Strontium Dogs #1: Bad Timing [Mass Market Paperback]

Rebecca Levene (Author)

Book Description

Series: Strontium Dog | Publication Date: June 29, 2004

“I'll take you dead or alive. They're going to kill you anyway – may as well try your luck.”

Warped by the twisted effects of Strontium 90 fallout, mutants are a victimised underclass on Earth. Denied normal work, many have taken the one job too dirty for norms: bounty-hunting. Across the expanding frontier of space, they hunt the criminals too dangerous for the Galactic Crime Commission.

Johnny Alpha is one such Strontium Dog and his latest assignment takes him to Epsilon 5 – a quarantined planet where time has sped up to four-hundred times its normal rate. Johnny is in a literal race against time to avoid all manner of dangers and find his prey before he ages to death!

Explosive all new stories from the future-shocked worlds of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic – 2000 AD! Also available: Prophet Margin, Ruthless, Day of the Dogs, A Fistful of Strontium.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Black Flame (June 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844161102
• ISBN-13: 978-1844161102
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,482,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Darn Good Read, February 2, 2005

By 

Adam Cole "adamjoncole" (Brisbane, Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strontium Dogs #1: Bad Timing (Mass Market Paperback)

Huge fan of the Strontium Dog comic series that I am, I was practically slobbering over this book. It didn't disappoint. It was great to see Johnny Alpha in action again, especially after all hopes of seeing the character in action again were removed when 2000AD (the comic that the story used to appear in) made the idiotic and pointless move of killing him off.

Anyway, the book is a great read. It's got all the usual Strontium Dog elements that you know from the comic - a ruthless and psychopathic villain, crooked background deals, a danger fraught hunt, fascinating mutants, a heck of a lot of futuristic hardware, time distortions and a weird universe to set it all in. The action is pretty fast-paced and the book doesn't really slow down. There's always the desire to read the next chapter, even though you've told yourself you need to put it down and go to work now.

It also captured the characters exceptionally well. I loved the portrayal of Johnny Alpha in his older, more cranky form, right down to his lack of interest in sex or any other form of enjoyment and his total dedication to the hunt. Middenface McNulty was the usual brawling drunkard, but unlike in the comic, you got to see a little bit of what was going on in his mind and what made him tick (which apparently isn't a lot). Durham Red was also convincing in her ruthless and treacherous way. All in all, these characters really worked.

I would recommend this book to any fan of the series, or anyone who likes to read books about non-stop mayhem. Rebecca Levene, the author, is clearly someone to look out for. I hope she does some more Strontium Dog books soon.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bad Timing, September 12, 2004

By 

Victoria Primeaux "Victoria Fay" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strontium Dogs #1: Bad Timing (Mass Market Paperback)

150 years from now the world is quite a different place. For one thing due to the detonation of a very large nuclear bomb humans have had a tendency to mutate. Unwelcome by their more normal brethren the mutants must find a way to survive doing jobs no one else wants or dares to do.

Our bad-ass mutant in question, Johnny Alpha has chosen to be a bounty hunter. He, along with several other hunters, is tricked into a meeting with one of the most wicked crime bosses in the galaxy. In exchange for their lives dangerous Durham Red the vampiress, confused Jo/Joe the man woman, Min Qi Man the simian (get it? Min Qi Man?), and several other mutants must go to the planet Epsilon Five to retrieve their target.

Sounds kind of simple and straightforward...right? It would be if a time bomb of titanic proportions hadn't exploded there. The aftereffects of the bomb left a field of time distortion in which time speeds up for anyone or thing not from the planet itself. For every day they are on the planet Johnny and his mismatched team age a year. Even if they survive the hazards of the planet itself, time is running out, literally for the team.

Packed with nonstop action, well ok it paused here and there for time distortion, Bad Timing is right on time for a good read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Bad Timing; What a fun, fun book!, March 13, 2010

By 

Gerry Griffiths (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strontium Dogs #1: Bad Timing (Mass Market Paperback)

What a fun read! Full of great comic book attitude and weird adventure. Johnny Alpha and the Strontium Dogs: Durham Red, a vampire, his sidekick, Middenface McNulty, and the X team go to the planet SPEED, where time is 400 times faster than Earth to fight Bad Boy O'Blarney (a robot). One of the troup, One-Eyed Jack, has the ability of sending his eye ten seconds into the future in order to keep eveyone out of trouble. Levene is such a talented writer with her engaging dialogue and fast-pace action. You really should read Bad Timing; you'll be so glad you did.