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Thanks all. I hadn't really intended it to be anything other than a tribute to Bolt, but then it got me wondering whatever did happen to the Emperor, and realising that we'd also lost Carlos since I last drew Sun and Moon... it became something really cathartic to do, a very personal laying to rest of that time in my life. Hope nobody minds.

(It also reminded me why I stopped doing even hobby comics - God, they're hard!)

And yeah, if Matt's stunning piece is the final contribution, that's more than a fitting end to some great tributes.

...woes which have all been sorted by the incomparable Jim C!





A very personal one from me. I did various Futurequake and Something Wicked strips for Richmond and Bolt, but it was the recurring adventures of Sun & Moon in Dogbreath that was our longest collaboration. I think it was Bolt who earmarked me as the artist. It was definitely Bolt who lettered the strips, of course, and Bolt who came up with the logo idea. Early strips in particular involved a lot of back-and-forth between the four of us via email, as we thrashed out details and ideas, and to be honest those chats were my favourite part of doing the strips. We were all having great fun (even if none of the readers were!) Bolt and Richmond even 'let' us have the cover of Dogbreath 23, where we homaged Trainspotting through a Strontium Dog filter – a really proud moment.

Dan – 'the Emperor' – had been building gradually toward a final confrontation with Johnny Alpha, where he held them to account for that whole 'Journey into Hell' fiasco. A few adventures before we got there, however, Dan vanished from the internet – so suddenly and completely that I've often wondered if something didn't happen to him in 'real' life. I hope not. Whatever the reason, that was the end of the Sun & Moon outings. I thought idly about pitching the final scripts myself, but by that time the momentum was long since gone. I did one or two more unrelated strips for Richmond and Bolt, but I'd been growing really dissatisfied with my strip work for a while, and reluctantly decided I wasn't really cut out for comics. So that was that.

It was lovely to give it all a bit of closure here, and pay tribute to Dan (wherever he is), their beloved co-creator Carlos, and of course poor Bolt, who – with Richmond – made it all happen in the first place.

Just to say, as we tear into the back end of the month, that I do have a piece coming for this thread, but it's been seriously set back by lettering woes.

Also Strontium Dog: The Son.

That's coming in December.

Hope 'Grey Area' will be completed.

Yup, you can fit the whole of it in the two books we're getting.

John Smith has four outstanding series that could just about squeeze into one volume (Revere, Slaughterbowl, A Love Like Blood and Cradlegrave).

Revere's in the (second) extension! But it's only a smidge over 100 pages, so they could easily fit something else in with it.

Tbh after reading the meg's 2000ad encyclopedia supplements it really dawned on me how many shorter series have been essentially lost to time and are incredibly unlikely to get reprinted.

Yeah I started shortly after you did (2100) and completely agree. I'd hoped for a few more books along the lines of the writer themed volumes like Sooner Or Later/Hewligans Haircut, DR Quinch/Skizz, Firekind/Leatherjack. But it doesn't seem like we're going to get many of those.

Leviathan is due in the 2nd extension, and that's going to need to be paired with something else. We don't yet know what.

It's a good point, though. So many great one-and-dones that can/have fallen through the cracks of the reprint machine. Chiaroscuro; From Grace; The Scrap; Cradlegrave; A Love Like Blood; London Falling; Dead Signal; Angel Zero; Family... A few have had Megazine supplement collections, and I see that Slaughterbowl is being released as a digital-only 'trade' this week, which probably points the way forward for this sort of stuff. I'd be amazed if we ever see any of it in the UC, frankly, which is admittedly a shame - but then, where do you draw the line?!

I remember McShane and Gonzalez! I loved those guys.

Thanks Jimbo, that's very much appreciated by both myself and Alec.

It felt like there was a really great story that deserved to be told. I love Stront stories that dive into the history of the kreelers and the war.

If he's not in use does that mean he's on the dole, man?

I remember McShane and Gonzalez! I loved those guys.

Uwe's literal strontium dog made me chortle, too.

This week we have almost a sequel cover:

If you collect and assembe all the Thistlebone covers, you can make your own hodgepodge Woodland Golem, to do battle against developers and HS1 engineers.

Still can't get me noggin around the fact Bolt was an entrant himself in the previous month's art comp.

And always so enthusiastic and supportive of everyone's entries.

Can't wait for this book, in all its sickly purple and green glory. Nu-Earth has never looked more like the chemical sink it should be.

Wonderful Stront pieces all. Can I ask who Whistler is? I've read all of Alpha's collected adventures but don't recall him.

Bolt's long-running fan character. There are some early Whistler adventures online:

http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=input&page=thrillviewer&choice=nutcase
http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=input&page=thrillviewer&choice=headbag
http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=input&page=thrillviewer&choice=baaadday
http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=input&page=thrillviewer&choice=whistler6

He also cameoed at the end of Book III of The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha, which must have made Bolt's week/month/year.

Also - and I cannot emphasise this enough - don't be afraid to reach out if you're in pain and forgive yourself always. You are not alone ❤

Just as I think I'm coming to terms with the news... That hits hard, man. Poor Bolt.