The strip concerns a near-future environmental disaster which kills off 90 percent of the world's adult population, leaving Britain under the control of roaming gangs of teenagers.

IPC Magazines' new Action comic had already drawn critical articles in the likes of The Sun, Evening Standard and Daily Mail newspapers for its violence, moral depravity and anarchic attitude.

Boxing story "Blackjack" had been with the anthology since it debuted in February 1976 and outlived several others but began to decline in popularity and was effectively voted out in summer 1976 as it fell behind additions like "Look Out for Lefty" and "Death Game 1999".

They've got to do it all themselves, and it's no joke from now on.To make the protagonists - a gang of youths led by a boy called Ray - more sympathetic, Lowder created an authoritarian threat in the form of police cadets, a group with a neo-fascist desire to take over the running of the beleaguered country.

Lowder requested to be paired with artist Mike White due to their good working relationship with on "Hell's Highway", and editor John Smith complied.

Carlos Ezquerra, a Spanish artist who had already made a popular impact with readers on Battle Picture Weekly strips such as "Rat Pack" and "Major Eazy".

He contributed an image of Ray wielding a chain as he led an army of kids with similar improvised weaponry into combat against a background of urban destruction.

[1] In true comic book fashion, the cover only had a passing resemblance to the events of the instalment inside, which featured no adults - police or otherwise - and combat with shotguns rather than the more accessible chains and pipes wielded in the image.

"The clamour for changes was such that IPC's editorial director John Sanders, who had rigorously defended the comic in the press, was called onto BBC magazine programme Nationwide and was charged with amoral motives by host and BDSM enthusiast Frank Bough.

He felt the latter was evidence that even before the title was suspended there were plans to curtail it, regardless of popularity with the readers;[3] Lowder has suggested since that he was having trouble working out where the story was going and was leaning towards finishing it off swiftly.

[7] While opposed to the treatment of Action, Barker conceded "It's not difficult to see why this would be an unwise thing to publish", and drew particular attention to the planned cover for the conclusion - based on casual research from Lowder asking teenagers what they'd do if in power of the country - of Mick on the throne, festooned with the crown jewels as an image likely to have caused further controversy.

were included in Action - The Story of a Violent Comic, though Barker would make the tongue-in-cheek comment that he was tempted to suppress the concluding episode due to its trite nature.

However, a more reasonable police inspector has also survived and brings both groups to Scotland Yard and persuades them to make peace, turn in their weapons and take a more constructive role in rebuilding the country.