“Planet of the Dead, Part II”
First print date: July 8 1978
Prog appearance: Starlord Issue 9
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 3
Natrually, as expected, and contrary to Wulf's despairing assessment of the situation at the end of part one, they are not dead; Johnny and his partner easily get the drop on the Jox, ordering them to surrender before they are killed. Amazed that the two are human, and not robots sent to track them down and kill them, the Jox cease hostilities. Convinced that the bounty hunters may be amenable to their plight, they agree to take them to their underground base, where they were all working, they tell them, when the Neutron bombs fell, and were thus protected from the effects, being so far beneath the planet.
Taken to their leaders (sorry), Johnny and Wulf are filled in on the history of the rise to power of the computer known as McIntyre. It is true, they tell the bounty hunters, that the city handed over power to the machine, thinking it would be able to make better decisions and rule more wisely than humans. But power corrupts, even a computer, and the thing went mad with power. When the city assembled the required number of delegates needed to strip the computer of its authority and return power to them, the machine went mad and set off the bombs that began the war and destroyed all but twenty of the Jox, these twenty. However, one of their women is pregnant, and when the child is born that will make, technically, twenty-seven of them: enough to approach McIntyre and take power from him legally.
However now the full extent of McIntyre's duplicity and treachery is revealed. He had no intention of allowing the Jox to come to him and swear allegiance; he knew they would not. All he wanted was to find their base, so that he could wipe them out. Now, the tiny robot Croll turns out to be a miniature Neutron Bomb, and arms itself. The Jox, believing themselves betrayed, run for their lives before Johnny can set off a time bomb and save them, so it is up to him to defuse the bomb. Using his alpha ray eyes, he looks inside the tiny robot to see how the bomb is constructed. As the sixty-second countdown runs, Wulf realises Johnny is not going to make it and pulls him into the protection of a time bomb just before the robot explodes. Aghast and furious, both that he has been used, and that the Jox are now all dead, Johnny swears revenge against McIntyre.
Quotes
Johnny: “I aint' keen on killing but you Jox creeps have got my blood up! Drop those monkey sticks, or die!”
Jox fighter: “Blood? Then you're not robots? McIntyre didn't send you here to kill us?”
Jox Elder one: “As you know, over a hundred years ago, City 4 handed over all power to our computer. We thought such a brain would be able to govern better than we mere mortals. How wrong we were!”
Jox Elder two: “Power twisted McIntyre. As the years passed,his decisions grew crazier and crueller. At last, a delegation of twenty-seven senior citizens was organised. This was the number required by law to take away the computer's power.”
Jox Elder three: “But McIntyre had grown to love power too much. Before the delegation could serve their order, the computer gave the command that began the war that destroyed everything: everything except McIntyre and his robots!”
Wulf: “Ve could haf saved them with a time device. They run, but you can't run far enough from a neutron bomb!”
Johnny: “The last of a whole race! And I helped destroy them! That machine played me for a real sucker!”
Tools of the Trade
Anti-Grav Chutes: Anti-gravity devices have long become part of the stuff of science-fiction, and though we still haven't the technology yet to make this a reality, astronauts today use magnetic boots to allow them to stay achored to the side of a shuttle or the space station as they carry out essential work in space. Here, Johnny and Wulf have been issued with anti-grav chutes which allow them to create their own field which counteracts gravity and essentially allows them to fly, or at least float, to the ground. Very helpful for those moments when, having used a time bomb, you find yourself floating above the city!
Show no mercy?
Despite the fact that they are surrounded by people who mean to kill them, Johnny instructs Wulf to set his blaster to stun. He's not prepared to kill these people right away, at least not before he unearths the true story behind their being hunted by McIntyre. He shoots one and offers the others the chance to surrender, which they wisely take.
Return of the Nitpicker!
I can't be sure, but I think Wagner has got a little mixed up here, as this is the first (I can't say only) time Johnny refers to anyone as a “creep”. That's Dredd's line, and I think he's confusing the stories as he writes. Or maybe he wants to bring a little of Dredd's hardline no-nonsense attitude into the story. Either way, it's a little incongruous.
I also find the speech a little stilted. Johnny uses no contractions when he meet the leader of the Jox, saying “You are” rather than “You're” and “Let us” when he would normally say “Let's”. Odd, particularly when on other occasions he uses more colloquialisms, such as “I ain't keen on killing”, and referring to himself as a “sucker”.
Famous Firsts
This is the first time we hear Wulf refer to the massive hammer he carries as his weapon of choice (probably a carryover from his ancient Viking ancestors, even a reference back to the Norse god of thunder, Thor ) as his “happy stick”. This is something he will refer to again and again throughout the series.