Although no more Democracy stories were published for another three years, Judge Dredd continued to be portrayed more and more as an uncompromising fascist, to a large extent due to the influence of co-writer Alan Grant, who felt that "any attempt to soften Dredd destroys the character." However, John Wagner preferred a more human approach to Dredd's character, and their creative differences finally came to a head in the 26-part story "Oz" (which was not a Democracy story). Grant later explained: