The definitive collection of Third World War, a powerful tale of of global capitalism, rebellion and exploitation created by Pat Mills and the late Carlos Ezquerra.
A ground-breaking story, “Third World War” first appeared in the anthology title Crisis, the revolutionary political comic from Fleetway published in the UK from 1988 to 1991. It opened in Central America, a story exposing corporate exploitation by the multinationals in the third world. Central character Eve is unemployed after leaving university and is immediately conscripted as a soldier working for a corporation – and discovers just how South American countries are being exploited to create food needed to feed the increasing population for their profit under the guise of western paternalism.
Written by 2000AD creator Pat Mills (“Nemesis the Warlock”, “Slaine”) later stories were written by the late Alan Joseph Mitchell and Malachy Coney, set a nightmare urban world in Britain, published to complement the story that Mills had developed with Eve and others. The later stories also introduced two new artists to mainstream comics – Sean Phillips and Duncan Fegredo.
A collected edition that will run to over 200 pages, Third World War is probably even more relevant today than first published, as the concerns about global capitalism are even more pronounced in the public consciousness.
Carlos Ezquerra’s painted colour artwork is a highlight of his long and distinguished career, and Rebellion tells downthetubes that the majority of the new collection will utilise scans from original art the much-loved artist had kept.
“I would never have taken the risk to do a story like ‘Third World War’ if the editor Steve McManus hadn’t rung me up and said, ‘I’d like you to do something on the politics of food’, so I started to look into it,” Pat recalled in an interview with the web site Ransom Note about the origins of Crisis. “At first I thought, ‘God is this going to be too dull to do anything?’
“But then as I dug deeper, I could see the dramatic possibilities. And also I started to become… let’s say… emotionally affected and deeply disturbed by what I was finding out. How many of us have the time to really look into banking, or to look at how transnationals operate, unless we’re journalists? It was quite a responsibility for me, and I thought ‘God I better get this right- I’ve really got to know what I’m talking about!'”
Pat Mills, currently working on a number of creator-owned projects, is the creator and first editor of 2000 AD. For the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, he is the writer and co-creator of “ABC Warriors”, “Finn”, “Flesh”, “Nemesis the Warlock”, “Sláine”, “M.A.C.H 1”, “Harlem Heroes”, “Savage”, “Defoe” and “Greysuit”. He also developed Judge Dredd and wrote one of the early Dredd serials – “The Cursed Earth”. He co-created and wrote “Third World War” for Crisis!, and “Black Siddha” for the Judge Dredd Megazine.
As co-creator of Judge Dredd with John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra, who died last year, designed the classic original costume as well as visually conceptualising Mega-City One. He also co-created Strontium Dog and illustrated strips such as “A.B.C. Warriors”, “Judge Anderson”, “Tharg the Mighty”, “Al’s Baby” and “Cursed Earth Koburn”, among many others.
Outside of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, Ezquerra first illustrated “Third World War” in Crisis!, and went on to become a regular collaborator with Garth Ennis, working on Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, Bloody Mary, Just a Pilgrim, Condors and The Magnificent Kevin. He also pencilled two special Preacher episodes.
• Pre-order Third World War here online for 7 January 2020 release (Amazon Affiliate Link)
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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.
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