New York Times bestselling writer Garth Ennis, writer of The Boys, Preacher and Battlefields, selects his favourite stories from the seminal 1970s British boys’ comic Battle. Included in this fantastic volume for the very first time is the complete HMS Nightshade, and the never-before-reprinted The General Dies At Dawn. With insights and introductions by Ennis himself, this collection of war comic rarities is not to be missed!
From 1975 to 1988, the weekly war comic 'Battle¡¯ featured work by some of the greatest names in British comics, including Pat Mills, John Wagner, Joe Colquhoun, Carlos Ezquerra and Cam Kennedy. In this second volume of 'Battle Classics¡¯, Garth Ennis ¨C writer of 'Preacher¡¯, 'The Boys¡¯ and 'Red Team¡¯, as well as his own war series 'War Story¡¯ and 'Battlefields¡¯ ¨C selects and introduces some of his favorite stories from 'Battle¡¯s¡¯ heyday. 'Fighting Mann¡¯, by Alan Hebden and Cam Kennedy, is the first British comic story set during the Vietnam War. When retired US Marine Colonel Walt Mann¡¯s son goes missing over South Vietnam, the old soldier finds himself back in harness ¨C fighting a new and very different kind of war. With his loyal Korean comrade Chol Chong along to watch his back, Mann¡¯s search for his son leads him to a plan so terrible it could escalate the war in Vietnam to undreamt-of heights ¨C and drag in the rest of the world. In 'War Dog¡¯, also by Hebden and Kennedy with Mike Western, Battle¡¯s unlikeliest hero makes his debut: Kazan, a huge German guard dog hunting his masters¡¯ enemies on the savage Russian front. The humans¡¯ war is beyond the unfortunate hound¡¯s understanding ¨C but its terrible currents will drag him halfway around the world, from a frozen ocean to the merciless African desert.
A brand-new collection of hard-hitting war stories from modern master Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys), drawn by a host of top talent including Kevin O'Neill (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and Chris Burnham (Batman). Two of the greatest British comics of all time join forces- and bring you seven new stories of blazing Battle Action! Writer Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys) presents his own take on the classic characters of Battle and Action. Ace fighter pilot Johnny Red battles Skreamer of the Stukas on the nightmarish Russian front. Veteran leader The Sarge and his section face hell in the brutal Italian campaign. Wheeler-dealer Crazy Keller drives for his life as World War Two comes to its bloody conclusion. Lethal British agent Dredger doles out justice- of a kind- on the streets of 1980s London. All these and more in this high-octane collection of fantastic new combat strips, featuring scripts by Ennis and art by some of the biggest names in modern comics, including Kevin O’Neill (Nemesis The Warlock, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Chris Burnham (Batman) and John Higgins (Watchmen, Dreadnoughts). Get your front-row seats to the front line, as only the legendary Battle Action can deliver!
If you do the incredible often enough, they'll want you to do the impossible. Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy began World War II with aircraft that could devastate enemy warships and merchantmen at will. Britain's Royal Navy squadrons went to war equipped with the Fairey Swordfish. A biplane torpedo bomber in an age of monoplanes, the Swordfish was underpowered and undergunned; an obsolete museum piece, an embarrassment. Its crews fully expected to be shot from the skies. Instead, they flew the ancient Stringbag into legend. Writer Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys, War Stories) and artist PJ Holden (Battlefields, World of Tanks: Citadel) present the story of the men who crewed the Swordfish: from their triumphs against the Italian Fleet at Taranto and the mighty German battleship Bismarck in the Atlantic, to the deadly challenge of the Channel Dash in the bleak winter waters of their homeland. They lived as they flew, without a second to lose--and the greatest tributes to their courage would come from the enemy who strove to kill them. Based on the true story of the Royal Navy's Swordfish crews, The Stringbags is an epic tale of young men facing death in an aircraft almost out of time.
All-out battle action from the pages of the greatest British war comic ever published! Boasts two action-packed war stories, both written by Alan Hebden and drawn by Cam Kennedy (with Mike Western). Fighting Mann is set during the Vietnam War, and follows the exploits of retired US Marine Colonel Walter Mann on his rogue mission in search of his Navy pilot son, whose plane disappeared during a bombing raid over the Vietnamese jungle. War Dog is set during World War II, and centres on a German guard dog condemned to die by its masters but which escapes and embarks on an epic adventure across enemy lines and battlefields. Battle Picture Weekly was a milestone in British comics publishing - the preeminent war comic of the '70s and '80s with a readership in the hundreds of thousands and a groundbreaking approached to storytelling which paved the way for Action, 2000 AD, Warrior and the new wave of UK comics.
After D-Day came the battle for Normandy, when largely untried Allied soldiers met the seasoned veterans of the German army. As Panzer units and SS troops turn the French countryside into a killing ground, a lone British tank crew struggle to rejoin their squadron. Cut off behind enemy lines, their only hope lies in their fearsome commander, Corporal Stiles- but no one in the crew can stand him, and Stiles isn't too fond of them either. And there are Tigers lurking in the undergrowth...Garth Ennis teams up with Judge Dredd co-creator Carlos Ezquerra for his third installment of the DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT's Battlefields series. Featuring issues 1-3!
Late summer, 1942. As the German army smashes deep into Soviet Russia and the defenders of the Motherland retreat in disarray, a new bomber squadron arrives at a Russian forward airbase. Its crews will fly flimsy wooden biplanes on lethal night missions over German lines, risking fiery death as they fling themselves against the invader- but for these pilots, the consequences of capture will be even worse. For the pilots of the 599th Night Bomber Regiment are women. In the deadly skies of the Eastern front, they will become a legend- known, to friend and foe alike, as the Night Witches. Featuring issues 1-3 of the Night Witches series!
IN 1999, WE ALL WENT BACK TO WAR. In a world only slightly worse than our own, a third great European conflict has dragged the major powers into a lethal war of attrition. Now, Mary Malone, the most dangerous assassin in a land of killers, must face both a man who cannot die and a crazed cult leader whose flock are all too ready to die for him. Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys, War Story) and Carlos Ezquerra (Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Adventures in the Rifle Brigade) present an action-packed tale of future warfare and a heroine whose faith lies firmly in firepower.
The breakout character from The Suicide Squad gets his own tale of peace ahead of the upcoming HBO Max TV show! Long before joining the Suicide Squad, Christopher Smith, code name Peacemaker, meets with a psychiatrist-a woman dangerously obsessed with his bizarre and violent past. From his tragic childhood to his military service overseas to his multiple missions with Special Forces, Smith has more than his share of skeletons in the closet. But who’s actually analyzing whom? And will this trip down memory lane result in yet more fatalities? Garth Ennis and Garry Brown delve deep into Christopher Smith’s history of violence, and reveal what might bring peace-or not-to the Peacemaker.
In the hellish, humid jungles of Burma, renegade Captain Joe Darkie leads a rag-tag squad of British soldiers behind Japanese lines, transforming them into the brutal “Darkie’s Mob”! Hapless Private Shortland narrates how the squad face hardship, horror and vicious combat at every turn, as their Captain’s mania threatens to engulf them all. But how many will have to die before his bloodlust is finally sated?
