Review by Luke Williams
The Garth Ennis curated Battle Action revival continues apace. In “A Couple Of Heroes”, Ennis and Burns set out to create a proper ending for the long running World War Two fighter pilot strip that petered out into reprints at the end of Battle’s initial run.
Set as the end of the war, Johnny is recruited by the RAF officer indirectly responsible for his “exile” to the Russian front for a secret mission. The German’s plan to bomb Moscow with a disease laden bomb, but Russian high command have got plans for that weapon and want to get their hands on it. Johnny’s task is to stop either side getting what they want, with the help of his now severely diminished supporting cast.
Burns’ bold art is not as sleek as co-creator Joe Colqhoun, perhaps more in line with the rougher hewn work of John Cooper, but maybe more akin to the great and criminally underrated Jim Watson’s heavily inked, kinetic, dirty gritty style.
Battle scenes are suitably savage, the renditions of World War Two hardware are beautiful (in so much they can be in a war story), a plane nut’s paradise. The page layouts dynamic and flow well, abetted by the colours of Jason Wordie. It’s a handsome volume, the art shining from the paper, as much bullet riddled oil and smoke choked imagery can be anyway.
The script and plot are typical Ennis, but in the spirit of the original strip. Class conflict, honourable fighting men battling both the enemy and a bureaucratic and corrupt high command, how the only people who suffer are the ordinary people on the frontline, all underlying themes in Battle. That said, it’s not all bleak and brutal; there are flashes of humour, but also plenty of pathos and space for characterisation.
From the afterword in this volume it doesn’t sound like the team intend to create anymore “Johnny Red” strips, so this would be a fitting capstone for the series. If this really is the end, then hopefully Rebellion will finish the reprint programme of the original series that Titan had begun; even including the meandering stories from its latter years, but still has the appeal of Carlos Pino art.
An excellent ending to a classic British war strip, which maintains the original run’s spirit, celebrates and honours it, but presents a grittier Johnny Red than some of us grew up with.
Luke Williams
• Johnny Red “A Couple of Heroes” is available now from all good book and comic shops | ISBN: 978-1837866571 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link | Forbidden Planet Affiliate Link
Garth Ennis began his career on Crisis, 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine, for which he wrote “Judge Dredd”, “Strontium Dogs”, “True Faith” and others. Outside of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic he is known for Preacher, The Boys, Hitman, The Punisher and a great many war comics, including War Stories, Battlefields, Out Of The Blue, The Stringbags and Sara.
Keith Burns is a member of the Guild of Aviation Artists, creating many covers for Commando comics, and has previously worked on “Rat Pack” for Battle, and the Johnny Red mini-series.
Johnny Red: Previous Collections
• Johnny Red : Falcons First Flight (Titan Books, 2011) | ISBN-13: 978-1848560338
When pilot Johnny Redburn is discharged from the RAF for striking an officer, he is forced to join the Merchant Navy. But a German sneak attack forces Redburn back into the air – in a stolen Hurricane! Redburn aims for Russia, planning to save his plane and career, but on landing, meets the ‘Falcon Squadron’ of the 5th Soviet Air Brigade, who are under German attack! Redburn takes to the skies once more – to fight for Russia!
The classic series by Tom Tully (“Roy of the Rovers”) and Joe Colquhoun (“Charley’s War”) makes its explosive debut and includes a new introduction by comics legend Garth Ennis (“The Boys”, “Preacher’, “War Story”) and a feature on air combat.
• Johnny Red Volume Two – Red Devil Rising (Titan Books, 2012) | ISBN-13: 978-1848560345
• Johnny Red Volume Three – Angels Over Stalingrad (Titan Books, 2013) | ISBN-13: 978-1848564381 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link
• Johnny Red Volume Four – The Flying Gun (Titan Books, 2016) | ISBN-13: 978-1848564442 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link
Johnny Redburn has just led Falcon Squadron on a successful mission over Stalingrad. But Major Rastovitch has a new mission for Johnny: to fly an important Russian official to a top-secret conference in England in the incredible Flying Gun . The stakes are high and danger never far away …
• Johnny Red: The Hurricane by Garth Ennis and Keith Burns (Rebellion, 2025) | ISBN-13: 978-1837864201 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link
Now: a rusting wreck of an aircraft is hauled from a German swamp. It holds the last terrible secret of the Second World War, when a pact between monsters threatened to doom the lives of millions.
Then: as Nazi forces stand poised to overrun the Soviet bastion of Stalingrad, British-born fighter ace Johnny “Red” Redburn leads Russia’s Falcon squadron in the dying city’s defense. But a nightmare conspiracy sees Redburn trapped deep behind enemy lines, along with his Falcon comrades- and his lover, the Night Witch Nina Petrova. The little band must fly and fight like demons to survive… and to save their country from a fate beyond imagining.
Written by Garth Ennis (The Boys, Preacher) and drawn by Keith Burns (Battle Action, Out of the Blue), The Hurricane begins the Treasury of British Comics presentation of the complete adventures of Johnny Red.
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Brought up on a diet of Commando, British Boys Annuals and Asterix, Lucas Williams’s day job limits his reading time. Luckily for everyone else this also restricts his writing time.
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