Rebellion are lining up a new hardcover collection of Fighting Mann, a strip in part inspired by the film Apocalypse Now, that ran in Battle Action back in 1980, written by Alan Hebden (2000AD, Rat Pack), with art by Cam Kennedy (2000AD, Star Wars).
The Year was 1967, The War was Vietnam…
When his Navy pilot son’s plane goes missing during a bombing raid over the Vietnamese jungle, Walter Mann goes on a personal mission to find him. A highly decorated veteran, Colonel Mann must venture deep into Viet Cong territory, while the CIA attempt to stop him from uncovering a terrifying secret…
This complete, action-packed story was one of the first comics to ever cover the subject of the Vietnam War on the printed page. Published in the weekly comic Battle only a few years after the fall of Saigon in 1975, “Fighting Mann” is a hard-hitting and genuine exploration of the follies of this very modern war…
Between Alan’s script and Cam Kennedy’s dynamic art Fighting Mann, first published in issues of Battle cover dated 12th July 1980 to 19th September 1981, running to 60 episodes and some 182 pages of high octane action, is considered by its many fans to be one of the best, most underrated war stories of all time to appear in British comics.
It was such a popular strip, in fact, that it should come as no surprise to learn it was reprinted later in Battle’s run, in 1987 through to 1988, and eventually first collected in 2016, in Titan’s Garth Ennis Presents… Battle Classics Volume Two – “Fighting Mann” & “War Dog”.
When Titan first collected the popular series, the late Colin Noble described Fighting Mann as reminiscent of the TV series The Fugitive “but here Walter ‘Fighting’ Mann is trying to clear the name of his son and to find out what has happened to him.
“When this was originally published in 1980, I was a fan of this story, as I was already addicted to any of Cam Kennedy’s art,” he noted in a review for downthetubes, “but never found out how the story was resolved – so to review this book was a wonderful release as I not only was given the pleasure of devouring the story in one sitting, but I also found out if Walter Mann Jr was a deserter, or something more sinister.”
“Fighting Mann was Battle’s, and indeed British comics’, first stab at a Vietnam War story,” Alan himself said of the story back in 2021. “More Apocalypse Now than The Green Berets, with a touch of Flight of the Intruder thrown in.
“Making sense of such a confused and messy conflict was always going to be a challenge and in this endeavour I was ably aided and abetted by by the superb artwork of Cam Kennedy, master of hardware, action scenes and angry faces.”
“The complexity of the [Vietnam] war left an impression on me even at the age of ten, but it was the action that had me hooked,” Garth Ennis wrote of the adventure in his introduction to Titan’s 2016 collection.
“Fighting Mann doesn’t stint in this regard; among my own favourite sequences are Mann’s shoot-out in the strangely cerie interior of the downed B-52, his sneaky repositioning of the enemy’s booby-traps, the crazed Australian meeting a Vietcong patrol head-on, and the Vietnamese MiG pilot on his courageous one-way trip.
“One aspect of the strip I always recall with a smile is our hero’s apparent use of military aircraft as a taxi service; he commandeers as many gunships and jet tighters as he requires on his way around the war zone, with precious few of these multi-million dollar assets ever returning to their rightful owners. The funniest of these would have to be the Phantom from the USS Forrestal – if only for the means by which Mann gets the pilot ‘on-side’…”
Meet the Creators
Alan Hebden scripted a number of comics in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including strips for Battle such as “The Rat Pack” with artists Carlos Ezquerra, Massimo Belardinelli and Eric Bradbury, Major Eazy with Carlos Ezquerra, “War Dog” and “Fighting Mann” with Cam Kennedy, and both “Death Squad” and “Crazy Keller” with Eric Bradbury.
A collection of Clash of the Guards, a relatively short-lived strip for Battle, also created with Cam Kennedy and the late Ron Tiner, was published in 2023.
For Starlord he wrote “Mind Wars”, which featured the art of Jesus Redondo, and scripted the majority of “Planet of the Damned” (its opening scripted by Pat Mills). His many strips for 2000AD include “Meltdown Man”, and the sequel to “Harlem Heroes” with Massimo Bellardinelli. He also scripted ‘Death Planet”, which featured the first female lead in a 2000AD strip.
Alan has also written various war stories for DC Thomson’s Commando and is currently working on a violent, sexy novel that follows a blood-soaked trail of retribution, from the India of the Raj on the eve of World War One to England and Italy at the start of the Swinging Sixties.
Cam Kennedy is another hugely popular 2000AD artist, having illustrated many “Judge Dredd” strips and co-created luckless wannabe creator Kenny Who? and the Taxidermist. A key early “Rogue Trooper” artist, he has also drawn Batman/Judge Dredd: Vendetta in Gotham, “Judge Dredd”, “Tharg the Mighty”, “Tharg’s Future Shocks”, and “The V.C.’s”. His work beyond 2000AD includes “Axel Pressbutton”, for Warrior, Batman, Lobo, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Star Wars.
• Fighting Mann by Alan Hebden and Cam Kennedy is due for release on 25th February 2027| ISBN: 978-1837868902 | Preorder it from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Preorder it from Forbidden Planet (Affiliate Link) | Preorder it from Gosh! via Bookshop.org (Affiliate Link) |
- 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, downthetubes News
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