BATTLE's variety of covers

Last year I showed a selection of dynamic Battle Picture Weekly covers (see here) and, as there were so many great covers over the years, I thought I'd quickly scan a few more to show you today. These are selected from the years 1978 to 1980, by which time the comic's title had become Battle Action due to Action merging into it. Unlike most mergers, where the subsumed comic quickly sees its logo diminished, Battle made the Action title a fixture for a few years and actually incorporated it into a new masthead design as the name suited the comic so well. 

Battle Action had some great covers full of tension and explosive drive. The one above is by Joe Colquhoun.

Carlos Ezquerra was a natural artist to depict gritty war scenes, as this cover demonstrates...

Issue 200 of Battle Action is significant in that it featured the first episode of Charley's War by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun. However, the cover of the issue was by Mike Western (with a vignette of Glory Rider by Geoff Campion.)

Battle Action experimented with its cover design more than any other IPC comic of the 1970s. I'm not sure this one using previews of interior strips worked, but it was an interesting attempt!

The best comic covers were the ones where text and illustration worked together for dynamic effect, as with this superb one drawn by John Cooper...

A good cover also grabs attention, such as this one by Cam Kennedy...

Prior to Battle Action, most comics kept the masthead in the same place every week, but this comic shook things up a bit. A logo in the centre of a cover? Certainly eye-catching, and that's what it's all about...

Another terrific cover by Joe Colquhoun...

Mike Western was one of IPC's top artists, having illustrated covers for Valiant for most of its 14 year run. A versatile artist who could turn his hand to a slightly lighter style (eg: Buster's Leopard from Lime Street) or to darker, more dramatic material suited to Battle Action...

With all the fuss made about how violent Action was in 1976, people tend to forget that Battle was equally as grim at times. No publisher today would approve a cover for a kids' comic showing a knife at a throat, even if the subject was a Nazi. Art by Carlos Ezquerra...

Another dramatic Mike Western scene, showing that even a dog could look deadly on the cover of this comic!

In 1980, Battle Action had a revamp, swiftly diminishing the Action part of the logo and bringing back the original Battle masthead. Its major change though was that strips now started on the cover (Charley's War and Johnny Red alternating week by week). Although this meant the comic suddenly looked very old school in its design, I must admit it was this issue that caught my eye and started me buying the comic. That said, I was 21, older than its target audience, so I've no idea what kids thought of this rather old fashioned looking cover revamp. I suspect many were not impressed, because this was the start of many changes for Battle that would eventually lead to its demise.

That said, how could anyone resist such a great illustration by joe Colquhoun?

Battle Action and the cover images in this post are Copyright ©Rebellion Publishing Ltd. 

Review: ONE-EYED JACK

If there's one lesson to be learned from the long history of British comics it's that they've had to evolve to survive. As with the human condition, change is necessary to cope with the traumas of life, and comics have had to experiment and change to adapt to new environments and situations too. By the early to mid-1970s, IPC comics were struggling to appeal to their audience. New comics such as Thunder and Jet were so rooted in the style of the past they failed after 22 weeks, and even the long-running Lion met its demise in 1974. 

The generation of comic-buyers of the Seventies were used to a tougher tone of entertainment in TV, books and films but the comics were not reflecting that. Then along came D.C. Thomson's Warlord, a grittier, more dynamic comic, spurring IPC into action with an even tougher rival, Battle Picture Weekly. The new, no-nonsense storytelling style of Battle was a big success with readers, and so IPC tried the same technique by revamping one of its oldest titles, Valiant. The experiment came too late to keep Valiant afloat for long, but that final year of the comic gave us One-Eyed Jack, the hard-as-nails New York cop created by John Wagner and John Cooper. 

All of those One-Eyed Jack strips from Valiant have now been collected in the first book in Rebellion's new Treasury of British Comics line. One-Eyed Jack is a marvellous 156 page volume of tightly written crime thrillers that make a refreshing change to the slow "deconstructed" writing style of many modern comics. There's no fat on these stories, and each episode only runs to three pages, so the reader is plunged straight into the action. 

The scripts by John Wagner are a masterclass of short-story writing; a technique that seems rare these days. John Cooper's artwork is perfect for such a fast paced action strip. There's definitely a Frank Bellamy influence to Cooper's art, but he adopts it so well and makes it his own. 

One-Eyed Jack swiftly became the most popular strip in Valiant, and although it didn't halt Valiant's demise, it laid the groundwork for a new breed of tougher heroes such as Judge Dredd. It's therefore the ideal choice to kick off the Treasury of British Comics volumes. 

