Preview: ‘Battle Action’ #9 – Johnny Red Flies Towards The End And Dredger Explores A Brutal Childhood Of A Classic Anti-Hero

by Richard Bruton

We’re getting into the very end of this 10-issue series now, with what’s promised to be the final tale of Johnny Red storming to its conclusion as we celebrate all the greatness of two classic Brit comics, Battle and Action, and the incredible range of characters they gave us.

As with every episode thus far, we start off with the latest of the 10-episode Johnny Red by Garth Ennis and Keith Burns. The back-up strip in every issue so far has given us one-off looks at other characters from Battle and Action, with some really great pieces, and this one, featuring notorious hard man secret agent Dredger, is no exception.

In Johnny Red, we’ve got Nina and the crew chasing Johnny, and Johnny finding he’s got his own problems in the shape of Erich Von Jurgen, the mutilated German air ace we met in Battle Action #6, who’s on his tail, determined to stop him from getting to the Nazi’s biological weapon.

It’s aerial action all the way, a non-stop push to the end of this storyline, Ennis writing a treat and Keith Burn’s artwork just a joy to see.

As for the second strip, it’s Ennis writing again, this time on ’70s hard man British secret agent Dredger. But this isn’t the story you were expecting, not if you were thinking it was going to be some nasty, violent thing with Dredger seeing off the bad guys in his role as spy. Hell, it is nasty, it is violent, it is brutal, but it’s a different kind of nasty, all taking place in Dredger’s past, as we meet Dredger senior. And he really is a nasty piece of work, beating his wife half to death on a regular basis. It’s no wonder poor little Dredger turns out the way he does. And if you’re after bloody, well, that comes when Dredger’s junior finally has enough of seeing his poor ma beaten and bloodied.

There’s even chance for Ennis to get a little dark comedy in here…

Just like the Hellman strip that Ennis did in Battle Action #6, this is a very different Dredger tale, not what you’d expect at all, but just powerful and brilliant in its own way. An excellent one-off.

All in all, the whole of Battle Action has been a real love letter to the classics found in Battle and Action in the seventies, with the obvious love for the characters coming through in every strip we’ve had so far. There’s just one issue to go now, with the promised finale to Johnny Red’s wartime career – it will be a great finale.