Dan Abnett is funny and clever

Do you see what he did there? It's like a joke, but it's not actually a joke. Although it is kinda funny. 20th Century pop culture references in far future stories, an Abnett speciality. He is unquestionably the master of the pun, although Alan Grant comes a close second, even if he loses points for being a bit more highbrow. "Darkus is willin'", anyone?*

Anyway, let's sit back and enjoy one of Abnett's finest punning hours. An episode of Sinister Dexter in which the protagonists barely feature. Instead, there's a whole lot of punning going on in the setting of a video arcade parlour.



We'll ease in with a silly but not punning game title, but a full-on shop name joke.
It ratchets up a notch with a slightly more obscure and hence downright witty name for a barber's.
Now he's hit his stride, and we're getting multiple puns per panel...
So many puns, in fact, that it's no longer clear if they're all actually funny. Pistol me asystole? Is that a medical jargon blood pressure joke? And what the hell does this mean: That must be a pun, but I damned if I can figure out what it relates to. Or maybe I just don;t know how to pronounce it right.

Nonetheless, thanks, Mr Abnett for all the laughs.


* Dialogue taken from Strontium Dog 'The Big Bust of '49'; this is a reference to the phrase "Barkiss is willin'" which features with some prominence in David Copperfield. Yowsa. I only noticed this because I was reading it at school at the same time as doing my only ever attempt at a full 2000 AD read-through. Good times.