Garth Ennis and Keith Burns continue the final Johnny Red story, A Couple of Heroes: as Heroine of the Soviet Union Nina Petrova awaits her doom, she remembers her time as leader of the Angels of Death- when she and Johnny Redburn fell in love during the hellish battle of Stalingrad.
This issue also contains a stand-alone western adventure, El Mestizo, featuring a Civil War-era bounty hunter on the trail of a double agent whose loyalty cannot be assumed to belong to either army, in this action-packed thriller from Rob Williams (Suicide Squad) and Henry Flint (Hawk the Slayer).
Battle Action #4 is out on the 27th November – pre-order now to guarantee your copy!
In A Couple of Heroes part 3, Johnny Red must pilot the Flying Gun over the Arctic Ocean on a mission to stop the development of a strain of cholera as a weapon of mass murder. But with the conclusion of the war seemingly inevitable, Johnny cannot help but think about his missing partner, Nina Petrova, and what he needs to do to be reunited with her. Garth Ennis and Keith Burns ramp up the stakes in this final Johnny Red story.
And in the bonus feature, the star of Action – Hook Jaw, the great white shark, is back! Brought to you by Steve White and John McCrea, Hook Jaw must face off against a Killer Whale, as a nature documentary team and a group of shark conservationists get between them. Who will make it out alive?…
In A Couple of Heroes part 3, Johnny Red must pilot the Flying Gun over the Arctic Ocean on a mission to stop the development of a strain of cholera as a weapon of mass murder. But with the conclusion of the war seemingly inevitable, Johnny cannot help but think about his missing partner, Nina Petrova, and what he needs to do to be reunited with her. Garth Ennis and Keith Burns ramp up the stakes in this final Johnny Red story.
And in the bonus feature, the star of Action – Hook Jaw, the great white shark, is back! Brought to you by Steve White and John McCrea, Hook Jaw must face off against a Killer Whale, as a nature documentary team and a group of shark conservationists get between them. Who will make it out alive?…
Battle Action #3 is out on the 30th October – pre-order now to guarantee your copy!
Garth Ennis and Keith Burns’ final Johnny Red story continues, as Johnny reunites with the pilot who got him kicked out of the RAF at the very beginning of his aviation career. Now a high-ranking officer, he requests Johnny’s help on a dangerous mission, and failure will irrevocably determine the war’s outcome, and foreshadow how wars are fought throughout the 20th century.
This issue also features John Wagner and Dan Cornwell returning for another adventure featuring the crew of the HMS Nightshade, as Nightshade must protect a convoy from overwhelming Axis forces, but at what cost to themselves..
Garth Ennis and Keith Burns’ final Johnny Red story continues, as Johnny reunites with the pilot who got him kicked out of the RAF at the very beginning of his aviation career. Now a high-ranking officer, he requests Johnny’s help on a dangerous mission, and failure will irrevocably determine the war’s outcome, and foreshadow how wars are fought throughout the 20th century.
This issue also features John Wagner and Dan Cornwell returning for another adventure featuring the crew of the HMS Nightshade, as Nightshade must protect a convoy from overwhelming Axis forces, but at what cost to themselves..
Blazing Battle Action on each page! Garth Ennis and Keith Burns reunite for a 10-issue maxi-series which tells the final story of Johnny Red, aerial ace! Issue #1 is out now, featuring blistering Battle and astonishing Action!
Johnny Redburn’s battle against the German Luftwaffe continues into the final year of the Second World War – but Johnny’s long war has taken a toll on him, and his bravery now edges towards recklessness. Will he make through the last months of the war?
Then! In a guest feature, writer Brian K. Vaughan makes his Battle Action debut, joined by artist Chris Burnham for a shocking post-apocalyptic fable! In a hostile future London where Kids Rule, a young American boy runs for his life from a mob of xenophobic British Punks – but he has a secret weapon they aren’t expecting…
Get ready for action! Garth Ennis, Brian K Vaughan, John Wagner, Torunn Gronbekk and more head up the powerhouse creative team for the new Battle Action series – coming this summer!
Launching in August, the new ten-issue series will bring readers death-defying heroics and incredible action, delivered by a crack team of top comics creators, including a brand new revival of the controversial series ‘Kids Rule OK’ from Brian K Vaughan (Saga) and Chris Burnham (Batman), and the final story of WWII aerial ace ‘Johnny Red’ by Garth Ennis (The Boys) and Keith Burns (Out of the Blue)!
