Strontium Dog - Question

[Dash Decent]

I know it's already been answered but I'm adding my two cents to say definitely give Strontium Dog a try.  It's so good!

Another story I'd recommend is Kingdom.  It's follows the story of Gene the Hackman, one of a number of genetically manufactured dog-soldiers, made by mankind as a last ditch attempt to hold back an alien invasion of bugs.  My description doesn't do it justice.  Start with Kingdom: The Promised Land.

I also really like the old-school thrill (or just old) Meltdown Man, but honestly, go for the four Strontium Dog Agency files collections first, and, like IndigoPrime says, don't stop until you've read the second and third books.  As with all the early 2000AD stuff it takes a little while for them to settle into their groove but once Carlos cracks how he should draw this one it's magic.  Kingdom is a newer thrill and knows where it's going right from the very start.

[Rogue Judge]

I'd agree Nikolai Dante is possibly the very best 2000ad has to offer. Trades can be a little patchy to get hold of in places alas so digital would be the way to go.

If not that then you could do a lot worse than Strontium Dog. If you fancy a new thrill that really captures the essence of the Prog I'd say go with Kingdom.

I read the first Nokolai Dante chapter and thought it was really humorous. Until this forum I didnt realize it was so popular. I will definitely have to give it a chance! Lots of people recommend Kingdom as well, Ill read a chapter asap.

Essential 2000AD in my opinion:

Dredd (goes without saying)
Strontium Dog
Slaine (but only up to the end of the Horned God)
Nemesis the Warlock

When you have read that I would try:

ABC Warriors (Mek Files 1 only - average afterwards)
Zenith
Nikolai Dante
Sinister Dexter (might be hard as not all reprinted)
Early Robo Hunter
Early Ace Trucking

Thanks for all the recommendations Magnetica! Im glad to see that I wont be running out of great 2000AD titles to read. I am enjoying Dredd and am really looking forward to Strontium Dog right now. ABC Warriors caught my eye (looks like Transformers?), and  Ill have to research Nemesis the Warlock. I read the four Zenith books a while ago and loved them, especially volumes 1 (I really enjoy war comics, and it had that war comic feel mixed with superheroes) and obviously volume 3 (epic!). I read an issue of Robo Hunter from the free app, and didn't really dig it, but I may have to give it another chance!

Also, is this is the same universe as Judge Dredd?

I don't think anyone else answered this one, but yes, Strontium Dog is in the same universe as Judge Dredd.  Well, there's been cross-overs a couple of times - could be argued that there's some timey-wimey parallel dimension creation along the way but they're in the same universe as far as I'm concerned.  Which means we'll be due some atomic wars in Mega-City One's future in about fourteen years time.

Thanks for addressing this - I'm glad to hear they do, as I like the Idea of them coexisting in the same universe. I didn't know there were crossovers, hopefully I will come across them in the Case/Agency files!

I know it's already been answered but I'm adding my two cents to say definitely give Strontium Dog a try.  It's so good!

Another story I'd recommend is Kingdom.  It's follows the story of Gene the Hackman, one of a number of genetically manufactured dog-soldiers, made by mankind as a last ditch attempt to hold back an alien invasion of bugs.  My description doesn't do it justice.  Start with Kingdom: The Promised Land.

I also really like the old-school thrill (or just old) Meltdown Man, but honestly, go for the four Strontium Dog Agency files collections first, and, like IndigoPrime says, don't stop until you've read the second and third books.  As with all the early 2000AD stuff it takes a little while for them to settle into their groove but once Carlos cracks how he should draw this one it's magic.  Kingdom is a newer thrill and knows where it's going right from the very start.

I'll definitely binge-read Strontium Dog when I get it - it usually takes me 2-3 days max to read the Dredd case files as I enjoy them the most in large doses (it really puts your head into the Dredd universe). Ill do the same with Strontium Dog too.

Also, thanks for the Kingdom recommendation, it sounds like a popular choice so I'll check it out soon. I like the alien/sci-fi angle to it and the fact that it is current. Ill try to track down Kingdom: The Promised Land, Its not on Amazon.ca so hopefully I can find one elsewhere. (I live in Canada it so its expensive to order from the UK)

[Rogue Judge]

Rogue Judge,
Also try get the series Judge Dredd: The Restricted Files, Jusge Anderson: The Complete Psi Files, and also the book Judge Dredd: America which has two stories that were left out of the Complete Case Files (don't ask).

