At 2000 AD, it's Pat Mills who's known for stitching all his creations into one big continuity blanket (one of 2000 AD's first strips, Invasion, is meant to be part of the same history as Judge Dredd, Ro-Busters/ABC Warriors, Nemesis the Warlock, the sequel to Invasion called Savage, and even the 1995 Judge Dredd movie starring Sylvester Stallone).

I know.

But he's not alone – years ago writer John Wagner brought his two biggest creations for the comic – Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog – together, even though neither series referred to the other.

In Top Dogs from the Judge Dredd Annual 1991, travelling back in time from their irradiated version of Britain mutant bounty hunters Johnny Alpha and Wulf Sternhammer from Strontium Dog ended up locking horns with Judge Dredd in Mega-City One before managing to escape his clutches. Alpha turned up later in Garth Ennis' zombie epic Judgement Day and again in John Wagner's recent story for 2000 AD's landmark Prog 2000.

So it always appeared that Strontium Dog was part of Dredd future, although Wagner has suggested Alpha's future is just one possible future of Dredd's.

But now writer Michael Carroll has taken it one step further and seems to be suggesting that not only is it possible, it's downright likely.

In one of the most left-field reveals in a comic known for wrongfooting readers (think The Dead Man and Trifecta), Carroll's latest story for the Judge Dredd Megazine out today, The Rubicon, shows Dredd tracking down some British youngsters who've been kidnapped by a mutant gang in Texas City.

After escaping, one of the kidnapped kids beats a mutant kidnapper to death. It seems this kid really, really, really hates mutants – one of the arresting Judges says "He kept hitting her long after she was dead. That's not self-defence – that's pure hatred."

This angry anti-mutant teen turns out to be called … Nelson Bunker Kreelman.

If you know your 2000 AD lore you'll know what that means. Bigoted anti-mutant politician – and Johnny Alpha's daddy.

Yet again 2000 AD sneaks a massive plot point under the radar…

UPDATE: Proof for those who called for it.



