Button Man

Infobox comic book title
title =


imagesize =
caption =
schedule = Weekly
format = Anthology
ongoing = Y
Crime = y
publisher = Rebellion Developments
date = 1992 -
issues =
main_char_team =
writers = John Wagner
artists = Arthur Ranson
Frazer Irving
pencillers =
inkers =
letterers =
colorists =
editors =
creative_team_month =
creative_team_year =
creators = John Wagner
Arthur Ranson
TPB = The Killing Game
ISBN = 1-904265-05-7
TPB1 = The Confessions of Harry Exton
ISBN1 = 1-905437-70-6
subcat = 2000 AD
sort = PAGENAME
nonUS = y

"Button Man" is a comic strip created for leading British comic "2000 AD", written by John Wagner and illustrated by Arthur Ranson.

Plot

Harry Exton, ex-mercenary, is a "Button Man", a hired killer pitted against other killers in an underground sport. Each works for a mysterious "Voice", a rich man of unknown identity. The object of the game is to kill your opponent, or capture him and take his marker - the first two joints of a finger. Button Men who lose three fingers are shot anyway. The "voices" profit from the game by gambling on the outcome, and a ruthless killer like Harry Exton can make a modestly wealthy man extremely rich. Exton decides to quit, only to discover that leaving the Button Man game isn't so easy.

Publication

"Button Man" ran for four series, and remains one of the best-selling collections of "2000 AD" strips (other than "Judge Dredd") ever published. Fact|date=August 2007

The series outings, all written by John Wagner, are:

*"Button Man":
** "Book I: The Killing Game" (with Arthur Ranson, in "2000 AD" #780-791, 1992)
** "Book II: The Confession of Harry Exton" (with Arthur Ranson, in "2000 AD" #904-919, 1994)
** "Book III: Killer Killer" (with Arthur Ranson, in "2000 AD" prog 2001 & #1223-1233, 2001)
** "Book IV: The Hitman's Daughter" (with Frazer Irving, in "2000 AD" #1551-1566, 2007)

Collected editions

The stories are being collected into trade paperbacks:

* "The Killing Game" (88 pages, Kitchen Sink Press, May 1994, ISBN 0-87816-276-3, Rebellion, hardcover, August 2003, ISBN 1-904265-05-7, softcover, January 2007, ISBN 1-905437-19-6)
* "The Confession of Harry Exton" (112 pages, Rebellion, August 2003, ISBN 1-905437-70-6)

Awards

* 2000: Nominated for the Eagle Award for "Character Most Worthy of Own Ongoing Title"

Film

Movie rights are owned by Dreamworks, which has co-opted the producers of Wagner's "A History of Violence". The film was due for release in 2008, however there has been no recent news, suggesting that this may have stalled . [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117936085.html?categoryid=1238&cs=1 'Button' pic sewn up at DreamWorks] ,"Variety", January 12, 2006]

Notes

References

* [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=HARRYE 2000 AD profile]
*imdb title|id=0499444|title=Button Man

External links

* [http://2000adreview.co.uk/newsite/mambo/content/view/26/54/ Review of "The Killing Game"]