History[]
Finnigan Sinister is one of the protagonists of the 2000 AD strip Sinister Dexter. He is a 'gunshark' (effectively, a hitman) of Irish descent living and working in the futuristic city of Downlode, which occupies much of what was once Central Europe in the near future (date unspecified). Finnigan is the professional partner of Ray Dexter and has an estranged wife, fellow gunshark Carrie Hosanna. Of the two, he has always been far closer to Dexter.
Sinister and Dexter were among the city's most feared gunsharks, but their lives became complicated after they carried out the assassination of the city's top crime boss 'Holy Moses' Tanenbaum, on the orders of his wife Demi Octavo. After a period of instability in Downlode, the pair went to work for Demi, but she was eventually killed. A showdown with her successor, Senor Apellido (actually a clone of Holy Moses), caused Sinister to flee the city. Believing that Dexter had been killed after shooting a cop who was trying to prevent him coming to Sinister's aide, Sinister eventually relocated to the planet Generica. There he adopted the identity of 'Malone', changed his face, and took drugs which caused him to forget his true identity. (His alias was a pun: "I'm Malone.")
Malone was eventually tracked down by an old friend, former cop Rocky Rhodes, who informed him of his true identity, allowing Sinister to regain his memories (which had in any case been trying to break through from his subconscious in the form of nightmarish hallucinations). Sinister then returned to Downlode, having discovered his partner was still alive, and broke him out of jail by means of an ingenious and complicated plan (which only took him 40 days).
The deadly duo have since resumed their former career, though Sinister was forced to briefly re-adopt his Malone identity during a spell in the witness protection programme. After he and Dexter had saved the universe by killing the Mover, a parallel universe counterpart of Tanenbaum, whose presence was destabilising reality, Sinister and his partner discovered that they had inadvertently erased themselves from reality as well. They returned to work as gunsharks in a Downlode where nobody knew who they were, and quickly found work carrying out hits for the Lizard King.
Finnigan was eventually possessed by a rogue artificial intelligence which used him to attempt to kill Ray and their associates Billi Octavo, Tracy Weld and Carrie Hosanna. Ray was forced to shoot him. Finnigan was later resurrected by the A.I, which sent a reprogrammed Sinister after Dexter.
Powers and abilities[]
Abilities
Armed combat; being a brilliant strategist and tactician; cheating at Snakes and Ladders.
Strength level
Peak human male.
Weaknesses
Highly superstitious; smokes almost constantly.
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment
Sligo, a black cat (which somebody is currently cat-sitting).
Transportation
Oil-black replica 1950s Edsel convertible, registration SIN DEX.
Weapons
Cut-down H&K Scatta-matic® Minigun. (Temporarily wielded twin nine mil Ruger automatic pistols, like the ones Dexter carries, when he thought Dexter was dead.)
Trivia[]
- In 2000 AD prog 1889 Finny went undercover and adopted the name 'Lefty Wake', a reference to the Latin 'sinister' ('left') and the novel Finnegans Wake by James Joyce.
- In 2000 AD prog 2000 (published September 2016), Tharg was shown patting Finny and Ray's shoulders while describing them as examples of "characters that stood the test of time" despite having been created in the 1990s. This panel was drawn by Colin MacNeil.
Links[]
- Appearances of Finnigan Sinister
- Character Gallery: Finnigan Sinister
- Images that feature Finnigan Sinister
- Fan-Art Gallery: Finnigan Sinister
- Finnigan Sinister quotations
Discover and Discuss[]
- Search News for: Finnigan Sinister · Finnigan Rapunzel Sinister · Finnigan Sinister