Third World War: Book One

Third World War #1

by R.S.A. Book, Carlos Ezquerra

"This is the type of comics George Orwell could appreciate" - Tom Shapira

Eve is unemployed after leaving university and is immediately conscripted as a soldier working for a corporation and discovers just how South American countries are being exploited to create food needed to feed the increasing population for their profit under the guise of western paternalism.

Written in the late 80s by Pat Mills (Nemesis the Warlock, Slaine) but even more relevant today as the concerns about global capitalism are even more pronounced in the public consciousness.

Carlos (Judge Dredd) Ezquerra's painted colour artwork is a highlight of his long and distinguished career.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Politics

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 2020

Reviews

[Andy Horton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-printed from the old Crisis comic, an attempt to reach older readers than 2000AD, and also a more creator-led work. This strip was especially political. A dystopian view of a near-future world that looked at how capitalism exploits both the people of the third world and the western consumers.
Earnest? Yes.
Heavy-handed? Yes.
"Right-on"? Yes.
Unsubtle. Yes.
Wrong? No.
And has many parallel with the present day. Characterisation varies, but there is some understanding of how there isn't always a simple right vs wrong (or at least that conflicet causes the innocent to suffer whatever the ideals), and the theme of how social and economic pressure forces individuals to compromise with an unjust and exploitative system is quite well handled. Some powerful artwork from the late Carlos Ezquerra too.

[Alistair Robb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember this not being as wordy and trying to be "hip". However, that was over 30 years ago and when I read it in fortnightly installments. That being said it is a powerful read and one that is just as relevant today as it was back in the late 80s and early 90s, I kept adjusting the story time-line from the year 2000 til about 2050 or so in my head. The themes are relevant and the ideas are just as important today.

I felt that this was Mills trying a bit too hard because of the time and the way that it was published, and I'm sure that if it was a prose novel many adjustments would have been made for a new edition. It was great to see Carlos at the peak of his powers illustrating something that wasn't a Strontium Dog or a Judge and his attention to detail and authenticity is stunning.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lashings of Evangelism, Robocop, George Orwell, Clockwork Orange and Peace Corps with guns.

[Chumley Pawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Right-On"? Unapologetically so.

Politically Partisan? Absolutely.

Overwrought? Yes. In ways I can't possibly even begin to describe.

But you know what? No one else was publishing comics with this kind of intelligence or incendiary socio-political bent in mainstream British comics back in the late eighties/early nineties; so regardless of whether you agree with his politics or not, you have to give it up for Pat Mills for blazing a trail that oh-so-many have walked ever since.

Looking back on "The Third World War" now as a 45 year old, it's clunky, overwrought, unnecessarily bleak, and has all the subtlety of a house brick thrown during a riot...but as a 15 year old, it was a "septic whirlwind holocaust" which was absolutely pivotal in my development.

[Mylesgorton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this originally in 1989 when it was serialised in Crisis magazine. This time it’s a 6 part 2000 AD presents edition published in 1991 I picked up at Edinburgh Comicon in 2018. It’s an interesting enough story about a predicted future where multinationals are all-powerful and influence Third World countries through a youth movement in which young adults are conscripted if unemployed. It’s a touch idealistic in it’s approach but it’s an interesting view on what was of concern in the late 80s / early 90s. I don’t doubt some of it will be happening right now but I’m not sure I buy it all... I’ll be undertaking some research though :)

[Adam McPhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how 2000AD stuff all has that over-the-top hyperbole like full-on 90s Image/Marvel hyperbole, but then you read it and they actually have some ideas, and good ones. Actually, I've got that backwards, haven't I? 2000AD would've come first and surely the Americans were trying to imitate it. Anyway, this works both as agitprop and entertainment. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Did a twitter thread of some of my favourite panels here.

[Paul Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

To begin at the beginning. “Third World War”, created by Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra was one of the two launch strips in Crisis, Fleetway’s overtly political stab at creating an “adult” comic the brainchild of Steve MacManus, long term editor of 2000AD.

Set around the turn of this century, it depicts a world where the Third World had tried to overthrow the control the multinational corporations and their government lackeys had over their population’s way of life, since the end of the British Empire and the Second World War. Consequently, the multinationals, most notably “Multi Foods” (a huge food conglomerate) and their first world allies had begun to re-impose control and “economic and political stability” with a combination of military intervention and delivering aid via organisations such as “Freeaid” (The Free World Agency For International Development).

Eve Collins, an 18-year-old A level student, is drafted into Freeaid, and finds herself in Central America with four other “freaks”, the psychologically damaged members of “Market Force”, a military unit whose task is to win the hearts and minds of the local population: Paul, a witch; Trisha, a South African born Christian evangelist; Garry the football hooligan and Ivan, a paranoid army school brat with a mohican.

