Note: This series only began in Prog 86 of
2000AD but had been birthed in its ill-fated younger brother,
Starlord, the two comics later merged and Johnny and Wulf, along with a few other strips that survived the death of
Starlord, joined the ranks of later to be classic
2000AD heroes. As I have the issues of Starlord to hand, I'm going to start by recounting the stories in that comic, the original, if you will, Strontium Dog strips, up to the point where it crossed over, at which time I will then take the remaining stories from
2000AD.
Episode I: “Max Quirxx, Part One”
First print date: May 13 1978
Reprinted: October 14 1978
Prog appearance: 86, but originally in
Starlord Issue 1
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 2
On the planet Caytor, in the Dorian Nebula, Johnny Alpha and his partner Wulf Sternhammer, in pursuit of two criminals in their capacity as bounty hunters, are suddenly attacked by scatterbeams, wide-ranging lasers that mimic the indiscriminate spread of the fire of an automatic machine gun. As the two Search/Destroy agents dive for cover their quarry uses the momentary respite to pull on Chameleon Cloaks, devices which refract light, thus allowing their wearer to blend in with any surroundings; to effectively become invisible. The criminals though have reckoned without Johnny Alpha's mutated eyes, which can see through walls and certainly through one of these devices. Calling out the co-ordinates to his partner he pinpoints the two thugs and the two bounty hunters vapourise them.
The local police, coming upon the incident, are less than pleased to have “Strontium Dogs” among them; seems prejudice is not confined to the environs of Earth. Alpha reminds them that he and Wulf are operating under the aegis of the Search/Destroy Agency, licenced by the Galactic Crime Commission, and that the two guys they have just smoked worked for a multiple murderer on whose trail they are currently. The police are bound, if not to help then certainly not to hinder them, but from the looks they give the two hunters and their attitude, it seems they have more sympathy for the dead men than empathy with the two living ones.
Alpha takes it in his stride: he's used to being called all sorts of names by now, and it rolls off his back like water, but he is concerned about their prey. When one of the officers quips nastily that it's a pity they killed the two thugs, who might have been able to tell the bounty hunters where to find their boss, they are horrified and disgusted to see Alpha use a device that essentially reverses time, in a very specific set space, making one of the bodies come back to life briefly so that the S/D agent can interrogate him. The recently-deceased criminal lies that he doesn't know the whereabouts of his boss, but one look in Johnny's terrifying pale eyes convinces him that he had better tell the truth, and he gives Alpha the location. Satisfied, the bounty hunter lets time flow forward again, as the gunman dies a second death. With the information they require in their hands, and the insults and cries of horror from the cops ringing in their ears, the two men set off to find their prey and bring him in, dead or alive.
QUOTES
Wulf: “Ja! Is gut, Johnny! You gif zem the old evil eye!”
Johnny: “Set blasters to “flesh” and ... fire!”
(There's little mercy wasted on these scum. Phasers on stun? Not in this line of work, pal!)
Caytor Cop 2: “Bloodhounds after blood money! We got a better name for you SDs! Strontium Dogs!”
(How typical that, having forced most of the mutants into a situation wherein they cannot work and must beg to survive, humans (and possibly aliens; prejudice may not be the exclusive pervue of Man) revile the mutants for taking the only job that is available to them. And though the S/D agents do essentially the same work as the cops --- and intend to clear the streets of their city of one more scumbag --- the Caytorians do not see it that way, and there is no way they would extend any sort of courtesy to these men, professional or otherwise.)
Johnny: “Too bad! You're bound by galactic law not to interfere with us!”
Caytor Cop 1: “Too bad you boned 'em, mutie! They might have told you where Quirxx was holed up!”
Johnny: “They'll still tell me!”
Citizen: “Go swallow some cyanide, Stronty!”
Johnny: “People: they're all the same. Why do you stick with me, Wulf? You don't have to be a bounty hunter. You're no mutant.”
Wulf: “Comrades ve are, Johnny. Vere you go, Wulf go.”
(The simple, uncomplicated friendship and respect for each other that makes two men, who should hate or at least avoid each other, band together in the dirtiest, least desired job in the galaxy)
Welcome to the world of tomorrow!
