Strontium Dog: Funfair Of Fear

NAME
Strontium Dog: Funfair Of Fear

FIRST PUBLISHED
Starlord Annual 1980

DATELINE
1 Sept 79

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
Strontium Dog: Search/Destroy Agency Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Johnny and Wulf search for Colombo at the fun-fair.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First Strontium Dog strip in a Starlord Annual.

INFORMATION
Neridian 5 is a planet with at least one island on it.

Inter-Galactic Fun-Fun Tours built a fun-fair on an island on Neridian 5, but when the space lanes were re-routed the holidaymakers stopped coming.

JOHNNY ALPHA
He and Wulf go in search of Colombo. After Wulf is shot, Johnny climbs the helter skelter to get an aerial view, but instead he himself is shot with a stun-ray. He slides down to the bottom unconscious. He awakes to discover that Colombo has tied him to a duck. Colombo shoots a hundred bullets at Johnny but only successfully hits his S.D. bag. Colombo is about to shoot at Johnny again when Wulf crushes him with a Big Dipper carriage.

WULF STERNHAMMER
He and Johnny go in search of Colombo. Whilst in the hall of mirrors, he is shot in the shoulder. Gomo tends to his wound and he follows the sound of Colombo's laughter. He discover Colombo about tho kill Johnny and throws his hammer at the starting lever for the Big Dipper causing the ride to start and the carriage to crush Colombo.

OTHER CHARACTERS
COLOMBO HARLEQUIN
Criminal hiding in the fun-fair on Neridian 5. He adopts a variety of disguises. He shoot Johnny with a stun-ray and ties him to a large duck. When Johnny awakes he shoots a hundred bullets at him but only successfully hits his S.D. bag.

GOMO
The keeper of the fairground. He tends to Wulf's wound.

DEATHS
One. Colombo is crushed by the Big Dipper carriage.

BEST LINES
Wulf: "No-one shoots at Voulf and runs vithout a fight!"

WORST LINES
Johnny: "In the end we caught him fair and square."

CATCHPHRASES
Wulf says 'goot', 'vere', 'vill', 'vithout', 'vot' and 'Vulf'.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Johnny and Wulf are travelling without the Gronk and so this presumably takes place at some point before Two-Faced Terror.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
The abandoned fun-fair is a widely used trope and, beginning in 1969, the backbone of the various incarnations of Scooby Doo.

MISTAKES
Colombo shoots a hundred bullets at Johnny but only hits his S.D. bag? And presumably his bonds?

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Unknown
Artist: Brendon McCarthy
Letters: Unknown

REVIEW
This is a very slight tale that could have featured any characters and therefore doesn't really feel like Strontium Dog at all. Johnny's abilities are referenced, but entirely unnecessarily as they don't help him in the hall of mirrors nor are they any use in finding Colombo. The captions allude to Johnny's powers to pass for dead as if it was an amazing skill. I'm willing to concede there an element of acting ability involved, but how impressed are we supposed to be that he can play dead? Colombo is very a creepy design, but we find out almost nothing about him or his motivations and how scary can he be if he fails to hit Johnny with hundred bullets? And why has Johnny put his hand on Gomo's head like that in the last panel? It's bizarre.

The End