Preview: More Classic Strontium Dog Action From The 2000 AD Vaults – ‘Strontium Dog: Search And Destroy’ Volume 4

One of the all-time classic 2000 AD characters, Johnny Alpha, continues with the complete collection treatment – more action the way only Alan Grant, John Wagner, and Carlos Ezquerra can do it…

Johnny Alpha was always so damn cool. Sure, Dredd may have been the star of 2000 AD, but once Johnny and his fellow bounty hunters made the move from Starlord to the Prog, Dredd had real competition.

Because Dredd was never the hero that Johnny could be, and in this Wild West sci-fi tale of bounty hunters doing what needs to be done to bring in the bad guys, Johnny was just the coolest. Good looking, hard as nails, a mutie doing the only thing his world will let him do, hunting done the scum of the universe for cold, hard cash…

In these Search and Destroy volumes, we get the full tale of Johnny Alpha and the Strontium Dogs, mutated after the great nuclear war by the Strontium-90 fallout, doing the only job the ‘Norms’ let them do, joining the Dogs and going into action as bounty hunters.

Just like Dredd, Strontium Dog benefits from the brilliant writing of Wagner and Grant, who, in a better world than this, would have already been recognised as two of the greatest comic writers there’s ever been. But unlike Dredd, Strontium Dog benefitted from the singular artistic vision of co-creator Carlos Ezquerra, whose art defined Strontium Dog pretty much all the way through. And damn, it’s so good to be seeing all this classic Ezquerra art here.

Search and Destroy Volume 4 just keeps the action coming, all those classic Strontium Dog takes reprinted, every moment of the cowboy sci-fi stuff, all the stories reprinted, yet another essential bit of 2000 AD history to be thoroughly enjoyed.

Here’s the 2000 AD PR for this one…

‘Welcome to the Doghouse. ‘Warped by radioactive Strontium-90 fallout after the Great Nuclear War, mutants like Johnny Alpha only have one career option available: a hard life as galactic bounty hunters known by the ‘norms’ as ‘Strontium Dogs’. The Stontium Dogs patrol the galaxy, bringing trouble to the troublemakers. It’s a hard and dangerous life where only the toughest can survive. Johnny Alpha – the leader of the mutant rebellion – might just be the toughest of them all.

‘This collection sees Johnny and his brother-for-life Wulf Sternhammer return to the Gronk homeworld seeking justice against a band of violent trappers – unaware that they’re walking into a trap. Alongside “The Kid Knee Caper” and “The Killing”, this volume also contains “The Moses Incident”, in which a routine bounty takes a dark and sinister turn which changes Johnny’s world forever and sends him into the darkest parts of the galaxy. Will he be able to escape The Island of the Living Dead?’

Strontium Dog: Search and Destroy Volume 4

Written by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Chris Lowder

Art by Carlos Ezquerra and Robin Smith

Letters by Jack Potter and Steve Potter

Contains the stories Stories, The Gronk Affair, The Kid-Knee Caper, The Moses Incident, The Killing, In the Doghouse, Incident at the Back o’Beyond, and The Iraldi Job

Originally serialised in 2000 AD Progs 224-233, 335-345, 350-359, 2000 AD Annuals 1983 and 1984

Published by 2000 AD on 23 April 2025

Now, a little preview of a few of the tales of Johnny…