Third World War Book 2: Back to Babylon

Pat Mills
Alan Mitchell
Carlos Ezquerra
Sean Phillips
Duncan Fegredo
Rebellion

The second thrilling Treasury of British Comics collection of the politically charged thriller by Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra.
After her eye-opening experiences of corporate interference in Central America, Eve returns to Britain with a renewed political drive and determination to fight for what she believes in.
Written in the late 80s by Pat Mills (Nemesis the Warlock, Slaine) this incendiary second volume of the ground-breaking political comic not only contains contributions by legend Carlos Ezquerra (Judge Dredd, Preacher) but also introduces international comics stars Sean Phillips (Criminal, Kill or Be Killed) and Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy, Kid Eternity).

In this second volume of Third World War the focus moves from South America to the UK as Eve, Paul and the rest (who don't really feature all that much) return home on leave to a country in pieces where the wealth gap is unbreachable and civil liberties have ceased to be a thing.

'3WW' was set in a Thatcherite wet dream version of now that always seemed horribly plausible although in this case one that has been mixed with a gang culture worthy of inclusion in 'The Warriors'.

Paul, or the 'eco-terrorist' Finn as he was revealed to be in the previous volume is off doing his thing for most of the book whilst Eve becomes increasingly involved with the Black African Defence Squad (BADS) who have liberated, renamed and occupied a walled off Brixton.  It's here that the focus of the book lies with Mills riffing on colonialism and racism - both political and casual - and on the experiences of black people in the UK and under UK jurisdiction whilst - almost - never forgetting that he's writing a dystopian sci fi comic.

Mills was at the top of his game when he wrote this series producing it alongside work such as the iconic Slaine: The Horned God and Marshall Law whilst the much missed Carlos Ezquerra always produced the most sublime work.  Alongside these we have co-writer Alan Mitchell, recruited by Mills to provide an authentic voice to the work, and two artists who have become international names in their own rights but here produce work that is sympathetic to that of Ezquerra.

As is often the case - both with Mills and political work in general - it is a little heavy handed in places but equally with its focus on racism, green issues, food poverty, state surveillance and economic disparity it's still as depressingly relevant now as it was then and like all the best dystopian fiction it's terrifyingly apposite.

Buy it here - UK / US.
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Third World War: Book One

Writer
Pat Mills

Artists
Carlos Ezquerra
D'Israeli
Angela Kincaid

Rebellion

Eve is unemployed after leaving university and is immediately conscripted as a soldier working for a corporation and discovers just how South American countries are being exploited to create food needed to feed the increasing population for their profit under the guise of western paternalism.

When Crisis came out in the early 90s I jumped on it and loved it.  The leftist slant was right up my anarcho punk street and I devoured every issue.  I still have them here even though I sold off most of my collection long ago keeping only those books I couldn't bear to part with or thought I'd like to read again; this was partly the former but mostly the latter.  Over the course of it's life Crisis featured stories by the likes of Garth Ennis, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Al Davidson, Glenn Fabry, Rhian Hughes, Milo Manara, Steve Parkhouse, David Lloyd, Steve Yeowell and in the case of the book in question here, 2000AD legends Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra.

Now I always expected to reread this stretched out on the floor with a big, teetering pile of the (typical UK sized) comics next to me but miracle of miracles it's been reprinted and so I just had to grab a copy.

This first one is the story of the influence of multinationals on South America and the ravages it brings. It's an eye opening story but not necessarily a good one.  Mills' focus is almost entirely on the politics and everything else is secondary at best.  The characters are loosely sketched and very much stereotypes that serve to propel Mills' next polemic.  It's either going to annoy the hell out of you or you're going to agree with it and it'll depress / anger the hell out of you (delete as applicable).  It is though a vital and important read that remains sadly relevant that I'd urge anyone to read.

Now, I need to admit here that this first story arc of TWW is the one I wanted to reread the least.  As I mentioned earlier I was pretty politically minded when this was published and so the politics behind Mills' story here was something that I was already aware of and remembered both the story and issues pretty vividly.  What I really want to read again comes next once Eve and Paul are back in the UK and we get the New Azania and the Green Army storylines and so to an extent I bought this one to support it and encourage Revolution to print the next arc which if memory serves are particularly apposite for the world we live in now.

Buy it here - Third World War: Book One (Volume 1)

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If you enjoy what we do here on Wyrd Britain and would like to help us continue then we would very much welcome a donation towards keeping the blog going - paypal.me/wyrdbritain

Affiliate links are provided for your convenience and to help mitigate running costs.