4 out of 5

Judge Dredd and his various Dreddworld compatriots will almost certainly forever serve as the best representative mascots of 2000 ad.  But for those of us who are or have become regular readers, it’s clear the mag offers so much more.  There are various classic titles that can be used to explain the mag’s pedigree, but what of the modern age?    Certainly even now many “classics” have been produced, some made more available through some type of repackaging, but which of these would you hand to a reader and say: “if you like this, you should be buying the progs.”

To meet this criteria, I’d first point to the many created worlds of Mr. Dan Abnett, and if pressed, Sinister Dexter would certainly be a viable singular candidate.

SinDex, like Dredd, has proven capable of wrapping around several story-telling traits: The assassins-for-hire duo is a plain enough concept to make for drop-in drop-out storytelling, so you can do one-off adventures, but its core cast have also had personalities and histories built in that can equal more in depth stories, or tales that actually explore the motivations or repercussions of their off-the-cuff lifestyle.  The SinDex world is also slightly less blown out than Dredd’s, though no less sci-fi, thus retaining that otherworldly and yet grounded feel that the mag so richly offers to its readers.

Have I sold you yet?

Junk Bond is an odds and ends SinDex collection, showing examples of the various story modes mentioned above, and boasting a great set of artists in Frazier Irving, Andy Clarke, and Simon Davis.  The title tale gives us a sense of character history with some great action and last minute twists, and three latter Just Business displays the darker side of the otherwise one-liner dropping duo.  A couple other single shots are tossed in.

Combined, these SinDex shavings might not be the most earth-shattering of tales, or necessary to the characters’ overall development, but they’re still a great example of the wonders of Abnett’s solo work, which in turn is a fitting reminder of why I read 2000 ad.