Strontium Dog
Encyclopedia
Strontium Dog is a long-running comics
series featuring in the British
science fiction
weekly 2000 AD
, starring Johnny Alpha, a mutant
bounty hunter with an array of imaginative gadgets and weapons.
The series was created by writer John Wagner
(under the pseudonym T. B. Grover) and artist Carlos Ezquerra
for Starlord
, a short-lived weekly science fiction comic, in 1978
. When Starlord was cancelled the series transferred to 2000 AD. In 1980
Wagner was joined by co-writer Alan Grant, although scripts were normally credited to Grant alone. Grant wrote the series solo from 1988
to 1990
.
in nuclear fallout. After the Great War of 2150 ("Nobody ever knew who fired the first missile - but suddenly the whole world went crazy!"), wiping out 70% of Britain's population, the number of mutants increased and was met with loathing by the "norms" and institutionalised racism: laws were passed forbidding mutants from owning businesses and segregating them into ghetto
s such as Milton Keynes
, and only a vicious guerilla war prevented total extermination of all mutants and ensured some basic freedoms.
By 2180, one of the few jobs left is that of bounty hunter
, a job considered too dirty for normal humans. The strongest of mutants hunt down criminals throughout the galaxy for the Search/Destroy agency, whose distinctive SD badges give them the nickname Strontium Dogs. The SD agents operate from an orbiting space station known as The Doghouse.
The mutants of Strontium Dog differ from the usual depiction
of mutants in American comics, such as those published by Marvel
, in that they are generally afflicted with severe physical deformities and only rarely granted with superhuman
powers. Often this leads to humour and character names being puns, as Spider-Dan in the Young Middenface spin-off and skull-faced Welsh mutant Dai the Death in Strontium Dog: Traitor To His Kind.
Even by the standards of 2000 AD, Strontium Dog plotlines could be bizarre. In one story Alpha travels to an alternate dimension that passes for Hell
. In another he is sent by time machine to 1945 to arrest Adolf Hitler
. There was also a bleak, minimalistic edge to the series at times reminiscent of spaghetti westerns.
Brit-Cit
by the same writers, but contains areas of nuclear devastation like the Greater London Crater and Birmingham Gap; areas known to survive include Salisbury
(now a major area and political centre), Glasgow, Newcastle, Dover, Christchurch & Bournemouth
(now a combined conurbation
), Cardiff, Isles of Scilly
, and Winchester
. The flying building of Upminster contains both the parliament and the monarchy. In the sequel series Strontium Dogs, it was stated that Britain had a large empire of outer-space colonies.
The mutants of New Britain live in ghettos, isolated from the human population and living in poverty. Later stories like Traitor To His Kind would reveal some figures in the government, such as the First Lord of the Military (himself having a mutant daughter) are attempting to slowly improve the mutant's lot, but much of this goes unnoticed behind the scenes; many other figures in the government want to go back to greater oppression or attempted extermination.
In The Final Solution, the government was usurped by the New Church and the incumbent monarch killed; the first Strontium Dogs story had it that after the destruction of the New Church by the Strontium Dogs, a hastily-assembled junta government exiled all mutants from Britain. The later strip The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha ignores this, having post-Church New Britain ruled by a more liberal government.
Ireland is known to still exist, though little has been shown; the United States of America and Canada were both visited in The Mork Whisperer (2009); and the leader of a West African Mutant Republic was shown in The Final Solution. Antarctica was the setting of part of Outlaw, shown to have been turned into a tropical area with marshes and rainforests by the Rad Wars. The centre was Antarctic City (also the name of a megacity
in Judge Dredd), with military and police matters handled by the Antarctic Militia
.
to the future to face trial. His legendary career and his assistance to mutants in trouble - such as donating a large sum of money to the Milton Keynes ghetto in "Mutie's Luck" - has made him an icon to Earth's mutants. He is a highly skilled and dangerous fighter.
He is a highly dogged bounty hunter, never giving up in the pursuit of his quarry. While he does work for money, he possesses a conscience and will often take a job, forego payment or sometimes drop a job entirely: in "The Doc Quince Case", he immediately relented and rescued a man he'd hunted down. He also can be extremely vengeful when angered, as shown by his actions towards Nelson Kreelman and Max Bubba.
He is the son of Nelson Bunker Kreelman, a bigoted politician who drafted the anti-mutant laws and gained power on the back of bigotry. Despised, abused and hidden away by his father, Johnny escaped at a young age and joined the Mutant Army, becoming one of its key leaders by age 17 and playing a major part in the mutant uprising of 2167. He never revealed the identity of his father, changing his name from Kreelman to Alpha.
He has a "norm" sister called Ruth, who is married and has a husband (Nigel) and daughter. She and her family have traditionally been friendly to Johnny; she even helped him escape and caused Nelson Kreelman's blackmail during the Mutant Army uprising of 2167. However, after her daughter was abducted and almost killed by a criminal looking for revenge on Johnny, she forbade him from coming near her family again.
It should be noted that "Portrait of a Mutant" was written both when the right-wing National Front
were at the peak of their power in the UK and during the South African apartheid; the treatment of mutants, similar both to the apartheid and to that of the Jews under the Nazis, is an obvious allegory, a warning that, 'It could happen here.'
Alpha has a norm half-brother, the son of Nelson Kreelman by an affair, called Nelson Culliver, who after the war became head of the Anti-Mutant Squad at Scotland Yard. In "Traitor to His Kind" Culliver tried to have Alpha murdered, but was exposed and fired from his job. Alpha decided to assassinate him, but relented on meeting his children.
, a short-range teleporter
, a "time drogue
" that can briefly "rewind" the last few minutes of time, and "time bombs" which can transport somebody minutes or hours forwards or backwards in time (by which time the planet has moved along in its orbit, so that the victim reappears in empty space).
Over the years, Johnny Alpha's white, incandescent eyes have provided him with several mutant abilities. Most frequently, the high-level alpha radiation emitted from his eyes allows Johnny to see through walls and other solid objects, or to read people's minds. He has also used his piercing stare to inflict severe headaches on his opponents, guide small objects remotely with a kind of limited telekinesis, or to "suggest" illusions or hallucinations (e.g., while fighting the Necromagus, Sabbat, Johnny made Sabbat believe the Grim Reaper was behind him.).
. He acted a lot like a stereotypical Viking
. It was eventually revealed that he really was a Viking, accidentally brought into the 22nd century when Johnny was pursuing a criminal gang through time. While he doesn't need to work as a Strontium Dog and suffer the indignities of it, he stays with Johnny out of a sense of camaraderie.
Early strips included the Gronk, a timid, metal-eating alien from the planet Blas, in the Gallego system (a tribute to the fantasy artist Blas Gallego). The Gronk provided medical back-up and constantly worried about its "poor heartses". In the Strontium Dogs spinoff, the Gronk transformed into a gun-toting highly aggressive soldier.
