Strontium Dog: 'Journey Into Hell!', Part 1

NAME
Strontium Dog: 'Journey Into Hell!', Part 1

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD & Starlord Prog 104

DATELINE
17 Mar 79

PAGE COUNT
4

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd Megazine 3.64, Strontium Dog: The Early Cases and Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Johnny, Wulf and the Gronk track Fly's Eyes Wagner to a Roadtrain.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First four page Strontium Dog strip.

INFORMATION
(This strip takes place "late in the 22nd Century")

Sharpsville is a town in Western District Four. It does not admit Mutants and has a bypass to allow them to go around it. It describes itself as the home of the Umpty Man.

A Roadtrain is a wheeled convoy vehicle like a train that travels on roads.

Named Search/Destroy agents: Fly's Eyes Wagner

JOHNNY ALPHA
He, Wulf and the Gronk are on the trail of Fly's Eyes Wagner. Johnny catches him on a Roadtrain.

WULF STERNHAMMER
He, Johnny and the Gronk are on the trail of Fly's Eyes Wagner.

THE GRONK
He, Johnny and Wulf are on the trail of Fly's Eyes Wagner. Johnny catches him on a Roadtrain.

OTHER CHARACTERS
FLY'S EYES WAGNER
Mutant native of Sharpsville with the compound eyes of an insect. He is a Search/Destroy agent that killed his partner and has a warrant for his termination. He hid on a roadtrain heading back to his home town. Johnny Alpha catches up to him and they fight. Wagner knocks Alpha down, severs the roadtrain's coupling and escapes as the uncoupled roadtrain begins to topple.

MARSHALL HICKMAN
Marshall of Sharpsville. Not a friend to Mutants.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Marshall Hickman: "I run a clean town - an' I aim to keep it that way! So why don't you turn right round and drive your scummy Mutie carcass out of here?...No offence, boy."

WORST LINES
None.

CATCHPHRASES
Wayne says "Roger, Marshall" three times, the Gronk worries about his poor heartses once and Wulf says der, haf, ve and vun.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
Fly's Eyes Wagner is another character named after John Wagner. Sharpsville is name of at least two actual US towns, one in Indiana, the other in Pennsylvania.

CREDITS
Script: T. B. Grover
Artist: C. Ezquerra
Letters: J. Aldrich

REVIEW
This is great and ticks all the usual Strontium Dog boxes nicely. Anti-Mutant prejudice? Tick. Western motif? Tick. Alpha catches up to his quarry in time for a scrap? Tick. What's impressive here is that it does so without feeling overly formulaic and with some lovely Ezquerra art as well.

Next Prog: Pile Up!