There are also bonus features in the book, with a full colour One-Eyed Jack story from Valiant Annual 1978 and a colour gallery of all the Valiant covers that featured the character. 

Although paperback, the book features 'French folds' that make the covers feel sturdier. See the flattened out version below to show you what I mean...

One-Eyed Jack will be published on 15th June at £14.99. There's also a signed limited edition bookplate edition at £19.99 that you can order from the 2000AD shop:
https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/RCA-B0019

Available in print from: book stores, Amazon, and comic book stores via Diamond Available in digital from: 2000 AD webshop, 2000 AD iPad app, 2000 AD Android app, 2000 AD Windows 10 app

ONE-EYED JACK ready to pre-order

Here's the cover to Rebellion's first book in their Treasury of British Comics series. One-Eyed Jack will be published on 15th June but you can pre-order it now from the 2000AD shop. 

As well as the standard £14.99 edition there's also a limited bookplate edition for £19.99 which is signed by the strip's creator/writer John Wagner. To order your copy, visit this link:
https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/RCA-B0019

The book will collect all of the One-Eyed Jack strips that originally appeared in Valiant weekly in the 1970s. There's also a new introduction by John Wagner and a colour gallery of the covers that featured One-Eyed Jack. 

Here's more info, courtesy of Rebellion...

• CREATIVE TEAM: John Wagner, Gerry Finley-Day (w) John Cooper (a) 
• REGIONS: UK, worldwide digital
• RELEASE DATE: 15 June 2017
• PAPERBACK - 156 pages
• PRICE: £14.99 (UK)
• ISBN: 9781781085721
• DIAMOND: APR171922


John Wagner's take-no-prisoners-cop and the forerunner to Judge Dredd is collected for the very first time! Part Dirty Harry, part Judge Dredd, all badass! Police Detective Jack McBane is the toughest, meanest law enforcer in 1970's New York City. Having lost his left eye in the line of duty, McBane will stop at nothing to rid the crime-infested streets of scumbags and villains - even if it means having to occasionally break the rules! This is the first collection from Rebellion's dedicated Treasury of British Comics line, collecting lost comics from the golden age of British comics.

The book will be available in print from: book stores, Amazon, and comic book stores via Diamond Available in digital from: 2000 AD webshop, 2000 AD iPad app, 2000 AD Android app, 2000 AD Windows 10 app

Faceache, Marney, Leopardboy, One-Eyed Jack... coming back!

Marney the Fox © Rebellion A/S. Art by John Stokes.

I've known about this for a while but was sworn to secrecy, but now the news is out there. Rebellion have announced which classic Fleetway strips they're bringing back to print this year, and they're all glorious. The collective name for the books is The Treasury of British Comics...

You already knew about One-Eyed Jack by John Wagner and John Cooper, but today Rebellion have announced that other books will include:

Misty Book 2: The Sentinels and End of the Line. 

The Leopard from Lime Street drawn by Mike Western and Eric Bradbury.

Marney the Fox: the wonderful adventure strip from Buster by Scott Goodall and John Stokes. 

...and... just drink in this great news...

Faceache by Ken Reid, from Jet and Buster. 

Are you excited yet? For more info, check out this link:
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/2000-ad-revive-childrens-comics-70s-and-80s-496121


UPDATE 28/2/17: Comics journalist Heidi MacDonald now has expanded details of the books, and more artwork, on her excellent blog The Beat:
http://www.comicsbeat.com/2000ad-launches-the-treasury-of-british-comics-line-with-classic-brit-comics/

Back in print?

Cover by John Cooper.

The news a few months ago that 2000AD's publisher Rebellion had bought the post-1970 IPC comics back catalogue sent a wave of excitement through British comics fandom. While it's very unlikely the acquisition will mean that the actual old comics will return as ongoing periodicals, we do know that graphic novels (or collected albums) of selected stories will be appearing. One Eyed Jack from Valiant being one compilation that we'll see this year. Others will follow.

Which classic strips would you like to see collected in book format? Remember, it's only IPC material after 1970 we're talking about, so characters created before then, such as The Steel Claw or Odhams' Legend Testers or The Nervs or even Weary Willie and Tired Tim are not part of the deal. 

That still leaves many, many characters who might be collected. Characters from Action, Misty, Battle Picture Weekly, Whizzer and Chips, Cheeky, Cor!!, Thunder, Jet, Speed, Jinty, Tammy, Monster Fun, Scream!, Whoopee!, Jackpot, Tornado, and post-1970 Buster and others.

