It’s one of the UK’s most venerable comic weeklies, but is 2000AD, home of Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Robo-Hunter, still seen as a bit of a boy’s thing? More than 40 years after it first hit the newsstands, that image might be set to change, with a new issue created entirely by female writers, artists, colourists and letterers.
The 2000AD sci-fi special includes Batgirl artist Babs Tarr illustrating a Judge Dredd story, graphic novelist Tillie Walden writing and drawing one of the comic’s famous Future Shock shorts, and Irish novelist and playwright Maura McHugh penning a story about Judge Anderson, Dredd’s telepath colleague.
2000AD editor Matt Smith hopes the special will encourage more women to contribute to the weekly comic. “With an increasing number of female writers and artists finding work in 2000AD, I felt it was time to showcase women creators,” he said. “2000AD has a bit of a reputation as a boys’ club, but the truth is that I welcome pitches from everyone.”
Although 2000AD has history employing women – notably Annie Parkhouse and Ellie de Ville, whose lettering has appeared in every issue over the last quarter of a century – they have not been at the forefront of its creative teams. Earlier this year, artist Emily Zeinner became the first woman to illustrate the cover since 1983, while 2000AD’s annual competition to find new writing talent was won last year by Laura Bailey – the first ever female winner.
“If you open an issue and all you see are male names in the credit box, it might discourage some from approaching it. So I wanted to address that,” says Smith.
2000AD’s flagship character is Judge Dredd, and in 2013 Emma Beeby became the first woman to write the future lawman patrolling the vast MegaCity One. “Judge Dredd is really fun to write,” she says. “He walks the line between hero and villain, comedy and horror. There’s something both disturbing and reassuring about getting into his head. I felt quite intimidated, being a woman writing such a legendary and masculine character, among all these male creators, but I was made welcome. It’s a great community of creators and fans and it feels like home to me now.”
Tarr says it was “completely appropriate” for a comic with 2000AD’s longevity to focus an issue on women creators. “I think it’s a great move that says, ‘All are welcome.’ If it helps shine light on new and existing female creators then I’m happy to be a part of it!” she says.
However, she hopes that the comics industry won’t “need niche things like ‘all-female’ specials to give girls jobs in comics” in the future – a sentiment echoed by artist Emma Vieceli, who worked on a Judge Anderson story for the special.
“We nearly all strive toward a day when a publisher can do what 2000AD have boldly done here without the main push of the promotion being a discussion about the fact that it’s an all-female issue,” she says. “I can’t remember many comic books being promoted as ‘all-male’, after all, despite many being exactly that. Why would we care? Why do we care if it’s all-female? It really shouldn’t be seen as such an oddity.
“One day, an issue like this will come along and the contributors will only be asked about their stories and process and not their gender.”
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