4 out of 5

I initially passed on this special because Kek-W’s Deadworld hasn’t historically done much for me, and I assumed this special – with Kek writing a framing story – would fall into a similar vibe, and the Dark Judges are kind of like the Dreddverse’s Wolverine or Deadpool, perpetually overused due to their “cool” factor; so what could this special have to offer?

But man, kudos to Kek, and whoever was editing this: not only is each entry – an intro and epilogue surrounds one tale dedicated to each judge – worth reading on its own, but the book in totality accomplishes something that’s pretty rare across the Death stories: it’s unnerving. The tone doesn’t completely avoid the smirking humor that sometimes pops up in Dark Judge tales, but it’s not the default; the focus is absolutely on using each judge’s “power,” to explore the potential extent of their impacts on people. And because these can be interpreted as elseworld-type stories, that allows writers to take things to some extreme ends. Now, there are definitely some flaws in that execution – not everyone seems to write towards the same goal of these being conclusive stories for each Judge; Alex De Campi does a Rob Williams impression and mixes in continuity references and political jabs that feel otherwise out of place – but De Campi’s story is still exciting, and the others are so incredibly compelling or interesting that the special deserves extra note.