Post your thoughts in the comments section below. Remember, we're talking about the stories, not the comic titles...

This week in 1976: The final VALIANT

In the same week that Captain Britain No.1 hit the newsstands (see previous posting) the final edition of Valiant also appeared. The ominous "Important News for all readers" was in a cover flash, which never boded well for a comic.

Valiant had been published since 1962, and was one of Fleetway's bold new comics of the sixties. However, by the mid-1970s under IPC it was looking tired and dated, and was given a facelift by new editor John Wagner. Perhaps the changes came too late to re-ignite interest, so it was decided it would merge into the younger title Battle Picture Weekly. One might think that a merger with Action might have been more appropriate than with a war comic, but by that time Action was having serious problems of its own. This week in 1976 was also when the controversial comic was suspended so it was in no position to accommodate Valiant, even if that idea had been considered. (Interestingly, although the media spotlight was on Action, its companion comics Valiant and Battle had also upped the violent content somewhat to reflect the attitudes of the times. Examples being the cover above, with a bloodied corpse being robbed, and the strip below showing a finger being shot off!)

One of the newer strips that John Wagner had brought into Valiant was tough cop series One-Eyed Jack. This story would carry over into the merged comic, after changes set in place in this episode. Art by John Cooper...

The announcement of the merger made it sound exciting, despite the fact that the readers were losing a comic. That huge logo wouldn't take up half a cover every week by the way. The 'Valiant' title would soon shrink to a smaller size, before later disappearing completely,  as was the norm with merged comics.

Another relatively recent story, Stryker, ended that week. Not a very memorable character but an opportunity to show art by Ian Kennedy can't be missed...

Billy Bunter had been one of the longest running humour strips in British comics (and previously as a prose series in The Magnet of course). The strip version started in Knockout No.1 in 1939 (see here) and joined Valiant when those comics merged in 1963. I'm not sure if this final 1976 episode is reprint or new, but it's good to see that all ends well for the fat owl. Art by Reg Parlett. 

Challenge Charlie was basically Ken Reid's Dare-A-Day Davy from Pow! under a new name, drawn by Frank McDiarmid. 

Captain Hurricane had been Valiant's lead strip since issue one, and this final episode ends with him announcing a return home. World War Two had lasted for 14 years for the mighty marine!

The popular Adam Eterno strip, that had begun in Thunder in 1970, then moved to Lion and Thunder, before arriving in Valiant and Lion, also reached its end in this final Valiant. Eterno's journey through time and space was never properly concluded, so perhaps one day he still might return. (Let's hope he's one of the many characters that Rebellion now own.) Art by the Solano Lopez studio.

On the back page of this final issue; The Nutts. Again, a long-running strip, and possibly this one is a reprint. Art by Angel Nadal. 

So that was it for Valiant's impressive 14 year run. It gave way for the new breed of adventure comics but it's still very fondly remembered today. 

Veteran artist John Cooper passes

I've just heard via editor John Freeman that veteran comics artist John Cooper has passed away after a short illness. Born in 1942, John's first adventure comic strip was drawing a Special Agent 21 story for the TV21 Annual published in 1968. (Source: An interview by Terry Hooper at this link.) His long career saw him illustrating numerous strips for many comics over the years including several Judge Dredd stories for 2000AD but he's probably best remembered for One Eyed Jack in Valiant in 1975 and taking over the Johnny Red strip in Battle - a strip which he made his own.

John's work was also seen outside of comics, such as illustrating scenes for TV news stories. 

Here's a short selection of John's work, starting with his very first comic strip from the pages of a TV21 Annual (undated on the cover but according to the indicia inside the book it was published in 1968)...

A page of a Joe 90 strip from the Joe 90 Annual published in 1969...

The first episode of One Eyed Jack (script by John Wagner) from Valiant dated 20th December 1975...

Part of a Goalmouth strip from Roy of the Rovers comic...

Another of John's excellent covers for Battle-Action...

John's work must have been seen by millions who grew up on boys comics from the late 1960s to the end of the 20th Century and his dynamic layouts and action-packed style brought a lot of pleasure to those readers. I only met John once, briefly at a convention in Norway years ago, but the easy going Yorkshireman was good company. My sincere condolences to his family and friends on their sad loss.

There's an excellent tribute to John Cooper on the Down The Tubes blog:
http://downthetubes.net/?p=20091