By Dan Abnett, Simon Davis, Andy Clarke and Paul Marshall

Buy Sinister Dexter - Eurocrash

Review by Alex Frith

Many years ago now (!) Rebellion and DC published three volumes of Sinister Dexter and, ever since, the people have been clamouring for a fourth volume. Not because the first three sold so well, or because people liked the stories so much, but purely because the fourth volume would include the epic story 'Eurocrash'. A story so important that when it ran in the original progs, Tharg devoted an entire prog to the series-shattering final episode. And therefore it's surely a story deserving of a nifty reprint...

So, at last, the book is released! As far as I can tell, reaction thus far is pretty muted. Yes, Eurocrash is in print. Yes, the story turns out to be quite as 'important' as touted. Major characters die! The series comes to an end! (except it obviously doesn't as there's another story staright away) For certain, Downlode will never be the same...

But, to be brutally honest, Eurocrash is just not that special by 2000 AD standards. Worse, the follow-up to this epic, a series known in the Progs as 'Downlode Tales', is dropped in favour of the later SinDex outing 'Mission to Mangapore'. This is a real shame, as 'Downlode Tales' was rather good (well, in my rose-tinted mind), and in terms of city and character development is equally as 'important' as Eurocrash for anyone who wishes to get familiar with the SinDex status quo of todays progs.

But, I'm not here to review what's not in the book... Let's look instead at what did make it in.

We begin with a genial intro by scribe Dan Abnett, and launch into a couple of neat one-offs drawn by Paul Marshall and Andy Clarke, which set the scene and remind us what's good about Sinister Dexter. I know some aren't keen, but personally I love the basic hook - two best friends, one Irish, one Spanish, are hit men; we follow them on various jobs and enjoy their banter and the crazy, sprawling, pun-laden future Europe they inhabit. There are jokes, there is gunplay, there is mild bickering, and people die, all in 5-10 pages. Dan Abnett has made an artform out of what is essentially a newspaper cartoon serial painted large.

I don't think it's controversial to say that Sinister Dexter is at its best in these one-off, humour-based episodes. I hope it's not stretching an analogy too far to compare it to TV show. It started off as a little-seen, slightly rough-shod cable channel outing, which people kinda liked. It then got picked up by a major network and given higher production values. For a while that worked out great, with ever-improving artists and the same hit rate on the laugh-o-meter. But  along the way a certain measure of continuity crept into the show. Relationships developed, the city of Downlode began to take on some sort of shape, and soon the odd episode, or more commonly, multi-epsiode shows started to 'matter'.

[I feel the need to insert an aside here. Of course we're talking about a work of fiction here. It doesn't actually matter! And within the realm of comic strips we're talking an overtly humorous series, where continuity matters even less than in a more serious strip such as Judge Dredd (although there again, many people still prefer the earlier, funnier episodes of that...)]

And so it came to pass that Sinister Dexter: The Movie was on the cards. It'd still have the same seam of humour running through it, but the plot would be a 'serious' one about the queen and kingpins of Downlode, and about exploring what issue, if any, could drive a wedge between our two heroes. The movie turned out fine, it was well put together, it managed to feel bigger than any previous long-form outing for the duo, but it's not entirely clear that it deserved the bigscreen treatment.

I'm being a little meaner than I should - Abnett's writing and especially Davis's art on Eurocrash are both excellent - they just feel perhaps out of place. One true success in the story is that it gets across the tone of gangsterism that Sinister Dexter always skirts. SinDex is not a gangster story in the sense of Goodfellas or Scarface, but clearly as hitmen, the duo are either offing gangsters or being hired by them. But in Eurocrash, the gangster element is explored in more depth. The work Davis puts into setting the scene for the wedding (the plot focus of the story) is fantastic - it really calls to mind the idea that Downlode is a city run by gangsters who have their own style - and from time to time the serious bits of the story work emotionally because of this darker setting and tone.

I would say that while Davis is excellent at humour, horror and atmosphere, he's not so hot on tension. There's a fairly lengthy action set piece at the end of Eurocrash which doesn't quite work as we don't get a sense of who is where, how far apart they are, and quite how many gunmen/assassins are involved in the fighting. So when various people get shot, or separated, or trapped, it's not properly satisfying in the manner of, say, Wagner and Ranson on Button Man. But Eurocrash is at once a drama, a comedy, and an actioner - and two out of three's not bad.

Following the main event, there's a lovely epilogue which skips over the lost 'Downlode Tales' bits, and then we launch into a new mission for the boys - Mission to Mangapore. I won't say it's a bad story, but where Eurocrash was a major motion picture (that did ok but didn't break any records or anything), Mangapore is a direct to DVD sequel where the action and double-crossing plot takes over and the drama bit shies away. Luckily, the comedy stays on board.

Continuity rears its head again, both in terms of the overall gangsters vs gangsters behind the scenes bit, and more enjoyably with the return of Mrs Finnigan Sinister. But mostly the story is an action romp with an excuse to reference a bit of Manga, in case the title didn't give that away. Now, I like Andy Clarke's art very much, but like Dave Hine on Mambo, his attempts at Manga-style art fall a bit flat. He's great with the cars and skyscrapers, but his big-eyed robot girl just looks out of place.

In the end, Sinister Dexter: Eurocrash is inessential. Sure, if you like Sinister Dexter then it's worth a read, but I don't feel that this is a must-own volume to display proudly on your shelves. If you're a relative newcomer to 2000 AD and either don't know Sinister Dexter or don't understand why they have been around for so long, I recommend instead picking up Volume 2 'Murder 101', which boasts some equally excellent Simon Davis art, and a lot more of the one-off funny business.

Buy Sinister Dexter - Eurocrash