EXCLUSIVE: Rob Williams Walks Judge Dredd Into "Closet"

[Molch-R]

Hi, Mike from 2000 AD here!

Sorry to hear people have been having difficulty getting hold of our comics - 2000 AD ships from the UK on time and we're not sure why some US shops have had problems securing copies. We've been having extensive talks with Diamond to try and get to the bottom of it, but it seems like stores are still finding it hard.

However, ALL of our books and comics are advertised in Previews so stores can order them through Diamond, same as everyone else's books - we also have a North American line of collections that are specifically printed by Simon and Schuster, and distributed in the US and Canada through Diamond and Barnes & Noble.

If you or your LCBS are having problems, please drop us a line at pr@2000online.com and we'll see what we can do!

Cheers

Mike

[fredmanson]

I think that in the end of this story, the Lawgiver will have its last word!!
After all, men can be pregnant in MEGA-CITY ONE, and with all the deviant perps around each streets corners,
I really think that will be again an excellent Judge DREDD story.
Poor kissing perp in the teaser, 20 years at least in the cube.

What's more strange, it's the fact that the actual USA are more a closed minded country than the good old Britannia!!!
You will never read such story into an US comic book!!!
You are so #$%&ing prude!!!

For the bravest among the bravest readers, you can subscribe to the paper version. It cost what it cost but I am so happy to receive my Prog in my mail-box!!

[king mob]

Judge Dredd is not gay and why is this important?!

Because a large number of people in Britain are gay. Some of them even read comics.

It seems to me that it is one more example of the gay life style being shoved down our throats!!!

Poor old homophobic you.

I will tell you this, just like the new Superman movie that is coming out, this series will bomb!!!

Are you expecting 2000AD to stop being published after 35 years because bigots don't like stories about homosexuality in comics? Bollocks.

[king mob]

Would be even cooler if North Americans just bought the darn original comic the way everybody else in the world does.

(Sorry, decades-old sore point.)

IPC, Fleetway, Robert Maxwell and every publisher since around 82 or 83 has at some point tried to punt 2000AD to the American market and every time it's failed. Partly because Americans didn't like the weekly anthology format, but mainly because a lot of the strips didn't play well with American readers. I remember being told that Slaine when drawn by McMahon and Bellardanelli went down like a fart in a spacesuit.

[UnravThreads]

IPC, Fleetway, Robert Maxwell and every publisher since around 82 or 83 has at some point tried to punt 2000AD to the American market and every time it's failed. Partly because Americans didn't like the weekly anthology format, but mainly because a lot of the strips didn't play well with American readers. I remember being told that Slaine when drawn by McMahon and Bellardanelli went down like a fart in a spacesuit.

Following 2000AD is roughly the equivalent of buying four American issues a month, followed by the ~$10 (it's £6-ish) Megazine each month), so it can take quite a chunk out of your comic budget, which I don't think helps it try and gain traction in the US. It's so easy to miss an issue and lose track of a story.

But yeah, 2000AD has oddly never had a huge amount of success in the US, and it doesn't help that US publishers keep snapping up UK talent.

Poor UK comics industry :(

[king mob]

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'.

Dredd doesn't have a sexuality and it has been touched on several times before and it's always made clear the law is all he cares about, but it is an interesting idea to make Dredd a subject of a fetish.

[Sheldipez]

Poor UK comics industry :(

At present 2000AD is the UK comics industry, unless you count digital-only publications.

[RonCerr]

Dredd doesn't have a sexuality

Says you. As a human, Dredd most certainly does have 'a sexuality', much in the same way that he has all the other appetites. attitudes and weaknesses of a regular ol' human: he just doesn't allow himself to act on or express them (beyond his love of boxing and a kindness to animals) - and for this reason we, the readers, don't know whether which team he would notionally bat for. If you're referring to DeMarco, or even Bella Bagley(!), I really don't think those stories even vaguely address Dredd's sexuality. His rejection of both those advances are because he is a judge, no other reason, and his obviously conflicted attitude to DeMarco could represent any kind of reaction, including the paternal or the fraternal.

[The Adventurer]

At present 2000AD is the UK comics industry, unless you count digital-only publications.

Well, they still publish Commando too.

Says you. As a human, Dredd most certainly does have 'a sexuality', much in the same way that he has all the other appetites. attitudes and weaknesses of a regular ol' human: he just doesn't allow himself to act on or express them (beyond his love of boxing and a kindness to animals) - and for this reason we, the readers, don't know whether which team he would notionally bat for. If you're referring to DeMarco, or even Bella Bagley(!), I really don't think those stories even vaguely address Dredd's sexuality. His rejection of both those advances are because he is a judge, no other reason, and his obviously conflicted attitude to DeMarco could represent any kind of reaction, including the paternal or the fraternal.

There are some people who are asexual. As in have no interest in sex one way, or the other. But even with Dredd is hard to tell where his adherence to Judge celibacy ends, and his general disinterest begins.

At any rate, Dredd wouldn't be attracted to anyone who ever broke the law (or was capable of breaking laws), and since he believes everyone is guilty of something...


Ironically*. I think the closet thing Dredd has ever come to a soul mate is Chief Judge Hershey. Sure its completely platonic. But she's one of the few people that really understands Joe, and she's one of the few people Dredd fully respects. Also one of the few people who can get Dredd to do something when he really doesn't want too. Respect is probably closest thing to love Dredd can express.

*ironic due to how the Stallone movie ended up

[UnravThreads]

At present 2000AD is the UK comics industry, unless you count digital-only publications.

Aside from Commando, as The Adventurer said, yes. Well, no. Actually, ours is very much underground. You've got publishers like Great Beast Comics appearing, a number of artists are working in vague, unofficial collectives (i.e. they'll work with each other from time to time or do something for another "member" and their work), and so on.

But we can't have a comics market if our creators are being lured overseas, sadly. It's not their fault, it's where the money is, but I'd like to see a genuine push to really give the UK market a boost.

[Sheldipez]

Aside from Commando, as The Adventurer said, yes. Well, no. Actually, ours is very much underground. You've got publishers like Great Beast Comics appearing, a number of artists are working in vague, unofficial collectives (i.e. they'll work with each other from time to time or do something for another "member" and their work), and so on.

But we can't have a comics market if our creators are being lured overseas, sadly. It's not their fault, it's where the money is, but I'd like to see a genuine push to really give the UK market a boost.

Oh yeah there's a bunch of cool indies putting out some decent stuff (like Accent UK) but you go to WH Smiths or any UK Newsagents and it's 2000AD, the Megazine, Panini UK Marvel reprint collections and a load of faux comic magazines with toys stuck to them. Go back even 15 years ago and it wasn't this bad. It's sad.

[RonCerr]

But even with Dredd is hard to tell where his adherence to Judge celibacy starts, and his general disinterest begins.

Well put. My point is really only slightly different to yours, in that I'd argue that we just can't (or rather don't) know whether Dredd is asexual (which one could argue is just another point on the multidimensional spectrum of sexuality) or lives with constantly suppressed desire for either arse or quim: personally I'd like to imagine Dredd as perpetually biting down on all the irrational emotions, from anger to empathy to lust, in his pursuit of impartial application of the Law. Sometimes he snaps one way or the other, as when he punches Winslow or indulges the widower Knee, we just haven't seen him give into the urgings of the L'il Daystick yet, and I hope we never will. So for the moment he could just as easily be gay as straight as bi as asexual: in the absence of any hint of expression it's irrelevant.

However, it's interesting to look at his emerging sense of family as an indication of a much wider range of the normal human desires that lurk iceberg-like beneath that stony face.

You can lump Hershey in with Giant (Mk I), Beeny, and maybe even DeMarco as proteges, or more properly expressions of Dredd's vision for the future: he acknowledges them as younger than he, and with different (maybe superficially) more liberal perspectives, although he actively supports and encourages them even as he more generally excoriates his contemporaries.

[UnravThreads]

Oh yeah there's a bunch of cool indies putting out some decent stuff (like Accent UK) but you go to WH Smiths or any UK Newsagents and it's 2000AD, the Megazine, Panini UK Marvel reprint collections and a load of faux comic magazines with toys stuck to them. Go back even 15 years ago and it wasn't this bad. It's sad.

There's Titan, too, who do the DC side of things (and are currently expanding).

But my Smiths doesn't even have the Megazine! It has 2000AD, though.

[Sheldipez]

There's Titan, too, who do the DC side of things (and are currently expanding).

But my Smiths doesn't even have the Megazine! It has 2000AD, though.

Yeah it's great news that Titan is branching out into publishing more themselves. They have the connections so if anyone could make a good go of it it would be them.

[LooneyKoala]

I'm quite looking forward to this, it sounds like an interesting concept Plus reading about it made me realise I miss reading 2000AD (I haven't bought any progs since just before the Trifecta one...) even though I only actually started reading it about 6 and a half months ago (stopped simply because it's weekly and therefore adds quite a bit to my comic budget, but I've since dropped a lot of other things). So yesterday I went out and bought this weeks 2000AD and this months Megazine (first one of those I've bought, actually) and was reminded how much I actually like it. Meaning I know plan to order the last few progs (up to the Trifecta issue) and Megazines as they're still available on the 2000AD website If need be, I'll likely drop other comics I buy (mostly Marvel and Image with a tiny bit of DC) so I can afford this, as it's actually superior.

But yeah, I'm actually quite looking forward to this story! And is Dredd gay? Who knows. It doesn't matter, and there's a good chance we'll never know what his sexuality is. It's the law he cares about, and everything else is buried beneath that.