Fish Collectibles has slashed the price of their Strontium Dog statue after failing to come to an agreement with Rebellion over inclusion on the official 2000 AD webshop. The 1:6 scale statue’s price has dropped over 40% – from £130 to £75 (roughly $170 to $100) – as Alan Fisher tries to liquidate his entire stock before the end of August.
The news first emerged late last week in a since-deleted social media post by Fish Collectibles. From what is understood, agreement to sell via official 2000 AD/Rebellion online retail channels could not be reached. Alan Fisher has expressed intent to discontinue the statue and clear all stock by the end of August, when the Rebellion-requested storage lease runs out – at which point any remaining merchandise may go to landfill. A sad end for a labour of love.
The officially licensed statue was originally produced via a successful – and well publicised – Kickstarter campaign to produce 500 figures which raised $25,756 on a $20,000 funding goal. Alan Fisher described it as a passion project on the campaign page, saying:
“As undoubtedly zarjaz as he is I do not know why Judge Dredd gets all of the love when 2000 AD has so many wonderful characters…Johnny Alpha I must confess has always been my favourite but if I can raise the money for this first one I would like very much to do many more and should be able to fund them without crowdsourcing.”
Unfortunately with the current state of affairs this is likely the end of the road for Fish Collectibles’ lovingly designed pieces from the 2000 AD stable. Shipping on the statues within the UK is £15 and in excess of £50 (~$65) to the US.
Johnny Alpha aka Strontium Dog is one of the beloved treasure trove of characters associated with long running British weekly anthology 2000 AD. Created by the minds behind Judge Dredd – writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra – the character first appeared in the pages of short-lived sister publication Starlord in 1978, before the comic’s cancellation and merger with 2000 AD later that same year. It is set in a future time where mutants created by Strontium-90 nuclear fallout are ostracized and ghettoised by human society, with bounty hunting one of the few opportunities of escape available (earning them the pejorative nickname “Strontium Dogs”). The lead character of the series is Johnny Alpha.
The series and its spinoffs have been a consistent presence in 2000 AD. The main series, however, has been on indefinite hiatus following the sudden passing of Carlos Ezquerra in October 2018. Wagner and Ezquerra’s last story arc together had been The Son which ran from 2000 AD Progs 2073-2081 – concluding months before Ezquerra’s death. A collection of that arc was released in November 2022.
We have reached out to Rebellion for comment.
