Full details of Rebellion’s Action – Before The Ban have just been released – and copies are available to preorder.
Violent, gritty and unrelenting, Action comic was the brainchild of Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp. Tasked with creating a new anthology comic for the IPC’s boys adventure division, the pair rapidly developed a winning formula: reimagining existing story ideas from fresh perspectives and infusing them with a health dose of modern realism.
With strips such as “Hookjaw”, “Dredger”, “Look Out For Lefty” and “Blackjack”, success was instantaneous but so was the criticism. Many of the press, including London’s Evening Standard, The Sun and the Daily Mail were quick to denounce the comic, while Mary Whitehouse and the pressure group “Delegates Opposing Violent Education” piled pressure on the IPC board to do something about it.
In less than a year, Action had been pulled from circulation, then returned months later, a sanitised, pale shadow of its former self. But the spark had already been lit. Action had made its mark and became the catalyst for the evolution of the British comics scene, paving the way for 2000AD and the British invasion of UK talent into America.
Now, as we previously reported, for the first time in decades, Rebellion are collecting Action in a series of new archival editions, containing all of the strips and some of the editorial that created so much infamy back in the 1970s.
With brand-new introductions from Pat Mills, the legendary co-creator, editor, and writer of Action, as well as from series writer Steve MacManus, this is a sensational new release which champions firebrand comics at their most powerful and controversial.
Find out just what the shock and awe was about – featuring the original colour pages as originally published, Volume 1 of Action: Before The Ban collects together the first twelve issues of Action, originally published across 1976, and featuring the classic comics:
Dredger – Writers: Kelvin Gosnell, Pat Mills, Steve MacManus, Chris Lowder, Geoff Kemp Artist: Horacio Altuna
Hellman of Hammer Force – Writer: Gerry Finley-Day Artist: Mike Dorey
Blackjack – Writers: John Wagner, Chris Lowder Artists: Leopoldo Sanchez, Gustavos Trigo
The Coffin Sub – Writer: Ron Carpenter Artist: Angelo Todaro
Green’s Grudge War – Writer: Gerry Finley-Day Artist: Massimo Belardinelli
Hook Jaw – Writers: Pat Mills, Ken Armstrong Artist: Ramon Sola
Play Till You Drop – Writer: Ron Carpenter Artist: Barrie Mitchell
The Running Man – Writer: Steve MacManus Artist: Lalia
Look Out For Lefty – Writer: Tom Tully Artist: Barrie Mitchell
Sport’s Not For Losers – Writer: Steve MacManus Artist: Dudley L. Wynn
Available in standard and webshop-exclusive editions, Action: Before The Ban defies the censors and proudly celebrates a landmark series in British comics history…
Action – Before the Ban 1: The Archival Collection
By Pat Mills, John Wagner (Writers) and Various Artists
Release date: Scheduled for 24th February 2026
Paperback | 368 Pages
ISBN: 978-1837866694
• Action: The Sevenpenny Nightmare Micro Site – compiled by Moose Harris
Presented here on downthetubes, with the full permission of Moose Harris, creator of the original Sevenpenny Nightmare site (now defunct and the domain under a different ownership), is his fascinating history of Fleetway’s fondly-remembered Action comic, going behind the scenes on the origins of all its strips, including Hook Jaw, Dredger and more.
- About the Author
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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.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comic Previews, Comics, downthetubes Comics News
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