Invasion! (2000 AD)


Invasion! was a series created by Pat Mills and mostly written by Gerry Finley-Day that appeared in the first 51 editions of the weekly comic 2000 AD.
The series introduced the character of Bill Savage, a classic anti-authoritarian character of the type which Mills is best known for. It has been continued in the sequel series Savage, beginning in 2004, by Pat Mills and Charlie Adlard.

Alternate historical background

In the alternate recent history established in Savage, Russia fell to a Fascist military coup and was renamed the Volgan Republic by Marshall Vashkov in 1991. In 1992, vast new reserves of North Sea oil were discovered off the coast of Britain. Ken Livingstone became head of the Labour Party, and his "True Labour" movement gained power over Shirley Brown's Conservative Party in a 1995 general election. In 1996, Prime Minister Livingstone ordered the removal of all American military bases from the British Isles; by 1998, a newly isolationist United States had withdrawn completely from Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
By 1999, Prince Charles was King of the United Kingdom. The United States and Volgan Republic had a secret agreement, carving up the world into spheres of influence. Meanwhile, a fifth column among the establishment, feeling threatened by the new left-wing government, made overtures to the Volgans, offering to help with any invasion.

Synopsis

''Invasion!''

Set in the year 1999, the first part of the series depicts Western Europe and the United Kingdom's being swiftly overrun by an invasion from the Volgan Republic known as the Eight-Hour War. North Sea oil rigs are seized by helicopter-borne commando units; Heathrow airport is captured by paratroopers, allowing heavy transport planes to land delivering heavy armour close to London; and the Midlands are hit by nuclear weapons, including a 50 megaton warhead. The UK Government capitulates, with many hard line anti-Volgan MPs, Lords, and generals along with Prime Minister Shirley Brown being executed; a puppet government, under Prime Minister Simon Creepton, takes control for the puppet state of The People's Republic of Britain.
Bill Savage, an East-End lorry driver, begins a one-man resistance movement against the Volgans after his wife and children are killed when Savage's home is hit by a Volgan tank shell during the invasion. As with similar characters that Mills and Day had created for other titles, Savage is given a gimmick, his preferred weapons: a hauling hook and a sawn-off shotgun. Initially solo, he is recruited by Lt. Peter Silk into the British resistance. Initially leading the Mad Dogs cell out of the Isle of Dogs, Savage would later be mobile and take part in resistance action throughout the country. Throughout the series, Savage's brutal violence and working-class common sense lead to victory, whereas military resistance is depicted as being class bound and ineffectual.
At the end of the series, Savage is tasked with taking the heir to the throne, Prince John, to safety in Canada. He smuggled the prince into North America on a US cargo ship; as Volgan agents murdered most of the crew trying to stop him, the series ended with Savage believing the United States would now get involved against the Volgans.
The Volgan War became part of a connecting back story for a number of 2000 AD series including ABC Warriors.

''Savage''

