Published by Total Toy Books
Review by Luke Williams
For those who aren’t in the know, or are under the age of 50, in the UK Action Force was the successor toy line and Palitoy’s remodelling of the UK Action Man line of 12” articulated action figures, probably better known these days by its US name, GI Joe. Action Man was shrunk to a more manageable pocket size, and each figure dressed for a different military function, infantryman, frogman, special forces etc.
However, someone had the bright idea of making these figures far more marketable to impressionable young boys, by creating a baddie for the four-inch high infantry to focus on: “The Enemy”, led by the despicable Baron Ironblood, a masked madman with designs of world domination, with henchman and ex-Action Force officer the Black Major (essentially, a carbon copy of Gerry Anderson’s Captain Scarlet’s villain, Captain Black) in tow – and an army of fanatical, brainwashed ex-criminals and mercenaries, the Red Shadows.
To combat this new dastardly menace, the governments of the world create four, super talented, super resourced multinational teams:
Z Force – Your regular ground army, your tanks, snipers, infantry, plus foxy female superspy. Led by playboy adventurer Grant Campbell, codename “Skip”
SAS Force – Sneaky special forces, led by career soldier Rob Buckingham, codename “Eagle”
Q Force – the brightly coloured maritime unit to take care of seaborne threats, commanded by ex-Royal Navy and deep sea diver “Leviathan”, aka Jamie McLaren
Space Force – “Skyraider” / Chuck Connors’ Surveillance and air superiority team.
Of course, if you have toys, you need to sell them, and what better way than in a boys’ adventure strip? Initially, a four-part strip ran in Battle, introducing readers to the character, shortly followed by full colour comics, given away with three IPC titles: Eagle, Tiger and Battle.
Clearly a hit, IPC introduced the characters full time as a means of bolstering the ailing Battle title and so, for roughly three years from October 1983, Battle became Battle Action Force. You can read more about the background here.
Declaration: It’s probably only fair to inform the reader that this writer is a bit of a fan of this material, and it was with some considerable excitement (although also some considerable hesitation, due to its cost) that he placed an order for these books. Published by Total Toy Books in conjunction with Rebellion, their route to publication has not been without controversy, judging by discussion on social media. However, despite the snobbishness that surrounds some licensed comics, the three volumes represent a significant part of British Comics history, along with work from legendary creators and some sadly forgotten talent.
These three volumes – Red Tide Rising, World in Peril and Axis of Evil – collect some of the earlier strips from the weekly comic, the material that predated Batlle Action Force and stories from specials and annuals.
The vast majority of the strips featured are written by Gerry Finley-Day, a man who should be held in the same regard as Pat Mills and John Wagner, in being a powerful force in the rejuvenation of British Comics for boys and girls in the 1970s. In this period, Finley-Day was writing under his own name and pseudonyms, such as Frank Noble and Ken Owen, and did the heavy lifting on these strips, his military experience lending it some “authenticity” (as much as a line of toys can have, anyway) into play.
(Just because comic strips are based on a toy line doesn’t mean they couldn’t be a high quality).
The creators expanded and tied the mythologies and backstories of the characters together, forging a cohesive universe. Cynical marketing perhaps, but it did, and does, the trick. Finley-Day and his artistic partners were responsible for shaping the world and direction of Action Force and Ironblood, and making it all terribly exciting, with genuine cliffhangers and making those masked Red Shadows really sinister.
Finley-Day, editorial and other writers such as James Nicholas (actually James Tomlinson, son of Tiger and Roy of the Rovers editor Barrie Tomlinson), Scott Goodall took the characters and put them through the wringer. Sensibly, although Ironblood and co. were always present, they weren’t in every Action Force strip. The longest running Z Force strips, for example, featured a guerilla war following a religious coup, and well organised gunmen terrorising a fictious jungle nation, giving the package some variety.
Are these stories sophisticated? No, not in the slightest. However, for all that the strips collected here are extended toy adverts, there is the tension of seeing your favourite characters seemingly being outmatched by the evil Baron and sent to their doom. There are plot holes agogo, enormous leaps in story logic, the dialogue can be clunky, continuity between strips can be a bit iffy, characterisation is occasionally relegated to the odd colloquial phrase or foreign word to remind you of the character’s nationality (having reached my 50s, I have yet to meet a fellow Welshman who uses the phrase “look you”) and racial stereotyping, too; and if the creators introduce a character who isn’t an action figure, you know they’re doomed. The strips are action packed, well-paced and could be surprisingly grim.
The best writing comes from Finley-Day, particularly on longer strips like “Operation Bloodhound“, featuring SAS Force chasing Ironblood across South America, closely followed by his work on the Z Force “Desert Strike” and “Jungle Terror”. By and large, the longer the strip, the more momentum, the better it is.
There are the odd duds, notably the SAS Force story “Death Castle”, which starts almost straight after “Bloodhound” and sits uneasily alongside it, “Tank Hunt” which aside from its visuals, coming in a break during “Desert Strike”, feels like filler – and “Hawk’s Challenge” and “Codename: Beaver”, which are just throwaway despite some great art.
But each strip has pace, they are exciting and more happens in each three-to-four-page episode than some modern 20-page US comics. No, they don’t have the same emotional heft of “Charley’s War”, which was running concurrently, but they were bloody good fun.
