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Johnny Alpha by Mike Collins

By Mike Collins

2000 AD prog 1924 cover

By Brian Bolland

Alpha in 2000 AD prog 1924

By Carlos Ezquerra

Johnny and his toy Gronk

By Carlos Ezquerra

Johnny Alpha

By Carlos Ezquerra

2000 AD prog 1966 cover

By Neil Roberts

John Wagner: "He's a very damaged person doing his best to hold it together, to do the right thing. There's an emptiness in his soul, a deep, unquenchable sadness. I'd like to see him genuinely happy, though I know that can never happen." Thrill-Power Overload, extended edition.


Carlos Ezquerra: "Johnny Alpha is a far more complex character [than Judge Dredd]. He has doubts about what he is doing and why. He is a tormented character." Judge Dredd Annual 1984.


Carlos Ezquerra: "I made his face hard, but not as cold as Dredd — Johnny Alpha was more human. His helmet was softer too, away from the coldness of a code of laws. Choosing green, yellow and orange as the colours for his clothes, that was inspired by nature. The most dangerous creatures often have bright colours to warn other predators." Thrill-Power Overload by David Bishop.


Starlord: "Some of us, in full possession of our health and strength, are inclined to forget our weaker brethren, those handicapped troopers who, nevertheless, make valiant attempts to play their parts. My £10 letter this week deals with two of these plucky people."

Letter-writer: "Dear Starlord, My partner and I are at a boarding school. We use the name 'Strontium Dog' because my partner's a spastic and I have lead joints. We hate being invalids and we can't stand it when people stare at us. Mainly, we sit around and 'watch the stars'. When the big day comes, will you arrange it so that we can fight with you? I'm sure our unusual skills would help. Until the world turns 'day-glo'... HAIL!" Starlord #21.


Sharon: "Thank you, Mr Strontium! Mummy doesn't like you, but I think you're a nice man!"

Johnny Alpha: "Thanks yourself, kid! But if you take my advice, you won't try starting a fan club! Complete waste of time...!" Starlord #2.


Johnny Alpha (thinking): "By law, bounty-hunting is the only work mutants are allowed! People! They force us to do their dirty jobs — and then they hate us for it!" Starlord #3.


Johnny Alpha: "Mutants are still human beings, Captain! Treat 'em like humans — not animals!" Starlord #5.


Wulf Sternhammer: "No, Johnny. Bare hands against robots is suicide — even with the electronux."

Johnny Alpha: "Don't try to stop me, big fella! I GOT A LOTTA HATE TO GET RID OF — 20,000 VOLTS WORTH!" Starlord #10.


Johnny Alpha (after near-death experience): "It was... peaceful there, Wulf! Real... peaceful..." Starlord #13.


Marci Webster: "Uncle Johnny! UNCLE JOHNNY'S BACK!" Starlord #17.


Mrs Bosc: "Tell me, Mr Bounty-Hunter... have you shot anyone in the back lately?"

Johnny Alpha: "I shoot some in the front — some in the back. Depends which way they're pointing, ma'am!" 2000 AD prog 190.


Carl Vaper (narrating): "Johnny Alpha shot me a bleak look with those weird, dead-white eyes. Involuntarily, I shuddered." 2000 AD annual 1984.


Wulf (thinking): "That Johnny! Vork, vork, vork — he never stops! Alvays he must have something to keep his mind off things — stop him brooding! All his life he has been forced to fight hatred und ignorance. Now he knows no other vay. Und peace of mind — der vun thing he vants — he can never find!" 2000 AD prog 426.


Mrs Keeble: "How can I ever repay you, Mr Alpha? You may be a mutant, but you're a good man!"

Johnny Alpha: "Never reckoned there was any difference, Mrs Keeble." 2000 AD prog 433.


Harvey: "You could almost pass for normal."

Johnny Alpha: "Thanks. I wouldn't want to." 2000 AD prog 446.


Narrator: "Two more days Johnny Alpha lasts, freezing by night, baked by day. Two more days with the body of his dead friend beside him... Two days when even his thoughts of vengeance are driven from his mind by the relentless pain. And then he dies." 2000 AD prog 465.


Narrator: "Each night he sleeps near the spot where Wulf died — where his blood still stains the ground... Remembering!" 2000 AD prog 467.


Sidney: "I always figured you for a good guy — at least compared to the other freaks!"

Johnny Alpha: "That was my mistake, Sidney. Good guys finish last... ...Or like Wulf — DEAD!" 2000 AD prog 469.


Johnny Alpha (narrating): "I'm not afraid of death. Sometimes, I wonder if it's what I've been looking for all these years. Every time I killed another man, I wondered -- should this have been my death?" 2000 AD prog 686.


Middenface McNulty: "He just couldny quit fightin'. That wuz hauf his trouble. If he'd just sat back noo an' then, let somebody else put the world tae rights... no' Johnny. It wuz like he'd seen so much badness in his life, he couldny rest till he'd made it aw good again. But ye cannae, ye just cannae." 2000 AD prog 1689.


Middenface: "I didnae really get tae know Johnny till near the end o' the war. It wuz then I saw whit aw the talk had been aboot -- why his men loved him like a faither, though he wuz barely oota short breeks. He was like the good hairt o' the revolution. Man, they'd a' followed him onywhere." The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha.


Johnny Alpha: "Better if you'd never found me. Well, I can rectify that." Ibid.


Johnny Alpha: "They're feeding me through a tube to stop me starving myself to death. I don't want to be alive. I don't want any more of this world. You put a gun in my hand and first thing I'm going to do is blow my brains out." 2000 AD prog 1924.


Father Phineas: "Sins to confess?"

Johnny Alpha: "Too many even for your Lord to forgive." 2000 AD prog 1926.


Narrator: "He dreams. Dark dreams. So many lives on his conscience. Better if he'd never started. Better if he'd stayed in that coffin, buried deep in the shifting soil of Zen. Better if they'd put a gun to his head, blown him from existence. How he'd welcome that now." 2000 AD prog 1927.


Precious Matson: "You're a good man in a bad world. We need people like you. We can't afford to lose you. I don't want to lose you." 2000 AD prog 1928.


A Stix: "Make good corpse."

Johnny Alpha: "I've had practice." 2000 AD prog 1931.


Kid Knee, Jr.: "Alpha ain't been right in the head since he got dug up. The guy doesn't care whether he lives or dies, an' he's gonna take us down with him." 2000 AD prog 1962.


Middenface McNulty: "Dae ye no' think this is mibbe a wee bit... suicidal?"

Johnny Alpha: "Yeah. I guess so." 2000 AD prog 1963.


Judge Dredd: "You're an oddball, Alpha, but you're no double-crosser. I expect I can trust you." 2000 AD prog 2000 (published September 2016).

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