Distribution: FM International

First shipped: February 21, 1999

First Appearances: The Critters, Sweetcakes, Billy, Julian, Bick, Gene, Rhonda and Dr. Still. Cameo of issue #9 character on last panel.

Issue quirks: First issue in the new, cheaper format. Pin up by JD#1 inker, Bob Clark. Ad for Weird NJ magazine on back.

Issue Events: Cross promotion with Weird NJ magazine in May 1999 with an article on "The Blue Hole". Last issue for inker, Donn Smith. Explains how J.D. acquired Arthur the pit bull.

Issue Synopsis: In flashback, J.D. tells a story about the mysterious Blue Hole and the strange critters that laid dormant for millions of years, until they were disturbed by a group of bikers. Millions of years ago, the dinosaurs were attacked by strange, piranha-like worms brought to earth by a meteor. The crater, now known as the Blue Hole, serves as a dumping ground for a local biker gang called The Devil's Hand. Two of the bikers, Billy and Sweetcakes, stumble onto a reporter taking pictures of
their drug lab. J.D. arrives and saves him. The group goes back to the biker's drug lab, where J.D. forces the reporter, Julian, to drink a case of beer. The bikers, especially the leader, Gene, don't like J.D., but they grudgingly respect his "turf", ie the woods. Bick, one of the bikers, escorts J.D. and Julian out of the woods, but Bick turns out to be an undercover cop. Once more, he
knows J.D.'s twin brother Sam and implies that J.D. destroyed Sam's life without any consideration. Before Bick can arrest J.D. the other bikers arrive and shoot Bick. Julian escapes into the woods. The bikers tie rocks to J.D. and Bick and throw them into the Blue Hole.
Unfortunately, when the rocks hit the bottom, they crack the meteor at the bottom of the hole. The evil worms come out and enter Bick's body, allowing it to move. J.D. barely manages to get off the handcuffs and swim to the surface. Bick, now a worm zombie, surfaces and attacks Billy just as he runs out of bullets. He also bites Gene's leg. J.D., Sweetcakes, Gene and Rhonda, the bikers' girl, run back to the drug lab. J.D. summons the ghost of Dr. James Still to cure Gene and finds out some information on the worms. Unfortunately, the ghost leaves before J.D. finds the cure and the
barn is attacked by half a dozen worm zombies. (The bodies of 6 robbers the bikers had killed previously.) J.D. cuts off Gene's infected leg and the group flees. Rhonda is caught by the zombies and Arthur, Billy's pitbull, is freed by J.D. The group stumbles upon Julian, who escaped the Bick zombie by throwing a bottle of cranberry juice in his face. The group heads to the abandoned cranberry juice factory. Gene is caught by the zombies, while the rest of the group uses the juice to destroy the worms and the zombies. At the end of the issue, Sweetcakes, Julian and J.D. go their separate ways.
Flash forward to the present. J.D. finishes his story, but the bums in the railway station don't believe it. However, one person does believe and his name is Judas Reed. We then pull back to reveal that J.D. and Judas are in a comic book read by the mysterious, devil-like mutant in the future.