Sinister Dexter

Sinister Dexter is a long-running comic series in British comics anthology 2000 AD, created by Dan Abnett and David Millgate.

Set in the near future, it features the exploits of gun sharks (hitmen) Finnigan "Finny" Sinister and Ramone "Ray" Dexter in the city of Downlode, sprawled across Central Europe "like a hit and run victim". Occasional stories have taken place in other cities, or off planet. The size of Downlode is never specified in the strip, but it appears to stretch from Spain to eastern Europe.

The appearance of the city largely depends on the artist of the particular storyline, often it appears to be styled after the former soviet bloc, with many statues and wide boulevards, plus dilapidated cars such as Trabants and VW Beetles. However in other strips the city looks clean and futuristic, like Mega City One. The story "London Town" shows that London and Great Britain still exist separate from Downlode.

Police drive generic saloon cars resembling Ford Crown Victorias, painted as the cars of the Los Angeles Police Department; black on bonnet and boot, with DCPD written on the white doors. In early strips the police used hovercars with "Polizei" written on the side, and this hovercraft technology appears in later stories, retrofitted to old cars such as Checker Cabs. Sinister and Dexter themselves drive a 1950s Edsel, this started out as a hardtop but in the story "Alibi Of Broadway" had its roof torn off and was re-built as a convertible.

Advanced robots are occasionally seen in the stories, but appear to be very rare, and are usually controlled by humans and are unable to think for themselves. Some characters also have several cyborg implants, including Ramone himself who has a "Fony Headcase" television implanted into his eyes. In one story a malfunction in this temporarily gave him the ability to see in infra-red and detect a small hole in a crime-bosses' personal forcefield (referred to as a very rare and expensive technology).

The atmosphere of the stories suggests a time of economic recession. Sophisticated army hardware is sold off to the highest bidder, usually criminal gangs. Additionally many strips feature the city looking worn and run-down even in "rich" areas. In the story "Mother 'Lode And The Red Admiral" it is mentioned that Korea has developed cold fusion and become the world's richest nation.

Ramone uses a pair of "Ruger Nines", often drawn as silver 9mm pistols, or occasionally as revolvers. Sinister's "Minigun" (not to be confused with General Electric's Minigun) has been drawn differently by different artists: small pump-action shotgun, large double-barrelled revolver and small machine pistol. It can fire different kinds of bullets, including high explosives.

Sinister Dexter is a play on words; in Latin sinister means 'on the left side' and dexter means 'on the right side'. It can be traced back to the Principia Discordia, quote: "Sinister Dexter has a broken spirometer."

The initial inspiration for Sinister Dexter came from Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta's characters in Pulp Fiction. However Dexter is designed to look like Wesley Snipes.