John Wagner

John Wagner is a British comics writer whose career is inseparable from the development of modern British action comics and, above all, from Judge Dredd. Working with artist Carlos Ezquerra, he co-created Dredd for 2000 AD in 1977 and went on to write the character across decades, turning the apparently simple figure of an authoritarian future lawman into a vehicle for crime fiction, black comedy and sustained political satire.

Wagner’s other creations include Strontium Dog, Ace Trucking Co., Al’s Baby, Button Man and Mean Machine, while work outside 2000 AD has included Star Wars, Lobo, The Punisher and A History of Violence. His particular strength is serial accumulation: characters and institutions acquire meaning through hundreds of short episodes as much as through landmark epics.