In the alternate recent history established in Savage, the Soviet Union fell to a fascist military coup and was renamed the Volgan Republic by Marshal Vashkov in 1991.
In 1996, Prime Minister Livingstone ordered the removal of all American military bases from the British Isles; by 1998, a newly isolationist United States had withdrawn completely from Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
[1] Set in the year 1999, the first part of the series depicts Western Europe and the United Kingdom's being swiftly overrun by an invasion from the Volgan Republic known as the Eight-Hour War.
British royal family escape to Canada, The UK Government capitulates, with many hard line anti-Volgan MPs, Lords, and generals along with Prime Minister Shirley Brown being executed; a puppet government, under Prime Minister Simon Creepton, takes control for the puppet state of The People's Republic of Britain.
As with similar characters that Mills and Day had created for other titles (such as Action and Battle Picture Weekly), Savage is given a gimmick, his preferred weapons: a hauling hook and a sawn-off shotgun.
Throughout the series, Savage's brutal violence and working-class common sense lead to victory, whereas military resistance is depicted as being class bound and ineffectual.
In the sequel series Savage, the Volgans are still in command in 2004, but are opposed by terrorist insurgent groups such as the Free European Army and Traitor's Gate.
Escapist fiction is abundant, and produced by the Volgans themselves to pacify the general public; propaganda campaigns try to convince people to accept the occupation and not be "bitter-enders".
Under the direction of Savage, the resistance groups almost force the Volgans to withdraw from Britain in 2004, though they manage to cling to power and send renewed troop numbers in.
Consequently, State Security agents retaliate by murdering Savage's brother Tom after discovering he had secretly written stories that would be embarrassing to the regime.
Six months after the Volgans have surrendered Britain is about to become a Republic after the king abdicated, and Savage has no need to fight anymore, so returned to his sister's cafe.
During a protest over jobs Hammersteins fire into the crowd and in the confusion Savage is kidnapped by collaborators, one of whom turns out to be his brother Jack, previously thought dead, but now a cyborg taking orders from the Volgans.
Hearing about a powerful but unknown artefact called "The Thousand Year Stare" Savage tracks Wolfie Vos, a member of the Edelweiss Pirates, and the only person who knows what and where it is.