Strontium Dog Without Wagner or Ezquerra

[Colin YNWA]

If it has the go ahead from John Wagner and benefits the family Ezquerra, with there blessing, I see absolutely no reason why not.

Any judgement on the form, style and type of story and by whom I'll leave until I read them.

[Tjm86]

TBH I feel for any artist / writer who tries to take on the task of reviving SD at present.  Too many of us grew up with the Grover / Ezquerra version.  To fill Carlos' art shoes requires an extraordinary talent.  The few times it has happened have not gone down well (consider that one of those that tried was Ian Gibson!).

I would argue that the character needs a good hiatus before anyone tries to revive him.  Anyone who tries in the next few years is going to be judged against an insanely high yardstick.  A few years down the road and enough of us KOS's will be nostalgic enough to accept the revival.  Filling those shoes is going to be a major challenge.  Time will at least give anyone trying a fighting chance.

[broodblik]

He did some Anderson one-offs in progs 2000 and 2100 and Megazine 400, but other recent Anderson stories, including multi-episode ones, have been by other people, so I think you're right.

He also did two Anderson stories in the Meg from 380-390

[Magnetica]

Going for "past tales" rather than continuing on from with Kenton and Johnny might be better as a start though we all recall the minor griping about that when it was the dream team doing it!

The previous revival was "past tales". Personally I liked them, but there were many who said they couldn't buy into them as they knew there was zero chance of Johnny getting killed.

[TordelBack]

'Nother fan of The No-Go Job here, one of the best SD stories. 

Obviously anyone could continue SD, with Rebellion's, Wagner's and the Ezquerra family' blessing, many fine candidates mentioned above.

But aside from super-sharp little one-offs like TMO and Weston's entry in the Villains' Special, I personally have no interest in reading them. For me Johnny's story ended when Carlos' did, and sadly that seems unlikely to change.

[Frank]

Going for "past tales" rather than continuing on from with Kenton and Johnny might be better

David's idea* of out-of-continuity stories or an Ultimate Strontium Dog approach seem like the best ways of attracting top creators, letting them play with all the toys they want without triggering the butterfly effect of fannying about in the strip's history.

But continuity is a deal-breaker for some, and you have the problem of those Rogue Trooper do-overs, where nothing felt like it really mattered. Which, as Magnetica says, was a problem (for some) with pre-resurrection Dog, too.

Keeping new stories as a treat for special occasions, in the way Ace Trucking and Robohunter pop up in Specials, might help, but someone who isn't really interested in new stories probably isn't best placed to figure how to make them work. See also: Brexit.


* but not Mary's

[Greg M.]

But aside from super-sharp little one-offs like TMO and Weston's entry in the Villains' Special, I personally have no interest in reading them. For me Johnny's story ended when Carlos' did, and sadly that seems unlikely to change.

Agreed. Obviously the practical consideration of providing money for Carlos's family trumps any other concern - if that indeed happens, then by all means, go for it. However if people want to honour Carlos's legacy, they should do what Carlos seemingly enjoyed the most - create new characters of their own.

[Magnetica]

Yes indeed, but it’s not that easy.

How about a character that tracks down fugitives that have run away from the authorities, or maybe skipped bail? Maybe give him some psi powers for good measure. Then add in some backstory about what he did during the war and his relationship with his brother. That sounds like a winner....

[Fungus]

if people want to honour Carlos's legacy, they should do what Carlos seemingly enjoyed the most - create new characters of their own.

This.
There's a spread of opinion, so swathes of readers will read any rejigged SD through gritted teeth. It has no chance.
We seem to have returning volumes of just about everything, even jumping-on progs offer little that's *new*.
What would Carlos do ?-)

[AlexF]

Assuming that the question on the table is whether or not to continue telling the story of Johnny Alpha, what actually is the status quo of Strontium Dog as things stand?

He's come back to life, and more or less worked through his emotional issues about being dead for a while. His current best buddy Middenface is more or less surviving as a recovering alcoholic. He seems to be working for the SD Agency again, and has lately taken Wulf's son under his wing as a bounty-hunter in training.

Are we essentially back to where things were at the beginning of StarLord - i.e. telling tales of Bounty Hunting on frontier worlds, with the occasional trip to future Britain where everything is super racist against mutants? 'cos that's fine and all, but I kinda want a writer who'd dare to explore more world-building stuff about human-mutant relations on Earth (and around the galaxy) etc...

Basically, I want more 'Strontium Dog as war comics', less 'Strontium Dog as wild west comics'. On balance, I'll take what I'm given!

[The Legendary Shark]

How about Wild West War Stories?

[Frank]

Nobody's entertained the possibility that Tharg might say no.

You'd expect any publisher to be chomping at the bit to remonetise their IP, but look at the mixed reaction here.  Tharg could throw his very best creators at this and ingrates like me would still make a face like someone farted.

That'd mean ten episodes less of Williams/Flint Dredd in 2020, and all Tharg would have to show for it is a strip with the same overall approval rating as Helltrekkers. And top creators might make the same calculation.

[Dash Decent]

Does that mean Abnett/Flint are free to work on Halo Jones book IV?

[IndigoPrime]

To be fair to Tharg, there’s a world of difference between a key creator, alongside Ezquerra’s family, saying “actually, they should continue this” versus continuing a strip created by two people who want nothing further to do with 2000 AD, and who would be against such a thing happening.

I think Matt Smith has acted honourably and respectfully on this issue. Ultimately, he could have said “well, Strontium Dog is very popular, and so we’re going to be doing new stories”, but he didn’t. Even now, the only new thing we’ve had has been a Regened semi-reboot episode, and the Stix story. Perhaps they were intended to test the water; I dunno. But it’s an unenviable position to be in, because whatever choice is made, it’ll annoy some people.

[broodblik]

Just imagine if SD was owned by one of the American publishers. We would not have this discussion we would discuss how true the new version was compared to the old one.