Written by Dan Abnett
Art by Simon Davis, Paul Johnson, Julian Gibson, Robert McCallum, Andrew Currie, Siku, Alex Ronald and Steve Yeowell
Cover by Greg Staples*
DC Solicitation: Finnigan Sinister and Ramone Dexter are gunsharks- hired killers with chalk outlines round their souls. Now, their new boss gives them a surprising first job: teaching her younger sister to be a gunshark!
On sale Jan 26 [2005] o 7.375" x 10.1875" o 160 pg, FC, $19.95 US o MATURE READERS (Delayed to Feb. 2 2005. *The cover was originally solicited as by Simon Davis.)
This volume reprints:
Murder 101, 12 episodes, progs 1051-1061 (July to Sept. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Davis (2 episodes appear in 1061).
Luck of the Irish, prog 1062 (Sept. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Paul Johnson.
Waiting for God Knows, prog 1063 (Oct. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Julian Gibson.
60 Seconds, prog 1064 (Oct. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Paul Johnson.
The Worst Fight We Was Ever In, prog 1067 (Nov. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Julian Gibson.
A Brief History of Gunsharks, prog 1068 (Nov. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Robert McCallum & Dondie Cox.
Pedal Power, prog 1070 (Nov. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Andrew Currie & Alison Kirkpatrick.
Things to Do in Downlode When You're Dead, prg 1071 (Dec. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Julian Gibson.
Long to Rain Over Us, prog 1072 (Dec. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Paul Johnson.
Roll With It, prog 1073 (Dec. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by Julian Gibson.
Whack the Dinosaur, 2 episodes, prog 1075 (Dec. 1997). Story by Abnett, art by "Siku" (Ajibayo Akinsiku).
Downlode Blues, prog 1076 (Jan. 1998). Story by Abnett, art by Alex Ronald & Dondie Cox.
Taking the Mick, 4 episodes, progs 1079-1082 (Jan. to Feb. 1998). Story by Abnett, art by Steve Yeowell.
Commentary:
By 1997, Sinister Dexter had become one of the biggest hits 2000 AD had seen in years. For a long time prior to their debut, the comic had featured a number of very good stories, but these were mostly one-off serials or the return of older characters. No new ongoing strips had been launched to solid public acclaim since Finn in the spring of 1992.
Sinister Dexter found a very successful formula in mixing one-offs and short stories with sporadic longer adventures, such as "Murder 101," the 12-parter which opens this volume. In fact, it was the same formula 2000 AD had used with many of its first offerings twenty years previously, with the adventures of Judge Dredd, Bill Savage and MACH One, using different artists and different story lengths to tell stories with an increasingly rich continuity and backstory.
It's this attention to the continuity which absolutely solidified Sin Dex as a 2000 AD perennial. While the episodes in the previous collection feel scattershot, as Dan Abnett looked to build a solid backstory around his fun concept, here we see the world of the gunsharks built up, with recurring characters and themes. Some of it works and becomes part of the mythos, and some of it doesn't and gets either discarded or de-emphasized.
This edition draws its stories from a six-month period which saw the series appearing in every issue of 2000 AD save one with an issue-length Dredd adventure. Sin Dex maintained this position as a regular feature for a year and a half, and it did so with confidence, wit and real energy. There were weeks during this period where Judge Dredd felt like an old-timer groaning up the stairs while these two upstarts ran circles around him. That's how good Sinister Dexter is at its peak, and that's what you get in volume 2 of the series.