Savage: Taking Liberties

by Pat Mills, Charlie Adlard (Illustrator)

In 1999, Britain was invaded by the Volgans, led by the despotic Marshall Vashkov. With the royal family exiled to Canada and a puppet government installed, the United Kingdom was quickly under oppressive military rule. When lorry driver Bill Savage discovered his wife and kids had been killed by a stray Volgan shell, he began an one-man war against the aggressors. He escaped to Canada, but now in 2004 he's back and continuing to lead the resistance.

Collects:

- Savage Book One: Taking Liberties (Progs 1387-1396)
- Savage Book Two: Out of Order (Progs 1450-1459)
- Savage Book Three: Double Yellow (Progs 1526-1535)

Genres: Comics

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2007

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

[Mat Tait · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty smart update of pretty dumb (but fun) early 2000ad strip, Invasion! by prog perennial Pat Mills, and artist Charlie Adlard. Published on the heels of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, this is a pretty ballsy comic with a few things on its mind, like the difference between resistance and terrorism, and the irony of propagandizing old imperial ghosts to combat a new imperial threat. Plus true to the original, loads of daft action. A very disorienting read as the Russia army crossed the Ukrainian border.

[Skjam! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the early days of the British comic paper 2000 A.D., there was a serial titled "Invasion" (1999) which had England being invaded by the Volgans, who were a cross between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany at the end of the Twentieth Century. Lorry driver Bill Savage, his wife and children killed by Volgan shelling, became the heart of the Resistance, slaughtering Volgs without mercy.

While an exciting feature, it was rather simplistic and played Bill as the "hard man" beloved of boys' comics of the time. No shades of grey here, fellas, working class blokes good, Volgans evil.

Many years later, it was decided to revive the series for the 21st Century. Obviously, things had progressed rather differently in real life, so the new serial "Savage" takes place in an alternate universe 2004 where most of the events depicted in the original had occured. There's a brief timeline that explains the difference between the Volgan world and ours--and it appears the prequel series about Britain being flooded in 1990 has been removed from continuity.

Bill Savage, his death having been faked, comes back to England disguised as his own brother to start up his part in the Resistance again. (Turns out the Americans aren't coming to the rescue after all.) Things are more complicated now; the effects of the violence on civilians are seen, not all the Volgans are complete monsters, and some of the Resistance don't have the cleanest motives.

Warnings: There's considerable brutal violence, including torture, an off-panel gang rape, and an on-panel attempted rape.

You do not have to have read the previous series to understand this one.

For more Britain-related reviews, see: http://www.skjam.com/tag/great-britain/

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic 2000AD character updated to this day by Pat Mills. Sadly, I have never quite liked the way mr. Mills tells his stories. Neither I did this time, but there were good parts in this story too, mostly because Bill Savage (or Jack Savage or Tom Savage what his alias ever is) is a good oldfashion psychotic killer.