Having left staff jobs at IPC's largest rival DC Thomson, Pat Mills and John Wagner began working as freelancers and submitting scripts for the London company's girls comics.
[4][3] Mills interviewed for IPC's vacant position of Managing Editor, but his forthright criticism of the company's failings went down poorly with the board, but reaffirmed Sanders' belief that fresh blood was needed.
IPC had a firm policy of responding to any new hit by DC Thomson or any other rival by launching a similar title of their own in response, even keeping an inventory of unpublished strips in various genres to speed up the process.
To keep friction with other staff to a minimum the pair were placed in an office in the girls' department, and told any staffers who asked they were working on a comic for the blind.
The only thing they were refused revolved around the free gift cover-mounted on the first issue – a set of transfers depicting military emblems, Mills and Wagner had requested it include German insignia.
IPC's competitions editor Peter Lewis, responsible for sourcing the items and a decorated World War II veteran, threatened to resign if they were included; the pair backed down, and Wagner later admitted they had been insensitive.
"Rat Pack" featured a group of four convict soldiers given suicide missions, which Finley-Day acknowledged was heavily influenced by film The Dirty Dozen; art was provided by Spaniard Carlos Ezquerra, initially on a part-time basis while he worked through commitments to DC Thomson.
"The Bootneck Boy" featured the travails of an aspiring Royal Marine; it was again written by Finley-Day, who based the protagonist's attitude on that of Alf Tupper from DC Thomson's "The Tough of the Track" story in Victor.
"The Terror Behind the Bamboo Curtain" and "Flight of the Golden Hinde" were the two dropped, making way for "Coward's Brand on Bradley" and "The Fortrose Falcon"; the latter was the first Battle Picture Library strip to not entirely revolve around World War II.
Another thing thrown up by the research was that while Battle attempted to split stories between land, sea and air forces, readers far preferred those about the army to the rest.
The comic's increased level of violence and nihilism spurred Hunt on; he was particularly envious of the title's war strip "Hellman of Hammer Force", launching "Fighter from the Sky" (with a German paratrooper as the protagonist) in response, as well as the experimental "Hold Hill 109", featuring a unit of thirteen Desert Rats whittled down over the course of a defensive action.
Three strips were continued from the cancelled title from 23 October 1976 – two were war-themed, "Soldier Sharp: The Rat of the Rifles" and "The Black Crow", while Wagner's Clint Eastwood-inspired Judge Dredd-prefiguring maverick cop One-Eyed Jack wasn't.
The other new arrival was Valiant's long-running flagship character Captain Hurricane; however his action-comedy would have fit badly with the rest of the comic, and he was instead assigned as host of the letters page.
"Joe Two Beans" followed a taciturn Native American fighting for the US in the Pacific War, while a rare crossover saw Major Eazy take command of the Rat Pack.
Hunt was wary of the pair poaching Ezquerra, and had Alan Hebden create the American Civil War-set "El Mestizo" specifically to keep the artist on Battle.
Following the successful launch of 2000 AD Mills was free and returned to contribute "Samurai", which featured a Japanese protagonist; however, the writer quickly drew tired of the strip and ended it swiftly before beginning work on his next project.
Storrie's tenure on Battle Action was short-lived as he was reassigned and replaced by Nick Landau – who lasted little longer, quitting IPC after feeling he was being misled about being granted editorship of 2000 AD.
"Glory Rider" focused on a reckless American tank commander, while "HMS Nightshade" by Wagner was an attempt to make a successful naval story, something he and Mills had found difficult.
He researched the conflict extensively to avoid repeating mainstream histories, notably consulting huge archives of soldiers' letters home which left him greatly moved.
However, the comic's most significant editorial change to date came in September 1979, when Hunt was moved over to work on new title Tornado as part of a reshuffle that saw Barrie Tomlinson appointed as group editor.
[7] In July 1980 the comic underwent a significant redesign, with a new logo (with Action disappearing from the title, which was now simply Battle) and – for the first time – a front cover strip (typically rotated between "Johnny Red" and "Charley's War"), as well as switching to hand lettering.
The writer would later admit a degree of embarrassment at the story, confessing he had got caught up in the jingoistic mood of the time and followed the initial government accounts of the fighting too closely.
The new arrival was a mixed blessing for the creators; Mills disliked the idea of appealing to younger readers, while others hated the silliness; John Cooper would describe the helmeted Ironblood as "having a bucket on his head – like Ned Kelly gone mad".
As a result of the Action Force arrival, the rest of the comic was reduced to just four other strips – "Johnny Red", "Charley's War" (which had undergone a 10-week hiatus in 1982 while Colquhoun recovered from a heart attack), "The Hunters S.I.6" and the reprint slot.
Not only did the strip suddenly have to integrate a score of new Action Force personnel, but in the toyline terrorist organisation Cobra simply replaced the Red Shadows as the villains, leaving the comic with the unenviable task of providing a fictional transition.
Having always envisioned the strip as a multi-generational epic that would follow Charley's descendants to the Troubles, Mills requested a research budget that would allow him to interview veterans ahead of the planned World War II arc, wanting to get the same fresh view beyond mainstream history books.
The title at least outlived Warlord, which was cancelled in September 1986, but October saw the end of "Charley's War", the strip's popularity having nosedived after Mills' departure and encountering further problems as Colquhoun's health declined.
In Tomlinson's words "the end was inevitable", and in January 1988 the title was merged into Eagle, which it bequeathed "Storm Force" and reprints of "Johnny Red" and "Charley's War".
[8] Preacher creator Garth Ennis was a loyal reader of Battle, and won a £2 prize in the 20 January 1979 edition after writing in to point out an error in tank identification in "Crazy Keller".