 Here's some more of your letters mates!  | | Dear Steve, Great site. I wonder why the original Hook Jaw artist was replaced, as I thought the subsequent artist was not as good. Lou | | Steve says: The new artist, Felix Carrion, was pretty poor. I think Ramon Sola was replaced because he went over to 2000AD to work on Flesh with Pat Mills, another story involving huge creatures with sharp teeth eating people! Comics of the time tended to start with the first string of writers and artists to get the title established, before bringing in the lesser talents to keep things ticking over. The better talents were then moved on to begin new projects. | | Dear Steve, I was born in 1963, and I remember Action with great fondness. You have a great site dedicated to preserving the memory of this brilliant comic, but there is a strip I remember which you haven't included for some reason. Flesh was the story of time travelling cowboys(!) who returned to the time of the dinosaurs in order to turn the creatures into steaks to feed the starving population of the future! The main dinosaur was a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex, whose name escapes me. Am I mistaken about this story appearing in Action? Andy Upton | | Steve says: Thanks for the kind comments about the site, but I must say, you are indeed mistaken about Flesh. 'Old One Eye' rampaged her way through the first 19 issues of 2000AD, not Action. This Hook Jaw styled story had many similarities however. Created and partly written by Pat Mills with art from Ramon Sola and Felix Carrion, who also did Hook Jaw, it was supposed to be an ecological tale in much the same vein. Following Action's ban, Flesh was heavily censored. Some original material survives, but the strip was cut to bits for the reprint versions of the 80s and 90s. A recent rerun in the Dredd Megazine saw some pages restored to their former glory, but many still whitewashed out the blood and severed limbs. Great strip, but unluckily, it was in the wrong comic. I might still give it a mention however. There's a new section coming up called The Legacy of Action, in which I will explore the censorship of later Brit comics like Tooth and its stable mates. Some of the early work planned for M.A.C.H. 1 and Harlem Heroes put Dredger and Death Game 1999 to shame. That's all in the future however, 'cos I've still got lots of bits and bobs to finish off first. | |
