Strontium Dog is a long-running British comics series starring Johnny Alpha, a mutant bounty hunter who lives in Earth's future.
The series was created in 1978 by writer John Wagner (under the pseudonym T. B. Grover) and artist Carlos Ezquerra for Starlord, a short-lived weekly science fiction comic.
After Ezquerra's death in October 2018, the series was put in indefinite hiatus with no current plans for its continuation (other than some single-episode stories in special issues aimed at younger readers).
John Kreelman is born with white blank eyes and a mutant "alpha radiation" power that grants him greater perception, allowing telepathy and the ability to see through many surfaces.
Johnny Alpha's adventures sometimes involve time travel (such as a mission to 1945 where he attempts to apprehend Adolf Hitler) or alternate dimension (including one that seems to be Hell).
On several occasions, Johnny Alpha's time travel adventures to periods before the Great Nuclear War have featured him crossing paths with another 2000 AD character Judge Dredd.
Despite this, Johnny Alpha blackmails his own father Nelson Kreelman, leading to the man's resignation and the disbanding of the Kreelers (though many members simply transfer into the local police force).
An orbital space-station is built and becomes the headquarters of the new Search/Destroy Agency, an organization that accepts contracts to hunt down criminals and threats deemed too dangerous for conventional law enforcement and "norms."
Crossroads, in 2000 AD prog 898, revealed that Earth was in a severe political mess, with twenty six "minor wars", and the rest of the galaxy was cutting ties.
By the time he joins the Search/Destroy agency, Johnny Alpha is a highly skilled and dangerous fighter, adept at combining his mutant powers with hand-to-hand combat and weaponry.
In "The Doc Quince Case", learning new information convinces him to no longer pursue a man he's been hunting but instead to rescue and help the person.
He is responsible for such legendary achievements as destroying the Wolrog homeworld, leading the mutant uprising on Earth, and bringing Adolf Hitler to the future to face trial.
Most frequently, high-level alpha radiation emitted from his eyes allows Johnny to see through walls and other solid objects, or to read people's minds.
Ever since Starlord #5, Wulf wore the fur pelt of a Gronk that he'd befriended - the alien's custom was for people dear to them to wear their skin, so part of them would live on.
The Gronk provided medical back-up and constantly worried about its "poor heartses", and in "Outlaw" showed it could survive multiple heart attacks.
King Clarkie the Second, a thinly veiled parody of Prince Charles was the monarch for much of the strip, being deposed late in the series for his pro-mutant views.
Feral witnessed Alpha's sacrifice in "The Final Solution", and in the original "Strontium Dogs" strips of the 1990s, he became first a rebel outlaw in the colony worlds and then a renowned SD Agent.
They often appear as antagonist to Alpha but at times have worked alongside him, however they usually double cross and betray him at some point showing only the slightest loyalty to other Stix.
An attack was launched on Upminster in 2167 as part of a general uprising, but the Army's leaders were forced to surrender in the face of mass mutant executions.
The mutant leaders were pardoned on condition they go into exile in space, leading to the creation of the Search/Destroy agency; the Kreelers were disbanded and replaced with a new police force.
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 MacNeil.
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.
A subsequent story in 2004, "Traitor To His Kind" (progs 1406–1415), introduced Johnny's half-brother, head of a brutal police unit that dealt with mutant crimes.
In prog 1689, June 2010, Wagner and Ezquerra began a strip called "The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha'", which took place following "The Final Solution".
The strip featured reporter Precious Matson trying to discover the true circumstances behind Johnny's death: the story explicitly stated itself to be a retcon and the "true" story of what happened, and diverged from "The Final Solution" when Precious revealed to Middenface McNulty that Johnny's body had been brought back by Feral (the original strip showed it destroyed and the remains left behind).
[4] Mutants remain on Earth, the S/D Agency still exists and has a new Doghouse satellite, and the UK government is said to be "apologists and mutie-lovers", ignoring Strontium Dogs.
He also stars with Judge Dredd in the Big Finish audio book Pre-Emptive Revenge, in their attempt to stop a nuclear dirty bomb from launching while trying to reach safety after a successful co-operative mission.
[14] John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra both praised the film, which received 3 1/2 to 5 star reviews from several Sci-Fi and comic related outlets.
[19] The current list of Strontium Dog plays includes: In the opening scene of the 2012 film Dredd, one of the "mega blocks" of Mega-City One is named "Sternhammer".
In an episode of TV sitcom Spaced, an angry Mike tells his friend Tim to remember "whose shoulder you cried on" when Johnny Alpha was killed in 2000 AD.