Series background
In the world of Strontium Dog, the Great Nuclear War of 2150 wipes out 70% of Britain's population, leading to a huge increase of mutant births due to exposure to nuclear fallout (strontium-90). The mutants of Strontium Dog differ from the usual depiction of mutants in American comics, such as those published by Marvel, in that they are generally afflicted with obvious physical abnormalities. Only a rare few are born with superhuman powers. These strontium-influenced mutants face a high degree of prejudice from average humans ("norms"). Born in 2150 to Diana Kreelman and her husband Nelson Bunker Kreelman, the boy Johnny Kreelman has mutant eyes that can increase his perception by channeling "alpha radiation", allowing telepathy and telekinesis, as well as the ability to see through most surfaces. A bigoted politician, Nelson gains popularity by drafting anti-mutant laws and creating the anti-mutant police force known as the Kreelers. Despised, abused, and hidden away by his father, Johnny Kreelman escapes his parents at a young age and adopts the name Johnny Alpha. He then joins the rising resistance group known as the Mutant Army and quickly becomes a valued leader, despite still being a teenager.
The Mutant Uprising of 2167 fails to overthrow the government. 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). Members of the Mutant Army are pardoned for their actions only on condition that they leave Earth forever. 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." The former Mutant Army members become galactic bounty hunters for the S/D Agency. Due to their "S/D" badges and the origins of their mutations, these bounty hunters are nicknamed "strontium dogs" by Earth people. This also leads the S/D orbital base to be nicknamed the Doghouse.
On Earth, new laws protect mutants from being hunted and targeted for extermination. However, they still face great prejudice from society and are segregating into ghettos, such as a large mutant settlement at Milton Keynes. In the cities of Earth, mutants have limited working opportunities and cannot own their own businesses. Several mutants succumb to societal pressures and poverty, while others join the S/D Agency as new bounty hunters. By 2180, Johnny Alpha is one of the most famous strontium dog bounty hunters.
Earth
Earth is rarely seen in the strip. When it is, the focus is often New Britain – Great Britain after a devastating nuclear war. It is much closer to modern-day Britain than Judge Dredd's Brit-Cit by the same writers, but contains areas of nuclear devastation such as the Greater London Crater and Birmingham Gap; areas known to survive include Salisbury (now a major area and political centre), Glasgow, Newcastle, Dover, Christchurch & Bournemouth (now a combined conurbation), Cardiff, Isles of Scilly, and Winchester. The flying building of Upminster contains both the parliament and the monarchy. In the sequel series Strontium Dogs, it was stated that Britain had a large empire of outer-space colonies.
The mutants of New Britain live in ghettos, isolated from the human population and living in poverty. Stories like Traitor To His Kind reveal some figures in the government, such as the First Lord of the Military (himself having a mutant daughter), make attempts to slowly improve the mutants' situation, but much of this goes unnoticed by the public. Many other figures in the government prefer to regress toward greater oppression or even attempted extermination of the mutant population.
Ireland is known to still exist, though little has been shown; the United States of America and Canada were both visited in The Mork Whisperer (2009); and the leader of a West African Mutant Republic was shown in The Final Solution. Antarctica was the setting of part of Outlaw, shown to have been turned into a tropical area with marshes and rainforests by the Rad Wars. The centre was Antarctic City (also the name of a megacity in Judge Dredd), with military and police matters handled by the Antarctic Militia.
In The Final Solution, the government is usurped by the New Church and the incumbent monarch killed; the first Strontium Dogs story had it that after the destruction of the New Church by the Strontium Dogs, a hastily assembled junta government exiled all mutants from Britain. 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. The later strip The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha ignored all of this, instead having post-Church New Britain ruled by a more liberal government.
Dating
The first Strontium Dog stories in Starlord and 2000 AD were said to be set in the year 2180. During the Strontium Dog series published in 2000 AD, in-story events progressed were indicated as occurring in real time to publication. The story "Max Bubba" was published five years after the first Strontium Dog story and gave the date 2185 for its events. Similarly, the main Judge Dredd stories progress in parallel to the real time publication dates. Exceptions to this are some stories appearing in annual issues and summer specials that indicate they are revisiting earlier points of Johnny Alpha's life.
Despite this, there have been some dating discrepancies in the Strontium Dog series. The stories "The No-Go Job" and "The Final Solution" present a date of 2180 but are said to take place two years after the events in "Max Bubba." Likewise, the story "Judgement Day" gives the date 2178 even though it is set after the events in "Max Bubba."