Also there was a story called Glimmer Rats which was collected in a hardback graphic novel ten or 15 years ago. People on this message board tend to mostly recommend old 2000 AD stories, but that was a very good recent series.

Also try Button Man if you think you might be interested in a present day, non-SF/fantasy story about a hitman.

Thanks Richard. I forgot about The Restricted Files and Judge Anderson: The Complete Psi Files, I will pursue those as well, especially the Restricted Files. Other than the Judge Death stories, does Judge Anderson tie directly to any Dredd story-lines?
Also thanks for your other suggestions!Glimmer Rats sounds great, I researched it and was able to find a HC copy online (I added it in my wish list!).

Halo Jones is essential reading.

Alan Moore and Ian Gibson at the peak of their storytelling skills! 

I've heard this is a good one, its def on my radar, thanks for the recommendation!

Also, Anybody here ever read Ten-Seconders: The American Dream? I came across it online and it really stands out to me as having potential. Also Leviathan looks interesting.

[AlexF]

Leviathan is AMAZING! Honestly, I didn't get into Ten Seconders as much but there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in it, and comedy Welshman Molloy adds a consistent layer of fun.

Has anyone recommended Bad Company yet? One of the best ever series I reckon. Full-on 'war is hell' comics, with philosophical / psychedelic overtones.

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

May I add two further suggestions:

Glimmer Rats for a good one off (do a follow-up, dammit): Condemned prisoners fight a war in hell.

Al's Baby to really understand what 2000ad is about: a hit-man has a baby, but doesn't give up the day job.


But, really, there's just so much good stuff.

[Rogue Judge]

Leviathan is AMAZING! Honestly, I didn't get into Ten Seconders as much but there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in it, and comedy Welshman Molloy adds a consistent layer of fun.

Has anyone recommended Bad Company yet? One of the best ever series I reckon. Full-on 'war is hell' comics, with philosophical / psychedelic overtones.

Thanks for the advice, I think Ill check out Leviathan as well and maybe skip on Ten Seconders for now. And no recommendations for Bad Company yet, you are the first! Thanks, Ill have to check it out too.

May I add two further suggestions:

Glimmer Rats for a good one off (do a follow-up, dammit): Condemned prisoners fight a war in hell.

Al's Baby to really understand what 2000ad is about: a hit-man has a baby, but doesn't give up the day job.

But, really, there's just so much good stuff.

Glimmer Rats sounds great, others have recommended it as well so it must be good. I researched it and was able to find a HC copy online (I added it in my wish list!). Al's Baby sounds interesting as well! Ill look into it.

[Richard]

Other than the Judge Death stories, does Judge Anderson tie directly to any Dredd story-lines?

Not really, although she also appears in several other Judge Dredd stories, as well as in Judge Death an in her own series. And Orlok, the villain from the Judge Dredd story Block Mania, is in three later Anderson stories.

There is a one-episode Dredd story called The Brainstem Man which is a prologue to an Anderson story called Helios.

But other than that, her stories stand up on their own. They're light on continuity so they're easy to get into without needing to read lots of Dredd first.

[Magnetica]

Re Robo Hunter- there have been three incarnations.

What I was reccomending was the first of those written by John Wagner and drawn by Ian Gibson.

The next version was written by Mark Millar and drawn my Peter Hogan. I am pretty sure a lot of folk round here would agree with me on this - avoid like the plague.

The next version was written by Alan Grant and drawn by Ian Gibson. These feature the grand daughter of the original protagonist (Samantha Slade as opposed to Sam(uel) Slade. It was ok I guess, certainly better than the Mark Millar version but not as good as the original.

As to whether Dredd and Strontium Dog are in the same universe: absolutely not in my opinion. Yes there have been some cross overs, notably Top Dogs from one of the Annuals with fantastic Colin MacNeil painted art and (the so-so IMO ) Judgement Day ( which ran in both the Prog and the Meg).

These were more convoluted ways of getting the characters in the same strip rather than a convincing tying together of the strips. If it helps you think of them crossing over into a parallel universe. Personally I just ignore that element and enjoy the strips. There are way too many contradictory events in the two strips for them to be considered in the same universe and to even attempt to do so is, IMO detrimental to each.