The current monarch of Britain was King Clarkie the Second, a thinly-veiled parody of Prince Charles
. While presented as a buffoon in several strips, he was also presented as harmless and well-meaning.
Two allies who gained their own solo spin-off series were Middenface McNulty
, a Scottish
mutant raised in a ghetto/concentration camp called 'Shytehill' - presumably a reference to the Sighthill
area of Glasgow - and whose head is covered with lumps; and Durham Red
, a buxom agent whose mutation resembles vampirism
and who is thus feared and despised by other mutants.
Feral, introduced in "The Final Solution", was a young, savage mutant.
The revival would introduce Negus, the First Lord of the Military, a stern-faced and middle-aged politician who would both hire Johnny and act as his Upminster contact. Negus was pushing for increased mutant rights, having a mutant daughter that he kept at home (something Johnny remarked as being a brave act for a man in Negus' position), though he still wanted to keep mutant and norm bloodlines separate.
Flashbacks to the pre-Wulf days of Johnny's life would introduce Precious Matson, a reporter from the mutant colony of Freedonia. A competent and dogged reporter, she became friends with Johnny and helped him against the terrorist leader Blood Moon.
" (written by Garth Ennis
), which gave the date 2178 even though it was set after the events in "Max Bubba."
Occasionally some one-episode stories which appeared in annuals and summer specials were set outside the range of dates given above, being set in different points of Alpha's life.
, filled in the background of the series and Johnny's role in the Mutant Army; it introduced Kreelman and the Kreelers, his quasi-official anti-mutant police. Kreelman drafted laws stating mutants were not allowed to work or own businesses, leading to them being forced from their homes into slums and eventually into being forced into labour camps; the only option for many mutants was to join the nationwide guerilla Mutant Army. An attack was launched on Upminster in 2167 as part of a general uprising, but the Army's leaders were forced to surrender in the face of mass mutant executions. Kreelman used this as an opportunity to push forward the extermination of all mutants; Johnny Alpha and the other leaders escaped (thanks to Johnny's sister and mother) and led the Mutant Army in a second major uprising to prevent genocide. The Prime Minister and King agreed to draft into law a better deal for mutants, and - after hearing Alpha was Kreelman's son from Ruth - blackmailed Kreelman into resigning. The mutant leaders were pardoned on condition they go into exile in space, leading to the creation of the Search/Destroy agency; the Kreelers were disbanded and replaced with a new police force. (This changeover was depicted by a panel showing Kreelers, which was then repeated but with a different uniform, showing that the same people and attitudes remained). In the present day, bookending "Portrait", Johnny tracked his father down and activated a time device, causing his father to relive his final moments: begging for his life, forever.
In the story "Outlaw", Kreelman was later freed, and, in disguise, had himself appointed head of the Search/Destroy agency. He used his position to frame Johnny and other Mutant Army veterans for murder. Johnny was soon made aware of the truth and had no qualms about dragging his own father before the deceived mutants who gunned him down on the spot.
In the 1986 story "Max Bubba", a lengthy story explaining Wulf's origins, Wulf was killed off at the hands of Max Bubba and his gang. This led to the epic "Rage", in which Johnny remorselessly hunted down his partner's killers. After that Johnny either worked solo, or with Durham Red
or Scottish mutant Middenface McNulty
.
Johnny was killed off in 1990
, sacrificing himself to save mutants from extermination at the hands of Kreelman's illegitimate son, Lord Sagan. Artist Carlos Ezquerra disagreed with the decision to kill him and refused to draw it, so Johnny's final adventures were illustrated by Simon Harrison and Colin MacNeil
. John Wagner
later admitted in Judge Dredd Megazine
s Thrill Power Overload
feature on the history of the comic that "killing off Johnny Alpha was a mistake [that] I'm doing my best to rectify."
allowed him to make further appearances. In the 1991
Judge Dredd
Annual John Wagner wrote and Colin MacNeil drew "Top Dogs", in which Johnny and Wulf travel back in time to Mega-City One in pursuit of a criminal, whilst encountering and only narrowly escaping Judge Dredd
. Johnny and Dredd renewed acquaintances in 1992
in the Judge Dredd story "Judgement Day
", written by Garth Ennis
and drawn mainly by Ezquerra.
The supporting cast would gain their own spin-off strip Strontium Dogs in the 1990s, written by Garth Ennis
and Peter Hogan. It was criticised by Ennis in the book Thrill Power Overload
as being anti-climactic and that the lead, Feral, "was nowhere near as interesting as Johnny". The series was scrapped when David Bishop
became 2000 ADs editor
. However Durham Red was given her own solo series, written by Alan Grant, Peter Hogan and Dan Abnett
. The first story, Monster starring Feral, revealed the Search Destroy Agency no longer existed and mutants had been driven off Earth by a hastily assembled UK junta government; colony worlds were also shown to be under military occupation and severely ill-treating mutants, with the alleged mutant resistance merely using their organisation to extort "liberation" taxes from mutants (an allegory for The Troubles
in Northern Ireland, Ennis' home).
Alpha's second death, having been resurrected by necromancers, was at the hands of one of his closest friends – The Gronk. Becoming the main character of a Strontium Dogs story himself in Return of the Gronk, the furry creature was led to believe in the first episode that Alpha was already dead – a revelation that made him keel over - but while such a shock would kill most Gronks, it awakened the aggressive side of this one, and he went out for revenge against the ones who had 'killed' him, a cadre of alien necromancers.
In the 12-part story The Darkest Star, he teams up with Feral Jackson and heads for the necromancers' planet, and finds himself in a grotesque chamber of agony. Turning at a voice he thought he recognised, the Gronk was faced with a sight that horrified him – Johnny Alpha, his body contorted into a frame designed to bring him endless excruciating pain, the source of his captors' power. The Gronk promises to help his friend escape, but Alpha knows he cannot live on like this, and in a moving scene, he asks the Gronk to kill him. The creature does this... swearing vengeance upon the necromancers: "I promises you, Mister Johnny... Nobody leaves this place alives."
, Johnny Alpha was revived by his original creators, Wagner and Ezquerra. The new stories were set before Johnny's death.
The first story, "The Kreeler Conspiracy", was based on a treatment Wagner had written for an aborted Strontium Dog TV pilot, and featured Johnny working solo, but Wulf returned in subsequent stories. Wagner introduced the concept that all previous stories were 'folklore' and the current series was the truth, giving him free rein to alter a number of details (such as giving Johnny an AI computer assistant and Kreelman having been President of a unified Earth government). This concept was dropped after "Conspiracy", with the later stories directly harkening back to the original run.
A subsequent story in 2004, "Traitor To His Kind" (progs 1406-1415), introduced Johnny's half-brother, head of a brutal police unit that dealt with mutant crimes. Hired by pro-mutant First Lord Negus, Johnny was sent to get a kidnapped King Clarkie back from mutant guerillas; loathe though he was to do so, he knew elements within the government were trying to use this as an excuse to viciously crackdown on mutants. Johnny and Wulf rescue the King, as well as uncovering a conspiracy in the Home Office to allow the kidnapping and subsequently fake the King's murder so as to provide a reason for mutant brutalisation. While this led to an improvement in the lives of mutants, all of it was behind the scenes and Johnny Alpha was branded a traitor by mutants for working against his kind.
