Strontium Dog
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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.
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[edit] Series background
After The Great War of 2150 (Nobody ever knew who fired the first missile - but suddenly the whole world went crazy!) showers of Strontium 90 in nuclear fallout led to the birth of a large population of mutants. These differ fom the usual depiction of mutants in American comics, such as those published by Marvel, in that they are generally afflicted with severe physical deformities rather then being granted with superhuman powers. Despised by the "normals", mutants in the world of the strip are only permitted to work as bounty hunters for the Search/Destroy agency, whose distinctive SD badges give them the nickname Strontium Dogs.
One such agent is Johnny Alpha, whose mutant eyes allow him to see through walls and read minds. His partner is Wulf Sternhammer, who is not a mutant, but a Viking accidentally brought into the 22nd century when Johnny was pursuing a criminal gang through time. Other characters include the Gronk, a timid, metal-eating alien who provides medical back-up, stalwart ally Middenface McNulty, a Scottish mutant raised in a ghetto/concentration camp called 'Shitehill', whose head is covered with small lumps, and Durham Red, a buxom agent whose mutation resembles vampirism and who later featured in her own series. The SD agents operate from an orbiting space station known as The Doghouse.
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.
In "Portrait of a Mutant", a flashback story in 1981, it was revealed that Johnny was the son of Nelson Bunker Kreelman, the bigoted politician responsible for framing the anti-mutant laws. Kreelman abused his son and hid him away, but in his teens Johnny escaped and joined the Mutant Army. Their campaign managed to stop Kreelman's plan for total extermination of mutants. Kreelman was disgraced. The mutant leaders were pardoned on condition they go into exile in space, leading to the creation of the Search/Destroy agency. Later, discovering that Kreelman was wanted for corruption, Johnny tracked him down and activated a time device, causing his father to relive his final moments, begging for his life, forever.
But 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. They cleared their names, and when Kreelman's true identity was revealed he was gunned down by the assembled mutants on the Doghouse.
After a lengthy story explaining his origins, Wulf was killed off in 1986 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 MacNeill. 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." (Judge Dredd Megazine, volume 4, issue 17, p. 49)
The medium of time travel allowed him to make further appearances. In the 1991 Judge Dredd Annual John Wagner wrote and Colin MacNeill drew "Top Dogs", in which Johnny and Wulf travel back in time to Mega-City One in pursuit of a criminal, and encounter, and only narrowly escape, 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.
Strontium Dogs featured Johnny's former supporting characters, continued through much of the 1990s, written by Ennis and Peter K. Hogan. Criticised as being somewhat 'lacklustre' [citation needed], the series was scrapped when David Bishop became 2000 AD's editor. 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. 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.
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] Spin-offs
In 2003, Black Flame started publishing official 2000 AD novels, including a number featuring Strontium Dog. To date, these are:
- Bad Timing (Rebecca Levene, June 2004 ISBN 1-84416-110-2)
- Prophet Margin (Simon Spurrier, December 2004 ISBN 1-84416-134-X)
- Ruthless (Jonathan Clements, April 2005 ISBN 1-84416-136-6)
- Day of the Dogs (Andrew Cartmel, July 2005 ISBN 1-84416-218-4)
- A Fistful of Strontium (Jaspre Bark and Steve Lyons, October 2005 ISBN 1-84416-270-2)
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:
- 16. Judge Dredd - Pre-Emptive Revenge by Jonathan Clements (with Strontium Dog)
- 10. Strontium Dog - Fire from Heaven by Jonathan Clements
- 3. Strontium Dog - Down to Earth by Jonathan Clements
Pre-Emptive Revenge takes place in the immediate aftermath of Judge Dredd/Strontium Dog crossover story "Judgement Day".
Dogbreath is an unofficial small press comic produced by fans of the series.
