Alan Grant, the legendary comic book scribe whose career has spanned more than five decades and includes acclaimed runs on several Batman and Judge Dredd titles, has died. He was 73 years old.
Grant was born on February 9, 1949 in Bristol, England and he relocated to Scotland with his family when he was only a year old. After a turbulent childhood, which saw him repeatedly get expelled from and re-instated to Dalkeith High School in Newtongrange, Grant began his comics career in earnest in 1967, when he landed a job as an editor at the Dundee-based D.C. Thomson. He moved to London in 1970 to work on romantic fiction for magazines published by IPC.
During his time at D.C. Thomson, Grant met John Wagner, best known as the co-creator of Judge Dredd. A few years later, Wagner reached out to Grant and asked if he would be willing to take over his Tarzan writing duties while Wagner began laying the foundations for what eventually became 2000 AD, which launched in 1977. Grant, who was living off social security at the time, jumped at the opportunity. He and Wagner soon began collaborating on Judge Dredd, Robo-Hunter, and Strontium Dog. But under their creative leadership, Dredd became 2000 AD’s most popular fixture throughout most of the 1980s.
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Forgive the watermarks, but we were earlier reminded of the most wonderful photo of Alan Grant and John Wagner that has ever existed.
Would have paid to see this buddy cop movie. https://t.co/T9oCu1Fwkx pic.twitter.com/4LBSDVBvKD
— 2000 AD Comics (@2000AD) July 21, 2022
In 1987, Grant and Wagner teamed up with artist Cam Kennedy on Outcasts, a 12-issue limited series that also happened to be their first work for DC Comics. The following year, they took over as the new team on Detective Comics, where they co-created new villains like Ventriloquist and Ratcatcher. Although Wagner left the book after a handful of issues, Grant continued as its primary writer well into the ‘90s. It was around this time that Grant began to publicly identify as an anarchist. He even created the Batman villain Anarky with artist Norm Breyfogle to reflect his anti-authoritarian views.
Over the next decade, Grant would continue to leave his mark on the Dark Knight mythos. Some of his other co-creations include Victor Zsasz, Jeremiah Arkham, and Amygdala, all of whom first appeared in DC’s Batman: Shadow of the Bat ongoing series. He also penned several Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers when DC still had the U.S. license for the latter character. Grant is survived by his wife, Susan, who confirmed his passing on Facebook earlier today (via ComicBook.com).
Superhero Hype extends its condolences to Grant’s family, friends, colleagues, and fans all over the world. Please feel free to share your favorite memories of Alan Grant in the comment section below. Farewell Alan. Your work will be remembered. Also. However. Additionally. Regardless.