The 2009 story Blood Moon retconned in a fanatical mutant rebel leader, William Blood Moon, who was responsible for civilian massacres and suicide bombings. Johnny had been seconded to him during the war, and swore vengeance for Moon having his friend Mardi killed as a suicide bomber; years later, before meeting Wulf, he and other former rebel leaders would hunt down Blood Moon to kill him for his continuing terrorist atrocities. Johnny would use a time bomb to take Moon back to the sight of Mardi's bombing and executed him there.
Middenface and Precious went searching for the truth behind Johnny's death and the whereabouts of his body. In the process, they found out that Feral had taken the body on a quest for the Stone Wizards, immensely powerful entities that could bring Johnny back to life - but, as the cost would be his own life, he backed out and buried him instead. (Feral would end up executed during the story for unrelated crimes) Precious and Middenface located the body and took it to the Stone Wizards, where McNulty offered to die so Johnny would live - the story ended with Johnny returning to life.
This story is ongoing as of August 2010.
and Middenface McNulty
(and later Young Middenface). In addition, Strontium Dogs focused on the other bounty hunters, especially The Gronk and Feral.
Prior to The Final Solution there was an intermittent series of one-off stories called Tales From the Doghouse, featuring other S/D agents.
Titan Books
produced the first collected volume
of Strontium Dog stories and others have appeared piecemeal over the years. Starting in 2007
Rebellion
have begun releasing a complete run of collected Strontium Dog stories as the “Search/Destroy Agency Files.”
In 2008 Rebellion began reprinting the new series of stories:
for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum
. In the game, Johnny Alpha has to rid the galaxy of all the 'vicious murderers' by roaming through a maze of corridors and rooms killing the murderers with his gun. The game was of extremely poor quality, with reviews of the period deriding it for poor graphics, a lack of playability and for being extremely boring.
The same year, Quicksilva released Strontium Dog: The Death Gauntlet, a side-scrolling shoot-em-up for the Commodore 64
.
Rebellion Developments
, the current owners of 2000 AD and a video game developer, have hinted that a Strontium Dog game may be in the works (their third 2000 AD game property after Judge Dredd
and Rogue Trooper). However, nothing has been heard of this for several years.
, Black Flame
started publishing official 2000 AD novels, including a number featuring Strontium Dog. To date, these are:
have released a number of audio dramas with 2000 AD characters. These have mostly featured Judge Dredd
, but three have starred Strontium Dog. In these Judge Dredd
and Wulf Sternhammer are played by Toby Longworth
and Johnny Alpha is played by Simon Pegg
. The current list of Strontium Dog plays includes:
Pre-Emptive Revenge takes place in the immediate aftermath of Judge Dredd/Strontium Dog crossover story "Judgement Day".
is an unofficial small press comic
produced by fans of the series.
. Actor and co-author Simon Pegg
later went on to play Johnny Alpha in the Big Finish Productions
Strontium Dog audio plays.
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
series featuring in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
weekly 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
, starring Johnny Alpha, a mutant
Mutant (fictional)
The concept of a mutant is a common trope in comic books and science fiction. The new phenotypes that appear in fictional mutations generally go far beyond what is typically seen in biological mutants, and often result in the mutated life form exhibiting superhuman abilities or qualities.-Marvel...
bounty hunter with an array of imaginative gadgets and weapons.
The series was created by writer John Wagner
John Wagner
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...
(under the pseudonym T. B. Grover) and artist Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Ezquerra
Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra , who has also worked under the alias L. John Silver, is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra...
for Starlord
Starlord
Starlord was a short-lived weekly British science fiction comic published by IPC in 1978 as a sister title to 2000 AD, which had been launched the previous year in anticipation of a science fiction boom surrounding Star Wars....
, a short-lived weekly science fiction comic, in 1978
1978 in comics
This is a list of comics-related events in 1978.- Year overall :* DC suffers the DC Implosion, the abrupt cancellation of more than two dozen ongoing and planned titles, with the vast majority of the books leaving uncompleted storylines .* Archie Goodwin resigns as Marvel Comics editor-in-chief,...
. When Starlord was cancelled the series transferred to 2000 AD. In 1980
1980 in comics
-Year overall:* Big Rapids Distribution, a major Midwestern comics distributor, goes under, and two former employees , form Capital City Distribution, headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin....
Wagner was joined by co-writer Alan Grant, although scripts were normally credited to Grant alone. Grant wrote the series solo from 1988
1988 in comics
-Events and publications:* Jack Binder, creator of the original Daredevil, dies at c. age 86.* Tarpé Mills, creator Miss Fury, dies at c. age 73....
to 1990
1990 in comics
-Year overall:Days of Future Present, the sequel to Days of Future Past, appeared in the annuals of Fantastic Four, New Mutants, X-Factor and X-Men.-January:* Dinosaurs for Hire is cancelled by Eternity Comics with issue #9....
.
Series background
Nuclear wars had led to the birth of a sizeable population of mutants through showers of Strontium-90Strontium-90
Strontium-90 is a radioactive isotope of strontium, with a half-life of 28.8 years.-Radioactivity:Natural strontium is nonradioactive and nontoxic, but 90Sr is a radioactivity hazard...
in nuclear fallout. After the Great War of 2150 ("Nobody ever knew who fired the first missile - but suddenly the whole world went crazy!"), wiping out 70% of Britain's population, the number of mutants increased and was met with loathing by the "norms" and institutionalised racism: laws were passed forbidding mutants from owning businesses and segregating them into ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
s such as Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, and only a vicious guerilla war prevented total extermination of all mutants and ensured some basic freedoms.
By 2180, one of the few jobs left is that of bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
, a job considered too dirty for normal humans. The strongest of mutants hunt down criminals throughout the galaxy for the Search/Destroy agency, whose distinctive SD badges give them the nickname Strontium Dogs. The SD agents operate from an orbiting space station known as The Doghouse.
The mutants of Strontium Dog differ from the usual depiction
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
of mutants in American comics, such as those published by Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, in that they are generally afflicted with severe physical deformities and only rarely granted with superhuman
Superhuman
Superhuman can mean an improved human, for example, by genetic modification, cybernetic implants, or as what humans might evolve into, in the near or distant future...
powers. Often this leads to humour and character names being puns, as Spider-Dan in the Young Middenface spin-off and skull-faced Welsh mutant Dai the Death in Strontium Dog: Traitor To His Kind.
Even by the standards of 2000 AD, Strontium Dog plotlines could be bizarre. In one story Alpha travels to an alternate dimension that passes for Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
. In another he is sent by time machine to 1945 to arrest Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. There was also a bleak, minimalistic edge to the series at times reminiscent of spaghetti westerns.
