Comics

BATTLE ACTION is here – the brand new special out now!

8th June 2022

The brand new BATTLE ACTION special is out now from the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics webshops!

Featuring seven brand new stories written by Garth Ennis – the mind behind The Boys, Preacher, and war comics such as The Stringbags and Sara – the 96-page hardcover Battle Action special lands in comic book stores in June in the UK and July in North America, and book stores in September.

Ennis is joined on this landmark hardcover, which captures the spirit and action of the groundbreaking and highly influential Battle and Action comics from the 1970s, by veteran artist Mike Dorey (Hellman of Hammer Force, Ro-Busters), artist John Higgins (Watchmen), colourist Sally Jane Hurst (Judge Dredd), Keith Burns, PJ Holden (The Stringbags), Patrick Goddard (Judge Dredd), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen artist Kevin O’Neill and more!

This hardcover comes in standard edition with a cover by Andy Clarke (Batman and Robin) and Dylan Teague (Madi) while the webshop exclusive edition features a brand new Dredger cover by John Higgins.

STANDARD EDITION >>

WEBSHOP EXCLUSIVE EDITION >>

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Battle Picture Weekly was where the revolution in British comics began. Created in 1975 by writers and editors Pat Mills and John Wagner, it introduced new grittiness into comics with its cast of anti-heroes and misfits. Its bombast and energy sparked a sea-change in what comics could do, leading to Mills creation of the controversial Action and the globally influential 2000 AD.

The Battle Action Special celebrates the merging of this landmark title with its controversial stablemate, Action, a combination that took the two comics to even greater heights. Now, forty years after the original, some of the cream of British comics talent are bringing these classic characters back to life.

Artist Kevin O’Neill revisits Kids Rule O.K., the highly controversial strip by writer Tom Tully and artist Mike White that saw Action ripped from newsstands and pulped in 1976, then heavily censored for its all too brief return. Fresh from the end of his acclaimed League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series with Alan Moore, O’Neill brings his visceral and intense style to this tale of kids gone wild in a post-apocalyptic landscape, while wryly commenting on the political storm that erupted during its original run.

Meanwhile, take to the skies with artist Keith Burns and colourist Jason Wordie, and witness the air duel of the century as ace fighter pilot Johnny Red faces off against Nazi airman Skreamer of the Stukas. Infamous German tank commander Hellman of Hammer Force bears down on American Major Jeb Rider of Glory Rider in Tunisia, drawn by the legendary Mike Dorey (Ro-Busters).

Blunt instrument of British Intelligence Dredger returns and doles out justice – of a kind – on the mean streets of 1980s London, courtesy of John Higgins, with co-colours by Sally Jane Hurst.

Take on the 100mph madness of Crazy Keller by Chris Burnham (Batman) and colours by Len O’Grady, before meeting Captain Nina Petrova, whose all-woman bomber squadron wreak havoc on the Eastern Front, with art by Patrick Goddard and colours by Jason Wordie. And roll out into Italy in the heat of 1944 with The Sarge as Ennis reunites with The Stringbags artist PJ Holden.