In the sequel series Savage, the Volgans are still in command in 2004 and are being opposed by terrorist insurgent groups like the Free European Army and Traitor's Gate. Escapist fiction like Lord Cyboid and the Silver Rapier is abundant, produced by the Volgans to pacify the general public; propaganda campaigns try to convince people to accept the occupation and not be "bitter-enders". Some people have come to accept the occupation or actively collaborate with it; they are described as "Double Yellows", after the twin yellow stripes on the uniforms of the British State Security agents and police officers who collaborate with the Volgan regime.
Despite the non-aggression agreement with the United States, American small arms and other weapons are used by resistance movements. Savage also has a CIA contact, and the two share information against the Volgans. Any major activity, however, is not taken and occupied Britain does not seem a high priority.
Under the direction of Savage, the resistance manages to almost force the Volgan peacekeepers to withdraw from Britain in 2004, though they manage to cling to power and send renewed troop numbers in. Subsequently, Savage assassinated Vashkov.
Consequently, State Security agents retaliate by murdering Savage's brother Tom after discovering he had secretly written stories that would be embarrassing to the regime. Savage and his sister Cassie kill all of the agents responsible, only it is discovered that Savage's former-MI6 resistance contact had been behind it and was secretly a collaborator. Savage then kills him and his security team and posts a copy of his brother's work on the Internet. As a result, the resistance, alongside the population, rises up against the Volgan "peacekeepers" and liberates most of Southern England.
Book Four, however, opens with the country re-occupied after 2006, when a fresh surge of troops is deployed. By now, some people in Britain are coming to accept Volgan rule. the United States, however, is now heavily outfitting resistance units with American weaponry and preparing to use Ireland as a staging ground for a liberation. Savage prevents the Volgans from causing a fake terrorist atrocity to drive off the Americans, and by 2009 the Allied forces are openly bombing Volgan targets in London. They also used electromagnetic weapons to "e-bomb" the city, wiping out most electronics and reducing it to a 1984 level of technology; many citizens are disgruntled, wondering why the Americans are not bombing the Volgans.
2009 also sees the liberation of Britain begin, with army robots being used as the advance wave at Fishguard. The Volgans develop a teleport machine that sends their troops into the American bases to kill the commanding officers. Luckily, Bill Savage and some of the resistance destroy the base in London but they use it once to put a Siberian tiger in a Volgan General's tank. The Volgans have started creating their own battle robots called Mark 1 Blackblood robots. Bill Savage finds two American pilots, who escaped from a Volgan P.O.W camp, in Siberia; they tell him they have found a secret city underground called Ugelgorsk, where the Volgans are building Mark 1 Blackblood robots and planning to use them in Wales, then Ireland. Bill and his accomplices now have to get the pilots to Liverpool's coast, where there will be a boat to take them to Dublin. They succeed, and Bill is later told that three U.S long-range bombers have destroyed Ugelgorsk and most of the Mark 1 Blackblood robots. Bill Savage feels happy, saying it is only a matter of time before the Allies break through the Welsh Front and liberate Britain.
2010 however The Welsh Front is still a stalemate between The Allies and The Volgans, in a council flat in the East End of London Savage kills a Volgan collaborator and his family and make people believe he's dead, in his cafe he is informed by his accomplice that Quartz has created an army of Mark Two Hammerstines better than the Mark One Hammerstines who kept killing everything in sight and can't tell friend from foe, but Savage has new instructions, he is to go to Allied HQ in Dublin where he will be given instructions at a certain time where he will lead all the resistance groups and liberate London.
In Ireland Bill Savage meets Howard Quartz in an abandoned Dublin housing estate watching the new Mark Two Hammerstein in training, Quartz show him they will only attack Mark 1 Blackbloods and Volgan Soldiers, In Dublin Castle the Allied military staff say that he has done well uniting the resistance groups and the dangerous street gangs, even the notorious gangs like The Tolpuddle Gang who are opposed to The Royal Family's return, are also helping, Quartz arrives and tells him the President has his instructions that he will return to London and prepare for the liberation. He himself must not be involved in the fighting because all the resistance groups look up to him and it might ruin the resistance if he is killed, understanding he goes back to London and prepares for liberation.
Allied Robots have now retaken Cardiff and seized Bristol, there have been further landings in Liverpool and Glasgow, King Charles The Third has sent a message from Canada saying this is the Supreme Test for the British people he said he and his wife, Queen Diana were Praying for the liberation, President Dick Quartz tells them that this is still no time to celebrate, in London the British Resistance groups are causing havoc for the Volgans, In his Cafe Bill Savage prepares to fight, but his sister said that he promised General Woodhouse that he wouldn't take part, but he tells her that ever since Sheila and the kids died he was already dead, saying goodbye to his sister he joins his group and prepares to attack.
Allied Robots are now advancing east towards the Oil Refinery Port, U.S Navy Seals have taken the North Sea Offshore Platforms preventing the Volgans from destroying them, Britain's newly discovered oil reserves are the third largest in the world and the reason why the Volgans invaded in 1999. The Volgans say the only reason the United States is liberating Britain is to seize the oil, Britain is about to be exploited by American Oil Companies under a secret new deal signed by the Provisional UK Government, which guarantees Quartz Oil HQ and Seven Sisters Oil gives a cheap crude for Thirty Years with up to seventy-five percent of the profits, critics say that Britain is being forced to surrender its independence once again, President Dick Quartz says that he is on a divine mission and his brother Howard Quartz that the Oil belongs to the British People, in London Allied Robots have reached Swindon and now British Resistance Groups and Volgan Soldiers are fighting for control for the Bridges Across The Thames. Bill Savage and his group are fighting in London, it soon comes clear that his group are protecting him because he is key to the resistance, but he says he will keep fighting, but whilst fighting he is spotted by a sniper.
