Preview: ‘2000 AD Vs Battle Action’ — The Crossover 50 Years In The Making
by Richard Bruton
Two (well, three technically) of Britain’s greatest comics come together for the crossover you never knew happened! It’s a meeting of thrill power, war tales, and hard-hitting action as we see what would have happened if Battle Action merged with 2000 AD in the early ‘80s!
It happened back in September of last year, in 2000 AD Prog# 2350 and Judge Dredd Megazine #460, imagining what it would have been like if it had been decided in 1982 to merge classic Brit comic Battle Action into 2000 AD, giving the likes of Major Eazy and Hellman of Hammer Force a sci-fi and fantasy twist first before then seeing even more Battle Action strips reinvented in the Dreddverse.
Now it’s all being collected together for one massive volume, out in July 2024, that sees Judge Dredd featuring in Juves Rule OK! a brand-new reimagining of Action’s most controversial strip – Kids Rule O.K. There’s also Death Game 2049 giving you future sports danger, El Mestizo getting too close to an alien presence in 1860s Texas, hard as nails spy Dredger involved in a time-twisting case, Hellman of Hell Force seeing the classic WWII German tank commander finding a new infernal war, and Major Eazy on the trail of both Nazis and the paranormal.
Following those strips, we have even more Battle Action characters brought into the world of Dredd – so that’s Dredd himself coming face to face with the notorious SJS Judge Darke, he of Darke’s Mob, and Dreddverse versions of the Rat Pack in Rad Pack, Lofty’s One-Man Luftwaffe and the Falcon Squadron from Johnny Red appear as Strato Squad, Judge Anderson meets a version of The Fists of Jimmy Chang, before it all finishes off with a final mission for Darke’s Mob.
That’s 11 brand new tales with 35 creators – writers Ken Niemand, Geoffrey D. Wessel, Chris Weston, Karl Stock, Arthur Wyatt, Gordon Rennie, Mike Carroll, Alec Worley, and Alex De Campi, with art by Simon Coleby, Nick Dyer, Paul Marshall, Jake Lynch, Dan Cornwell, Nick Percival, Kieran McKeown, Staz Johnson, and Patrick Goddard.
The whole thing is coming out on 17 July in a standard retail paperback with a cover by Cliff Robinson and Dylan Teague, along with a 2000 AD webshop exclusive edition with a special cover by Batman and Robin artist Andy Clarke.
Now, preview time…
JUDGE DREDD: JUVES RULE OK! – Ken Niemand & Simon Coleby, colours by Matt Soffe, letters by Annie Parkhouse
DEATH GAME 2049 – Geoffrey D. Wessel & Nick Dyer, colours by John Charles, letters by Jim Campbell. Death Game 1999 created by Tom Tully, Costa, and Ian Gibson
EL MESTIZO: DEMON WITH A SIX-GUN! – by Chris Weston, letters by Simon Bowland. El Mestizo created by Alan Hebden and Carlos Ezquerra
DREDGER: TIME TO KILL – by Karl Stock and Paul Marshall, colours by Quinton Winter, letters by Annie Parkhouse. Dredger created by Gerry Finley-Day and Geoff Campion
HELLMAN OF HELL FORCE: FIENDS OF UNGEISTWELT OST – by Arthur Wyatt and Jake Lynch, colours by Jim Boswell, letters by Simon Bowland. Hellman of Hammer Force created by Gerry Finley-Day and Mike Dorey
MAJOR EAZY: THE TREASURE OF SOLOMON – by Gordon Rennie, Dan Cornwell, colours by Dylan Teague, letters by Jim Campbell. Major Eazy created by Alan Hebden and Carlos Ezquerra
JUDGE DREDD: RETURN TO BILLY CARTER – Ken Niemand and Nick Percival, letters by Annie Parkhouse.
Cursitor Doom created by Ken Mennell and Eric Bradbury
THE RAD PACK – by Karl Stock, Kieran McKeown, colours by Quinton Winter, letters by Annie Parkhouse.
The Rat Pack created by Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra
STRATO SQUAD: CONVOY STRIKE – by Mike Carroll and Staz Johnson, colours by Gary Caldwell, letters by Simon Bowland. Johnny Red created by Tom Tully and Joe Colquhoun. Lofty’s One-Man Luftwaffe created by Pat Mills, John Wagner, Charles Herring, and Paolo Ongaro.
ANDERSON, PSI-DIVISION: THE WOLF & THE DRAGON – by Alec Worley and Patrick Goddard, colours by Jim Boswell, letters by Jim Campbell. The Fists of Jimmy Chang created by Eric Bradbury and Scott Goodall.
DARKE’S MOB – by Alex De Campi and John McCrea, colours by Mike Spicer, letters by Annie Parkhouse. Darkie’s Mab created by John Wagner and Mike Western.
