Action Man (comics)

Action Man was a UK comic series published by Panini Comics, based on the toy line of the same name. It ran for 138 issues between 1996 and 18 January 2006 before being surpassed by spin-off series Action Man: A.T.O.M.. The comic was originally published every month but this was later changed to every three weeks. The final editor was Ed Caruana.

The comic strip was the main feature for each issue. Initially, the stories in each issue featured little to no continuity between them. However, as the comic progressed, full story arcs would become more prominent. Many different characters were introduced over the comic's course. The comic always focused on Action Man's efforts to thwart the evil plans of his arch enemy, the mad scientist Dr.X, and his 'Council of Doom'. The first strip featured in the comic was named 'Into Action'.

2003 introduced the fictional Island X, an X-shaped island which was the home of Dr.X and the Council of Doom. This would become the setting for many stories for years to come. The plot focused on Dr.X building a huge 'Death Ray' on Island X which he would use to destroy capital cities across the world unless he was made world leader. Action Man had to explore Island X in his quest to find the Doctor and they would have several confrontations before their final battle in issue 100. The outcome was shown in the following issue on a giant poster. A new villain named 'Antifreeze' was also introduced in this year.

2004 introduced two new Action Force team mates. Native American archer, Redwolf and the Australian extreme sportsman, Flynt.

The plot for this story arc centred on new villain 'No-Face' creating an army of 'X Robots', built in Dr.X's image, to spread terror across the world before later bringing Dr.X back to life as a cyborg. No-Face then kidnapped a scientist named Professor Moran to force him to make a mind control gas for Dr.X which would help him achieve his goal of taking over the world.

At first Professor Moran refused but Dr.X claimed he would blow up every capital city in Europe if he did not help him. The 2004 film Action Man: Robot Atak had a very similar plot to this story-arc.

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Wikipedia