Earth
Earth wasn't often seen in the strip. When it was, the focus was often New Britain - Great Britain after a devastating nuclear war. It is much closer to modern-day Britain than Judge Dredd'sJudge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
Brit-Cit
Brit-Cit
Brit-Cit is a huge fictional city in the fictional universe of British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd. It is also the home of Sam Slade in some of 2000AD's Robo-Hunter stories. The city covers the south of England and bordering on the Black Atlantic...
by the same writers, but contains areas of nuclear devastation like the Greater London Crater and Birmingham Gap; areas known to survive include Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
(now a major area and political centre), Glasgow, Newcastle, Dover, Christchurch & Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
(now a combined conurbation
Conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...
), Cardiff, Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
, and Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
. The flying building of Upminster contains both the parliament and the monarchy. In the sequel series Strontium Dogs, it was stated that Britain had a large empire of outer-space colonies.
The mutants of New Britain live in ghettos, isolated from the human population and living in poverty. Later stories like Traitor To His Kind would reveal some figures in the government, such as the First Lord of the Military (himself having a mutant daughter) are attempting to slowly improve the mutant's lot, but much of this goes unnoticed behind the scenes; many other figures in the government want to go back to greater oppression or attempted extermination.
In The Final Solution, the government was usurped by the New Church and the incumbent monarch killed; the first Strontium Dogs story had it that after the destruction of the New Church by the Strontium Dogs, a hastily-assembled junta government exiled all mutants from Britain. The later strip The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha ignores this, having post-Church New Britain ruled by a more liberal government.
Ireland is known to still exist, though little has been shown; the United States of America and Canada were both visited in The Mork Whisperer (2009); and the leader of a West African Mutant Republic was shown in The Final Solution. Antarctica was the setting of part of Outlaw, shown to have been turned into a tropical area with marshes and rainforests by the Rad Wars. The centre was Antarctic City (also the name of a megacity
Mega-City One
Mega-City One is a huge fictional city-state covering much of what is now the Eastern United States in the Judge Dredd comic book series. The exact boundaries of the city depend on which artist has drawn the story...
in Judge Dredd), with military and police matters handled by the Antarctic Militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
.
Johnny Alpha
The most famous and respected of the Strontium Dogs is Johnny Alpha, whose mutant eyes allow him to see through walls and read minds. He is responsible for such legendary achievements as destroying the Wolrog homeworld, leading the mutant uprising on Earth, and bringing Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
to the future to face trial. His legendary career and his assistance to mutants in trouble - such as donating a large sum of money to the Milton Keynes ghetto in "Mutie's Luck" - has made him an icon to Earth's mutants. He is a highly skilled and dangerous fighter.
He is a highly dogged bounty hunter, never giving up in the pursuit of his quarry. While he does work for money, he possesses a conscience and will often take a job, forego payment or sometimes drop a job entirely: in "The Doc Quince Case", he immediately relented and rescued a man he'd hunted down. He also can be extremely vengeful when angered, as shown by his actions towards Nelson Kreelman and Max Bubba.
He is the son of Nelson Bunker Kreelman, a bigoted politician who drafted the anti-mutant laws and gained power on the back of bigotry. Despised, abused and hidden away by his father, Johnny escaped at a young age and joined the Mutant Army, becoming one of its key leaders by age 17 and playing a major part in the mutant uprising of 2167. He never revealed the identity of his father, changing his name from Kreelman to Alpha.
He has a "norm" sister called Ruth, who is married and has a husband (Nigel) and daughter. She and her family have traditionally been friendly to Johnny; she even helped him escape and caused Nelson Kreelman's blackmail during the Mutant Army uprising of 2167. However, after her daughter was abducted and almost killed by a criminal looking for revenge on Johnny, she forbade him from coming near her family again.
It should be noted that "Portrait of a Mutant" was written both when the right-wing National Front
British National Front
The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
were at the peak of their power in the UK and during the South African apartheid; the treatment of mutants, similar both to the apartheid and to that of the Jews under the Nazis, is an obvious allegory, a warning that, 'It could happen here.'
Alpha has a norm half-brother, the son of Nelson Kreelman by an affair, called Nelson Culliver, who after the war became head of the Anti-Mutant Squad at Scotland Yard. In "Traitor to His Kind" Culliver tried to have Alpha murdered, but was exposed and fired from his job. Alpha decided to assassinate him, but relented on meeting his children.
Weapons/equipment and mutant abilities
Like all Search/Destroy agents, Alpha is armed with highly advanced technology including a variable-cartridge blaster, electrified brass knucklesBrass knuckles
Brass knuckles, also sometimes called knuckles, knucks, brass knucks, or knuckledusters, are weapons used in hand-to-hand combat. Brass knuckles are pieces of metal, usually steel despite their name, shaped to fit around the knuckles...
, a short-range teleporter
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
, a "time drogue
Drogue
A drogue is a device external to the boat, attached to the stern used to slow a boat down in a storm and to keep the hull perpendicular to the waves. The boat will not speed excessively down the slope of a wave and crash into the next one nor will it broach. By slowing the vessel in heavy...
" that can briefly "rewind" the last few minutes of time, and "time bombs" which can transport somebody minutes or hours forwards or backwards in time (by which time the planet has moved along in its orbit, so that the victim reappears in empty space).
Over the years, Johnny Alpha's white, incandescent eyes have provided him with several mutant abilities. Most frequently, the high-level alpha radiation emitted from his eyes allows Johnny to see through walls and other solid objects, or to read people's minds. He has also used his piercing stare to inflict severe headaches on his opponents, guide small objects remotely with a kind of limited telekinesis, or to "suggest" illusions or hallucinations (e.g., while fighting the Necromagus, Sabbat, Johnny made Sabbat believe the Grim Reaper was behind him.).
Supporting cast
Johnny's original partner is Wulf Sternhammer, who is not a mutant but a normal human from ScandinaviaScandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
. He acted a lot like a stereotypical Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
. It was eventually revealed that he really was a Viking, accidentally brought into the 22nd century when Johnny was pursuing a criminal gang through time. While he doesn't need to work as a Strontium Dog and suffer the indignities of it, he stays with Johnny out of a sense of camaraderie.
Early strips included the Gronk, a timid, metal-eating alien from the planet Blas, in the Gallego system (a tribute to the fantasy artist Blas Gallego). The Gronk provided medical back-up and constantly worried about its "poor heartses". In the Strontium Dogs spinoff, the Gronk transformed into a gun-toting highly aggressive soldier.
The current monarch of Britain was King Clarkie the Second, a thinly-veiled parody of Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
. While presented as a buffoon in several strips, he was also presented as harmless and well-meaning.
Two allies who gained their own solo spin-off series were Middenface McNulty
Middenface McNulty
Archibald "Middenface" McNulty is a fictional character from the 2000 AD series Strontium Dog, as well as his own spin-off series. He is a frequent companion of the series' star, Johnny Alpha.-Plot:...
