Alan Grant

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Alan Grant
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Alan Grant
This page is about the comic book writer. For the character in Jurassic Park, see Alan Grant (Jurassic Park).

Alan Grant is a Scottish comic book writer born in 1949. He lives with his wife Sue in Moniaive in Scotland and is best known for writing Judge Dredd in 2000 AD

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early career

Alan Grant first entered the comics industry in 1967 when he became an editor for D.C. Thompson before moving to London from Dundee in 1970 to work for IPC on various romance magazines.

After going back to college and having a series of jobs which he failed to hold down, Grant found himself back in Dundee and living on social security. It was here that Grant met John Wagner, another former D.C. Thompson editor. Wagner was helping put together a new science fiction comic for IPC (this was 2000AD) and was unable to complete his other work because of this. Wagner asked Grant if he could help him write the Tarzan comic he was working on and this was the start of the Wagner/Grant writing partnership.

[edit] 2000AD

Grant was asked by Wagner to try to write a strip for Starlord, a 2000AD spin off title. This got Grant noticed within IPC and on a trip to London, Grant was introduced to Kelvin Gosnell, the then editor of 2000AD, who offered Grant an editorial position on the comic. One of Grant's first jobs was to oversee the merger of 2000AD and Tornado, an unsuccessful boys adventure comic. Grant also featured as a character in the comic in the form of ALN-1, Tharg's Scottish Robot assistant. However Grant found himself in conflict with IPC and resigned to become a freelance writer and moved on to write the occasional Future Shock and Blackhawk, the tale of a Roman soldier kidnapped by aliens.

Grant then formed his partnership with Wagner after the pair lived and worked together, with Grant contributing ideas at first before eventually co-writing Judge Dredd together. The pair would work on other popular strips for the comic including Robo-Hunter and Strontium Dog using the pseudonym T.B.Grover. Grant also worked on other people's stories changing and adding dialogue, most notably Harry Twenty on the High Rock which was written by Gerry Finley-Day. It was Judge Dredd which would be Grant's main concern for much of the 1980s. Grant and Wagner had developed the strip into the most popular in 2000AD as well as creating lengthy epic storylines such as The Apocalypse War which would bring major change for the world of Judge Dredd.

Grant was hugely prolific at this time in the 1980s. He was not only writing for 2000AD, but other IPC comics such as the revamped Eagle.

[edit] American work in the 1980s

By the late 1980s Grant and Wagner were about to move into the American comic market, their first title was a 12 issue mini series called Outcasts for DC Comics. Although it wasn't a success, it paved the way for the pair to write Batman in Detective Comics from issue 583. After a dozen issues Wagner left (due to Judge Dredd being optioned for a film) to leave Grant as sole writer and this left Grant to become one of the main Batman writers until the late 1990s.

The pair also created a four issue series for Epic Comics called The Last American. It is this series, as well as the Chopper storyline in Judge Dredd, which is blamed for the breakup of the Wagner/Grant partnership. The pair split strips, with Wagner keeping Judge Dredd and Grant keeping Strontium Dog and Judge Anderson. However the split didn't mean the pair never worked again, they continue to work together on special projects such as the Batman/Judge Dredd crossover Judgement on Gotham.

[edit] 1990s

Grant remained highly prolific, his projects at the start of this decade included writing Detective Comics and Strontium Dog, but two projects in particular are especially notable. The first is The Bogie Man, a series co-written by John Wagner which was the pair's first venture into independent publishing. The second is Lobo, a character created by Keith Giffen as a supporting character in The Omega Men.

Lobo gained his own four issue mini series in 1990 which was drawn by Simon Bisley. This was a parody of the 'dark, gritty' comics of the time and proved hugely popular. After several other mini series (all written by Grant, sometimes with Giffen as co-writer), Lobo received his own ongoing series. Grant was also writing L.E.G.I.O.N. (a Legion of Super-Heroes spin-off) and The Demon (a revival of Jack Kirby's character) for DC Comics. Grant also wrote the new Batman title, Shadow of the Bat, as well as being one of the main writers during the Knightfall crossover.

Grant was also part of the creative team for the short lived weekly title Toxic! and was a consultant on the Judge Dredd Megazine. Due to the sheer volume of work he was doing, Grant let a new generation of writers try their hand on strips like Judge Dredd and Robo-Hunter. However this often proved to be unsuccessful and Grant found himself getting more involved again with writing for 2000AD.

By the end of the decade Grant had written for virtually every American publisher of comic books, including DC, Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics.

[edit] 2000s

Alan Grant photographed with small-press title FutureQuake.
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Alan Grant photographed with small-press title FutureQuake.

Grant had become involved with writing scripts for animation as well as his comic work, notably working on Action Man cartoons as well as original anime. He remains the main writer for Judge Anderson and Robo-hunter and has teamed up with John Wagner for a new Bogie Man story for the Judge Dredd Megazine. He has also formed his own publishing company called Bad Press Ltd, who have so far only released the humour title Shit the Dog which was written by Grant and drawn by Simon Bisley.

He is one of the few professional comics writers to contribute to fanzines such as FutureQuake. He also partly owns and provides scripts for Northern Lightz, a Scottish underground comic. Along with his wife Sue, they organise the annual Moniaive Comics Festival which attracts many British creators.

Grant has written two comic-based novels, The Stone King, (2001) featuring Batman and the Justice League of America, and Last Sons, (2006) featuring Superman, Martian Manhunter and Lobo. Since 1998, Alan has written scripts for Renga Media and now is writing the screenplay for Dominator X.

He has also written Kidnapped, an adaptation of novel Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, with art by Cam Kennedy. It is part of a project revolving around Edinburgh being the first UNESCO City of Literature in 2007 and various editions will be produced some of which will be handed out for free. [1] A version with text adapted for reluctant readers will be published simultaneously by Barrington Stoke. If things go well more adaptations may be in the works. [2]

[edit] Bibliography

Comics work includes:

Novels include

[edit] External links

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