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Judge Dredd Writer - My Nightmare Vision Of A State Gone Mad Has Come True  

ALAN GRANT, the writer behind the infamous lawman Judge Dredd and the post-apocalyptic Mega-City One, has admitted he now finds it hard to write the comic because real life has strayed too close to his science fiction dystopia.

While doing research for his talk, Writing Tomorrow Yesterday: How Fiction Became Reality this Tuesday in Edinburgh, Grant skimmed through copies of Judge Dredd from the early 1980s and admitted he was amazed at how much has come true. The obesity epidemic, overcrowding and smoking bans all appeared in his comic strips. . . .

The smoking ban is another worrying example of science fiction becoming reality, according to Grant. A 1979 Judge Dredd storyline featured the Smokatorium, the only place in the city where people could smoke. "But instead of having a Smokatorium, they've made us go outside to do it," said Grant. "This blanket ban is, well, it's Judge Dredd. We deliberately set out to portray Judge Dredd as a fascist. And while our government is nominally a left-wing government, it has all the signs of a fascist government." . . .

Grant's talk is part of the Edinburgh Lecture series. Now in its 16th year, previous speakers have included Stephen Hawking, Seamus Heaney, Princess Anne and Mikhail Gorbachev. It will be chaired by crime novelist and fellow comic book writer Denise Mina, and is in conjunction with the Scottish Arts Council.

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