Al Bestardi

Al’s Baby is a creator-owned strip by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra and appeares in the Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000AD.

Al Bestardi started off as your typical mobster climbing the ladder and making a name for himself, after a few years Al Bestardi becomes the number one enforcer for Don Luigi an aging, very cranky mobster who rules Chicago. Luigi finally gives Al permission to marry his daughter, Velma. Al is living the life; until the Don announces he needs a grandson. The remarkably violent Velma flat-out refuses – it would interfere with her career as the nation’s worst torch singer. Luigi gives Al a chose either concrete boots for letting down the godfather or the unappealing prospect of male pregnancy. Soon, he’s hitting for two, much to the amusement of his peers and rivals in the business. As you can imagine, this does Al’s rep no good at all.

In the second storyline, Al attempts to arrange the accidental death of a surprising family rival who just refuses to die. In the third and final story Al is hiding out as a very ugly woman who nevertheless attracts a scatterbrained suitor. What’s worse though, Al carries it off so well, it doesn’t end at a single child.