Writer – Garth Ennis, Rob Williams
Artist – John Higgins, Henry Flint
Colours – John Higgins, Sally Jane Hurst
Letters – Rob Steen

Starting things off in this issue is the man called Dredger in a story called “O Mother, Where Art Though?,” by the team of Garth Ennis and John Higgins. Dredger finds himself in a hostage situation and unbeknownst to the kidnappers, they have taken the wrong woman and there will be no money paid. Said woman is Dredger’s very own mother and those who have taken her, will pay the ultimate price. There is no forgiveness in Dredger’s soul and as the story progresses, readers will see that he is his mother’s son. Ennis writes a tale of a hard man who is not afraid of doing the hard things when called for and the grey world that he lives in. Higgins makes it come alive in the best of ways – dirty, violent and bloody and one cannot help but be sucked into that underworld where Dredger sometimes finds himself. Of all the stories in Battle Action thus far, this is one of the most unique to appear and that is a good thing. The latter half of the book features the character named Major Easy in a story called “The Devil’s Garden.” Written by Rob Williams with artwork from Henry Flint, it finds the Major taking over D Company in Egypt, a land of heat and sand and one where the Nazis have a foothold. Major Easy, ‘the war’s coolest soldier,’ means to change that as best he can and D Company who are used to doing things one way are soon going to find out that Easy does things his way and expects results on top of that. Thankfully the Major knows what he is doing and the men he is now leading are in for more than a little excitement because of that. Altogether this was a very action-packed tale even with the two stories being wildly different. Ennis continues to lead the Battle Action revival with some great lead features including his latest with the man named Dredger and what makes them so good is the fact he does not delve too far into their origins if at all. Ennis and those who write the secondary tales in these books just get right into it, be it action or drama or whatever, and write a good story that anyone can enjoy. Both Major Easy and Dredger make for very interesting characters and it would be nice to see more of them in the future, whether in this series or something else. This book was firing on all cylinders and made for a very exciting and quickly-paced read.

4 out of 5