The Culture

This book collects all the D.R. and Quinch stories from that grand British institution 2000AD – a weekly anthology comic that introduced Judge Dredd and many other memorable characters to the world. The stories are written by Alan Moore and beautifully drawn by Alan Davis. The book also collects 9 one page strips, written by Jamie Delano (with Alan Davis), where D.R. and Quinch act as agony aunts.

Waldo D. R. Dobbs (it stands for diminished responsibility) and Ernest Errol Quinch are a couple of fun loving, alien college dropouts who believe that if a point is worth making it is worth making with military hardware and thermonuclear weaponry. The most interesting story, given that they were written in the mid 80s, is probably D.R. & Quinch go to Hollywood – the planet not the place on Earth as Earth was destroyed as a by-product of the boys’ very first prank. It is an early indication of Moore’s attitude to everything and everyone associated with movie making.

This collection is pure nostalgia for me as these stories formed my introduction to the writing of Alan Moore, along with stories like Skizz and The Ballad of Halo Jones. They still hold up well today and almost every line in the book is funny and the Alan Davis art is great. I was surprised at how slim the volume is as I thought there were more stories. Although this volume collects some pin-up art as well as the stories, for some reason it omits the two times that D.R. and Quinch made the cover of 2000AD – Prog 350 and Prog 352. There is also some interesting miscellany that they probably don’t have the rights for such as some Alan Davis convention art and this image where they meet up with Marvelman and Captain Britain.

Thoroughly recommended and as there is a recent, new American edition it shouldn’t be difficult to track down.