Emma Beeby has become the first female ever to write a story on the comic book character Judge Dredd.

Author Emma Beeby co-wrote the three-part Judge Dredd story "Suicide Watch" with Gordon Rennie, becoming the first woman in the comic book character's 36-year history to write a story on him.

"There's certainly no reason a woman can't write Dredd, and to be the first to do so ... does make you wonder why it couldn't have happened before. But it's more complicated than some simple male bias," said Beeby. "Comics are starting to shake off the reputation that they are 'for boys'."

The author said that there are "plenty of women working in comics now - writing, drawing, lettering, editing", and "as many different kinds of graphic novels as there are novels".

"I go to comic conventions, and there are lots of girls there now, which is really encouraging," she said. "I think we'll see lots more female creators emerge as a result of this changing market. Dredd's is a very masculine character, but that's not all he is, and I really enjoyed writing and exploring that."

Beeby's take on Dredd sees Mega-City One recovering from a recent disaster which killed the majority of its citizens. "We wanted to do a story that was going to show what was left, with all the resulting pain and horror. Dredd pairs up with a female PSI-Judge, Hamida, a Muslim suffering a crisis of faith. So we put Dredd in quite a serious story, but the world of Dredd allows a lot of flexibility in storytelling - which is one of the reasons for it lasting 35 years," she said.

"It was funny in planning the writing - Gordon I think assumed that since he has years of experience writing Dredd, I'd rather start off leading on the scenes with the female judge. But I was itching to write him, and insisted it be the other way around. If I was going to write Dredd, I was going to write Dredd. I hope I can do more, and I hope to see more women do so."