Sinister Dexter - a 25th anniversary reading guide

[jrdd]

A perfect excuse to open my lead-lined thrill-power containment cupboard and sit in the sun 'researching' the answer...

The 1996 Sci-Fi Special story is very much in the style of the early stories, a stand-alone, which I don't think has any significance to later stories.  Sinister goes to St. Joe's Cathedral to confess his sins, but they are of such magnitude the Roman Church ^TM Extreme Unction division are called in to deal with him.  You can probably guess how that works out...

Co-creator David Millgate provides colours to Tom Carney's art.

[TordelBack]

Mmmm, the Meg floppies covered a great run - I have them in a little temporary binding, ditto Lobster Random/Vort. Collections that are as good as anything Tharg has gifted with a spine.

[Proudhuff]

[spoiler]He dies in the end [/spoiler] 

[MumboJimbo]

The Modern Era
Sci-Fi Special 2016, Prog 2000 - 2200
Er, not sure what this arc should be called yet...  but if you want to quickly (-ish) get up to speed this is the period to re-read, and where all the elements that are now coming to a head are put in place (although it does feature characters first seen back in the original 'set-up' arc).

I'm rezzing this thread, as I've decided to try to get to grips with what's currently going on Sinister Dexter (as of 2021), and as suggested here, decided to start at prog 2000 (the real one, that came out in 2016, not the 1999 one). And it's been very worthwhile, so thanks JRDD - a good recommendation. I've just read all the stories in the 20xx prog range, and even that portion had filled in many blanks.

There's a general low-regard of the current SD run in the weekly prog reviews, but I have to say so far, I'm enjoying reading these stories in one go. I think the real problem, to which many have already alluded, is the dribs-and-dabs approach to how the strip is currently serialised in the prog.

[MumboJimbo]

BTW, if anyone else fancies doing this, I think Funt's excellent 2000 AD In Stages site currently has the most up-to-date prog listing for Sinister Dexter: https://2kstages.github.io/AtoZ/SinisterDexter/2021.html#baseMenu

[Funt Solo]

My next site update will include a link back to the top of this thread - a reading guide is a great resource. I wonder if anyone has done similarly for Nikolai Dante?

[Colin YNWA]

Well I'm going to miss the 25th but I'd really like to find a new home for my Sinister Dexter right up when I did a re-read about 10 years ago now(gulp).

...
There's a general low-regard of the current SD run in the weekly prog reviews, but I have to say so far, I'm enjoying reading these stories in one go. I think the real problem, to which many have already alluded, is the dribs-and-dabs approach to how the strip is currently serialised in the prog.

I loved the set up to Bulletopia the stories running up to the 'epic' were fantastic and Steve Yeowell's art really elevated for them. The actual main event was built up and alas, even for me the biggest of S&D boosters, has had any momentum killed and its all fallen apart a little.

[Barrington Boots]

I must admit I'm tempted by this: I'm firmly in the 'SinDex has run it's course' camp but it'd be interesting to see if it has, when it ran out of steam and if (as I think it definitely has) the scheduling of the current long tale has really exacerbated that. Tbh I'd love to have my mind changed on the current run.
I might need to go back pre-2016 though!

[MumboJimbo]

I've now finished my SinDex read through from prog 2000 to the current prog (2244), and I have to say I've loved it. The way it's built up gradually to the current crisis of Download being controlled by an AI is very well done, with many seeds being planted early on (e.g. Downloads seeming gentrification, which kinda leads to Sinister getting his notorious tattoo) and I very much like to way it goes from them doing a protection job for the Lilith AGI and something much bigger and more sinister (no pun intended), and then the boys quickly losing control of the situation. If this had been serialised in a continuous block starting with the Delores 4 Ever episode (back in prog 2145), I think this would be lauded as a classic! I even think Abnett gets away with the killing off of Sinister, as the very next episode Dexter and Hosanna talk openly that the AGI could well resurrect Sinister to go after them, so when Finnegan is finally rezzed as a robot (or whatever) it's not quite the con these "false deaths" are normally. And anyway, he's a robot now, and I guess forever, so that will certainly change things going forward. I imagine they'll get to Mangapore, and a Lillith 2 will reprogramme Sinister to make him benign* again, but he'll remain a cyborg.

I have two criticisms though. Download has lost of a lot its seedy glamour, its flamboyance - and with that a lot of atmosphere the original strip had has been lost too. Of course, this is in keeping with narrative arc of Download being taken over by an AGI and subtly repurposed, becoming rather bland and sterile. Yeowell's spartan art definitely conveys the change effectively, but it's a far cry from giving us the feels SinDex did originally, and that contributes I think to the feeling that the strip is past its prime. I very much hope that when this arc is over, that Download gets back to something like its previous sleaze, and when it does it may be best to radically alter the current art style accordingly. Download needs its mojo back. SinDex is one of those series very closely tied to its location, and it currently feels like when Rogue Trooper left Nu Earth for Horst, and then the bland environs of wherever the "Hit" stories were based.

My other criticism is the reveal that the AGI was in fact, the Sat Nav. This was lame in itself, and there's been no foreshadowing of it (at least since prog 2000).

But overall, I'm really enjoying this arc, and there's still a lot of interesting stuff to play out, like why only Billi Octavo can remember Sin and Dex. It does though, at some stage need to reconnect with what made the series originally appealing once this arc is over, in my opinion. And of course, enjoy an extended run out in the prog.

*Benign, as much as a cold hearted gun shark can be.

[jrdd]

Cheers MumboJimbo, glad it helped with the re-read.  I had similar thoughts when re-reading the previous 'dimension-jumping' arc, it all fits together much better than you expect from reading it in dribs and drabs over however many years.

Have to say I never made the connection between the art style and the changes to Download, but now you point it out it makes sense, will be interesting to keep an eye on where things go.  Download certainly felt like a key character in the early days, very much as MC-1 is to Dredd.

One thing occurred to me about the less frequent appearances we have now, perhaps that's Dan's choice? (Well, as much as Tharg lets droids have a choice in these things).  SinDex has covered a lot of ground over its 25 years, and all from one writer.  Maybe this is a way to keep it going but without burning through material, and at the same time frees Mr Abnett's creative energy for all his other projects.

Funt - I do have a list of Nikolai Dante stories (in the same form as the SinDex pdf posted at the start of this thread), but no reading guide.  Will have a dig around and post it at the weekend if no-one else has anything.

[Funt Solo]

Ah - thanks - I have the Dante content listed but no reading guide. It's been such a long time that I'd find it difficult to piece together arcs without a re-read.