Bad Company (comics)

Infobox comics organization
name=Bad Company


imagesize=
caption=Cover of the "Bad Company: Goodbye, Krool World" trade paperback by Jock
publisher=IPC Magazines, Fleetway Publications, Rebellion Developments
debut="2000 AD" #500 (December 13, 1986)
creators=Alan Grant
John Wagner
type=Military unit
business=
organisation=y
organization=
base=
owners=
employees=Danny Franks
Mac
Trucker
Kano
Mad Tommy Churchill
Thrax
Wallbanger
Malcolm X
Dogbrain
Flytrap
Gobber
Shrike
Joe Scummer
Stitches
fullroster=
subcat=
sortkey=PAGENAME|

Bad Company is a comic book team created for "2000 AD" by Alan Grant and John Wagner but their initial story remained unpublished for over 16 yearsFact|date=February 2007 . Peter Milligan, along with regular collaborators Brett Ewins and Jim McCarthy, reworked the concept into the form that was finally seen in the magazine in the mid-eighties. They first appeared in their self-titled strip in "2000 AD" prog 500 (December 13, 1986).

Plot

Humanity is at war with a strange alien species the Krool and young soldier Danny Franks is fighting on the planet Ararat, recruited by the renegades known as Bad Company after the destruction of his own platoon. As their name might suggest this is no ordinary group of soldiers, instead they are a collection of freaks and maniacs led by Kano, a Frankenstein-like monster with a secret kept in a little box.

Although starting as a simple future war story it rapidly went off into strange, dark and often hallucinatory territory which made the run in the eighties a solid fan favouriteFact|date=February 2007.

Characters

*Danny Franks - a naive young soldier whose story we follow as he gets broken and broken in. He narrates the story through his diary. He later becomes the leader of Bad Company when Kano supposedly "dies".
*Mac - A member of the same battalion as Danny, who joins Bad Company at the same time.
*Trucker - Another member of Danny's battalion.
*Kano - the leader of Bad Company, who is more than he appears. He acts in a psychotic manner, particularly when dealing with Krool.
*Mad Tommy Churchill - a soldier who apparently believes himself to be a British soldier fighting World War II.
*Thrax - a cadaverous and unpleasant figure, who often expresses mistrust at Kano's leadership abilities.
*Wallbanger - the Company's robot, who as well as being a heavily armed fighter, is also the group's medic, scientist and chef.
*Malcolm X - one of the few members of the Company to treat Danny in a friendly manner, and perhaps the most "human".
*Dogbrain - a man whose brain has been replaced with that of a rabid dog by the Krool.
*Flytrap - having lost his arm, he replaced it with a carnivorous Ararat plant. This makes him sensitive to changes in the Ararat environment.
*Gobber - a native of Ararat. He acts as the Company's guide. He also has the ability to spit a substance like "unbreakable chewing gum".
*Shrike - Companion of Thrax - resembles a voodoo-style witch-doctor in appearance.
*Joe Scummer - Member of Bad Company. The first to try and open Kano's box.
*Stitches - Bad Company member with heavy facial scarring, hence his nickname.

The Krool

The Krool are fictional alien species that serve as the main foe in Bad Company. They are led by a being known as the "Krool Heart" on the unnamed Krool Home Planet. The "Krool Heart" controls the Krool race via its vast psychic mind. Whatever the heart thinks, the mind will obey.

The Krool have the technology to create "War Zombies", hybrids and other such monstrosities. Due to their sadistic behaviour, they have also created machines to extract the "soul" out of their human prisoners. They have also been known to employ sadistic brainwashed human captives as guards.

The Krool were ultimately responsible for creating Bad Company and their leader when they took half a human brain and inserted it into a Krool and vice-versa thus creating the Krool-hybrid.

The Ararat War

The Ararat War was a war waged against Earth. The Krool wanted to capture Ararat to add to their seemingly infinite empire whereas the Earth elite needed it to evacuate to as Earth was on the verge of being destroyed by ecological catastrophe. They employed their "War Zombies" to attack the front line's defences. They finished off the survivors personally. Officially, the war ended when the planet imploded. Unofficially, the war continued on other worlds, known as Trash Planets, led by the remnants of Humanity who had survived the destruction of Earth.

Aftermath of the war

The second incarnation of Bad Company (now led by Danny Franks & consisting of the last Protoid (an alien shapeshifter) in existence, Sheeva the last "Boom Baby" (see Human enhancement), De Racine, the last of the "Earth Elite" and a masochist called Rackman) track down Kano and then head to the Krool Homeworld to destroy the Krool once and for all. Danny sacrifices his life to merge with/replace the Krool Heart by taking the place of the Heart's offspring at the moment it was to take its place and prevent the traitorous Protoid from achieving the same goal. Afterwards, Danny/The Krool Heart let the survivors leave the planet promising to make the Krool more passive, it being revealed that the sadistic excesses of the Krool had been due to the corruption and decadence of the old Krool Heart.

A few years later, Kano returns to the Krool Homeworld with a further incarnation of Bad Company. After a long battle, Kano and Bad Company managed to free Danny. As they leave, Kano elects to stay to continue fighting the Krool.

Bibliography

They have only appeared in their own strip:

*"Bad Company":
** "Bad Company" (with Peter Milligan; Pencils: Brett Ewins; Inks: Jim McCarthy, in "2000 AD" #500-519, 1986-1987)
** "The Bewilderness" (with Peter Milligan, Brett Ewins/Jim McCarthy, in "2000 AD" #548-557, 1987-1988)
** "Young Men Marching" (with Peter Milligan, Brett Ewins/Jim McCarthy, in "2000AD Annual 1989", 1988)
** "The Krool Heart" (with Peter Milligan, Brett Ewins/Jim McCarthy, in "2000 AD" #576-585, 1988)
** "Simply" (with Peter Milligan; Pencils: Brett Ewins; Inks: Steve Dillon, in "2000 AD" #601, 1988)
** "Ararat" (with Peter Milligan, Brett Ewins/Jim McCarthy, in "2000AD Annual 1990", 1989)
** "Kano" (with Peter Milligan, Brett Ewins/Jim McCarthy, in "2000 AD" #828-837, 1993)
** "Down Among the Dead Men" (with Peter Milligan; Pencils: Brett Ewins; Inks: Jim McCarthy, in "2000AD Annual 2001", 2000)
** "Bad Company 2002" (with Peter Milligan; Pencils: Brett Ewins; Inks: Jim McCarthy, in "2000 AD" prog 2002 and #1273-1277, 2001-2002)
** "B.A.D. Company" (with Alan Grant/John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, in "Judge Dredd Megazine" #4.15, 2002)

A trade paperback, "Bad Company: Goodbye, Krool World" (Rebellion, 2005, ISBN 1-904265-27-8) was published in 2005; it consists of reprints of the more popular strips from the 80s.

Trivia

The installment "Simply" was completed in four and a half hours as part of a charity event at the 1988 UK Comics Convention.

External links

* [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=badcomp 2000 AD page]
* [http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/sputnik/53/bcompany.htm Bad Company fan page]
* [http://www.geocities.com/wild_green_goose/page11.html Your In Bad Company]
* [http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/reviews/extra/2005/trades/bad_company/bad_company.shtml Review of "Goodbye Krool World"]
* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/b/badcomp.htm The characters of Bad Company at International Hero]