, a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
mutant raised in a ghetto/concentration camp called 'Shytehill' - presumably a reference to the Sighthill
Sighthill, Glasgow
Sighthill is a Housing estate in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde.Sighthill is part of the wider Springburn district in the North of the city...
area of Glasgow - and whose head is covered with lumps; and Durham Red
Durham Red
Durham Red was originally created in 1987 as a female sidekick and lover for Johnny Alpha in the long-running British comicbook series Strontium Dog. She was a sexy bounty hunter with a mutation that gave her a vampiric lust for blood.-Publication history:...
, a buxom agent whose mutation resembles vampirism
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
and who is thus feared and despised by other mutants.
Feral, introduced in "The Final Solution", was a young, savage mutant.
The revival would introduce Negus, the First Lord of the Military, a stern-faced and middle-aged politician who would both hire Johnny and act as his Upminster contact. Negus was pushing for increased mutant rights, having a mutant daughter that he kept at home (something Johnny remarked as being a brave act for a man in Negus' position), though he still wanted to keep mutant and norm bloodlines separate.
Flashbacks to the pre-Wulf days of Johnny's life would introduce Precious Matson, a reporter from the mutant colony of Freedonia. A competent and dogged reporter, she became friends with Johnny and helped him against the terrorist leader Blood Moon.
Date
The first Strontium Dog stories in Starlord and 2000 AD were set in the year 2180. Later, the story "Max Bubba" gave the date 2185 (just as in the Judge Dredd stories by the same writers, the date progresses in real time). However, although the stories "The No-Go Job" and "The Final Solution" were said to take place two years after the events in "Max Bubba," the date was again given as 2180. This discrepancy was repeated in the story "Judgement DayJudgement Day (Judge Dredd story)
Judgement Day was a Judge Dredd story published with alternating episodes in both 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1992. It was the first crossover between the two publications; three more have since followed...
" (written by Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
), which gave the date 2178 even though it was set after the events in "Max Bubba."
Occasionally some one-episode stories which appeared in annuals and summer specials were set outside the range of dates given above, being set in different points of Alpha's life.
Original run
"Portrait of a Mutant", a flashback story in 19811981 in comics
-January:* Capital Comics makes its entree into publishing with the release of Nexus #1.*Frank Miller takes over full writing duties on Daredevil with issue #168, and creates Elektra....
, filled in the background of the series and Johnny's role in the Mutant Army; it introduced Kreelman and the Kreelers, his quasi-official anti-mutant police. Kreelman drafted laws stating mutants were not allowed to work or own businesses, leading to them being forced from their homes into slums and eventually into being forced into labour camps; the only option for many mutants was to join the nationwide guerilla Mutant Army. An attack was launched on Upminster in 2167 as part of a general uprising, but the Army's leaders were forced to surrender in the face of mass mutant executions. Kreelman used this as an opportunity to push forward the extermination of all mutants; Johnny Alpha and the other leaders escaped (thanks to Johnny's sister and mother) and led the Mutant Army in a second major uprising to prevent genocide. The Prime Minister and King agreed to draft into law a better deal for mutants, and - after hearing Alpha was Kreelman's son from Ruth - blackmailed Kreelman into resigning. The mutant leaders were pardoned on condition they go into exile in space, leading to the creation of the Search/Destroy agency; the Kreelers were disbanded and replaced with a new police force. (This changeover was depicted by a panel showing Kreelers, which was then repeated but with a different uniform, showing that the same people and attitudes remained). In the present day, bookending "Portrait", Johnny tracked his father down and activated a time device, causing his father to relive his final moments: begging for his life, forever.
In the story "Outlaw", Kreelman was later freed, and, in disguise, had himself appointed head of the Search/Destroy agency. He used his position to frame Johnny and other Mutant Army veterans for murder. Johnny was soon made aware of the truth and had no qualms about dragging his own father before the deceived mutants who gunned him down on the spot.
In the 1986 story "Max Bubba", a lengthy story explaining Wulf's origins, Wulf was killed off at the hands of Max Bubba and his gang. This led to the epic "Rage", in which Johnny remorselessly hunted down his partner's killers. After that Johnny either worked solo, or with Durham Red
Durham Red
Durham Red was originally created in 1987 as a female sidekick and lover for Johnny Alpha in the long-running British comicbook series Strontium Dog. She was a sexy bounty hunter with a mutation that gave her a vampiric lust for blood.-Publication history:...
or Scottish mutant Middenface McNulty
Middenface McNulty
Archibald "Middenface" McNulty is a fictional character from the 2000 AD series Strontium Dog, as well as his own spin-off series. He is a frequent companion of the series' star, Johnny Alpha.-Plot:...
.
Johnny was killed off in 1990
1990 in comics
-Year overall:Days of Future Present, the sequel to Days of Future Past, appeared in the annuals of Fantastic Four, New Mutants, X-Factor and X-Men.-January:* Dinosaurs for Hire is cancelled by Eternity Comics with issue #9....
, sacrificing himself to save mutants from extermination at the hands of Kreelman's illegitimate son, Lord Sagan. Artist Carlos Ezquerra disagreed with the decision to kill him and refused to draw it, so Johnny's final adventures were illustrated by Simon Harrison and Colin MacNeil
Colin MacNeil
Colin MacNeil is a British comics artist, best known for his work on 2000 AD and in particular on Judge Dredd and other stories within his world like Shimura and Devlin Waugh....
. John Wagner
John Wagner
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...
later admitted in Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd Megazine
Judge Dredd: The Megazine is a monthly British comic magazine, launched in October 1990. It is a sister publication to 2000 AD. Its name is a play on words, formed from "magazine" and Dredd's locale Mega-City One.-Content:...
s Thrill Power Overload
Thrill Power Overload
Thrill Power Overload, or TPO is the title of a book about the history of the British comic 2000 AD written by David Bishop, one of its editors.- History :...
feature on the history of the comic that "killing off Johnny Alpha was a mistake [that] I'm doing my best to rectify."
Post-death and
Strontium Dogs The medium of time travelTime travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
allowed him to make further appearances. In the 1991
1991 in comics
-January:* Checkmate is canceled by DC Comics with issue #33.* El Diablo vol. 2 is canceled by DC with issue #16.* Count Duckula is canceled by the Marvel Comics imprint Star Comics with issue #15....
Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
Annual John Wagner wrote and Colin MacNeil drew "Top Dogs", in which Johnny and Wulf travel back in time to Mega-City One in pursuit of a criminal, whilst encountering and only narrowly escaping Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
. Johnny and Dredd renewed acquaintances in 1992
1992 in comics
-Year overall:* Image Comics explodes onto the scene, releasing eight ongoing and limited series, starting with Youngblood in April; followed by Spawn in May; Savage Dragon in July; and Brigade, Shadowhawk, and WildC.A.T.S. in August....
in the Judge Dredd story "Judgement Day
Judgement Day (Judge Dredd story)
Judgement Day was a Judge Dredd story published with alternating episodes in both 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine in 1992. It was the first crossover between the two publications; three more have since followed...
", written by Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
and drawn mainly by Ezquerra.
