The second most iconic 2000AD character after Judge Dredd himself, Johnny Alpha was the poster child for Strontium Dog, an extremely popular series about a group of mutant bounty hunters. Although originating in Starlord, Strontium Dog switched to 2000AD after the former’s closure and soon became a staple series thanks mainly to the presence of Alpha and his cohorts Durham Red, Middenface McNulty and Wulf Sternhammer. Alpha himself was, of course, a mercenary but despite working largely for greenbacks he was possessed of a strong sense of duty and honour. Equally, though, Alpha demonstrated a stubbornly unforgiving streak, brooking no slight or double-cross and punishing transgressions harshly – as the vampiric Durham Red discovered to her great regret. In 1990 Alpha was killed off in a story that martyred him in order to saves all mutants from extermination. Ezquerra was so mortified by the decision that he refused outright to draw the story and replacements were brought in to carry out the deed. Wagner later admitted that Ezquerra was right and that killing Alpha had been a huge mistake. The character was subsequently revived by both of his creators for a brief resurgence in 1999.

FIRST APPEARED IN STARLORD #1 (1978)
CREATED BY JOHN WAGNER AND CARLOS EZQUERRA