Johnny Alpha
Strontium Dog stories focus on John Alpha, whose mutated eyes allow him to see through walls and read minds. Born in 2150, he is the son of Diana Kreelman and her husband Nelson Bunker Kreelman. Nelson is a bigoted politician who drafts the anti-mutant laws and gains power on the back of bigotry, creating the anti-mutant police force known as the Kreelers. Despised, abused and hidden away by his father, Johnny escapes at a young age and joins the Mutant Army, changing his name from Kreelman to Alpha and deciding to keep his father's identity secret. Johnny becomes one of the Mutant Army's key leaders, playing a major part in the mutant uprising of 2167 when he is only 17.
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. A sarcastic, cynical man, he none the less believes that innocent life must be protected or avenged, even if the odds are against you. Deeply loyal to friends, he can also be short on patience and quick to anger if plans go wrong or situations continue to worsen, but often this motivates him to improvise new solutions rather than simply stew in anger. A dogged bounty hunter determined to earn reward for his work, Johnny is also guided by a moral conscience. He will not give up pursuing a target if the job becomes difficult, but he might if he learns the target is a victim of greater evil. If he believes the cause is great enough, he may forego payment or decide not to accept it. 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. In "The Slavers of Drule", Johnny tracks down a group of slavers simply because he believes it is the right thing to do. Despite his morality, Johnny is not above vengeance for himself or those he considers family. A device he used on his own father caused Nelson Kreelman to be locked in a time-loop where he continuously relived his final moments, begging for his life.
Johnny has a "norm" sister called Ruth, who has a husband named Nigel and a daughter named Marci. Ruth and her family remain friendly to Johnny, even helping him blackmail Nelson Kreelman during the Mutant Army uprising of 2167. But during an early comic book adventure, Marci is abducted and almost killed by a criminal looking for revenge on Johnny. After this, Ruth forbids him from coming near her family again, only making contact with him afterward when she deems it absolutely necessary.
Nelson Kreelman had an affair, resulting in a half-brother to Johnny named Nelson Culliver. After the war, Culliver becomes head of the Anti-Mutant Squad at Scotland Yard. In "Traitor to His Kind", Culliver tries to have Alpha murdered, but is exposed and fired. Alpha decides to assassinate him, but relents on meeting his children.
During the course of his career as a Strontium Dog, Johnny Alpha becomes a formidable legend and even a hero to some. 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. He becomes known for generously assisting mutants in trouble, such as when he donates a large sum of money to the Milton Keynes ghetto in "Mutie's Luck".
At times, Alpha has encountered another 2000 AD character, Judge Dredd, by journeying into the past via time travel, but it is ambiguous whether Johnny Alpha's future world is the fate of Dredd's timeline or one of several possibilities.
Weapons/equipment and mutant abilities
Like all Search/Destroy agents, Alpha is armed with highly advanced technology. His usual equipment includes a variable-cartridge blaster, electrified brass knuckles, a short-range teleporter, a "time drogue" that can briefly "rewind" the last few minutes of time in the immediate area, and "time bombs" which can transport somebody minutes or hours forwards or backwards in time (by which time the planet has moved in its orbit, causing the victim to reappear in empty space).
Johnny Alpha has white, incandescent eyes and multiple mutant abilities. 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. He has also used his piercing stare to inflict severe headaches on his opponents, or to "suggest" illusions into their perceptions. Alpha has used this to save his life several times - in the stories "Judgement Day" and "Rage", Alpha made Sabbat the Necromagus and Max Bubba respectively believe that there were people behind them, distracting each long enough for Alpha to strike them.
Supporting cast
Johnny's original partner is Wulf Sternhammer, who is not a mutant but a normal human from Scandinavia; he became a Strontium Dog out of a sense of camaraderie with Johnny, and, despite the indignities, he viewed it as good work as it kept the galaxy "safe for decent people". [1] A blunt and straightforward brawler, Wulf was far less prone to doubt and introspection and tried to bring his friend back in line when he had doubts. 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. Wulf acted a lot like a stereotypical Viking and it was eventually retconned that he was a Viking, accidentally brought into the 22nd century when Johnny was pursuing a criminal gang through time.
Early strips included the Gronk, the brother of the Gronk that Wulf had met earlier. It was a timid, metal-eating alien from the planet Blas, in the Gallego system (a tribute to the fantasy artist Blas Gallego). The Gronk provided medical back-up and constantly worried about its "poor heartses", and in "Outlaw" showed it could survive multiple heart attacks. A gag showed that "the Gronk" was the name for most of its species, causing problems when mail arrives for "the Gronk". In the Strontium Dogs spinoff, the Gronk transformed into a gun-toting highly aggressive soldier.
