EXCLUSIVE: Rob Williams Walks Judge Dredd Into "Closet"

[chastmastr]

Thanks! I may have to do it as a back issue when it has made its way over here then.

[Last Son]

Judge Dredd is not gay and why is this important?! It seems to me that it is one more example of the gay life style being shoved down our throats!!! I will tell you this, just like the new Superman movie that is coming out, this series will bomb!!!

If it's being shoved down your throat, why are you still talking?

[loadjoisafjoasij13214]

Judge Dredd is not gay and why is this important?! It seems to me that it is one more example of the gay life style being shoved down our throats!!! I will tell you this, just like the new Superman movie that is coming out, this series will bomb!!!

Homophobes objecting to homosexuality being "shoved" in their "throats" never gets old. Sublimate much?

Looks like a good story, a shame Williams (accidentally, I'm sure) equates homosexuality with fetishism, in this interview.

[UnravThreads]

Looks like a good story, a shame Williams (accidentally, I'm sure) equates homosexuality with fetishism, in this interview.

I don't think he is, as such, but is commenting more on the (European?) stereotype of a gay man being into leather and chains. I mean, y'know, like the Judas Priest guy and I think even the Village People to some degree?

[The Adventurer]

Looks like a good story, a shame Williams (accidentally, I'm sure) equates homosexuality with fetishism, in this interview.

You know this is a valid observation. I do hope it's just Williams trying to convey where the story's focus lays. And it's not some misguided worldview creeping in. I hope the actual story is a little more nuanced then 'isn't fetishism freaky?'

Cause that isn't really exclusive to homosexuality.

[loadjoisafjoasij13214]

I don't think he is, as such, but is commenting more on the (European?) stereotype of a gay man being into leather and chains. I mean, y'know, like the Judas Priest guy and I think even the Village People to some degree?

Very likely, but that's not what he says. He literally equates the two: "Dredd could be gay; look at the uniform, for example". I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that it was an unfinished/abridged thought.

[loadjoisafjoasij13214]

Or rather "Dredd could be gay; his uniform is fetishistic, after all".

[Sheldipez]

It would be pretty cool if Dredd came out as gay, you'd have a gay comic book character that 1) wasn't an awful stereotype and 2) could easily kick ass of any homophobe!

It's 2013, time to grow up people.

[UnravThreads]

Very likely, but that's not what he says. He literally equates the two: "Dredd could be gay; look at the uniform, for example". I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that it was an unfinished/abridged thought.

Oh, right, yes. He did.

It would be pretty cool if Dredd came out as gay, you'd have a gay comic book character that 1) wasn't an awful stereotype and 2) could easily kick ass of any homophobe!

It's 2013, time to grow up people.

Dredd will take his helmet off before that happens.

[EMeadow]

Would be cool if IDW published this story for North Americans.

Yeah this definitely does sound like a "make arrangements with IDW STAT" situation.

[RonCerr]

I'm keen to see how the story pans out (a Dredd fetish is a good central idea), but I'm a little disappointed to learn that being gay is still a cause of domestic tension in MC-1 (even if not illegal). Given the replacement of many modern subjects with humorous analogues (sugar for cocaine, simping for religion, comics for banned literature, sexmex for teenage masturbation, along with the normalisation of male pregnancy, body uglification etc.), I would have thought the average MC-1 father might have been completely unmoved by his son's homosexuality, or at the very least more concerned about the possibility of his romantic involvement with sentient munce, or aversion to batgliding, or somesuch.

[RonCerr]

Darn, meant to add: how would we ever even know if Dredd was gay, straight, bi or for that matter attracted to vacuum cleaners? To coin a phrase, he might have the itch, but he sure ain't scratchin'.

[Rob Williams]

"a shame Williams (accidentally, I'm sure) equates homosexuality with fetishism, in this interview."

That wasn't my intention and it's not something I believe. Possibly could have been a little more erudite in my reply there.

[colin.ynwa]

There is also the point the way the costume looks and what that might imply is mote, as its a uniform he wears for his job and not a reflection of personal choice. To be fair much as Dredd's sexuality, as Rob Williams said Dredd's all about repression, so in effect he's neuter and I'm sure if he started to glaze with wonder at the ass of man, woman or goat for that matter, he'd be straight to stocks to draw out an even tighter fitting pair of boots!

The fact that Rob Williams is tackling homosexuality in Mega City One is cool though. One thing that Mega City One and the stories set in it, excel at is exposing and satirising some of the more ridiculous extremes of our society. To do that he has to have homophobia exist in the city so he can (I hope and assume) point out how bloody ridiculous it is in this day and age.

[loadjoisafjoasij13214]

"a shame Williams (accidentally, I'm sure) equates homosexuality with fetishism, in this interview."

That wasn't my intention and it's not something I believe. Possibly could have been a little more erudite in my reply there.

I assumed not, but I appreciate the clarification.