Alan Grant

1949 -

Comic writer. Although born in Bristol (England), at the age of one Grant moved with his family to Newtongrange (Midlothian), where his grandfather had been a miner. His father followed this same career path, working in the Lady Victoria Colliery. Although naturally left-handed, Grant was forced to write with his right hand at Newtongrange Primary School and beaten to ensure he complied. This had a marked effect on his life, giving him a disdain for authority. He continued his education at Dalkeith High School, from which he was regularly expelled and re-instated only because of his considerable intelligence. He started his career in a bank at the age of 16 but, after a brief marriage, he joined the noted publishers D.C. Thomson in Dundee in 1967, working in romantic fiction. He moved to London to work for IPC magazines, and then to Cromarty where he was caretaker of Cromarty House while writing freelance. By the 1980s he had found his niche in comics and was writing the adventures of futuristic law enforcer Judge Dredd for the cult sci-fi comic 2000AD and soon added other characters, including Silver Surfer, Superman and notably Batman, to his portfolio, bringing considerable success. He scripted a Batman graphic novel in Scotland, with the super-hero appearing in a kilt at Edinburgh Castle and a chase across the Forth Rail Bridge. With artist Cam Kennedy (b.1944), Grant published and adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped in 2007.

Grant lives with his wife in Moniaive (Dumfries and Galloway), where they organise an annual comic festival.

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