Dredger (comics)
| "Dredger" | |
|---|---|
IPC Magazines | |
| Publication date | 14 February 1976 – 7 October 1978 |
| Genre | |
| Title(s) | Action 14 February to 16 October 1976 4 December 1976 to 12 November 1977 Battle Action 19 November 1977 to 7 October 1978 |
| Main character(s) | Dredger Simon Breed |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Kelvin Gosnell Pat Mills Steve MacManus Chris Lowder Geoffrey Kemp Stewart Wales Gerry Finley-Day Terry Magee Tom Tully Alan Hebden |
| Artist(s) | Horacio Altuna Fred Holmes Leandro Sesarego Ricardo Villagrán Jordi Badía Romero Jesús Blasco Geoff Campion John Cooper |
| Editor(s) | Geoff Kemp John Smith Sid Bicknell Dave Hunt |
"Dredger" is a
Creation
Left with a short time to create an all-new comic for
DI Jack Regan fromMills also insisted on making "Dredger" consist of standalone stories in response to what he perceived as comics stories that "were taking the piss out of readers with these endless spun-out cliffhangers". The strip was laid out by Action's art director Doug Church[1]
Publishing history
The demanding nature of the all-in-one work required for "Dredger" saw it quickly burn through writers, with initial scribe Kelvin Gosnell soon making way for contributions from the likes of Steve MacManus, Chris Lowder and Stewart Wales taking turns, along with Mills and Kemp themselves.[6] Mills would recall "It was bloody hard work, and I must have been mad to do it as it was like coming up with a complete novella in three pages!".[1]
Like much of Action, "Dredger" soon gathered mainstream press disapproval for its violent and nihilistic content. Lowder would later admit "some of the Dredgers I did were mainly shock-for-shock's sake", noting that one of his contributions was created around the image of Dredger shooting a priest; another, where Dredger bit out the throat of a guard dog, was rejected by editor John Smith. Church meanwhile worked on another episode with Mills that revolved around Dredger decapitating an opponent during a train-top fight. As a result of such outrageous, twist-filled storytelling "Dredger" was second only to "Hook Jaw" as the most popular story in Action's early line-up.[5] An episode by Gosnell which featured a character being dissolved with acid pumped through a shower attracted criticism from tabloid newspaper The Sun, which was at the time moving towards becoming the country's best-selling newspaper due to an editorial decision to start printing topless pictures of young models, many of whom were under 18.[7]
While the comic was hugely popular, the press clamour against the comic reached a pitch that saw the IPC board finally order Action be withdrawn while it was extensively overhauled after the 16 October edition. The comic returned in December, with "Dredger" still in the line-up but with its violence heavily toned down and any
Due to its standalone format "Dredger" was suited to reprinting, and pre-ban episodes were included in the short-lived 1987 all-reprint title All-Action Monthly, as well as the 1988 224-page softback Big Adventure Book. In 1991 selected episodes of "Dredger" were included in Martin Barker's Action - The Story of a Violent Comic, published by Titan Books.
Since 2016 the rights to "Death Game 1999", "Spinball" and "The Spinball Wars" have been owned by Rebellion Developments.[10][11] In spring 2020 Rebellion published an Action Special 2020 under its Treasury of British Comics imprint.[12] The special included a new "Dredger" strip by Zina Hutton and Staz Johnson. In June 2022 Rebellion followed up with a hardcover Battle Action Special with new stories featuring characters from both comics, all written by Ennis and featuring another new "Dredger" strip.[13] This had a more positive reception.[14]
Plot summary
In 1973, the hard-case former
Reception
In a study on British comics, James Chapman felt "Dredger" was a good strip but that much of its violence was gratuitous, and like several strips in Action was hard to defend from criticism in this regard.[15]
References
- ^ a b c d Jewell, Stephen (17 January 2017). "The Sevenpenny Nightmare!". Judge Dredd Megazine. No. 379. Rebellion Developments.
- ISBN 9781404202825.
- ISBN 9781134557998.
- ^ Berridge, Ed (9 December 2008). "Gerry Finley-Day: The Quiet Man". Judge Dredd Megazine. No. 278. Rebellion Developments.
- ^ ISBN 9781852860233.
- ^ a b Holland, Steve (2002). The Fleetway Companion. Rotherham: CJ & Publication.
- ISBN 9781786189837.
- ^ Bishop, David (23 September 2003). "They Were Expendable". Judge Dredd Megazine. No. 210. Rebellion Developments.
- ISBN 9781786180544.
- ^ "The Return of the IPC Youth Group". 11 September 2019.
- ^ "Rebellion Buys Fleetway Archive - Roy Of The Rovers, Oink, Tammy, Battle, Whizzer And Chips And More". bleedingcool.com. 25 August 2016.
- ^ Maveal, Chloe (27 February 2020). "Syndicated Comics".
- ^ Down the Tubes (retrieved 15 June 2022)
- ^ Williams, Luke (8 June 2022). "In Review: Battle Action Special (2022)". downthetubes.net.
- ISBN 9781861899620.