[The Monarch]

Actually there was a very very shortlived incarnation between millars run and the samantha slade stuff

Written by peter hogan (he did not draw millars run) and art by rian hughes it binned all of millars nonsense and returned to the older style

Good stuff this did make it into the casefiles while millars is avoided

[Colin YNWA]

Actually there was a very very shortlived incarnation between millars run and the samantha slade stuff

Written by peter hogan (he did not draw millars run) and art by rian hughes it binned all of millars nonsense and returned to the older style

Absolutely love this run. Both Hogan and Hughes on top for and dare I say it Hughes is perfect for the series.

[Magnetica]

Sorry yes that is right. I' m on my hols and doing this on my phone so didn't check Barney. Can't remember who drew the Mark Millar version.

Anyway my reccomendation stands - it's the first series I would go for.

[IndigoPrime]

Millar's Robo-Hunter was illustrated by a bunch of people far too good for those scripts, including Jose Casanovas, Anthony Williams, and Ron Smith. Hogan's run oddly intersects with Millar's, whose Revenge of Dr Robotski stinks up the place after Winnegan's Fake. Notably, when Rebellion came to compile Robo-Hunter into case files volumes called The Droid Files, the Hogan stuff was included, but the Miller stuff was not.

Personally, I like the initial stories a lot Verdus and Day of the Droids are top-notch early 2000 AD. I was far less keen on the likes of Football Crazy, although the original run ended quite well with Farewell My Billions.

[TordelBack]

I so loved Casanovas' colour art on Millar's Robohunter, a great artist at the absolute top of his game. I tried so hard to make myself like the story just so I could  keep on looking at the art... but I just couldn't. What a bloody awful waste.

The Hogan/Hughes era was far more palatable, but still not right. Although there were weeks where Rian Hughes' art on whatever he was drawing was the sole reason I bought that issue.

[Rogue Judge]

Other than the Judge Death stories, does Judge Anderson tie directly to any Dredd story-lines?

Not really, although she also appears in several other Judge Dredd stories, as well as in Judge Death an in her own series. And Orlok, the villain from the Judge Dredd story Block Mania, is in three later Anderson stories.

There is a one-episode Dredd story called The Brainstem Man which is a prologue to an Anderson story called Helios.

But other than that, her stories stand up on their own. They're light on continuity so they're easy to get into without needing to read lots of Dredd first.

Thanks for the info, I really have enjoyed her character so far so Ill give her PSI files a read for sure.

Re Robo Hunter- there have been three incarnations.

What I was reccomending was the first of those written by John Wagner and drawn by Ian Gibson.

The next version was written by Mark Millar and drawn my Peter Hogan. I am pretty sure a lot of folk round here would agree with me on this - avoid like the plague.

The next version was written by Alan Grant and drawn by Ian Gibson. These feature the grand daughter of the original protagonist (Samantha Slade as opposed to Sam(uel) Slade. It was ok I guess, certainly better than the Mark Millar version but not as good as the original.

As to whether Dredd and Strontium Dog are in the same universe: absolutely not in my opinion. Yes there have been some cross overs, notably Top Dogs from one of the Annuals with fantastic Colin MacNeil painted art and (the so-so IMO ) Judgement Day ( which ran in both the Prog and the Meg).

These were more convoluted ways of getting the characters in the same strip rather than a convincing tying together of the strips. If it helps you think of them crossing over into a parallel universe. Personally I just ignore that element and enjoy the strips. There are way too many contradictory events in the two strips for them to be considered in the same universe and to even attempt to do so is, IMO detrimental to each.

Thanks for all the info on Robo Hunter, by the sounds of it the first incarnation may be the best/only one worth pursuing, plus I know it will be good because I enjoy Wagner a lot!

As to whether Dredd/Strontium Dog are in the same Universe, it sounds like it may be a preference thing. I like the idea of them co-existing, but a parallel universe explains things just as good.

Everyone on this board seems to know a lot about these characters and have a plethora of 2000AD knowledge, I came to the right place!

[Dandontdare]

Even the first run of Robohunter went downhill rather quickly in my opinion - Verdus is outstanding, Day of the Droids is pretty good, but after these I found the strip had swung too far from action to (rather poor) humour - the world cup story, the singing one, all the Brit-cit stuff - not my cup of tea.

But definitely buy Verdus.