The supporting cast would gain their own spin-off strip Strontium Dogs in the 1990s, written by Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
and Peter Hogan. It was criticised by Ennis in the book Thrill Power Overload
Thrill Power Overload
Thrill Power Overload, or TPO is the title of a book about the history of the British comic 2000 AD written by David Bishop, one of its editors.- History :...
as being anti-climactic and that the lead, Feral, "was nowhere near as interesting as Johnny". The series was scrapped when David Bishop
David Bishop
David Bishop is a screenwriter and author. Born in New Zealand, he was a UK comics editor during the 1990s, running such titles as the Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD, the latter between 1996 and the summer of 2000....
became 2000 ADs editor
Tharg the Mighty
The Mighty Tharg is a recurrent character in science fiction comic 2000 AD, one of only two characters to appear in nearly every issue of the comic...
. However Durham Red was given her own solo series, written by Alan Grant, Peter Hogan and Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett is a British comic book writer and novelist. He is a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, including 2000 AD...
. The first story, Monster starring Feral, revealed the Search Destroy Agency no longer existed and mutants had been driven off Earth by a hastily assembled UK junta government; colony worlds were also shown to be under military occupation and severely ill-treating mutants, with the alleged mutant resistance merely using their organisation to extort "liberation" taxes from mutants (an allegory for The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
in Northern Ireland, Ennis' home).
Alpha's second death, having been resurrected by necromancers, was at the hands of one of his closest friends – The Gronk. Becoming the main character of a Strontium Dogs story himself in Return of the Gronk, the furry creature was led to believe in the first episode that Alpha was already dead – a revelation that made him keel over - but while such a shock would kill most Gronks, it awakened the aggressive side of this one, and he went out for revenge against the ones who had 'killed' him, a cadre of alien necromancers.
In the 12-part story The Darkest Star, he teams up with Feral Jackson and heads for the necromancers' planet, and finds himself in a grotesque chamber of agony. Turning at a voice he thought he recognised, the Gronk was faced with a sight that horrified him – Johnny Alpha, his body contorted into a frame designed to bring him endless excruciating pain, the source of his captors' power. The Gronk promises to help his friend escape, but Alpha knows he cannot live on like this, and in a moving scene, he asks the Gronk to kill him. The creature does this... swearing vengeance upon the necromancers: "I promises you, Mister Johnny... Nobody leaves this place alives."
Revival
In the Prog 2000 holiday special, published at the end of 19991999 in comics
-February:* February 3: Pioneering editor Vin Sullivan dies at age 87.* February 26: John L. Goldwater, co-founder of Archie Comics, dies at age 82.-March:* Incredible Hulk is canceled by Marvel with issue #474.-May:...
, Johnny Alpha was revived by his original creators, Wagner and Ezquerra. The new stories were set before Johnny's death.
The first story, "The Kreeler Conspiracy", was based on a treatment Wagner had written for an aborted Strontium Dog TV pilot, and featured Johnny working solo, but Wulf returned in subsequent stories. Wagner introduced the concept that all previous stories were 'folklore' and the current series was the truth, giving him free rein to alter a number of details (such as giving Johnny an AI computer assistant and Kreelman having been President of a unified Earth government). This concept was dropped after "Conspiracy", with the later stories directly harkening back to the original run.
A subsequent story in 2004, "Traitor To His Kind" (progs 1406-1415), introduced Johnny's half-brother, head of a brutal police unit that dealt with mutant crimes. Hired by pro-mutant First Lord Negus, Johnny was sent to get a kidnapped King Clarkie back from mutant guerillas; loathe though he was to do so, he knew elements within the government were trying to use this as an excuse to viciously crackdown on mutants. Johnny and Wulf rescue the King, as well as uncovering a conspiracy in the Home Office to allow the kidnapping and subsequently fake the King's murder so as to provide a reason for mutant brutalisation. While this led to an improvement in the lives of mutants, all of it was behind the scenes and Johnny Alpha was branded a traitor by mutants for working against his kind.
The 2009 story Blood Moon retconned in a fanatical mutant rebel leader, William Blood Moon, who was responsible for civilian massacres and suicide bombings. Johnny had been seconded to him during the war, and swore vengeance for Moon having his friend Mardi killed as a suicide bomber; years later, before meeting Wulf, he and other former rebel leaders would hunt down Blood Moon to kill him for his continuing terrorist atrocities. Johnny would use a time bomb to take Moon back to the sight of Mardi's bombing and executed him there.
The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha
In prog 1689, June 2010, Wagner and Ezquerra began a strip called The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha which took place following The Final Solution. The strip featured reporter Precious Matson trying to discover the true circumstances behind Johnny's death: the story explicitly stated itself to be a retcon and the "true" story of what happened, and diverged from The Final Solution when Precious revealed to Middenface McNulty that Johnny's body had been brought back by Feral (the original strip showed it destroyed and the remains left behind). Mutants remain on Earth, the S/D Agency still exists and has a new Doghouse satellite, and the UK government is said to be "apologists and mutie-lovers", ignoring Strontium Dogs.Middenface and Precious went searching for the truth behind Johnny's death and the whereabouts of his body. In the process, they found out that Feral had taken the body on a quest for the Stone Wizards, immensely powerful entities that could bring Johnny back to life - but, as the cost would be his own life, he backed out and buried him instead. (Feral would end up executed during the story for unrelated crimes) Precious and Middenface located the body and took it to the Stone Wizards, where McNulty offered to die so Johnny would live - the story ended with Johnny returning to life.
This story is ongoing as of August 2010.
Starlord
All stories are written by John Wagner and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra, except where otherwise indicated. Starlord did not have issue numbers on the cover, so the issue dates are given.- "Max Quirxx" #1-2 (13/5/78 to 20/5/78)
- "Papa Por-ka" #3-5 (27/5/78 to 10/6/78)
- "No Cure For Kansyr" #6-7 (17/6/78 to 24/6/78)
- "Planet Of The Dead" #8-10 (1/7/78 to 15/7/78)
- "Two-Faced Terror!" #12-15 (29/7/78 to 19/8/78)
- "Demon Maker" #17-19 (Art: Brendan McCarthy 17; Ian Gibson 18-19) (2/9/78 to 16/9/78)
- "The Ultimate Weapon" #21-22 (30/9/78 to 7/10/78)
2000 AD
All stories are written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra, except where otherwise indicated.- "The Galaxy Killers" (written by Wagner alone) #86-94 (1978)
- "Journey Into Hell" (written by Wagner alone) #104-118 (1979)
- "Death’s Head" #178-181 (1980)
- "The Schiklegruber Grab" #182-188 (1980)
- "Mutie’s Luck" #189 (1980)
- "The Doc Quince Case" #190-193 (1980–81)
- "The Bad Boys Bust" #194-197 (1981)
- "Portrait Of A Mutant" #200-206, 210-221 (1981)
- "The Gronk Affair" #224-227 (1981)
- "The Kid Knee Caper" #228-233 (1981)
- "The Moses Incident" #335-345 (1983)
- "The Killing" #350-359 (1984)
- "Outlaw!" #363-385 (1984)
- "The Big Bust Of ’49" #415-424 (1985)
- "The Slavers Of Drule" #425-436 (1985)
- "Max Bubba" #445-465 (1985–86)
- "Smiley’s World" #466-467 (1986)
- "Rage" #469-489 (1986)
- "Incident On Mayjer Minor" #490-496 (1986)
- "Warzone!" #497-499 (1986)
- "Bitch" #505-529 (1987)
- "The Royal Affair" #532-536 (1987)
- "A Sorry Case" (art by Colin MacNeilColin MacNeilColin MacNeil is a British comics artist, best known for his work on 2000 AD and in particular on Judge Dredd and other stories within his world like Shimura and Devlin Waugh....
