Jun 11, 2024
Action dated 11 June 1977. Spinball cover, artist unknown, featuring the debut of Steel (other than a brief cameo in the previous issue). Treasury of British Comics.
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Action dated 11 June 1977. Spinball cover, artist unknown, featuring the debut of Steel (other than a brief cameo in the previous issue). Treasury of British Comics.
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Action No. 30, dated 4 September 1976. Hellman of Hammer Force cover. Treasury of British Comics.
Action dated 24 September 1977. Hellman of Hammer Force cover, artist unknown. The pose is reminiscent of a splash page featuring Karl Schafft, everyone's favourite member of the Abwehr, by Francisco Fuentes Manuel that had appeared in Warlord in February that year.
A great Code-Name Warlord splash page, featuring Peter Flint's recurring rival Karl Schafft. Art by Francisco Fuentes Manuel from Warlord No
Both are similar to an Airfix WWll German Paratroops figure that had first been released in 1976. The figure is in a running pose with his left leg raised off the base and holding a MP40. He's the main figure on the box art, which I think is by William Stallion, below (but facing the opposite direction) and fifth from the right on the row of figures at the bottom. It's possible both drawings were based on the Airfix figure as I'm sure artists then did base a lot of drawings on model kits and the like.
Treasury of British Comics.
Action, dated 17 September 1977. The Spinball Slaves cover by Ron Turner. I'll never understand why Ron's work was frowned on by a certain sci-fi comic of the time. He definitely gave this strip a refresh as I personally found the art a bit patchy in places beforehand.
This issue saw a new direction for the Kneagle's Eagles Spinball team with them being renamed The Black Gladiators (a name they kept for the remainder of the Spinball saga). From left to right the team were Steel, Kid Curry, Yo-Yo Devine, Joe Taggart, Ape Larsen, Posh Parker and Tex Norton.
At this point the strip was set in the far future of 2001. It was originally called Death Game 1999 (with Taggart and Devine as the main characters), Spinball (after the December 1976 relaunch when Larsen, Curry, Parker, Norton and Steel the human 'computoid' were gradually introduced) before becoming The Spinball Slaves for the remainder of its run in Action.
Other notable team members, recruited after the team rack up the odd injury or two, were Stitch Carver (an ex-con who debuts in the 29 October issue), Crash Garrison (a circus stuntman who debuts in the 5 November issue) and Clipper Richmond (a woman!) who I think joins during The Spinball Wars in Battle Action. It's hard to think of a strip with a greater array of character names. Treasury of British Comics.
Action dated 10 September 1977. Jinx Jackson cover by Carlos Ezquerra. Treasury of British Comics.
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Action No. 31, dated 11 September 1976. Dredger cover, no idea who by. I see Kids Rule O.K. starts in this issue. That worked out well for them. Treasury of British Comics.
Action dated 3 September 1977. Dredger cover. Not sure of artist although I'm currently thinking it's Geoff Campion. Anyone know? Action never had the issue number shown and this is either No. 76 or 77 (the publisher decided not to publish/distribute No. 37 pending editorial changes). Treasury of British Comics.
Action: The Story of a Violent Comic by Martin Barker, 1990. This hardcover book is a mixture of text, detailing the history of the UK weekly comic, and reprints of a batch of weekly strips from five of the main stories. There are also some pages that never made it to print. Along with the text you get 24 episodes of Death Game 1999, 23 x Look out for Lefty!, 21 x Hook Jaw, 11 x Kids Rule O.K.! and 4 x Dredger. It's a bit of mixture though and there are no complete runs of any of the stories reprinted inside.
The comic, which debuted in February 1976, was never "Banned!!!" as the cover background appears to claim. It was put on hiatus by its own publisher for a period while changes were made to its content. Action had been courting controversy for some time but it was the issue dated 18 September 1976 where the title effectively handed in its 'four week notice'.
The Kids Rule O.K.! cover showed a youth brandishing a chain and about to attack what appeared to be a policeman.
In Look Out For Lefty! the title character's girlfriend throws a bottle at a player during a football match. This was was followed by similar acts of hooliganism in subsequent weeks.
The comic was put on hiatus after the issue dated 16 October 1976. There is disagreement these days over how many copies were printed of the issue dated 23 October with some claiming it went to a full print run. It doesn't matter though as they never went on sale. The cover blurbs alone would have caused problems. The title returned with the issue cover dated 4 December 1976 and ran for nearly another year before merging with Battle Picture Weekly.