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. While presented as a buffoon in several strips, he was also essentially harmless and well-meaning.
Two allies who gained their own solo spin-off series were Middenface McNulty, a Scottish mutant raised in a ghetto/concentration camp called 'Shytehill' - presumably a reference to the Sighthill area of Glasgow - and whose head is covered with lumps; and Durham Red, a female agent whose mutation resembles vampirism and who is thus feared and despised by other mutants.
Feral, introduced in "The Final Solution", was a young, savage mutant. He initially despised the Strontium Dogs, who he saw as abandoning the mutants on Earth, but was inspired by the actions of Johnny Alpha. 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. In "The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha", this was ignored and he became a SD Agent soon after "The Final Solution" – due to his abrasive personality, he soon left and became an outlaw who tried to resurrect Alpha, only to give up. In this second timeline, he was executed for murder on an alien world.
In both the original series and the revival Alpha frequently encountered or worked alongside members of a mutant family known as the Stix Clan. All members male and female are identical in appearance, personality and dress sense. They all hail from a single town called Stixville on the planet Freedonia and are highly hostile to any outsiders. 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. There is said to be only one good Stix, Father Phineas who is a Catholic priest, a genuinely good and kind person and thus unmentionable around the rest of the Clan.
The revival would introduce Negus, the First Lord of the Military, a stern-faced and middle-aged politician who would both hire Johnny and act as his Upminster contact. Negus was pushing for increased mutant rights, having a mutant daughter that he kept at home (something Johnny remarked as being a brave act for a man in Negus' position), though he still wanted to keep mutant and norm bloodlines separate.
Flashbacks to the pre-Wulf days of Johnny's life would introduce Precious Matson, a reporter from the mutant colony of Freedonia. A competent and dogged reporter, she became friends with Johnny and helped him against the terrorist leader Blood Moon. In "Life and Death", she began investigating the true events of Johnny's death and, with McNulty's aid, was able to resurrect him.
In 2018 "The Son" revealed that Wulf had had a son, Kenton Sternhammer, who joined the Search/Destroy Agency.
Major stories
Original run
"Portrait of a Mutant", a flashback story in 1981, filled in the background of the series and Johnny's role in the Mutant Army; it introduced Kreelman and the Kreelers, his quasi-official anti-mutant police. Kreelman drafted laws stating mutants were not allowed to work or own businesses, leading to them being forced from their homes into slums and eventually into being forced into labour camps; the only option for many mutants was to join the nationwide guerilla Mutant Army. 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. Kreelman used this as an opportunity to push forward the extermination of all mutants; Johnny Alpha and the other leaders escaped (thanks to Johnny's sister and mother) and led the Mutant Army in a second major uprising to prevent genocide. The Prime Minister and King agreed to draft into law a better deal for mutants, and - after hearing Alpha was Kreelman's son from Ruth - blackmailed Kreelman into resigning. 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. This changeover was depicted by a panel showing Kreelers, which was then repeated but with a different uniform, showing that the same people and attitudes remained. In the present day, bookending "Portrait", Johnny tracked his father down and activated a time device, causing his father to relive his final moments: begging for his life, forever.
In the story "Outlaw", Kreelman was later freed, and, in disguise, had himself appointed head of the Search/Destroy agency. He used his position to frame Johnny and other Mutant Army veterans for murder. Johnny was soon made aware of the truth and had no qualms about dragging his own father before the deceived mutants who gunned him down on the spot.
In the 1986 story "Max Bubba", a lengthy story explaining Wulf's origins, Wulf was killed off at the hands of Max Bubba and his gang. This led to the epic "Rage", in which Johnny remorselessly hunted down his partner's killers. After that Johnny either worked solo, or with Durham Red or Scottish mutant Middenface McNulty.
Johnny was killed off in 1990, sacrificing himself to save mutants from extermination at the hands of Kreelman's illegitimate son, Lord Sagan. 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." [2] He later described it as "one of the big regrets of my career, probably the biggest." [3]
Post-death and Strontium Dogs
The medium of time travel allowed him to make further appearances. In the 1991 Judge Dredd Annual John Wagner wrote and Colin MacNeil drew "Top Dogs", in which Johnny and Wulf travel back in time to Mega-City One in pursuit of a criminal, whilst encountering and only narrowly escaping Judge Dredd. Johnny and Dredd renewed acquaintances in 1992 in the Judge Dredd story "Judgement Day", written by Garth Ennis and drawn mainly by Ezquerra.
