The comic they tried to ban – Action is back!
26th February 2020
It horrified prudes and censors alike – but the ground-breaking Action is back!
Celebrate the legacy of the comic they tried to ban with the new Action 2020 special, packed with the same blend of unbeatable characters and no-holds-barred action – all brought to you by the best talents of today, including Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys), Ram V (Batman, Paradiso) and Henry Flint (Judge Dredd)!
Featuring the killer shark Hookjaw by Dan Lish, juvenile delinquency in Kids Rule OK by Ram V and Henrick Stahlstrom, frontline German Panzer with Hellman of Hammer Force by Garth Ennis and Mike Dorey, merciless secret agent action with Dredger by Zina Hutton, and the brand new Hell Machine by Henry Flint.
This edition, exclusive to the 2000 AD and Treasury of British Comics webshops, comes bagged with a reproduction of the ‘banned’ issue of Action from 23 October 1976!
Buy the web exclusive Action 2020 special now >>
Launched in 1976 by Pat Mills, Action‘s blend of no-holds-barred action, unbridled anarchism, and violent riffs off popular films earned it immediate acclaim. The gritty tone and graphic gore of strips such as Hook Jaw, Hellman of Hammer Force, BlackJack, Death Game 1999, Kids Rule OK, Dredger, and Look Out For Lefty delighted readers but quickly attracted the attention of public moralists, with the comic branded “the seven-penny nightmare” by the press.
A campaign by the infamous Mary Whitehouse and her National Viewers and Listeners Association led to threats of a boycott of all publisher IPC’s titles by newsagent chains such as WH Smith and John Menzies. This in turn led to pressure from publisher IPC’s higher management and the 23 October issue was pulped.
When the title returned that November, the violence was heavily toned down. Sales of this neutured Action dropped dramatically and it was folded into stablemate Battle a year later.
However, Action remains one of the most influential comic books in British history, leading to Mills creating 2000 AD and also inspire a generation of comic book readers and creators!