Banned British comic ACTION to be reprinted in new Archival Collection

Rebellion has announced Action as the newest addition to their library of Archival Collections to coincide with the controversial title’s fiftieth anniversary. The anthology is known as the immediate forerunner to 2000 AD and has gone down in history as the one British comic to incite a moral panic.

According to a Rebellion press release:

“For the first time in decades, Rebellion are collecting Action in a series of new archival editions, containing all of the strips and some of the editorial that created so much infamy back in the 1970s!”

The first hardcover Action: Before the Ban, Volume One will release February 25, 2026 with both a standard and webshop exclusive cover retailing at £44 ($60.99) and £50 ($66.99), respectively. Preorders are now open via the 2000 AD webshop.

Action: Before the Ban, Volume One —Standard cover (L) and 2000 AD webshop exclusive cover (R)

Action was a British kids weekly anthology comic that launched in February 1976 from IPC Publications. It was the brainchild of Pat Mills and Geoff Kemp who were tasked with creating a brand-new boys adventure comic for modern tastes. They drew inspiration/heavily lifted concepts from popular movies of the time (Dirty Harry analogue Dredger; Jaws variant Hook Jaw) as well as updated long-established boys’ comic concepts. In its bid to add a bit more realism and thrills for readers, the comic notably dialled up the violence – which had it dubbed by one tabloid “The Sevenpenny Nightmare”. In October 1976, following immense public outcry, the publisher withdrew it from sale before returning it to the shelves two months later in a sanitised form. It limped along until, after 86 issues, it was folded into IPC war comic Battle to form Battle Action in November 1977.

Volume One of this Archival Collection will republish the first twelve issues of the title with colour pages restored, accompanied by introductions from the title’s founding editor, co-creator, and writer Pat Mills, and series writer Steve MacManus.

Action: Before the Ban further expands Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics’ Archival Collections library following the sell-out success of short-lived British horror title Scream! In 2024. Each reproduces full issues of vintage British anthology titles from the vast IPC-Fleetway archives.