Strontium Dog #1-4
Published by: Eagle Comics– 1985
Written by: Alan Grant
Illustrated by: Carlos Ezquerra
The four-issue, 1985, Eagle Comics miniseries Strontium Dog by Alan Grant (writer) and Carlos Ezquerra (illustrator) is about the origin and formative years of a mutant bounty-hunter named “Johnny Alpha” during a revolution in a post-nuclear-war world where the land has been irradiated, and those mutated by that radiation are treated as subhuman, becoming the victims of violence and persecution. The story is a flashback to Johnny Alpha’s role in the mutant revolution.
Strontium Dog, though apolitical, is not without a point to make regarding government oppression and prejudice—though the point made is not a new one. There are obvious analogues to both WWII (Hitler and his efforts at segregation, persecution, and eventually extermination) and the American Revolutionary War (where a small ragtag band of misfits fight for the right of self-determination and autonomy from an oppressive government). It is as if the Jewish population of Europe had risen up to oppose Hitler, deposed him, and were incorporated into a new, more inclusive, representative, and just, government in the ashes of the Nazi territories, except that instead of Jews, we have mutants, and instead of concentration camps (which in the comic never completely come to fruition, though they are sought) the mutants are barred from employment, jailed for vagrancy, and pushed onto reservations to starve—also calling to mind a bit of the U.S. government’s treatment of Native Americans—or are outright beaten and killed—an action sanctioned by the government. Though the comic does not preach, it highlights the fact that the injustices we recognize in this comic also occur in real life and must be opposed in both speech and action—because that’s what the heroes do—not a new point, but a worthwhile reminder because the analogues I’ve listed here are only the most famous historical ones, but such practices are nearly commonplace in certain regions of the globe, perhaps even more than one would think, at first.
The writing in Strontium Dog is best at the level of plot, character, and allegory. Alan Grant creates some interesting new ideas for futuristic weapons, some interesting characters whom tend toward archetypes, and a plot with enough nuance and twists and turns to keep the reader turning the pages, eager to get to the story’s climax and resolution. The dialogue does not stand out as particularly witty or clever, but it doesn’t have to; this is, essentially, a war-story of rebellion, so talk of injustice and oppression—from the point of view of both the oppressed and the oppressors—dominates. The relationships in the story are important; they create a human face for a war where casualties mean more than merely numbers that keep getting bigger.
Ezquerra’s claim to fame—other than as a journeyman artist—is as the character designer of Judge Dredd, another comic character the originated in the U.K. anthology 2000 A.D.—the place from which the “Strontium Dog” stories also originate—eventually reprinted in the states by Eagle Comics.
Ezquerra’s art—at times—calls to mind better artists, however, with the caveat that it calls to mind a very specific version of these better artists: namely, ones with a mild case of Parkinson’s. Ezquerra’s art is idiosyncratically sloppy but conveys the story competently; he may never win any awards for style, but it is interesting to look at. Even if one is unlikely to spend much time revisiting Strontium Dog solely for Ezquerra’s art, one might still do so, if briefly.
Overall, there is nothing to offend in Strontium Dog aside from some mild violence—no nudity, no profanity, no non-standard ideas. The violence is not cartoonish, but it is likewise not graphic.
Recommendations:
If you like Strontium Dog check out almost anything else Eagle published in the 1980s—Judge Dredd, RoboHunter, 2000 A.D., and, to a lesser degree, The Stainless Steel Rat (also illustrated by Ezquerra). If, after consuming those you still want more, you might consider moving-on to Eagle’s successor, Quality Comics, whom, ironically, had some of the worst print quality in the industry, but, the writers and artists and characters remained unchanged and held onto the same appeal as their earlier incarnations. These include the continuation of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog as ongoing series.
Though the comics published by Eagle and Quality are first-printings here in the U.S. they are actually reprints from the U.K. anthology magazine 2000 A.D.
Of those recommended, Judge Dredd and RoboHunter are two of the best. Judge Dredd has many short stories and several longer ones written and drawn by a bevy of talented writers and artists that follow the exploits of the best of the “Judges,” Judge Dredd, as he acts as judge, jury, and executioner while trying to rid the streets of Mega City One of crime. RoboHunter, as its name suggests, follows a man whom hunts down renegade or malfunctioning robots; the first storyline takes him to a strange planet dominated by robots where humans are imprisoned—the reasons for which are too complicated to get into here, but are clever and make for an interesting and engaging read.
If you like Eagle Comics, you might also want to check out early issues of comics by Valiant from the early 1990s: Magnus Robot Fighter, Rai, and Solar: Man of the Atom. Much like Eagle Comics, Valiant comics shared a sort of “in-house” style that remained consistent across titles and maintained uniform quality for at least the first few storylines of each title.
Brian Bigelow
September 6, 2017