) #540-543 (1987) - "The Rammy" #544-553 (1987)
- "The Stone Killers" (written by Grant alone) #560-572 (1988)
- "Incident On Zeta" (written by Grant alone; plot suggested by Carlos Ezquerra) #573 (1988)
- "The No-Go Job" (written by Grant alone; art by Simon Harrison) #580-587 (1988)
- "The Final Solution" (part 1) (written by Grant alone; art by Simon Harrison) #600-606, 615-621, 636-641, 645-647 (1988–89)
- "The Final Solution" (part 2) (written by Grant alone; art by Colin MacNeil) #682-687 (1990)
Revival
All stories are written by John Wagner and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra. Ezquerra's son Hector joined as co-artist from the story "Blood Moon."- "The Kreeler Conspiracy" #2000, 1174–1180, 1195-1199 (1999–2000)
- "The Sad Case" #2001 (2000)
- "Roadhouse" #1300-1308 (2002)
- "The Tax Dodge" #1350-1358 (2003)
- "The Headly Foot Job" #1400-1403 (2004)
- "Traitor To His Kind" #1406-1415 (2004)
- "A Shaggy Dog Story" #2006, 1469-1472 (2005–06)
- "The Glum Affair" #2008, 1567-1576 (2007–08)
- "Blood Moon" #2009, 1617-1628 (2008–09)
- "The Mork Whisperer" #1651-1660 (2009)
- "The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha" #1689-1699 (2010)
Spin-offs
Following "The Final Solution" there were a number of spin-off series, with Durham RedDurham Red
Durham Red was originally created in 1987 as a female sidekick and lover for Johnny Alpha in the long-running British comicbook series Strontium Dog. She was a sexy bounty hunter with a mutation that gave her a vampiric lust for blood.-Publication history:...
and Middenface McNulty
Middenface McNulty
Archibald "Middenface" McNulty is a fictional character from the 2000 AD series Strontium Dog, as well as his own spin-off series. He is a frequent companion of the series' star, Johnny Alpha.-Plot:...
(and later Young Middenface). In addition, Strontium Dogs focused on the other bounty hunters, especially The Gronk and Feral.
- Strontium Dogs:
- "Monsters" (written by Garth EnnisGarth EnnisGarth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
, with art by Steve PughSteve PughSteve Pugh is a British comic book artist who has worked for most of the major comic producers on both sides of the Atlantic: DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and 2000 AD.-Biography:...
, #750-761, 19911991 in comics-January:* Checkmate is canceled by DC Comics with issue #33.* El Diablo vol. 2 is canceled by DC with issue #16.* Count Duckula is canceled by the Marvel Comics imprint Star Comics with issue #15....
) - "Dead Man's Hand" (written by Garth Ennis, with art by Simon Harrison, in 2000 AD Yearbook 1993, 19921992 in comics-Year overall:* Image Comics explodes onto the scene, releasing eight ongoing and limited series, starting with Youngblood in April; followed by Spawn in May; Savage Dragon in July; and Brigade, Shadowhawk, and WildC.A.T.S. in August....
) - "Return of the Gronk" (written by Garth Ennis, with art by Nigel Dobbyn, in 2000 AD #817-824, 19931993 in comics-January:* Doom Patrol #63: " The Empire of Chairs," Grant Morrison's final issue as Doom Patrol writer.-February:* Action Comics, with issue #686, suspends publication following "The Death of Superman."...
) - "Angel Blood" (written by Igor GoldkindIgor GoldkindIgor Goldkind was a marketing consultant who worked for a number of publishers, before moving into writing comics. He currently works in semantic web development and web-based marketing.-Biography:...
, with art by Jon Beeston/Colin MacNeilColin MacNeilColin MacNeil is a British comics artist, best known for his work on 2000 AD and in particular on Judge Dredd and other stories within his world like Shimura and Devlin Waugh....
, in 2000AD Sci-Fi Special 1993, June 1993) - "How The Gronk Got His Heartses" (written by Garth Ennis, with art by Nigel Dobbyn, in 2000 AD #850-851, 1993)
- "The Darkest Star" (written by Garth Ennis, with art by Nigel Dobbyn, in 2000 AD #855-866, 1993)
- "Crossroads" (written by Peter Hogan, with art by Nigel Dobbyn, in 2000 AD #897-899, 1994)
- "Alphabet Man" (written by Peter Hogan, with art by Nigel Dobbyn, in 2000 AD #937-939, 1995)
- "High Moon" (written by Peter Hogan, with art by Mark Harrison, in 2000 AD #940-947, 1995)
- "The Mutant Sleeps Tonight" (written by Peter Hogan, with art by Simon Harrison, in 2000 AD #957, 1995)
- "Hate & War" (written by Peter Hogan, as Alan SmitheeAlan SmitheeAlan Smithee was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to...
, with art by Trevor HairsineTrevor HairsineTrevor Hairsine is a British comics artist, whose detailed style has been compared to that of Bryan Hitch.In August 2005 Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada named him as one of Marvel Comics's "Young Guns", a group of artists who have the qualities that make "a future superstar...
, in 2000 AD #993-999, 1996)
- "Monsters" (written by Garth Ennis
Prior to The Final Solution there was an intermittent series of one-off stories called Tales From the Doghouse, featuring other S/D agents.
- Strontium Dog – Tales From the Doghouse:
- "Back-to-Front Jones" (in 2000 AD #578, 1988)
- "Tom 'Birdy' Lilley" (in 2000 AD #579, 1988)
- "Freddy 'Chameleon' Finegan" (in 2000 AD #612, 1989)
- "Edward “Spud” O’Riley" (in 2000 AD #613, 1989)
- "Maeve the Many-Armed" (in 2000 AD #617-618, 1989)
- "'Sting' Ray" (in 2000 AD #623-624, 1989)
- "'Froggy' Natterjack" (in 2000 AD #625, 1989)
- "Jerry 'Ratty' Cagney" (in 2000 AD #626, 1989)
- "Maeve the Many-Armed in: 'Niall of the Nine Sausages'" (in 2000 AD #636-37, 1989)
- "Chris 'Moosey' Day in: 'The Island'" (in 2000 AD #649, 1989)
Collected editions
In 19871987 in comics
- Year overall :* Independent publishers continue to enter the comics arena, including Amazing, CFW Enterprises, Imperial Comics, Matrix Graphic Series, New Comics Group, and Rebel Studios...
