British comic book story
Action Force is a British comic war story published in the weekly anthology "Battle" from 8 October 1983 to 29 November 1986 by IPC Magazines; for most of the period the comic was retitled "Battle Action Force". The story is based on the toyline of the same name produced by Palitoy, and portrayed multinational Europe-based anti-terrorist military organisation Action Force's attempts to thwart the ambitions of the Red Shadows and – later – Cobra. "Action Force" ended when the toyline's new owners Hasbro discontinued the licence with IPC in favour of a dedicated title produced by Marvel UK.
Creation.
While "Battle" was still among IPC's best-selling comics in the early 1980s, sales of weekly titles on the whole were sliding. In response, editor Terry Magee and group editor Barrie Tomlinson relaxed the title's all-war format in favour of allowing stories less anchored in realism. However, this was only a partial success and from 1981 the comic's budget was such that it had to begin reprinting older stories.
Meanwhile Coalville-based toy company Palitoy had been producing "Action Man" since 1966, initially as a licensed version of American company Hasbro's "G.I. Joe". "Action Man" had gone on to become something of a cultural icon in Britain, but like boys' comics the market was in decline due to the relatively high price of the 12" 1⁄6-scale figure and its accessories. Since 1977, the 3¾" toys based on the "Star Wars" had been a smash success, and showed the size of the market for vast numbers of cheap action figures based on a franchise. As British distributor of "Star Wars" figures, Palitoy had first-hand experience and created "Action Force" in 1982 – effectively a range of 3¾" "Action Man" figures, albeit with non-removable sculpted uniforms. Priced at £1.50 – closer to the pocket money of the average British child – sales were strong.
The initial batch of figures had largely been modelled on real-life soldiers, much like the uniforms of "Action Man". However, for the second year of the line Palitoy decided to push the series in a more fantastical direction, devising the idea of Action Force being a European taskforce facing off on the conquest-hungry Baron Ironblood and his Red Shadows minions as a unifying fiction. As part of the line's promotional push they contacted IPC, paying them for a four-week strip in "Battle", written by Gerry Finley-Day with art from Jim Watson and based on the toyline's background information. The result was viewed as a success, and Palitoy asked IPC to produce a series of five promotional mini-comics, which were given away as a free gift with the publisher's boys comics ("Tiger", "Battle" and "Eagle") weekly between 16 July and 10 September 1983.
Publishing history.
Again the experiment was well-received and Palitoy offered to underwrite a regular "Action Force" strip in "Battle". From the 8 October 1983 edition the comic was retitled "Battle Action Force" and featured three "Action Force" strips. Due to the toyline splitting up the Action Force organisation into four branches – Z-Force, SAS Force, Q-Force and Space Force – the comic was able to rotate the focus of the strips, allowing the creative teams for each concurrent serial to not worry overly about what others were doing. The third strip in each episode would focus on a particular member of Action Force; another device was flashback origin stories for the characters. Palitoy underwrote the costs of the "Action Force" material, effectively halving "Battle"'s production costs, while also opening it up to a younger audience.
Despite this steady source of funding, the strips were not entirely popular with the IPC staff. Tomlinson would later bemoan the slow process of getting Palitoy – who he described "weren't really comic people" to approve the art and scripts while keeping to the rigid weekly schedule. Finley-Day felt there was some flexibility, but artist John Cooper was less than impressed after being taken off "Johnny Red" to draw some of the strips, later recalling "I thought it was rubbish... I thought then, 'It's going downhill, this comic'" and particularly disliking Ironblood.
The strips did at least allow the title's falling sales to level out, and in addition to paying for the strips Palitoy would fund a number of circulation-boosting free gifts based on the toyline – arguably reaching its apex when the 14 July 1984 edition featured a cover-mounted "Action Force" figure, sold in shops for £1.50, with the 24p comic.
However, in 1985 Palitoy took the cheaper route of simply importing figures from Hasbro's own 3¾" toyline, "" and simply altering some elements of their toy biographies to make them fit in with the European-themed "Action Force". This not only meant an influx of characters for the comic but also the outright replacement of the Red Shadows as villains by Cobra. Finley-Day was left with the unenviable job of trying to cope with the overnight change in the strip, coming up with the concept of Ironblood betraying the Red Shadows and taking on the identity of Cobra Commander to raise a new army. While older characters would continue to appear in strips, they were generally only featured in secondary roles.
A more serious blow came when Palitoy's owners General Mills decided to sell its interests in the toy industry. Hasbro purchased the company, and while Action Force continued as an imported version of "G.I. Joe" they moved to swiftly end the agreement with IPC. The American company had experienced considerable success producing a comic based on the "Transformers" toyline with Marvel UK, and were keen to see if the process could be repeated with "Action Force". The final episodes of "Action Force" were printed in "Battle Action Force" in November 1986, after which Marvel would reboot the series with a premise much closer to the American "G.I. Joe" mythos.
For "Battle" itself, the loss of "Action Force" was a serious body-blow. Not only did the comic lose half its funding but it suddenly had to fill the gap with new content. As such, Tomlinson and editor Richard Burton hurriedly came up with the copycat concept of Storm Force, which became one of the few new stories produced alongside an increasing number of reprints. A second attempt at a licensed strip, based on Acamas' "X-Changers" line, was unsuccessful and in January 1988 "Battle Storm Force" was merged with "Eagle".
