Gay Dredd .....lol

[opaque]

It's a problem potentially as it's not showing the quality of what 2000ad has to offer (especially in this case it's incredibly well written as well as drawn) but as that sort of thing isn't easily to get out there why not. But it's not without some problems in my mind.

Fairly obvious that wasn't what was going to be the story though wasn't it.

[Eric Plumrose]

Wow.

Y'know I suggested merging the two "Gay Dredd" threads? Never mind. I reckon this one's better off in isolation.

That's kinda why I didn't do it!

There's more than one thread discussing this?

[JOE SOAP]

There's more than one thread discussing this?

It swings both ways.

[Molch-R]

It's a problem potentially as it's not showing the quality of what 2000ad has to offer (especially in this case it's incredibly well written as well as drawn) but as that sort of thing isn't easily to get out there why not.

Yes, see my earlier comment. The press aren't interested in how good we think our comic book is.

[NorthVox]

Saw this on the news earlier.     Could be an amusing story if it's a one off but making out that Dredd might be gay is a guaranteed way of losing readers (even making it ambiguous).


Not a good way of advertising Dredd to the world.

You don't know much about advertising!

Agreed! I haven't picked up a weekly in nearly a year, but damn I'm not missing this one! Dredd's always at his best when dealing with topics some people find uncomfortable: drugs, terrorism, politics, war. Sexuality would make a fine addition if done right methinks, plus with Dredd's character 'maturing' over the years (getting closer with his family, seemingly more lenient with perps than the old days IMHO) it'd be pretty cool.

It does amaze me how anyone could have a negative view towards this, for two reasons:
1) Not ok with homosexuality but ok with violence? It's the same thing with videogames and movies; people seem to have no problem with insane amounts of violence in entertainment, but as soon as sex is addressed (moreso the sex they personally aren't into), the apocalypse happens.
2) We can trust the writers to not fuck up the character. Dredd's been going from strength to strength since conception, I think we owe it to the writers to give them the benefit of the doubt from time to time. Dredd isn't instantly going to start wearing short-shorts and marching in pride parades, he's still gonna be Dredd. He hasn't gone around banging women left and right as a presumably hetero judge, I don't think he's going to start banging men left and right if it's revealed that he's gay.

All in all, looking forward to picking this up, new frontier for the lawman!

[Toni Scandella]

Wowsers.  I'm not sure that I see any of the posts on here as deliberately homophobic - at least, I haven't got the impression from anyone that they have a problem with gays - Facebook comments are another matter entirely (shock horror - a kids comic pushing the gay agenda! Oh Noes!!!) 

I have not read the story yet (will be doing that Wednesday) so as one of the token non-straight people here I can't comment, but all the publicity seemed to be pretty clear that it wasn't, y'know, actually Dredd himself snogging that boy. It's not in his character to be snogging anyone (he's been a snog victim a couple of times I suppose, but I am sure those don't count)

Personally, I don't give a monkeys if Dredd is secretly one of my lot or not - (the argument about whether it is possible to be gay and celibate is an interesting one, are all celibates assumed to be straight, or to have no sexuality at all? Does it matter? is identity really just about who people shag?) - but I applaud 2000 AD for having the guts to address sexuality issues in its flagship strip. And to get some publicity out of it, even if some of the reaction has been 'Did you call my comic character a puff?'.

will see how it has been handled when I get to read it, but by all accounts it has been handled with sensitivity.

[Hawkmumbler]

Just read the story. Saw the twist coming from day one. So i'm going to get serious now and ask myself 'the' question.
'Does the prospect of Dredd being homosexual affect my opinions on the comic?'
No. Sexuality is a human right, indeed it's the right of all living creatures. There have been records of homosexual Dolphins, Horses, Gibbons, Jays, Finches, even some Shark's have been known to take it in the rear. It's simple, it is a mutation of the brain, but we all have mutations to some degree, be they inherited or developed from the environment, social or natural. In every respect, despite what the church want to to believe, it is 100% natural and a persons sexuality does not make me question them as humans or there worth. My best mate is due to marry his boyfreind of 5 years in August. Have I at any point been creeped out by my drinking chum's choice in sex? No, as soon as I found out I did ask if he was in any way sexualy attracted to him (to which he said no) and I left it at that. It's simple really, if Dredd has homosexual urges, he'll never show them because of his training and vow as a judge, same if he had had heterosexual tendancies. It's all the same thing in the great, boiling pot of morality, there is no wrong way to have sex. Well, excpet pheadophilia and necrophilia of cause. That's just NOT natural. But there arguments for another day.

