Episode II: “Max Quirxx, Part Two”
First print date: May 20 1978
Reprinted: October 21 1978
Prog appearance: 87, but originally in
Starlord Issue 2
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 2
Johnny and Wulf catch up with Max Quirxx, but he seems to have known they were coming, and escapes out the window, firing at them. He then takes a woman and child in a nearby apartment hostage. Johnny knows that Quirxx wiped out a whole city when he didn't get what he wanted, so the lives of two people are nothing to him. He knows he has to move fast, and using his uncanny alpha vision to see through the wall of the apartment, he locates the terrified hostages, noting that they are far enough from his quarry for him to do what he must do. As Wulf lays down covering fire, Johnny throws a Time Bomb in through the window. This isolates the area in which Quirxx is standing and moves the whole region two days forward in time. By then, the planet has moved on in its orbit, and the hostage-taker reappears in empty space. He does not survive long enough to understand what has happened, but the woman and child are safe, and Johnny and Wulf's job has been done.
But if they're expecting thanks they're to be disappointed, as the woman lives up to the general expectations of those the Strontium Dogs deal with every day. Even though Johnny and Wulf saved her life, she snarls when she sees Johnny is a mutant and pulls her child away, as if she might catch something. The child, however, thanks Johnny, which is certainly a welcome change for the mutant. As the Caytor cops spit abuse at them as they leave the planet, their task accomplished, their assignment carried out, Johnny sighs at the attitude of people and as they pass a mutant beggar he takes the wad of cash they have made and deposits it all in the medicant's begging bowl. At least one of his brothers will eat well tonight!
QUOTES
Johnny: “Surrender, Quirxx! We don't want to kill you unless we have to. We'll send you back to Bario-3 to appeal sentence.”
Quirxx: “Get lost, doggy! I wiped out one of their cities with a P-bomb when a little blackmail deal went wrong! They'd laugh me all the way to the vapour chamber!”
Cop: “Men --- if I can call you that --- for years criminals have escaped punishment by hiding in far corners of the galaxy. As Search/Destroy Agents, your job will be to bring them to justice. Frankly, I didn't want to licence freaks like you, but no decent man wants to hunt his brother for money!”
(Hasn't this guy ever heard of bounty hunters back on Earth? Men have always hunted each other for money!)
Robocomp: “Your child has missed four days of pre-conditioning school, Citizen 73826522. Explain!”
Mother: “Well, sir, I --- EEEE!” (As Quirxx jumps in, gun in hand)
Quirxx: “You and the kid --- over in that corner! And stay there!”
Robocomp: “You are interrupting, Citizen! Please make an appointment through the normal channels!”
Woman: “Oh thank you! You saved our lives! I don't know what I --- UGGH! Your eyes! You're a mutant! (to child) Come along Sharon! Don't talk to that man! He's one of those nasty Strontium Dogs!”
Sharon: “No! (to Johnny) Thank you, Mr. Strontium! Mummy doesn't like you, but I think you're a nice man.”
Johnny: “Thanks yourself kid. But if you take my advice you won't go starting any fan club: complete waste of time!”
(What a bitch! Even after Johnny and Wulf have saved her skinny arse, she STILL spouts prejudice and racial hatred at Johnny. I suppose you could say that, had it not been for the two bounty hunters she would not have been taken prisoner in the first place, but even so, you'd think the cow would show a little gratitude. You would think an incident like this might open her eyes, but they're as narrowed as any of the citizens here, and elsewhere. Johnny must wonder why he bothers...)
Tools of the trade
Time Bomb: Rather than the conventional device-ticking-down-to-explosion we're used to, this is a specialised weapon utilised by Strontium Dogs. Somewhat like the Time Drogue in the last episode, it allows time to move, but can be set for a specific length of time. Johnny sets it for two days into the future, by which time the planet has moved in its orbit and the space that Quirxx has been occupying is empty space. See "Houston, we have a problem!" below for more.
Messages
Although Wagner's central theme in this series is the prejudice and hatred directed against the mutants, we see here that there is again a sliver of hope. If a child like Sharon can go against her mother's wishes, seeing no reason to hate this man and every reason to like him, and to thank him for their rescue, then maybe, just maybe she may grow up to be someone who will have a little more tolerance towards the Strontium Dogs, remember she was saved by one once, and perhaps she can carry this experience on to her own children, so that one day, at least a part of the population of this planet may no longer hate the mutants. It may be a small step, but could very well be a huge one in the grand scheme of things.
We also see, at the end, that though Johnny and Wulf are villifed for their profession, and the cops sneer that they work for blood money, they are not that mercenary, as Johnny decides that the payment for this job leaves a bad taste in his mouth, and agrees that they can do without it, giving it instead to a begging mutant, who will certainly be most pleasantly surprised when he lifts his head and looks into his bowl. Johnny does what he can to lighten the burden of his fellow mutants, never forgetting that not every one of them can be a Strontium Dog, and that for those to whom this avenue is closed off, life is hard, brutal and often short.
Show no mercy?
Although Strontium Dogs have a terrible reputation, and they certainly can kill, and are authorised to do so in some cases, there seems to exist a certain amount of leeway as to how they carry out their commission. The old western epithet “wanted dead or alive” can often apply, and here we see that, though Johnny and Wulf have a Termination Warrant, which allows them to, if they deem it necessary, execute Quirxx, they give him the option of surrender. If he does, they will take him back to the planet to which he is to be extradited, there to appeal against his sentence. One can only assume he skipped bail after having been tried and found guilty. Still, considering what he's supposed to have done you would wonder that he wasn't sentenced to death, and the planet has the death penalty obviously, as he mentions the Vapour Chamber.
But all that notwithstanding, and leaving aside the fact that Johnny would probably be happy to kill Quirxx for what he has done, chances are that the people he killed were norms, so maybe he does not care too much about them, being a mutant. But then, he goes out of his way to make sure that two innocents --- both norms --- are not harmed, so he obviously does not lower himself to their level. Anyway, Quirxx spurns the opportunity to give himself up and instead earns himself a cold and quick death, which is probably what he deserved. Still, the fact remains that Johnny gave him a chance, a choice, which is probably more than Max Quirxx gave the citizens of that city he says he bombed.
Houston, we have a problem!
I have always had a hard time understanding the logic behind the Time Bombs. To me, time travel, if ever feasible, would have to take into account the movement and rotation of the Earth. After all, you don't want to go 100 years into the future but find you're in Antartica, or the Sahara Desert! So surely if you move in time you also move in space, as Einstein proved that they are actually one interlinked entity known as spacetime? The idea, therefore, of the planet moving on and a person travelling in time finding themselves no longer on the planet has f
ucked my mind for decades. I even tried to work out the orbit of the Earth last night and it seems it moves a complete orbit in about seven minutes, but how do you know which of those seven minutes two days into the future encompasses? Couldn't you as easily be lucky enough to land at the moment when the Earth is coming back around for its latest seven-minute pass?
I'll never get it, but John Wagner was the only one who put forward this theory. Of course, it was conveniently ignored in any of his other strips, including
Judge Dredd, and was only here for the purposes of legitimising the Time Bomb, but to this day I still can't figure out if his logic is sound, or if he was just screwing with us as kids to try to confuse us and make his story work. Anyone wants to weigh in on this topic, feel free.