Sinister Dexter: GunShark Vacation & Murder 101

[leebrown1990]

After really enjoying their latest outing, thought I'd work my way through the collections, and see if it pays off when they come back into the Prog.

Well the two things that struck me about these two trades are the number of different artists, and the number of one shots included. The former made for a lack of consitency in the art, but I think the latter had the opposite effect on the ongoing storyline. The way it's collected reminds me of the early days of Dredd, longer storylines to make the big changes, and shorter, or single part stories to further flesh out the world and it's characters. They work to really ease you into what could otherwise have been quite confusing storylines. You learn what you need, just before you need it. And also like Megacity One, Downlode is isntantly shown to be a playground with the potential for all sorts of stories, varying in tone and topic. It's all done very well, so props to Abnett and Rebellion.

Once Simon Davis gets to solely handle the art duties in the main storylines; the world and characters seem to flourish even further. I'd seen some of the art in the past, and really didn't like the original look of Finnigan. I didn't think Davis would mathch the strip, but it really does work. Downlode seems like a much darker place in these early tales, but it's still recognizable as Downlode and I think if I keep on reading this change in art probably matches the development and tone of the ongoing plot.

While there's nothing ground breaking here; some of the art is quite ugly, and the writing a tad repetitive. I can see now why the duo are still around today. They can defintley be seen as an important part of 2000AD's steady climb back to it's current awesomness. And although I probably wouldn't pass it on to a friend who isn't a 2000AD fan, I thorougly enjoyed it myself and I look forward to more. Also a lot of the big players in the current storyline were introduced (and killed) very early on in these trades, so things should be easier to understand when they do come back into the Prog, and that's what I was aiming for 

[Colin YNWA]

Yeah I'm a massive fan of Sinister Dexter. While there was certainly a shakey start, particularly in terms of art once you get to 'Murder 101' however the strip has certainly found its feet and is moving on developing a good ghead of steam towards the brillant 'Gunshark Vacation'

Some thoughts have been shared before that you might like to check out.

http://www.2000adonline.com/forum/index.php/topic,11248.0.html

I certainly think that Sinister Dexter was one of the key turning points in 2000ad turning the corner quality wise.

[SmallBlueThing]

Colin: Agreed. For a long while it was, like Dennis the Menace in the Beano, one of those strips peculiar to British comics, where every week you were guaranteed a laugh without having to follow tortuous continuity. I've not enjoyed it quite so much since those early days, and feel the longer stories have been okay, but i wouldn't say no to an extended run of one-offs.
That's true across the board, actually. I often think 2000AD needs a weekly humourous strip or two, removed from heavy continuity, so as not to repel new readers.
SBT