New Major Eazy collection hardback offers cover by John McCrea

By John Freeman on February 9, 2021

Top Spider-Man and 2000AD artist John McCrea has provided the cover for Rebellion’s web shop exclusive hardback edition of its new Major Eazy collection, on sale soon.

Major Eazy Hardback collection - cover by John McCrea — *Major Eazy Hardback collection – cover by John McCrea*

Created by created by Alan Hebden and Carlos Ezquerra and first appearing in the weekly war comic, Battle Picture Weekly, Rebellion’s new collection will be published on Wednesday 3rd March.

Major Eazy, the iconic star character debuted in the Battle Picture Weekly in 1976, a laconic, laid-back British Army officer during World War Two who has a total disregard for authority or protocol.

The characters’s look inspired by actor James Coburn’s performance in The Magnificent Seven, Eazy was one of the most popular characters from Battle, his irreverence and coolness under pressure earning him legions of fans as he went on to command the band of convict commandos know as the Rat Pack.

Starting with his first appearance, Major Eazy: The Italian Campaign will take readers from the pulse-pounding invasion of Sicily to the German surrender at Brenner Pass, collecting all of his adventures in the Italian theatre.

As Carlos Ezquerra related in an interview For Colonel Marbles Battle site back in 2002, the strip was his first for Battle, the artist moving on from working on DC Thomson’s Wizard, on the strip titled “Chained To His Word”.

“Ideas came from the two of us, that’s the way I’ve always worked,” Carlos said of the character’s development. “The sniper rifle and the Bentley were Alan’s, but I think he was thinking of a more classical Bentley than the model I finished drawing.”

Major Eazy: The Italian Campaign will take readers from the pulse-pounding invasion of Sicily to the German surrender at Brenner Pass, collecting all of his adventures in the Italian theatre.

Rebellion’s reprographics team has also restored all of the strip’s colour pages, which have never before been reprinted as first published.

• You can pre-order the web shop exclusive edition of Major Eazy – The Italian Campaign from the Treasury of British Comic web shop here, or the paperback edition with standard cover

• Major Eazy: The Italian Campaign is also available from bookshops including AmazonUK – the first of two volumes

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.