This seems like a problem that should come up again...no? Alright, then.

I don't spend as much time in my garage as I would like, but the rental place told me they were replacing the garage door, but neglected to mention the guy would need some room to work on it...how the hell would I know, I've never replaced a garage door before? They could just snap on for all I know. So I have to move some stuff, which is of course a colossal pain in the ass, but I did dig this one out of there...and we've blogged half of it before, but since I mentioned it the other day with Cr'reee, let's go ahead with 1989's Judge Dredd #30, reprinting "Gribligs" from 1986's 2000 AD #464-465, written by "T.B. Grover" (really John Wagner and Alan Grant!) and art by Barry Kitson.

A spaceliner steward is caught with snuff videos, and tries to get a lighter sentence by snitching on his crewmates: has that ever worked in Mega-City One? Snitching doesn't get you a lighter sentence, it gets you years added on for not mentioning those crimes before. One of the crew members is visiting his girl, with his new alien pets, a pair of "Gribligs." They seem like clever little devils--too clever, as they work out how to escape their cages as soon as they aren't being watched. They were also being kept separate for a reason: they breed like Tribbles, and are a couple dozen strong by morning. The crew member panics, since without an import license he would be looking at serious cube time, and starts hacking Gribligs up with a decorative sword from the wall, but catches his girlfriend in the backswing, killing her. While he was distraught over the body, the Gribligs knock him down, push something heavy off a top shelf onto his head, then adorably celebrate their little murder.

Having arrested most of the spaceliner's crew for assorted and sundry crimes, Dredd tracks down the last one, and finds the bodies, stripped down to the bone by the now hundreds of Gribligs. Dredd calls Control to get more information, and brings in pest control to gas the buggers. (And himself; Dredd has to stay in with his helmet respirator.) Dredd doesn't reckon on their cleverness, though; as a few Gribligs escape the gas by flushing themselves down the toilet! A month later, a Griblig is spotted loose in the city, and if there's one, well, they were probably "here to stay!" Of course, I don't think they appeared again until maybe 2004, but honestly Mega-City One was probably a challenge even for their breeding abilities; it's not safe there.