Then there is the art. The strips were, mainly, published in black and white, with the only colour on the cover when the toys featured and colour centre section, which led to some memorable double page spreads. Personal art favourite of all the strips is Gual’s moody, heavily inked work on “Codename: Tracker”, closely followed by the “Z Force” work of Vanyo (actually two Spanish artists, Vicente Vaño Ibarra and Eduardo Vaño Ibarra), which is bright, action packed and dynamic.
But it doesn’t stop there. There are strips drawn by now overlooked comic greats. Jim Watson’s chunky work on strips like “Tank Hunt”, the clean work of Geoff Campion on “Operation Bloodhound”, subbed on a few episodes by the great Cam Kennedy, the shiny retro lines of Ron Turner (listed here as Rober Turner) on “Sea Fury” and the underrated Jim Bleach on “Attack”; John Cooper’s gritty “Operation Claymore” (who, controversially, had been taken off “Johnny Red”), and not to mention the slick Tony Coleman on “Codename Jackal”; and, finally, Carmona, illustrating the various character and vehicles profiles that have been included in the collections.
The package includes bonuses such as the character bios in the “Action Force Data Files” and Action Force “Combat”, text stories accompanied by a very nice illustration.
However, despite the total number of pages of each volume coming to 872 pages, there are significant omissions. These volumes don’t include the 1985 reboot of the line, when Action Force became one team of entirely new characters, led by former US Army Ranger “Duke”, while Baron Ironblood shifted identity to the far less sinister, far camper, identity of Cobra Commander.
Writing as Ken Owen, Gerry Finley-Day’s origin story of the Black Major is also notable by its absence, with its lovely Jim Watson, Geoff Senior and Gual art, but there are others, too: “Codename Stakeout”, which was published after the “Cobra” reboot , “Codename Skyraider”, “Codename Quickfire”, “Codename Shark” and “Revenge of the Red Shadows”, where the spurned followers of Ironblood exact vengeance on their former master, and a personal favourite, “Death in South America”, a batshit Finley-Day and John Copper concoction of Nazis, SAS, Red Shadows and SAS, fighting it out in the Amazon Rainforest.
Should these volumes be a success, it seems likely that we’ll have at least another two volumes of material dependent on the success of these three. Personally, this writer would be content with collections of the remaining multi force strips and skipping the lighter, far less appealing multi-functional Action Force / Duke team, but that might just be deep seated prejudice from 13 year old me over my favourite characters being displaced.
These collections are expensive, but awesome fun – and an important part of British Comics history.
Luke Williams
• Order your limited edition Action Force collections direct from Total Toy Books | Each volume also available separately
Further Reading on downthetubes…
• Looking Back at Battle Action Force
Many older British comic fans will remember Marvel UK’s Action Force comic, but the team had another home – in issues of IPC’s Battle in the early 1980s. Luke Williams looks back at the stories…
Web Links
• For everything you wanted to know about Action Force, then your starting point should be bloodforthebaron.com
• ActionForceToys.com is a dedicated site for vintage toy collectors of Action Force, GI Joe, Star Wars, Transformers, M.A.S.K and more
The Books…
• Sign up to the mailing list at TotalToyBooks.com to be the first to find out more
Battle Action Force Treasury Edition Volume 1 – Red Tide Rising
By Gerry Finley-Day (writer) and Geoff Campion (artist). Also featuring the talents of James Tomlinson, Cam Kennedy, Robert Turner, Jim Watson, Anthony Coleman, Jim Bleach, John Cooper and Vanyo. Cover Art by Robin Smith and Geoff Campion.
This limited edition deluxe volume collects the secret origins of Baron Ironblood and his legions of Red Shadows, featuring the epic “Operation Bloodhound” by Gerry Finley-Day and Geoff Campion.
In the aftermath of “Action Ascendency” Action Force’s SAS team pursue Baron Ironblood across the South American continent but soon find that they themselves have become the quarry. Captain Buckingham, codename Eagle, and his squad must use all of their survival skills to stay one-step ahead of the hunt.
Also includes a covers gallery, Action Force data files and the top secret file on The Baron.
No. of pages: 272 | Dimensions: 270mm x 325mm x 30mm | Weight: 2.06KG
Battle Action Force Treasury Edition Volume 2 – World In Peril
By Gerry Finley-Day (writer) and John Cooper (artist). Also featuring the talents of James Tomlinson, Scott Goodall, Jim Watson, Robert Turner, Gual and Geoff Campion. Cover Art by John Cooper
Featuring the action packed “Operation Claymore” by Gerry Finley-Day and John Cooper, as well as other hard hitting Action Force stories.
The Action Force teams are spread across the globe in a desperate attempt to battle Baron Ironblood and his legions of Red Shadows.
Also includes a covers gallery and character data files.
No. of pages: 304 | Dimensions: 270mm x 325mm x 32mm | Weight: 2.26KG
Battle Action Force Treasury Edition Volume 3 – Axis Of Evil
By Gerry Finley-Day (writer) and Vanyo (artist). Cover Art by Vanyo
Collects the epic “Z Force” trilogy by Gerry Finley-Day and Vanyo.
From the desert sands of Duna to the coral islands of the South Pacific, Z Force, lead by Captain Grant Campbell, stand against the most fearsome terrorist factions on the planet.
Also includes a covers gallery, Action Force combat reports and character data files
No. of pages: 272 | Dimensions: 270mm x 325mm x 30mm | Weight: 2.06KG
• Order your limited edition Action Force collections direct from Total Toy Books | Each volume also available separately
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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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