Prog 1 - INVASION

What a great splash page to begin a story with.

Invasion wasted no time in getting straight into the action. In 6 pages we get the invasion of Britain by an East Asian army -The Volgans -(no doubt based on the Soviet Union.) The reluctance of other nations to step in and help Britain, raping of Britains natural resources, a glimpse of how harsh living under a Volgan regime would be and finally, last but not least Bill Savage's 'origin' story. All that in 6 pages!

You can tell by the art on the strip that the artist used photo-reference a lot. But this is photo-reference done really well as opposed to some artists today that more or less trace the photos. Here's a panel with Angela Rippon-esque newsreader. To those that don't know or where too young to remember...Angela was the first female news anchor for the BBC.

Bill Savage was based on Stanley bakers character from 'Hell Drivers'.
Watch the trailer here...www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8qFD2s0Fwg


It wasn't unusual for Pat Mills, who was editor then, to loosely base ideas or characters on popular movies or actors. For example...the Harlem Heroes was Mills answer to Rollerball and Dredd was basically Clint Eastwoods "Harry Callahan'.



The basic story is this...In a war that took only 8 hours, Britain has been invaded by a harsh and brutal regime from Eastern Asia. Bill Savage is a lorry (Truck) driver who's returning to his family when he finds out that his family have been killed by a stray shell from a Volgan tank. Savage finds his shotgun and takes out the nearest Volgan patrol.

Britain may have surrendered but Savages war has only just begun.

Savage is Britains 'Punisher' or is the Punisher the USA's 'Savage'?