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…
THE CROSSOVER 50 YEARS IN THE MAKING! What if the old Battle Action comic was merged with 2000 AD in the early ‘80s?
That’s the question posed by this all-new collection that reveals the answer is – action-packed thrills by the bucket-load. It takes old Battle Action strips and reworks them as 2000 AD-appropriate adventures, while remaining true to their original concept and continuity.
This kick-ass crossover sees Judge Dredd feature in a brand-new reimagining of Action’s most controversial strip – Kids Rule O.K., and also includes Darkie’s Mob, Death Game 2049 and Major Eazy amongst others!
Written by Ken Niemand (Judge Dredd), Geoffrey D. Wessel (War Birds), Chris Weston (Rogue Trooper), Karl Stock (Fiends of West Berlin), Arthur Wyatt (Dredd), Gordon Rennie (Judge Dredd), Mike Carroll (Dreadnaughts), Alec Worley (Robo-Hunter) and Alex De Campi (Archie vs. Predator), with art by Simon Coleby (The Authority), Nick Dyer (Tales from the Black Museum), Paul Marshall (Sinister Dexter), Jake Lynch (HAVN), Dan Cornwell (Rok of the Reds), Nick Percival (Slaine), Kieran McKeown (Crime Syndicate), Staz Johnson (Vikings), Patrick Goddard (Battle Action) and The Mighty One himself!
Available from 17 July, this action-packed collection is available to take home either as a standard retail paperback edition or as a 2000 AD webshop exclusive edition with special cover by Batman and Robin artist Andy Clarke!
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!
There has never before been an anti-hero in British comicslike Hellman of Hammer Force!
From the invasion of Poland in 1939 through to the fall of Berlin in 1945, Hellman of Hammer Force saw action on many fronts, and this collection contains all the hard-hitting war stories told through the eyes of Hellman which were published in Battle from 1977 through to 1978.
This ground-breaking series of thrilling combat is written by Gerry Finley-Day (Rogue Trooper) and drawn by Mike Dorey (Ro-Busters) and Patrick Wright (Day of the Eagle).
Includes all the stories published in Battle, including the never before reprinted ‘Fall of Berlin’ storyline!
Available in paperback and webshop exclusive hardcover editions, the latter with a brand new cover by series artist Mike Dorey, Hellman of Hammer Force: Downfall is out now from book and comic book stores, as well as in print and digital from the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics webshops and digitally through the 2000 AD app.
BATTLE ACTION RETURNS WITH A COLLECTION OF TWELVE NEW STORIES!
Air Ace Johnny Red and Angel of Death Nina Petrova face off against the Nazi invaders, lethal British agent Dredger deals with the abduction of the only person dear to his stony heart, and the louche Major Eazy must lead his men through the Devil’s Garden of El Alamein. There’s action aplenty with roguish British commandoes Rat Pack, along with Death Squad, their equally deadly German counterparts. And the hellish arctic ocean is the setting for HMS Nightshade, the classic tale of war at sea.
Writer Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys) is joined by an incredible roster of top-tier talent, with stories by original Battle Action writer John Wagner (Judge Dredd, Robo-Hunter), Torunn Gronbekk (Thor, Red Sonja), Rob Williams (Suicide Squad, Petrol Head) and Dan Abnett (Guardians of the Galaxy, Lawless), and featuring art by industry greats like Keith Burns (Out of the Blue), Chris Burnham (Batman, Doom Patrol), Henry Flint (Hawk The Slayer) and John Higgins (Watchmen, Dreadnoughts). There’s blazing Battle Action on every page!
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 new Battle Action mini-series celebrates the merging of this landmark title with its controversial stablemate, Action, a combination that took the two comics to even greater heights. Now, more than forty years after the original, some of the cream of British comics talent are bringing these classic characters back to life.
This volume contains:
JOHNNY RED by Garth Ennis and Keith Burns
HMS NIGHTSHADE by John Wagner and Dan Cornwell
CRAZY KELLER by Garth Ennis and Chris Burnham
D-DAY DAWSON by Dan Abnett and Phil Winslade
DREDGER by Garth Ennis and John Higgins
MAJOR EAZY by Rob Williams and Henry Flint
COOLEY’S GUN by Garth Ennis and Staz Johnson
DEATH SQUAD by Rob Williams and PJ Holden
HELLMAN OF HAMMER FORCE by Garth Ennis and Mike Dorey
NINA PETROVA AND THE ANGELS OF DEATH by Torunn Grønbekk and Patrick Goddard
