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Action’s 50th anniversary to be celebrated in new “Before The Ban” Archival Editions from Rebellion

By John Freeman on June 12, 2025

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

Celebrating 50 years since the launch of Action, Rebellion is to release the first in a series of archive editions charting the title’s history next February, the first reportedly comprising the content of the first 12 issues of controversial weekly boys adventure comic.

The collections will feature strip material from the boys adventure title, launched in 1976 before it was pulled from newsagents, revamped and emasculated – a decision that had an impact on then publisher IPC’s comics titles for several years to come, including 2000AD.

Action No. 1, cover dated February 14th 1976 With "Red Arrow" Free Gift in Very Good Condition — *Action No. 1, cover dated February 14th 1976 With “Red Arrow” Free Gift*

Action was born in February of 1976; the first issue dated February 14th. Co-incidentally, this was the same week that DC Thomson released their follow up to Warlord, an action-adventurer called Bullet.

Action was hard-hitting and readers loved it – but as Moose Harris relates in his article, “A Brief History of Action”, its violent content and storylines inspired by popular adventure films and contemporary culture sparked controversy, the comic dubbed “The Sevenpenny Nightmare” by The Sun.

*Action is savaged in The Sun, Friday 30th April 1976*

As controversy grew, with BBC’s news magazine show Nationwide among the media outlets covering the growing storm, the publisher decided the title should be withdrawn from the news stand, and its editor, John Smith, was sacked.

*A copy of the very rare, pulped Action Issue 37*

The October 16th 1976 issue was already on the shelves, but the issue dated 23rd October was pulled from distribution and pulped, only a few copies surviving.

Action returned to sale only after its content had been significantly reshaped, its impact considerably diluted. Eventually merged with Battle Picture Weekly, such was management concern about the title it would impact the content of publisher IPC’s comics for several years to come, including 2000AD.

Action: The Pre-Ban Collections

There’s little detail about Rebellion’s archive project just yet, beyond holding pages on online book store sites, including AmazonUK, with no facility to order just yet; but it appears the strips featured in the first 12 issues – “Hookjaw”, “Dredger” and more – will be collected in a similar format to the Rebellion Scream collections, the 40 Years of Scream!, published last year, and the upcoming Scream! Specials Archival Collection.

You can be sure Rebellion will be announcing a 2000AD/ Treasury of British Comics Webshop Exclusive cover for this collection, and I’d expect it to follow the same format as the Scream collections, to complement their design on your bookshelf.

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 Freeman

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.