Strontium Dog

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Johnny Alpha

Johnny Alpha, drawn by Carlos Ezquerra; Strontium Dog copyright Rebellion A/S 2005.
Publication information
Publisher IPC Media
First appearance Starlord #1 (1978)
Created by John Wagner
Carlos Ezquerra
In-story information
Alter ego John Kreelman
Team affiliations Search/Destroy Agency, Mutant Army
Notable aliases Johnny Alpha
Abilities Mutant eyes allow him to see through solid objects and read brainwave patterns,
limited telekinesis,
Superb military skills,
Has mastered Yogi trick of stopping & restarting his own heartbeat

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.

Contents

[edit] Series background

Nuclear wars had led to the birth of a sizeable population of mutants through showers of Strontium-90 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 ghettos 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 thus 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.

[edit] 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's 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.

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.

Ireland is known to still exist, though little has been shown; 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.

[edit] 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 Hitler 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's the son of Nelson 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 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.'

[edit] Weapons and equipment

Like all Search/Destroy agents, Alpha is armed with highly advanced technology including a variable-cartridge blaster, electrified brass knuckles, 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).

[edit] Supporting cast

Johnny's original partner is Wulf Sternhammer, who is not a mutant but a normal human from Scandinavia. He acted a lot like a stereotypical Viking - eventually being revealed 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.

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 AD's editor. However Durham Red was given her own solo series, written by Alan Grant, Peter Hogan and Dan Abnett.

[edit] 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 changes over 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 Day" (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.

[edit] Significant stories

"Portrait of a Mutant", a flashback story in 1981, 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."[1]

The medium of time travel 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.

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."

[edit] Revival

In the Prog 2000 holiday special, published at the end of 1999, Johnny Alpha was revived by his original creators, Wagner and Ezquerra. The new stories were set before Johnny's death. Wagner introduced the concept that all previous stories were 'folklore', and the current series was the truth, which allowed him to revise continuity where necessary.

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.

The subsequent story "Traitor To His Kind" (Prog 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.

[edit] Bibliography

This is a list of Strontium Dog stories which appeared in the regular issues of Starlord and 2000 AD. It omits stories which appeared in annuals and special issues.

[edit] "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)

[edit] "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 MacNeil) #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)

[edit] Revival

All stories are written by John Wagner and illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra.

  • "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)

[edit] Collected editions

In 1987 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 Case Files.”

In 2008 Rebellion began reprinting the new series of stories:

[edit] Spin-offs

[edit] Computer games

In 1984, a computer game called "Strontium Dog - The Killing" was released by Quicksilva for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.[7] 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.[8]

The same year, Quicksilva released "Strontium Dog - The Death Gauntlet", a side-scrolling shoot-em-up for the Commodore 64.

Rebellion Studios, the current owners of 2000 AD, 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.

[edit] Novels

In 2003, Black Flame started publishing official 2000 AD novels, including a number featuring Strontium Dog. To date, these are:

[edit] Audio dramas

In recent years, Big Finish Productions 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".

[edit] Fanzines

Dogbreath is an unofficial small press comic produced by fans of the series.

[edit] In popular culture

Strontium Dog, and in particular the death of Johnny Alpha, is referenced in an episode of TV sitcom Spaced. Actor and co-author Simon Pegg later went on to play Johnny Alpha in the Big Finish Productions Strontium Dog audio plays.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Judge Dredd Megazine, volume 4, issue 17, p. 49
  2. ^ File 01 details
  3. ^ File 02 details
  4. ^ File 03 details
  5. ^ File 04 details
  6. ^ Final Solution details
  7. ^ 2000 AD's games section, with the game (and emulator) free to download
  8. ^ Your Sinclair magazine review of the computer game "Strontium Dog - the Killing"

[edit] External links

[edit] Reviews

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