In the 1990s Critchlow began to use colour; his work on the 1995 "Batman/Judge Dredd: The Ultimate Riddle" was fully painted. At the time, while considered impressive his painting work was also considered forced, confused Critic Joseph Szadkowski wrote that Critchlow's 1996 work "Sherlock Joker Strikes Out" shows his "commitment to presenting the Joker in an expressionist style, almost Ludwig Kirchner in a good mood." Critchlow continued to develop his colour work and new stylistic direction as he abandoned paint and began to combine traditional line drawings with computer colouring. However, having been pigeon-holed as a painter he did not believe he could interest anyone in this radically different approach. This new combination of techniques was used in 2000AD for the Judge Dredd story "Out of the Undercity" and was initially well received and seen as a marked improvement over his previous fully painted style, with clearer figures and atmospheric computer colouring. As the Undercity story developed, however, Critchlow was criticised for using too narrow a palette, with too many greys and blues, although this may have been a result of the story's underground setting. By the end of the series, views on Critchlow's artwork were mixed, although some readers wanted to see him working on a story set above ground and in daylight.