[mogzilla]

thanks for the input toni...like most normal well adjusted fans i will be tuning in on wednesday to enjoy my prog (mostly-red seas) and if anyone has a problem with dredd having gay antics in it well shame on you and sod off we dont want you in our merry little band as it has been established its not dredd snogging a bnloke and now can we move back to the burning issues of the day like will julian clary now be in the running for the sequel that wont will maybe ...be ?

[Zarjazzer]

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/sam-leith-the-churchill-biscuit-tin-britain-no-longer-exists-8469436.html?origin=internalSearch

Go past Churchill and Dredd bit second article down.

[Dandontdare]

The Guardian tackled it with some humour - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/shortcuts/2013/jan/27/judge-dredd-gay-comic-book

[The Prodigal]

Just read the story. Saw the twist coming from day one. So i'm going to get serious now and ask myself 'the' question.
'Does the prospect of Dredd being homosexual affect my opinions on the comic?'
No. Sexuality is a human right, indeed it's the right of all living creatures. There have been records of homosexual Dolphins, Horses, Gibbons, Jays, Finches, even some Shark's have been known to take it in the rear. It's simple, it is a mutation of the brain, but we all have mutations to some degree, be they inherited or developed from the environment, social or natural. In every respect, despite what the church want to to believe, it is 100% natural and a persons sexuality does not make me question them as humans or there worth. My best mate is due to marry his boyfreind of 5 years in August. Have I at any point been creeped out by my drinking chum's choice in sex? No, as soon as I found out I did ask if he was in any way sexualy attracted to him (to which he said no) and I left it at that. It's simple really, if Dredd has homosexual urges, he'll never show them because of his training and vow as a judge, same if he had had heterosexual tendancies. It's all the same thing in the great, boiling pot of morality, there is no wrong way to have sex. Well, excpet pheadophilia and necrophilia of cause. That's just NOT natural. But there arguments for another day.

There can be  alot of different opinions within the "church" on this one. This God-botherer has been involved in anti-homophobic work.

Really looking forward to reading this story-line. Ever since I started reading dredd one year ago I have had a huge question mark over his seeming asexual nature or complete repression of his sexual identity.

[Frank]

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/sam-leith-the-churchill-biscuit-tin-britain-no-longer-exists-8469436.html?origin=internalSearch

"Many years ago, one of Judge Dredd's senior writers, Alan Grant, visited my school to give a talk (testament to the far-sightedness and discrimination of the school's Literary Society), in the course of which he set us right. "We're all adults here," he said, surveying a sea of pink faces and bobbing Adam's apples. "Well, we're all past the age of puberty, at least. The truth about Dredd is that he doesn't have genitals. We conceived of him as a sort of Justice Department eunuch."

I fucking love Alan Grant. If there's an inappropriate and provacative thing to say, he'll find a way to say it.

If you look at the difference between the time Grant was writing Dredd with Wagner and the periods before and after, it's clear that his contribution to their creative partnership was (to a great extent) thinking through the implications of the odd mish-mash of different peoples' ideas which the strip had been up until that point to their illogical, exaggerated, hilarious synthesis and conclusion.

It would actually make a lot of sense for Morton Judd to genetically engineer his creations - who were supposed to never have sex - with no testicles. Strangely, it would make the paradoxical existence of Vienna Dredd more explicable if she could only be the result of in vitro fertilisation from a sample of genetic material. Rather than a visiting day bunk-up.

[JOE SOAP]

It would actually make a lot of sense for Morton Judd to genetically engineer his creations - who were supposed to never have sex - with no testicles.

Or maybe not; the agressive instinct would be gone and Judges would be reciting the Law in falsetto rather than conducting with a daystick . If anything Judd would find a way to make their balls bigger but their dicks smaller.

[Frank]

It would actually make a lot of sense for Morton Judd to genetically engineer his creations - who were supposed to never have sex - with no testicles.

Or maybe not; the agressive instinct would be gone and Judges would be reciting the Law in falsetto rather than conducting with a daystick . If anything Judd would find a way to make their balls bigger but their dicks smaller.

Girls round your way must less fractious and prone to beating the living shite out of each other than up here. The only time I've taken a fist to the face as an adult, there was a snarling wee madam on the other end of it. Have to disagree regarding the utility of getting rid of the cock too; stopping the bike for a quick slash would become needlessly complicated if it involved finding somewhere to safely and discreetly drop your breeks and spray aimlessly into the wind. Girls have to ...

[Richmond Clements]

Girls round your way must less fractious and prone to beating the living shite out of each other than up here.

He's in Dublin.