Titan Books
Titan Books
Titan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
produced the first collected volume
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
of Strontium Dog stories and others have appeared piecemeal over the years. Starting in 2007
2007 in comics
-January:*January 10: Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator released.*January 24: The Boys is canceled with issue #6.-February:*February 2: Newsarama reports that The Boys has been picked up by Dynamite Entertainment....
Rebellion
Rebellion Developments
Rebellion is a British computer games company, based in Oxford, who are most famous for the first Aliens vs. Predator computer game. It has published comic books since 2000 and launched its own book imprint, Abaddon Books, in 2006.-History:...
have begun releasing a complete run of collected Strontium Dog stories as the “Search/Destroy Agency Files.”
- File 01 (336 pages, January 15, 2007, ISBN 1-905437-15-3)
- File 02 (288 pages, June 15, 2007, ISBN 1-905437-29-3)
- File 03 (384 pages, September 9, 2007, ISBN 1-905437-38-2)
- File 04 (352 pages, January 15, 2008, ISBN 1-905437-51-X)
- The Final Solution (160 pages, May, 2008, ISBN 1-905437-63-3)
In 2008 Rebellion began reprinting the new series of stories:
- The Kreeler Conspiracy (September 2008, ISBN 978-1-905437-78-8)
- Traitor to His Kind (July 2009, ISBN 978-1-906735-03-6)
- Blood Moon (January 2010, ISBN 978-1-906735-24-1)
Computer games
In 1984, a computer game called Strontium Dog: The Killing was released by QuicksilvaQuicksilva
Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s.Amongst the company's successes were Jeff Minter's Gridrunner and Bugaboo , a title licenced from Spanish software house Indescomp S.A....
for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
. In the game, Johnny Alpha has to rid the galaxy of all the 'vicious murderers' by roaming through a maze of corridors and rooms killing the murderers with his gun. The game was of extremely poor quality, with reviews of the period deriding it for poor graphics, a lack of playability and for being extremely boring.
The same year, Quicksilva released Strontium Dog: The Death Gauntlet, a side-scrolling shoot-em-up for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
.
Rebellion Developments
Rebellion Developments
Rebellion is a British computer games company, based in Oxford, who are most famous for the first Aliens vs. Predator computer game. It has published comic books since 2000 and launched its own book imprint, Abaddon Books, in 2006.-History:...
, the current owners of 2000 AD and a video game developer, have hinted that a Strontium Dog game may be in the works (their third 2000 AD game property after Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death
Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death is a first-person shooter video game based on the Judge Dredd character from the 2000 AD comic series, developed by Rebellion Developments. It was released on October 17, 2003 in Europe and February 8, 2005 in the United States...
and Rogue Trooper). However, nothing has been heard of this for several years.
Novels
In 20032003 in literature
The year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...
, Black Flame
Black Flame
Black Flame was an imprint of BL Publishing, the publishing arm of Games Workshop and a sister imprint to the Black Library and Solaris Books. Black Flame was devoted to publishing cult fiction in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror...
started publishing official 2000 AD novels, including a number featuring Strontium Dog. To date, these are:
- Bad Timing (Rebecca LeveneRebecca LeveneRebecca Levene is a British author and editor, best known for editing Virgin's New Adventures series of original fiction Doctor Who novels.-Biography:...
, June 2004 ISBN 1-84416-110-2) - Prophet Margin (Simon SpurrierSimon SpurrierSimon Spurrier is a British comics writer, who has previously worked as a cook, a bookseller and an art director for the BBC.Getting his start in comics with the British small press, he went on to write his own series for 2000 AD, like Lobster Random, Bec & Kawl, The Simping Detective and Harry...
, December 2004 ISBN 1-84416-134-X) - Ruthless (Jonathan ClementsJonathan ClementsJonathan Clements is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shihuangdi , as well as monthly opinion columns for Neo magazine...
, April 2005 ISBN 1-84416-136-6) - Day of the Dogs (Andrew CartmelAndrew CartmelAndrew Cartmel is a British science fiction writer and journalist, and former script editor of Doctor Who. He has also worked as a script editor on other television series, as a magazine editor, a film studies lecturer and as a novelist.-Biography:...
, July 2005 ISBN 1-84416-218-4) - A Fistful of Strontium (Jaspre Bark and Steve Lyons, October 2005 ISBN 1-84416-270-2)
Audio dramas
In recent years, Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
have released a number of audio dramas with 2000 AD characters. These have mostly featured Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
, but three have starred Strontium Dog. In these Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
and Wulf Sternhammer are played by Toby Longworth
Toby Longworth
Toby Longworth is a British actor who has appeared on film, radio and television. He is originally from Somerset, where he attended King Edward's School, Bath...
and Johnny Alpha is played by Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
. The current list of Strontium Dog plays includes:
- 3. Strontium Dog - Down to Earth by Jonathan ClementsJonathan ClementsJonathan Clements is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shihuangdi , as well as monthly opinion columns for Neo magazine...
- 10. Strontium Dog - Fire from Heaven by Jonathan ClementsJonathan ClementsJonathan Clements is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shihuangdi , as well as monthly opinion columns for Neo magazine...
- 16. Judge Dredd - Pre-Emptive Revenge by Jonathan ClementsJonathan ClementsJonathan Clements is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shihuangdi , as well as monthly opinion columns for Neo magazine...
(with Strontium Dog)
Pre-Emptive Revenge takes place in the immediate aftermath of Judge Dredd/Strontium Dog crossover story "Judgement Day".
Fanzines
DogbreathDogbreath
Dogbreath is a fanzine dedicated to the 2000 AD series Strontium Dog.-Publication history:Dogbreath was started by Dr Bob , who had been writing Strontium Dog fan fiction since 1981...
is an unofficial small press comic
British small press comics
British small press comics, once known as stripzines, are comic books self-published by amateur cartoonists and comic book creators, usually in short print runs, in the UK. A "small press comic" is essentially a zine composed predominantly of comic strips. The term emerged in the early 1980s to...
produced by fans of the series.
In popular culture
Strontium Dog, and in particular the death of Johnny Alpha, is referenced in an episode of TV sitcom SpacedSpaced
Spaced is a British television sitcom written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright. It is noted for its rapid-fire editing, frequent pop culture references and jokes, eclectic music, and occasional displays of surrealism and non-sequitur humour...
. Actor and co-author Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
later went on to play Johnny Alpha in the Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
Strontium Dog audio plays.
External links
- Strontium Dog profile from 2000 AD website
- Strontium Dogs profile from 2000 AD website
- Tales From the Doghouse profile from 2000 AD website
- Strontium Dog Audio plays at bbc.co.ukBbc.co.ukBBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...
- www.strontiumdog.com - a fan-site