Broken down into short story arcs, the cast encounter evidence of exploitation, deprivation, ecological devastation and human rights abuses. With Eve as narrator, it becomes a tour of a nameless Central American country, and a litany of the destructive effect that the presence of western culture, consumerism and politics has had on the population.

Politically, Third World War represents almost a distillation of Pat Mills’s writing up to its first publication in Crisis in the 1988. You can trace the origins (if not necessarily the specific topics) of this all the way from “Charley’s War”, through his 2000AD work, “Marshal Law” and beyond. Pat is never particularly subtle, but there is no subtext here – it’s all front and centre.

The result is that Third World War is hard hitting politically and quite savage, but the research that Mills undertook, and feels the need to impart, almost swamps the narrative, in places becoming a screed. Injustices are an opportunity for characters to pontificate. The strip’s plots slow to a crawl as it becomes a diatribe with a plot attached.

Some of the characters also sink into stereotype and are far too earnest and worthy, their dialogue occasionally stilted and unlikely. Trisha has no depth and is present only as a conservative, right wing foil for Eve, saved only by the irony that she seemingly has a crush on her. Eve herself is too “right on”. Garry is Club 18-30 party man who likes a drink and a ruck. Ivan is probably the most rounded, certainly the most likeable – and the pair bring some much needed levity.

The commanding officer of Market Force is the resident representative “villain” on hand to have that handy expositional chat or to act as another counter point to Eve, but that is his limit. Mills can create fabulous baddies, but here he is so Machiavellian as to be unconvincing, particularly in a comic that that was essentially extrapolating current (1988) events and political situations and aiming for realism.

The endless soap boxing does become tiresome but as the story progresses the focus shifts to questions over Paul’s past and his identity. There are some great character moments when the cast are not acting like sub editors on The New Internationalist, and the strip works better when the characters are able to react to the events around them, weaving their message into the plot and script, rather than the other way around.

The original strip had prefacing chronology pages that appear to have been omitted from this edition. It’s interesting that although we are 20 years past the pivotal date of 2000, Mills may not have foreseen technological developments, but there are predictions that aren’t too far from the mark. His research is meticulous and exhaustive; frankly, he’s a machine and should be lauded for it. He has extrapolated what had already occurred since 1945 and taken it to its next stage. Low intensity conflict? Check. Multinationals exploiting unrest and regime change? Check.

Carlos Ezquerra was an interesting choice for this kind of strip. Third World War was drawn just before the artistic tour de force that was Judge Dredd: Necropolis. He proves here that he could turn his hand to most things, even the quieter (or rather, talkier) moments of the strip are wonderfully drawn. The militaristic environment, the jungle etc and the occupational army suit his talents. The art is bold and colourful with some dynamic page layouts – always one of his strengths. Beautiful work, and there are original pages in the “wild” for those who are made of money and have a hankering to own a piece by the King.

A young D’Israeli and Angela Kincaid (co-creator of Slaine) fill in for an episode each, and jar a little, but not enough to disrupt the flow.

Included in the edition are the cover of Crisis Issue One, and reprints of the remaining Carlos drawn covers.

As much as reading Third World War occasionally feels like wading through treacle, it’s a good strip, and this collection delivers a great package with lovely art – and an important part of British comic history. It would be nice as a hardback.

It’s still topical, and perhaps for that reason alone, you should read it.

[Nicholas Smith]

This is one of those titles that I always meant to read but somehow never got around to. A book of its time but not necessarily outdated with many of the concepts remaining pertinent to this day. I love the art and the plot remains strong. This series of semi-lost series is a brilliant one and I look forward to the next one being released.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad how much of the 80s political bs in this has gone unchanged for decades. Central American war and devastation sponsored by multi-national corporations. Like most 2000 AD-style stories the satire is about as subtle as a jackhammer, but it doesn't make it any less appropriate.

[Nick Boldrini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still as relevant and shocking today as it was in the original comic run, this is an excellent politically engaged comic. The art work is ace, and the story is believable, if now over taken by actual history.

[Nick Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, eye-opening, heart rending. A must read for me.