The supporting cast would gain their own spin-off strip Strontium Dogs in the 1990s, written by Garth Ennis and Peter Hogan. It was criticised by Ennis in the book Thrill Power Overload as being anticlimactic and that the lead, Feral, "was nowhere near as interesting as Johnny". The series was scrapped when David Bishop became 2000 AD's editor. The first story, '"Monster" starring Feral, revealed the Search Destroy Agency no longer existed and mutants had been driven off Earth by a hastily assembled UK junta government; colony worlds were also shown to be under military occupation and severely ill-treating mutants, with the alleged mutant resistance merely using their organisation to extort "liberation" taxes from mutants (an allegory for The Troubles in Northern Ireland, Ennis' home).
Ennis would bring back the Gronk in '"Return of the Gronk", turning him into an aggressive berserker: learning that Johnny Alpha was dead caused a heart attack which awakened his aggressive side of this one. The Gronk and Feral were teamed up, and went out for revenge against the necromancers who had killed Alpha in "The Darkest Star'". In the process, Feral found out he was the son of the lead necromancer and both he and the Gronk discovered that the necromancers drew their power from torturing the people they had killed – including Johnny Alpha. To destroy the enemy, the Gronk killed the captives – including, at his friend's request, Alpha himself, who couldn't live on in such excruciating pain.
From 2000 AD # 897, Peter Hogan became the regular writer on the strip and in prog 898 he resurrected the Search Destroy Agency: an agent named Bullmoose revealed that the Galactic Crime Commission had cut ties with Earth (who had pressed for the Agency to be closed and mutants purged), moved to Ganymede, and recreated the agency as they needed mutants to "clean their dirty laundry for them".
Durham Red was given her own solo series, written by Alan Grant, Peter Hogan and later Dan Abnett. This series continued after Strontium Dogs was cancelled.
Revival
In the Prog 2000 holiday special, published at the end of 1999, Johnny Alpha was revived by his original creators, Wagner and Ezquerra. The new stories were set before Johnny's death.
The first story, "The Kreeler Conspiracy", was based on a treatment Wagner had written for an aborted Strontium Dog TV pilot, and featured Johnny working solo, but Wulf returned in subsequent stories. Wagner introduced the concept that all previous stories were 'folklore' and the current series was the truth, giving him free rein to alter a number of details (such as giving Johnny an AI computer assistant and Kreelman having been President of a unified Earth government). This concept was dropped after "Conspiracy", with the later stories directly harkening back to the original run.
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. Hired by pro-mutant First Lord Negus, Johnny was sent to get a kidnapped King Clarkie back from mutant guerillas; loath though he was to do so, he knew elements within the government were trying to use this as an excuse to viciously crack down on mutants. Johnny and Wulf rescue the King, as well as uncovering a conspiracy in the Home Office to allow the kidnapping and subsequently fake the King's murder so as to provide a reason for mutant brutalisation. While this led to an improvement in the lives of mutants, all of it was behind the scenes and Johnny Alpha was branded a traitor by mutants for working against his kind.
The 2009 story Blood Moon retconned in a fanatical mutant rebel leader, William Blood Moon, who was responsible for civilian massacres and suicide bombings. Johnny had been seconded to him during the war, and swore vengeance for Moon having his friend Mardi killed as a suicide bomber; years later, before meeting Wulf, he and other former rebel leaders would hunt down Blood Moon to kill him for his continuing terrorist atrocities. Johnny would use a time bomb to take Moon back to the site of Mardi's bombing and executed him there.
"The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha"
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. [5]
Middenface and Precious went searching for the truth behind Johnny's death and the whereabouts of his body. In the process, they found out that Feral had taken the body on a quest for the Stone Wizards, immensely powerful entities that could bring Johnny back to life – but, as the cost would be his own life, he backed out and buried him instead. (Feral would end up executed during the story for unrelated crimes.) Precious and Middenface located the body and took it to the Stone Wizards, where McNulty offered to die so Johnny would live – the story ended with Johnny returning to life.
The story continued in three further installments from 2011 to 2014. Alpha discovered a conspiracy to secretly sterilise all mutants in New Britain. This revelation led to a new civil war, with Alpha leading the mutant faction.
After the conclusion of "The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha", the series returned to its bounty-hunter premise. In "The Son" (2018) a new character, Wulf Sternhammer's son Kenton, joined Johnny Alpha as a rookie Search/Destroy agent. This was the last Strontium Dog story to be illustrated by Carlos Ezquerra, who died later that year, and the last in the series to be written by John Wagner (as of July 2022). Other writers and artists have produced one-episode stories since, but no multi-part stories.
