluted and poison sea. The whole team is forced to fight their way to Illyana, who goes full-on Dark-childe demon mode. Even with Phoenix, the fight is almost lost until the Lord High Justicer and Chief Examining Magistrate arrive: that universe's Captain Britain and his sister, Psylocke.
As everything wraps up, Justicer Bull admits "the law is absolute, but not immutable," and that change may be necessary. Excalibur is given until sunset, to get the hell out of Dodge...
From Excalibur #23, "Here Comes the Judge" Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Paul Neary. Interestingly enough, back in the day in old Judge Dredd stories, mutants were illegal, and were often forcibly exiled from Mega-City One. But in recent years, Dredd has been trying to change that policy: being the way you were born should never be a crime.
1 comment:
GAWD how I misse Excaliber -- and Alan Davis! He drew the best Nightcrawler outside of Cockrum, no question.
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