[Alex Sarll]

Pat Mills is the visionary editor more responsible than anyone else for the existence of 2000AD, as well as the writer of some of the best stories of its first decade or so. He's also the self-satisfied nightmare who's subsequently taken those same characters from his masterpieces and run them into the ground, churning out series after series full of hectoring tosh and on at least one occasion using the word 'sheeple' sincerely in a script. Now, unlike some creative types who go awry*, with Mills you could always see the seeds of the bad later stuff in the early classics – it's the same anti-authoritarian, subversive spirit, curdled. But this, this catches him right on the cusp of the two eras. Third World War is set in 2000AD, but it wasn't published in 2000AD, coming instead from its edgier older sibling Crisis – a product of that same glorious, punky late eighties, early nineties moment in British comics which also gave us Deadline and Revolver. It was very much the second best strip of the starting Crisis line-up, which sounds good until you remember that unlike the five or so stories in a standard 2000AD prog, Crisis had much longer instalments** so there were only the two strips. Though to be fair, the other – John Smith's New Statesmen – was the forgotten gem of the revisionist superhero movement so, y'know, high bar. And if nothing else, Third World War is worth a look just for the look of it: Carlos Ezquerra never drew a dull page, and is absolutely in his element realising stories of grubby Latin American counterinsurgency ops with occasional SF elements. Hell, even the fill-in issues come from D'israeli and Angela Kincaid.

Then, though, there's the story, and what an infuriating mish-mash it is. Its vision of a future (now, of course, firmly in the past) where multinational companies have an even tighter grasp on the world is in many respects dead on, more's the pity. Even in some of the details, there's astonishing prescience – how many white guys writing for a mass-market publication in the late eighties were including a critique of the white saviour complex? Yeah, there are details which were unduly pessimistic (Northern Ireland still riven by conflict – though hey, we are working on a revival), even a few which feel overly optimistic – like the idea of young people being conscripted to fight directly for corporations (why would they ever deign to pay their own way like that when buying legislators is so much cheaper?). But if the primer on the sins of global capital is generally solid stuff, much of it not nearly so widely known at the time, it does still read very much like a primer, characters delivering exposition to each other in a way that gets the information across but really doesn't resemble conversation as commonly practised. Which said, if it doesn't get the messages in as subtly-isn't-exactly-the-word-but-compared-to-the-later-stuff as early Nemesis, ABC Warriors or Slaine, it is saved from the full preachy overload of 21st century Mills by the fact that other characters will respond to this, and not just as in one-dimensional villains cackling back (though we do get a bit of that too). We follow one unit of the corporate forces, supposedly engaged on hearts and minds work, and all of them there for very different reasons, with very different feelings about the mission. Even better, and this is the bit modern Mills would lose, sometimes they're not talking about the mission at all, pro or anti, and we get a spark of life as someone says something that sounds a bit rude only for the others to start chanting "Quote! Quote! Quote of the week!" Such that for a moment they feel like people, in a story, not examples in a learning resource. But then just as you're enjoying that, you notice some countervailing annoyance, such as the Corbynist wet dream whereby absolutely anyone the corporations and their puppet government oppose is either a valiant good guy or a blameless and maligned bystander, certainly never responsible for nor even driven to any atrocities of their own. So yes: sometimes entertaining; frequently absolutely maddening; but unlike a lot of subsequent Mills, certainly never dull.

*Paul Weller, say, who within a couple of years somehow goes from making an album deemed too futuristic for release, to collaborating with Noel Gallagher and Ocean Colour Scene.
**Though it's interesting in the early episodes here to note how the story feels as if it was written as a single chunk, which could have been cut to any even number of pages, with just enough recap every third page that it could have served as the next issue's beginning, as if Mills and Ezquerra weren't yet sure what size instalments the story would come out in. Very hard to pull off modular storytelling like that without it feeling repetitive, and a testament to their skill and experience that they could.

[Andy Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comic to be mentioned in the same breath as Maus and Barefoot Gen. Published in 1989 it casts forward to a 2000AD where corporate powers are fighting their own Vietnam, in South America. It has the courage of Amnesty International, Chomsky and a dozen other progressive researchers in those areas. The pitch: market leaders Freeaid draft young adults to deliver "aid" to self-sufficient peasants. Narrator Eve Collins (black free thinking woman) is joined by Trisha (naive churchgoer), Ivan Roberts (drugged-out punk), Paul (pagan dark horse, dark attitude) and Garry Lake (macho sexist asshole 'everyman'). Their orders are to win hearts and minds by gifts and relocation or by bullet and bomb. Colonialism, food politics, death squads, birth control, reforestation and homelessness come together in one of the greatest comicbooks of all time.

You can stop reading here.

3WW is by foundational 2000 AD creators writer Pat Mills and illustrator Carlos Ezquerra. Though 30yrs old, the commentary is as relevant today as ever. Leftie Mills pulled in many wide readings to craft uniquely intelligent chapters. Strong in story structure and dialogue to laugh, fear and weep with. The five leads are flawed, sometimes despicable, yet relatable. likeable. On the socio-political spectrum they're perfectly placed to voice Mills' skepticism, musings, relatability, mockery and fury. Sounding academically sourced, though if this is a weakness it's also a strength for the story is a wonderful educational tool. The script's employment here is masterful.