Combining stories and characters from 1970s classic comics Battle and Action, Ennis said Battle Action will deliver all the thrills that earned the original comics their hard-bitten, action-packed reputations…
“This time we’ve got more stories,” he said, “more brilliant writers and artists – some from last time, some new – and more of an emphasis on Action, with half the ten stories featuring its characters.”
Ennis and Burns will be joined on Battle Action by an all-star lineup of creators including John Wagner (Judge Dredd), Torunn Grønbekk (Thor), Dan Abnett (Warhammer), Rob Williams (Suicide Squad), John Higgins (Watchmen), Henry Flint (Judge Dredd), John McCrea (Hitman), Steve White (Rogue Trooper) and Tom Foster (Judge Dredd).
‘Kids Rule OK’ was the controversial and violent story that led to an issue of Action being pulled from shelves in 1976, now Vaughan and Burnham revisit this landmark series with a story set in a hostile future London where a young American boy runs for his life from a mob of xenophobic British Punks – but he has a secret weapon they aren’t expecting…
“Getting Brian on ‘Kids Rule OK’ is a particular coup,” says Ennis. “I personally think he’s the best writer to get into the business in the last thirty years, and his love of British comics gives this a nice sense of things coming full circle. I secured his involvement at great personal cost, namely a cheeseburger. I think it may have cost Rebellion a bit more.”
One of the most beloved characters in British comics history, Johnny Red is a fighter pilot in World War II who fights the Nazi invaders of Russia. But this new story will cover a moment in his history which has never been seen before: the final days of World War II. Ennis reveals: “‘A Couple Of Heroes’ sees Johnny and the Falcons battling the retreating Germans at the beginning of 1945. The war has a way to go yet, but for Johnny it can’t end too soon – his friends are nearly all dead, the woman he loves is missing in action, he’s not far off approaching burnout. But a figure from the very beginnings of the strip reappears with an offer of work, one that sees our hero flung back into the maelstrom on the deadliest mission of his life…”
Alongside Johnny and returning heroes ‘Nina Petrova’, ‘Major Eazy’, ‘HMS Nightshade’, ‘Dredger’ and ‘Hellman of Hammer Force’, the series will expand to welcome in new takes on several other classic comics characters and stories – including killer shark ‘Hookjaw’, former-enslaved-man-turned-outlaw ‘El Mestizo’, and violent future sports series ‘Death Game’ – making Battle Action the most furiously action-packed comic on the stands!
The ten-issue series in magazine format kicks off in August with Battle Action #1, which will be available through all good comic book stores through Diamond Distribution.
You can also pre-order the series through the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics webstores – including an incredible bundle deal, with each issue delivered straight to your door every month!
Subscribe to 2000 AD now and get an exclusive subscriber-only cover for our mega-crossover issue by Judge Dredd and Batman artist Andy Clarke – as well as zarjaz free subscriber gifts!
On 20 September, 2000 AD Prog 2350 asks the question – what would 2000 AD have been like if it had merged with stablemate Battle Action in the 1980s? This fantastic stand-alone crossover event merges legendary characters from 2000 AD with classic characters from its former stablemates: the groundbreaking Battle Picture Weekly and the controversial Action.
To celebrate, subscribers to 2000 AD will automatically receive an exclusive edition of this special bumper 48-page issue with thrilling cover art by Andy Clarke! This cover is a brilliant homage to the legendary Carlos Ezquerra’s notorious ‘Kids Rule O.K.!’ cover for Action from 1976 – but now with the Judges in charge!
Meanwhile, the standard newsstand edition – available from newsagents, comic book stores, and the 2000 AD webshop – features a superb line-up cover by Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague.
In this mega-crossover issue, Judge Dredd meets ‘Kids Rule O.K.!’ in “Juves Rule”, El Mestizo meets Major Eazy in “The Treasure of Solomon”, there’s ‘Death Game 2049’, ‘Hellman of Hell Force’, and more! The crossover action heads over to Judge Dredd Megazine #460 too, also out on 20 September and featuring a wraparound cover by Judge Dredd artist Henry Flint.
So subscribe now and guarantee that you’ll receive the subscriber-exclusive edition of the 2000 AD mega-crossover!