Plot summary.
The small volcanic island nation of Ascendancy is suddenly invaded by Baron Ironblood and the Red Shadows, who brutally take control. The Baron then contacts the United Nations, threatening to use a super-bomb to destroy the island unless he is given $400m in gold bars. Action Force are activated, and naval arm Q-Force are sent in to scout Ascendancy's coastline. Space Force then drops members of the covert SAS Force onto the island, who pave the way for a landing by infantry unit Z-Force. Ironblood attempts to use an android Muton to activate the bomb before it is frozen by Q-Force, and Ascendancy is freed. However, the Baron and his chief lieutenant the Black Major slip away on a hidden submarine. Ironblood is able to raise a new army at a base in the Andes and attempted revenge by targeting all the leaders of all four branches of Action Force for assassination. The attacks are unsuccessful, and convince Action Force to begin an offensive campaign to bring the Red Shadows down.
SAS Force led the effort, initiating Operation Bloodhound to locate Baron Ironblood's base. Despite several ambushes whittling down the unit, Eagle and his men were ultimately able to thwart an invasion of the Pacific seaboard, though the major Red Shadows once again eluded them. Z-Force meanwhile find themselves trapped in the middle of a coup in the central African state of Duna, but under the command of Slip help stop Major Maddi and his Gibli insurgents from overrunning the country. Baron Ironblood launched a counter-strike by attempting to incinerate SAS Force units searching the Pampas for his base, framing them as saboteurs causing wildfires. The Red Shadows also targeted a Z-Force training exercise in Norway, hoping to capture a new experimental tank, but Steeler was able to prevent the theft.
Leviathan's Q-Force investigated a number of disappearing warships in the South Atlantic, eventually defeating the Red Shadows behind it. Disturbances in equatorial Africa saw Z-Force called in to investigate, leading to a confrontation with the Ironblood-backed Mamba cult. SAS Force again clashed with the Baron when a section training in the Alps stumbled across one of his bases at Castle Arlberg and were captured. The survivors were able to keep the Red Shadows busy until Z-Force reinforcements arrived. The Red Laser then framed a detachment of Q-Force in the experimental Sea Lion submarine for a terrorist attack on Singapore, but they were able to avoid their pursuers long enough to clear their names. The Red Shadows gained a victory when Action Force driver Anton Nobokov was severely injured, and agreed to undergo radical surgery at the hands of Ironblood to save his life. Renamed the Red Jackal, the highly enhanced driver worked with a cell of Turkish terrorists to wipe out diplomats at a conference in Istanbul in the Red Shadows' new Hyena tank.
Ironblood made another attempt to wipe out SAS Force by sending a force to kill them while on an exercise in the Scottish Highlands, taking over nearby towns under the guise of a historical re-enactment to cut them off. Despite heavy casualties the SAS Force team were eventually able to survive the manhunt and drive the Red Shadows off. The Red Shadows were reinforced when they recovered an ancient sea creature called the Kraken, frozen at the North Pole. A section of the recovery team attempted to mutiny but were put down by the Black Major, and the creature was cloned to provide the Baron with an underwater army, which caused heavy SAS Force casualties. After learning the Red Shadows were targeting a strategic Pacific atoll, Z-Force dug in to prevent its capture. Despite a gruelling siege led by the Black Major and the Red Laser, they were eventually able to drive off the invaders. Baron Ironblood attempted to frame Space Force pilot Moondancer for the deaths of two cadets, forcing the pilot to go on the run. He and his team-mate Kiwi were able to uncover a plot to take over a NASA mission to the Moon as a bridgehead; they were able to defeat Red Shadow space pilot Red Wolf and restore Moondancer's reputation.
After the Red Shadows undertook a coordinated campaign of terrorist actions, the United Nations passed a special resolution giving Action Force command of the world's military for a concerted campaign to wipe out Ironblood and his forces once and for all. Sensing defeat, Ironblood transmitted the location of numerous Red Shadow bases to the authorities and headed for a secret hideout unknown to his forces, which he left to be wiped out by Action Force. Instead he reinvented himself as Cobra Commander, and began to set up a new network of terrorist forces. The vengeful Red Jackal pursues him but is captured, and further surgeries see him turned into Destro and recruited to the new Cobra organisation. They recruit a new army of fanatics, including the ninja swordsman Storm Shadow, Australian army deserter Major Bludd and expert saboteur Firefly. In response to the increased activity of Cobra, American intelligence officer Major Flagg is charged with recruiting a new Action Force team to deal with the threat.
Led in the field by Top sergeant Duke, new units underwent rapid training, though Cobra agents such as Zartan attempted to disrupt the process. Other Cobra recruits included Austrian aristocrat and anarchist Baroness while the organisation also captured the plans for Action Force's Hawk helicopter, with Destro making a superior version called the F.A.N.G. Despite these disruptions, the new Action Force team reached operational status, headquartered under the United Nations Secretariat Building, and began planning a trap for Cobra. However their plans were complicated by the return of the Red Shadows, with the Black Major having escaped and freed a large number of prisoners to gain revenge on both Action Force and Cobra, leading to a three-way conflict.
Cobra attempted to steal a large quantity of gold bullion, flying it to a secret location in Egypt, and the new team were sent in to recover it. They were eventually