These survey results are based on the opinions of 135 former Action readers surveyed by Martin Barker in 1986. The results are expressed as averages across the 135 people polled. Categories were rated from one to five with regard to how much the person polled agreed with a statement, three represents the mid-line of no expressed preference, which Action achieved in both the Believable/Unbelievable and Handsome/Ugly categories, hence there is no bar shown.
From the results, we can conclude that Action was regarded by its readers as well written and drawn, up to date, cynical, slightly right wing and male biased, but was not respectable. Neither was it patronising. The stories were violent, fast-moving, exciting and unpredictable although they were neither patriotic nor optimistic, and were very much anti-authority. The characters were successful, strong, amoral loners who were slightly vulnerable to danger but strongly distrusted authority. Readers felt that they were not like the characters, but would quite like to be.
Many of these assets are in stark contrast to other comics of the time. The examples cited in the survey were Battle, Valiant, Victor and Warlord, but titles like Bullet, Tiger, Scorcher and Roy of the Rovers should also be taken into consideration.
Read More in this Section of “Sevenpenny Nightmare”
The Excerpts: Action: The Story of a Violent Comic (about the book by Martin Barker) | Action: The Story of a Violent Comic – Introduction | Developing the Formula | The Critics Bite Back | Moving in for the Kill | So, Should Action Have Been Censored? | Action: The Story of a Violent Comic – Reader Survey | Hook Jaw: The Shark Bites Back | The Lost Pages of Hook Jaw – TO BE ADDED | How Lefty Lost His Bottle – TO BE ADDED | The Lost Pages of Lefty – TO BE ADDED | Death Game 1999: Steel Balls to the Finish | The Lost Pages of Death Game 1999 – TO BE ADDED | When The Crumblies Flipped It: Kids Rule OK…? | The Lost Pages of Kids Rule O.K. | Dredger… No Comment | The Final Reckoning | Estimating Action
Sevenpenny Nightmare Section Index
This is an excerpt from Action: The History of a Violent Comic by Martin Barker, featured here as part of the Sevenpenny Nightmare project edited by Moose Harris. Text © Martin Barker.
ACTION™ REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, COPYRIGHT © REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
See this section’s Acknowledgments section for more information
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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.