NAME
Strontium Dog: 'Max Quirxx', Part 1
FIRST PUBLISHED
Starlord No. 1
DATELINE
13 May 78
PAGE COUNT
5
REPRINTS
Strontium Dog Book 1, The Best Of 2000AD and Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Agency Files 01
SYNOPSIS
Johnny and Wulf go in search of Max Quirxx and destroy his gunmen.
FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearances of Johnny Alpha and Wulf Sternhammer. First use of the time drogue.
INFORMATION
(The year is 2180 A.D.)
The Galactic Crime Commission on Earth has jurisdiction over many over inhabited planets including Caytor and Bario-3. Caytor is the administration planet of the Dorian Nebula and the locals call themselves Caytans.
Strontium 90 is a radioactive isotope present in fallout from nuclear explosions. It can be biologically absorbed and can cause mutation in humans and animals. Such mutated humans are often subject to prejudice and discrimination.
Search and Destroy Agents, or S.D. Agents, are bounty hunters licensed by the Galactic Crime Commission. They have been nicknamed 'Strontium Dogs'. A Termination Warrant entitles an S.D. Agent to kill an individual. Named Search and Destroy Agents: John Alpha and Wulf Sternhammer.
Blasters and Scatterbeams are projected energy weapons. Chameleon Cloaks refract the light and allow their wearer to blend in with any background. A Time Drogue is a device which can reverse time in localised area.
JOHN ALPHA
S.D. Agent. Born with a mutation related to a strontium shower, he can emit powerful Alpha-rays from his eyes which allows him to see through clothing and flesh. He can also perceive electro-patterns in the brain that tell him the veracity of a statement. Wulf calls him Johnny. He is equipped with a blaster and a time drogue.
WULF STERNHAMMER
S.D. Agent and Alpha's assistant. He speaks English with an accent. He is not a mutant. Wulf carries a large hammer he calls a happy-stick and is also armed with a blaster.
OTHER CHARACTERS
MAX QUIRXX
He has been convicted of multiple murder on Bario-3. Quirxx is hiding in Suite 3A in the Nova Conapt building on Caytan under the alias Marv Quincy.
DEATHS
Three. Johnny and Wulf kill one of Quirxx's gunman each. Johnny brings one back from the dead with a time drogue and then allows him to die a second time.
BEST LINES
Johnny (to the gunman resurrected by the time drogue): "The electro-patterns in your brain tell me you are lying! Talk! Or I'll make you die a thousand times!"
WORST LINES
Caytan citizen: "There's one of them S.D. killers - one of them Strontium Dogs!"
CATCHPHRASES
None, although Wulf's accent makes it's presence felt in an array of der, gott, gut, ja, mit, und, ve, vere, voorms, vun
CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.
INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Strontium 90 is a genuine radioactive isotope of strontium produced by nuclear fission with a half-life of 28.8 years.
MISTAKES
None.
RETROSPECT
None.
NOTES
None.
CREDITS
Script: T.B. Grover
Artist: Ezquerra
Letters: Jack Potter
T.B. Grover is a pseudonym for John Wagner.
Ezquerra is Carlos Ezquerra.
REVIEW
This is an excellent vignette to introduce Johnny and Wulf. It's astonishing just how much of Strontium Dog is all present and correct in this first episode. Our two lead characters are already believable. The society they live in and their place within it are expertly defined without the need for clumsy exposition. Ezquerra's art is magnificent.
Next Week: 'Get Lost, Or That Woman And Kid Get Smoked!'
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