ABC Warriors: Khronicles of Khaos

A.B.C. Warriors #3

by Pat Mills

The ABC Warriors are warrior-robots enlisted by a future humanity to fight battles on an intergalactic scale on mankind's behalf. Tough, unflagging fighting machines deemed dispensable by a war weary mankind. Once robots with a cause, now they are brought to the planet Hekate to learn the ways of Khaos!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Pat Mills, born in 1949 and nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since.

His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism. He is best known for creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really reading these ABC volumes in any particular order, coz this, is probably one of the earlier ABC warriors. It starts out with only 6 warriors and the ABC are on Planet Hekate to recruit a seventh. in enters Morrigun (still in possession of her petangs, by the way), who is a hostess model before she's recruited. bland, yeah? But it gets better, ABC style-better. even though it's a departure from usual ABC gritty battles and stuff. This one is more of ideological & religious warfare between Deadlock's faith in Hekate and the system Khaos and the Terran Empire's Zalinn religion of order.

The action kicks right off following the warriors hijacking of an imperial tombship, with the Emperor Zalinn in it. Deadlock's not his usual charming, abrasive self, a little Hitlerish, going around with the warriors on a mission to gather seven human heads to sacrifice to Hekate on much awaited Night of The Blood Moon. dreary? I know, I know. but these aren't humans you'd miss: a taxman, a chaplain, a tycoon, a scientist, a politician, a colonel and the Emperor of order himself. Not so much in opposition here, with a late concerted effort by the imperial Rottweilers to intervene, so yeah, parts of it read a little contrived, but we'll excuse it coz Pat Mills does a brilliant job, at least the warriors are exploited for their individual strengths and we get to see fresh glimpses into their particular characters.

VERDICT: Great Artwork. Great pathos.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit I am person of contradictions, I have an excellent memory for storylines and can often relate back to them years after I have read them - take the above for example. However for me that never deminishes the enjoyment I get out of them - I just have to be careful not to spend too much time reading them and overlooking the great new titles that are always coming out. However this one holds a special place for me - as I read the original storylines when they were first published in 2000AD back in the 90s while I was studying chemistry at university. I remember reading them each week with anticipation and amazement at the qaulity of the artwork and colouring - that each edition could be produced so quickly and professionally. Now I wont go in to detail of the comic here - some stories are part of pop culture now - such as Judge Dredd and others well were little more than page fillers trying to pad out a weak comic and convince people they were still worth buying - no this is about the ABC warriors, their adventures and of the strength of British Comics. For those reasons alone I will always return to this - that and the fact its a great read and loads of fun.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Mills is allowed to pick up artists to his scripts, does he do it because he knows the art is way better than his writing and because of that, people keep on reading his stories?

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the first of the two titular stories the team of killer robots, led by the treacherous sorcerer Deadlock, attempt to defeat the forces of Order and unleash the gods of Khaos on the planet Hekate. The second story, ten years later, has the ABC Warriors reassembling (in more ways than one) to destroy the Terran Empire's new superweapon, the Hellbringer.

I'll admit to having a nostalgic soft-spot for the ABC Warriors that may have coloured my opinions of this book.
As a kid my uncle would pass 2000 AD comics onto me and my brother and my parents allowed it because they assumed comics were just kids' stuff. The ABC Warriors (in fact, some of the content featured in this very book) introduced me to comics that were scary, violent, gory and, most of all, funny. (I even used to have a collectable card set of which my pride and joy was Joe Pineapples).
All of that was stuff I enjoyed once again now that I'm a grown man in his forties!

There are Moorcockian themes of the eternal battle of Order versus Chaos which give background depth to the tales taking place but they are really window dressing for these tales of psychotic war robots going around doing what psychotic war robots do.
The ABC Warriors are a wonderfully diverse bunch and seeing the unique talents they each bring to the chaos is a lot of fun, be it the traditionally honourable Hammerstein, the bestial Mongrul or the guaranteed-backstabbing of Blackblood.
What pushes this over the top for me, however, is the wry, cynical sense of humour that pervades the stories and which has always been 2000 AD's best innovation in the world of comics.

Hammerstein: "We've been through hell. But we came back..."
Ro-Jaws: "Ah, well, you should've gone to Toromolinos instead"

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