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. IPC Media is a large British publishing company, mainly producing consumer magazines. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to the date or issue of a characters first appearance. ... John Wagner is a comics writer who has also written under the pseudonyms John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter, among others. ... Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra (November 1947, Zaragoza), is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra. ... Comics (or, less commonly, sequential art) is a form of visual art consisting of images which are commonly combined with text, often in the form of speech balloons or image captions. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Cover of the first issue of 2000 AD, 26 February 1977. ... John Wagner is a comics writer who has also written under the pseudonyms John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter, among others. ... Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra (November 1947, Zaragoza), is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra. ... Starlord was a shortlived weekly British Science-Fiction comic published by IPC and edited by Pat Mills. ... Alan Grant This page is about the comic book writer. ...

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. General Name, Symbol, Number Strontium, Sr, 38 Series Alkaline earth metal Group, Period, Block 2 (IIA), 5, s Density, Hardness 2630 kg/m3, 1. ... Map of hypothetical fallout dispersal after a large-scale nuclear attack against the United States. ... A mutant (also known to early geneticists as a monster) is an individual, organism, or new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is a sudden structural change within the DNA of a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new... Marvel or marvel can refer to: Marvel Comics, a comic book publishing company based in the United States of America. ... A bounty hunter is an individual who seeks out fugitives (hunting) for a monetary reward (bounty), for apprehending by law, if such laws exist. ...

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. The term Viking is used to denote the ship-borne explorers, traders and warriors who originated in Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden and raided the coasts of the British Isles, France and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century. ... Archibald Middenface McNulty is a fictional character from the 2000 AD series Strontium Dog. ... Scottish can refer to: Look up Scottish in Wiktionary, the free dictionary (as an adjective) things to do with Scotland (see also Scots and Scotch) (as a noun) the Scottish people. ... 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. ... Philip Burne-Jones, The Vampire, 1897 Vampires are mythical or folkloric creatures, typically held to be the re-animated corpses of human beings and said to subsist on human and/or animal blood (hematophagy), often having supernatural powers, heightened senses and physical abilities, and/or the ability to physically transform. ...

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. Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180) Hell, according to many religious beliefs, is a place or a state of pain and suffering. ... Hitler redirects here. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

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) John Wagner is a comics writer who has also written under the pseudonyms John Howard, T.B. Grover, Mike Stott, Keef Ripley, Rick Clark and Brian Skuter, among others. ...

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. Time travel is a concept that has long fascinated humanity—whether it is Merlin experiencing time backwards, or religious traditions like Mohammeds trip to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven, returning before a glass knocked over had spilt its contents. ... Judge Dredd (Joe Dredd or Joseph Dredd) is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazines longest running (having been featured there since its second issue in 1977). ... Judge Dredd (Joe Dredd or Joseph Dredd) is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazines longest running (having been featured there since its second issue in 1977). ... Garth Ennis Garth Ennis (born January 16, 1970 in Holywood, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the DC/Vertigo series Preacher, co-created with artist Steve Dillon. ...

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. Peter K. Hogan was editor of cult political British comics Crisis and Revolver in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ... David Bishop is the New Zealand born editor of British comics the Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD. Generally agreed to have been the man who began to reverse the steep decline in sales suffered by both titles in the early 1990s, Bishop has been responsible for discovering many...

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. Spaced is a British television situation comedy written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, directed by Edgar Wright, and broadcast on Channel 4. ... Simon Pegg as the title role in Shaun of the Dead Simon John Pegg (born February 14, 1970) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and film and television actor. ... Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays released straight to compact disc, based on British cult science fiction properties. ...

Spin-offs

In 2003, Black Flame started publishing official 2000 AD novels, including a number featuring Strontium Dog. To date, these are: Black Flame is an imprint of BL Publishing, the publishing arm of Games Workshop and a sister imprint to the Black Library and Solaris Books. ...

• Bad Timing (Rebecca Levene, June 2004 ISBN 1844161102)
• Prophet Margin (Simon Spurrier, December 2004 ISBN 184416134X)
• Ruthless (Jonathan Clements, April 2005 ISBN 1844161366)
• Day of the Dogs (Andrew Cartmel, July 2005 ISBN 1844162184)
• A Fistful of Strontium (Jaspre Bark and Steve Lyons, October 2005 ISBN 1844162702)

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: Rebecca Levene is a British author and editor, best known for editing Virgins New Adventures series of original fiction Doctor Who novels. ... Simon Spurrier is a British comics writer. ... Jonathan Clements Jonathan Clements (1971- ) is a British writer and translator. ... Andrew Cartmel Andrew Cartmel is a British science-fiction writer and journalist. ... Steve Lyons is a British writer. ... Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays released straight to compact disc, based on British cult science fiction properties. ... Judge Dredd (Joe Dredd or Joseph Dredd) is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazines longest running (having been featured there since its second issue in 1977). ... Judge Dredd (Joe Dredd or Joseph Dredd) is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazines longest running (having been featured there since its second issue in 1977). ... Toby Longworth is a British actor who has appeared on film, radio and television. ... Simon Pegg as the title role in Shaun of the Dead Simon John Pegg (born February 14, 1970) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and film and television actor. ...

• 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". Jonathan Clements Jonathan Clements (1971- ) is a British writer and translator. ... Jonathan Clements Jonathan Clements (1971- ) is a British writer and translator. ...

Dogbreath is an unofficial small press comic produced by fans of the series. A small number of British small press comics for sale at the Caption convention, 2005 British small press comics is a term used to describe comic books self-published by cartoonists and comic book creators within the UK. It also serves to describe the loose community of creators, publishers and... Fans of Janet Jackson, at Much Music in Toronto The word fan refers to someone who has an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking of a person, group of persons, work of art, idea, or trend. ...

External links

• 2000 AD Profile
• Strontium Dog Audio plays at bbc.co.uk
• Black Flame