Where if you're one of the many thousands who were unlucky to be changed by the effects of Strontium-90 in the fallout from the nuclear attack, you're kind of SOL. Nobody will employ you --- by law, they can't --- so you are unable to earn a living. Forced into begging and/or stealing you're going to be an easy target for the hatred rampant across not only Earth, but the entire galaxy. Gone are the days of nig
gers, wogs and jews: now these very minorities will curse and spit at you as you pass, forgetting that they too endured such treatment in the past, conveniently choosing to fall in with the majority where they once were minorities, hated and despised by those not like them.
But Man has at least by now reached out to the stars, and if you're tough and desperate enough, and good enough, you can make a living chasing down criminals across the galaxy. Oh yeah, there's life out there, and much of it is law-abiding but much of it is not, so you may find yourself chasing alien gangbangers, murderers from distant planets or intergalactic crime lords. These people will think nothing of shooting you down, and even those they oppress and attack will, if forced to, root for them rather than you. Yeah, they'd prefer to see the criminal escape and the bounty hunter dead.
So if you want to be a Search/Destroy Agent, you had better put on your toughest skin and narrow your eyes, close your ears to the incessant insults and deathwishes directed against you. Make sure your back is protected and keep your weapon handy, because the life of a Strontium Dog is neither glamorous nor easy, and in most cases, very brief.
Tools of the trade
Any craftsman relies on his tools, so much more so when they may be the difference between you living and dying. When a gadget is your only hope for survival, in this galaxy you need all the help you can get. In this section I'll be telling you about the tools a Strontium Dog has at his disposal, and how they help him survive just one more day.
Time Drogue: This is an invention that isolates a very small space around the user and causes time to flow backwards, to the point where he wishes it to stop. In practice, this means that a recently dead man can be, as he is here, reanimated, the flesh literally crawling back onto the bones of the skeleton, to allow the agent to question him. Of course, such reversals of time eat up a lot of power and are contrary to the laws of physics, so they can only be used for a short time. But a short time is usually all that's needed, and a bounty hunter is used to working within a tight window of opportunity.
Chameleon Cloak: A wearable device that bends or refracts light around itself, allowing for the illusion of invisibility. What this means is that the wearer can blend into any background, which makes it look as if he is not there.
The Powers that be
Many mutants have no powers --- these are not, after all, the X-Men! ---- but some do, and in this section I'll be pointing out when they do, and how they use them.
Johnny Alpha's main power is in his eyes. They appear white and pupil-less, but emit alpha waves which allow him to see through things --- buildings, people --- if and when he wishes. He can even see into a man's mind, and decipher the complex brainwaves there, to determine whether or not he is telling the truth. A human (!) lie detector.
Messages
Like
Judge Dredd, and other
2000AD (and indeed,
Starlord) series,
Strontium Dog carries with it powerful messages. The most important and most prevalent of these being that, no matter the planet or the galaxy, man's inhumanity to man knows no bounds. Where once it was a case of colour, or race, or nationality, now men discriminate on the grounds of whether you are a mutant (mutie) or not (norm). Setting aside the fact that nobody chose to become mutated, and that their very own laws brought them to where they are now, “norms” see “muties” as dirty, unprincipled, untrustworthy and basically subhuman. They are reviled wherever they go, even if they go there to help. They are seen as mercenaries, for hire to the highest bidder, which is about as far from the truth as you can get.
Strontium Dogs are employed by the Search/Destroy Agency, an arm of the Galactic Crime Commission, and they take their jobs very seriously. They do not go out looking for bounties; they are assigned them when they check in at the base. They do not sell out their commissions, they do not take bribes. They do not look the other way. In many ways, they're almost as tough on crime and as dedicated to their careers as the Judges are, and it's as unlikely to find a corrupt one as it would be to countenance the idea of a Judge taking backhanders. It just doesn't happen.
But norms don't see this, or choose not to see it, and consider Johnny and his kind to be the lowest of the low. Oddly, though they get insulted and snarled at everywhere they go, Strontium Dogs do not seem to react or respond to their baiters. Perhaps there's a clause in their contract that they can't attack someone against whom they have no commission, and after all it would be seen as breaking the law. But you'd think that from time to time a particularly nasty norm could be taken to one side and given a few digs? I guess the mutants want to stay away from anything that might give the norms an excuse to believe they are right about them, and that they're all scum. No point in pouring fuel on the fire.
But Wagner also gives us reason to have hope, as Wulf, who is not mutated in any way, chooses to partner Johnny, simply because they are friends and the big Viking has respect for Johnny. He's a huge man, and I guess few if any insults come his way, because he doesn't look like the kind of man who would just stand there and take it, and that hammer he wields? It looks
mean, man!