History[]
The Stix Brothers, antagonists in the 2000 AD strip Strontium Dog, are a clan of apparently identical mutants of indeterminate number. All of them (bar one) are, like their father, unprincipled, untrustworthy and utterly ruthless. They are laconic, adopt a dress similar to that of gunfighters in the American West, and are stone-cold killers.
The Stix brothers all, as far as we know, work for the Search/Destroy Agency as bounty hunters or 'Strontium Dogs'. The first Stix readers ever encountered competed with Johnny Alpha to hunt down Adolf Hitler in the the incident known as 'The Schicklgruber Grab', but was killed. Later, two of his brothers (they usually work in pairs) entered the employ of Alpha's father, the mutant-hating bigot Nelson Bunker Kreelman, who used them to attempt to get revenge on his son. They slaughtered the inhabitants of Jock's Landing on the water world of Och-Eleven and blamed the killings on Alpha and his partner Wulf Sternhammer, leading to termination warrants being put out on the blameless pair, and also murdered Harvey, the Director of The Doghouse, so that Kreelman could replace him. These two Stixes were also killed by Alpha.
Several other Stix Brothers (some of them named, like Elvi, Aron and Wheatus Stix) have been seen since, often clashing with Johnny Alpha or others such as the vampire woman Durham Red. A Stix called Lupus was employed by the terrorist mutant William Blood Moon when he was trying to evade justice, but he couldn't stop Blood Moon being found and killed by Johnny.
Years later, two Stixes called Pikey and Bovus worked with Johnny and some other mutants when repossessed a huge space rock for money, bounty hunting not being what it used to be. The Stixes managed to get through the entire job without being evil, but were left highly disgruntled when the aliens who had hired the team confessed that they couldn't actually afford to pay them.
It remains unclear how many Stixes there actually are, but by now there are probably hundreds. On the planet Freedonia there is a whole town full of Stixes, including Stix women and children, called Stixville.
Silas Stix, father of the Stix brothers, hired aliens to kill Johnny Alpha in revenge for the deaths of the first three Stix's, but they failed and Silas died cursing Johnny (see 2000 AD Vol 1 572).
Powers and abilities[]
Powers
Superhumanly durable skin (though they are not bulletproof); possibly some form of limited mind-reading ability.
Abilities
Bounty hunting.
Strength level
Superhuman (they can crush concrete with their fingers).
Weaknesses
Too slow.
Paraphernalia[]
Transportation
Various starships.
Weapons
Guns.
Notes[]
The Stix Brothers featured in a one-page humour strip in the 2000 AD 40th Anniversary Special which was drawn by Patrick Goddard.
Trivia[]
The Stixes never talk about the white sheep of the family: Father Phineas, a Stix Brother who is not only a Catholic priest but also a genuinely good person. Oh, the shame of it...
Links[]
- Appearances of Stix Brothers
- Character Gallery: Stix Brothers
- Images that feature Stix Brothers
- Fan-Art Gallery: Stix Brothers
- Stix Brothers quotations
Discover and Discuss[]
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