Carlos Ezquerra's art has the formidable depth for this. His expressions make characters. The painted colours enforce hyper-capitalism's tracks battling jungle camouflage. It's all fleshy, organic and chemical. Conflict scenes are iconic, among modern art's greatest resonances, but never heroic. Crowd scenes are a mass of stampedes. The backgrounds are full of fire and rage. Wash paints unsettle, reprogram, intimate and blend.

There are two fill-in artists, jarring and sparse, though rich in colour. D'israeli (in early work) is too subtle with expressions, while Angela Kincaid goes overboard with these, bringing a suitable yet different chaos.

Then its a return to Ezquerra's range of layouts, styles, scenes emoting sweat, mud and gasoline, darkness and headlamps. He shows Mills' living group dynamics and colonial dysergy, expertly aided by Gordon Robson's letters. This book seeks and hits rousing suspicion, horror, belly laughs and consciousness.

The art is scanned from Ezquerra's originals and looks fresher than the serialised work. A few rare caption letters are hard to read and could be re-edited at point of proof. The covers are included: noteably iconic all, projecting Mills' catchy-phrases and the professional magazine designs. Missing from this first print are the contextual research and bibliography, and imagined commentary notes. As 3WW makes extensive use of song lyrics I can foresee an editing before the next print rolls out. There should be a next print. And another. And another. There should be top book awards. This is a British Treasury edition and it's a no-brainer why.

One of the greatest comicbooks of all time.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd say Mills must've read something like Open Veins of Latin America to present the corporate takeover of foreign policy in such a way as this.
[Monoculture for export, IMF loans that can't be paid off, import junk food etc]
Everything's spot on, but what holds this back from brilliance is the weak characters. They have "equal time" to share their points of view, but none of them really change. Even Eve, the main character seems to stay right on the edge of centrism/sympathy til the last few pages.
Not sure if I want to read future volumes.

[Richard Eyres · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember getting the first issue of Crisis when it was released, but admit i didn't 'get' the stories at the time. Think i stopped after a few issues and stuck with 2000ad.
This was written in the late 80's, and while some of the tech/styles etc have aged, the basic stories are pretty relevant still.
Artwork is amazing, as per usual from Carlos Ezquerra.
Looking forward to book 2, if it will ever get a release.

[Matthew Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prescient in ways hardy imagined in 1988/89.

While some of the issues and dystopian predictions have not come to pass or been thankfully reduced in intensify, many others remain only at the beginning of earnest efforts to account for, showing that very few issues are new, someone was feeling the injustice and wargaming the methods to combat it decades before it made it on to your TV.

And others were writing comics about it...

[Simon Heldreich · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult read, not because it's bad but because the themes and events it depicts are still going on today more than 30 years later.
This is Pat Mills at his most overtly political and the writing, especially in the last chapter, can come over very preachy. The artwork by the great Carlos Ezquerra, is typically stunning proving his versatility.
Don't read this expecting Judge Dredd or Slaine. It's more than that, it's politics.

[Socialite · Rating 5 out of 5]

I borrowed this from the library and did not know what to expect. The commentary on how corporations have in many ways taken over governments which has allowed them to do anything with impunity is still a relevant issue to be discussed regardless of the fact the series was created in the late 80s. Its also an interesting time capsule of the comic book crisis as well.

[Greg Shantz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very eighties.

[Niklas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pat Millsin käsikirjoittama ja eri kuvittajien piirtämä Third World War on hyvinkin kiinnostava vaihtoehtosarjakuva kuvitteellisesta tulevaisuudesta, jossa monikansallisten ruokayritysten puolisotilaalliset joukot miehittävät kolmannen maailman maita. Avoimen poliittinen ja 80-luvun vastakulttuurin teemoihin tarttuva sarjakuva on kiitettävän kunnianhimoinen, mutta lopputulos on liian paasaava, että sitä viitsisi suoranaisesti suositella kenellekään.

[Nate · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first thought upon opening this book was: did Frank Miller read this? Because there are lots of similarities to his Martha Washington comics. Black female lead, takes place in the not-so-distant future, she’s a freedom fighter in South America, there’s lots of political/social commentary. Hell, the title of this first episode has “hamburger” in it, and Martha fights in the Hamburger Wars. Both comics came out around the same time, too, so presumably the authors had similar global concerns kicking around in their heads. But Third World War is more explicitly about greedy multinational corporations and how they exploit poor countries. The commentary is good, and still timely, though it does get heavy-handed at times. I never really latched on to the characters either. No doubt this was an important series when it came out, and it’s well done for what it is, but I wasn’t totally moved by it. I really enjoy Carlos Ezquerra’s art though. He uses some creative paneling and his facial expressions are always spot on.