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Invasion! was a series created by Pat Mills and written by Gerry Finley-Day that appeared in the first 51 editions of the weekly comic book 2000 AD. The series introduced the character of Bill Savage, a classic anti-authoritarian character of the type which Mills is best known for. It has been continued in the sequel series Savage, beginning in 2004, by Pat Mills and Charlie Adlard.
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Alternate historical background
In the alternate recent history established in Savage, Russia fell to a Fascist military coup and was renamed the Volgan Republic by Marshall Vashkov in 1991. In 1992, vast new reserves of North Sea oil were discovered off the coast of Britain. Ken Livingstone became head of the Labour Party, and his "True Labour" movement gained power over Shirley Brown's Conservative Party in a 1995 general election. In 1996, Prime Minister Livingstone ordered the removal of all American military bases from the British Isles; by 1998, a newly isolationist United States had withdrawn completely from Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Progs 119 to 139 contained the prequel story Disaster 1990, which shows Britain being flooded by melting polar icecaps in 1990. Savage has not treated this as canonical.
Synopsis
Invasion!
Set in the year 1999, the first part of the the series depicts Western Europe and the United Kingdom being swiftly over-run by an invasion from the Volgan Republic known as the Eight-Hour War. North Sea oil rigs are seized by helicopter-borne commando units, Heathrow airport is captured by paratroopers allowing heavy transport planes to land delivering heavy armour close to London, and the Midlands are hit by nuclear weapons, including a 50 megaton warhead. The UK Government capitulates, with many hardline anti-Volgan MPs, Lords and generals being executed; a puppet government, under Prime Minister Simon Creepton, takes control. Bill Savage, an East-End lorry-driver begins a one-man resistance movement against the Volgans after his wife and children are killed when Savage's home is hit by a Volgan tank shell during the invasion. As with similar characters that Mills and Day had created for other titles such as Action and Battle Picture Weekly, Savage is given a gimmick, with a hauling hook and a sawn-off shotgun being his preferred weapons. Throughout the series, Savage's brutal violence and working-class common sense leads to victory, whereas military resistance is depicted as being class bound and ineffectual. At the end of the series Savage is tasked with taking the Heir to the Throne to safety in Canada though he has organised an effective resistance to the Volgans. The Volgan War became part of a connecting backstory for a number of 2000 AD series including ABC Warriors.
Savage
In the sequel series Savage, the Volgans are still in command in 2004 and are being opposed by terrorist insurgent groups like the Free European Army and Traitor's Gate. Escapist fiction like Lord Cyboid and the Silver Rapier is abundant, produced by the Volgans to pacify the general public; propaganda campaigns try to convince people to accept the occupation and not be "bitter-enders". Some people have come to accept the occupation or actively collaborate with it; they are described as "Double Yellows", after the twin yellow stripes on the uniforms of the British State Security agents and police officers who collaborate with the Volgan regime. It has also been revealed that America and the Volgan Republic have done a power-sharing agreement, and America will make no move to liberate the areas that have been conquered. It is also established that unnamed members of the British establishment helped the invasion to take place, feeling threatened by the socialism of Prime Minister Livingstone. Under the direction of Savage, the resistance manages to almost force the Volgan peacekeepers to withdraw from Britain in 2004, though they manage to cling onto power and send renewed troop numbers in. Subsequently, Savage assassinated Vashkov. Consequently, State Security agents retaliated by murdering his brother Tom after discovering he had secretly written stories that would be embarrassing for the regime. Savage and his sister Cassie killed all the agents responsible, only for it to be discovered that Savage's former-MI6 resistance contact had been behind it and was secretly a collaborator. Savage then killed him and his security team and sent a copy of his brother's work on the Internet. As a result, the resistance alongside the population, rose up against the Volgan "peacekeepers" and liberated most of Southern England.
The weapons of Bill Savage
When Invasion! started, Bill Savage was armed with a double-barrel side-by-side shotgun. After getting into contact with the British Resistance, he was given a pump-action shotgun. Throughout the original series and in the new Savage series, Bill Savage is shown that he is skilled in the use of different types of firearms - both friendly and enemy. The various firearms Bill Savage used in both the Invasion! and Savage series comics besides his tried and trusted double-barrel, side-by-side shotgun are...
- The Remington Model 870 pump-action shotgun (the pump-action shotgun Bill Savage uses resembles the Remington Model 870).
- The Kalashnikov AKSU-74 sub-machine gun (as seen in the recent Savage series).
- The Beretta Model 92FS pistol (as seen in Savage: Taking Liberties in which he used in conjunction with his pump-action shotgun).
- The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle 7.62.mm automatic rifle. As Invasion was published in 1977 the writers had no idea that by 1999 the British Army would be using the L85 series of 5.56.mm rifles.
- The Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun.
- Various types of AK rifles the Volgan Army uses.
Russian/Volgans
The Volgans were originally intended to be the Russian army, but IPC's management forced a last-minute change to a fictional group for fear of offending the Russian embassy.[1] Savage has the Volgans as being Russians following a name change.
Bibliography
All episodes written by Pat Mills.
- Savage (with Charlie Adlard):
- "Savage Book I: Taking Liberties" (in 2000 AD #1387-1396, 2004)
- "Savage Book II: Out of Order" (in 2000 AD #1450-1459, 2005)
- "Savage Book III: Double Yellow" (in 2000 AD #1526-1535, 2007)
Collected volumes
The titles have been collected into trade paperbacks:
- Invasion (March 2007, ISBN 1-905437-26-9)[2][3]
- Savage, Volume.1 - Taking Liberties (June 2007, ISBN 1-905437-28-5)[4][5]
Footnotes
- ^ Thrill Power Overload by David Bishop; Judge Dredd Megazine #4.09
- ^ http://www.2000adonline.com/books/invasion.php
- ^ http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=reprint&page=gnprofiles&choice=invasion&Comic=
- ^ http://www.2000adonline.com/books/savage_taking_liberties.php
- ^ http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=reprint&page=gnprofiles&choice=savage
