Starlord #1 Strontium Dog, page 2 – 1st appearance of Johnny Alpha and Wulf

Reading the dialogue on the page ahead of reading your description I was just thinking " comics in the old days worked hard to be clear and self-explanitory". Then I read your comment.  Nice page by the way!!

Ha ha! Well, yes, the dialogue really did spell it all out. Thanks, Dan!

It's a pity budgeting wouldn't allow full-color for the duration. Carlos is a wizard with the rainbow!

Yes, it was a peculiarly British and '70s/'80s problem, it seems. Colour was always hard to justify in those days. The rich, deep colours also seem to be a feature of much Spanish art, with Jose Ortiz also being fond of those deep greens, reds and purples, for example.

Congrats on the early/historic 2000AD character appearances. It's really cool to see full color art from Ezquerra. It still has a fresh feel and visual appeal, despite nearly being 50 years old!

Thanks Kavi! I really hadn't thought about how old it was. I bought the comic when it came out, so it's... not quite as old as I am ;-).

The line art is fantastic but what really make it special is the colors!

Thanks Danny. I was blown away by those dense, rich colours at the time. It was such a shame that it went to black and white for subsequent episodes.

I was going to say that color pieces are rare and it must have been early on when they wanted to go all out for issue 1!  This is as complete as it gets getting the full vision of their creator!

Thanks, Marcus - yes, I gather that Carlos really wanted to throw everything he could at creating some excitiment for this new character. It was such a shame that the colours came to such an abrupt end, but at least the character proved to have longstanding appeal.

Maravilloso Ezquerra,museum piece 

Thanks for the kind words, Santi. Carlos was a very special talent.

Amazing piece of history! And, of course, exquisite work from Ezquerra. 

Thanks, Jason! I think he really wanted to showcase this new character, and he put so much craft into depicting him.

I want this more than you need it.

Thanks, Peter. I hope it brought back happy memories of reading that gloriously colourful comic when it came out. The colours of the original art seem even stronger than in the comic, and have come out faithfully in the scan.

Paul your 2000AD gallery is unbeatable and plenty of good taste!

Thanks, Toni! I'm really pleased to share a piece with a strong colour palette, so commonly shared by quite a few of the greatest Spanish artists, I think.

Rough stuff from a classic story, amazing find !

Stunning, historical page!  Always a treat to see color work from Ezquerra, which still looks incredibly vibrant all these years later.  Amazing how Johnny and Wulf were perfectly developed from the very beginning. Cool to see Johnny's x-ray eyes in action and the bad guys getting blasted.  I always wondered how Carlos came up with the Strontium Dogs' uniforms.  Ezquerra's design sensibilities were just top-notch, obviously.  

Wulf says, "Did Carlos ran out of der white paint in der top right corner of panel 2, or, by der gotts, did he cut the paper carelessly. Wulf must know. Old Wulf not speak English good. Or good write. He is good at Viking not spelling."

Haha! Yes, there does seem to be some white paint missing. But I think the green border was added afterwards. It is a sticky-backed plastic material, of a type that seems very familiar from the late '70s. Perhaps Carlos had a very different edge in mind. Love the Wulf lingo.

Great page! I haven't read much Strontium Dog comics but I like everything I see. I almost bought a page last month. (from your brother!)

Thanks, Miki! Wow. I didn't know he was selling any!

Such a wonderful page! I've pored over the printed version of this more time than I can remember. Those Starlord Strontium Dog stories was the best, I think. Not to say the 2000ad stories was shabby - they wasn't - but it takes something special to beat these early tales.

Stunner of a page!