The Sniper is distracted in the defence fort when he is accused of stealing, however he soon gets back to work and nearly kills Savage but a member of the resistance jumps in the way, Savage and the group open fire on the fort, looking up in the sky the Volgan soldiers see the Volgan Air Force is returning to Siberia, depressed they ask their female Sergeant to sing, she does and the British Resisters start singing along until Savage tells them to stop, saying they are fraternizing with the enemy, they tell Savage although they are the enemy they're still Human Beings, Savage says there not Human there Volgans.
In an attempt to prevent the Hammersteins reaching London The Volgans destroy Tower Bridge, Westminster Bridge and are about to destroy Waterloo Bridge until Savage drives a car into them filled with H.E then he and his group massacre The Volgans and now have to hold the bridge until the Hammerstines get there.
The British Resistance groups now are all meeting at Waterloo Bridge celebrating, however Savage is more cynical saying they will soon be taking orders from the Americans because they are the new invaders and the reason they were invaded in 1999 was because they Britain want to do what the British wanted to do. Bad news arrives when he is told that the Mark Two Hammersteins have screwed up because on their way to London the Volgans were using Virginia Water as a fort and the Hammersteins programming told them that because of the houses property values they were too expensive to destroy so they surrendered and were destroyed by a bulldozer reprogrammed by The Volgans. Even worse the Volgans in London are Counter-Attacking.
A Volgan T20 Tank tries to destroy the bridge but Savage destroys the Tank with a Heat Seeking rocket launcher, afterwards he meets the Leaders of the Tolpuddle Gang who say they think Howard Quartz deliberately sent faulty Hammersteins to give the British Resistance false hope and attack without U.S support so The Volgans would wipe them out and anyone who thinks the Oil is rightfully the British People's and not Quartz Oil's, and say Savage has betrayed them all.
As The Tolpuddle Gang leave the fort Savage and the rest prepare to defend, seeing the housing estates where The Volgans are massacring everyone in sight. In the ruins of another fort the surviving Volgan from Waterloo Bridge are hiding, one of them a conspiracy theorist, says the V in their National Flag is the symbol of the Freemasonry, saying Stalin was secretly financed by Henry Ford and the American banks, and Vashkov was financed by the Quartz Brothers because they were members of the secret Skull Club, they ask if they were both friends why are they now enemy's the soldier replies because the Quartz's main income is the weapon industry, they need war to make a profit, and say the world would be a better place without them.
Bill Savage, now depressed thinking when Britain is liberated it will be rebuilt in Quartz image saying they have swapped one invader for another, Volgans try to negotiate with Savage saying if the resistance surrenders they will be treated as prisoners of war, Savage says they will fight until they die. In the council flats the British Resistance is now pushing back Volgan soldiers, Major General Rankov tells the officer attacking Waterloo Bridge that Savage is still alive and leading the resistance and that there can be no prisoners and they must destroy Waterloo Bridge, meanwhile Savage plans to get revenge on The Sniper.
10 Months before the liberation Major General Rankov is talking to a collaborator saying he and the others are going to be turned into Cyborgs to help the Volgan war effort. Meanwhile, in the present time the British Resistance prepare to make a last stand at Waterloo Bridge when suddenly Quartz Raptor Drones come and push the Volgans back also the Hammersteins have reached Peckham thinking the wars over when suddenly the Raptor Drones turn on the resistance Savage realises that Quartz has betrayed them.
Savage manages to save the Resistance by standing in front of the Raptor Drones which have been programmed not to kill him the Hammersteins have taken London after eleven years of Volgan occupation Britain has finally been liberated. In Buckingham Palace Volgan Generals sign the unconditional surrender to the Allies, Savage questions Quartz about the Raptor Drones and Hammersteins failing at points Quartz put it down to errors, even thought Savage doesn't believe him, Savage is looking forward to the return of The Royal Family. Quartz tells him the King has just abdicated The Royal Family won't be returning and Britain is about to become a Republic
Quartz explains that The Tolpuddle Gang now calling themselves the True Democracy Party has the public backing, and Savage is in a way also to blame in that he is a working-class hero who defeated the Volgans, Savage says he is a Royalist through and through, Quartz explains nevertheless they have to accept it. Six months later Savage has given up fighting and is in his Sisters Cafe drinking coffee, on the news there is a protest outside the American Embassy because the highest and lowest paying jobs are going to Robots and not the people and that the Raptor Drones are monitoring the country and that the Hammersteins are allowed to use minimal force against the people, Savage decides to go to the protest, the Hammersteins warn the protesters to dispense, the protesters believe that they will only use plastic bullets but Savage doesn't believe it
Hammersteins open fire on the protesters, Savage manages to grab on to one in panic the control orders the Hammerstein to obey Savage, Savage orders it to attack the other Hammersteins, during this Savage is kidnapped by Volgan collaborators and taken to an underground car park were someone is waiting to see him. The collaborators are Cyborgs who believe they will lead Humanity to a new age, it is revealed that their leader is Jack Savage, Bill's brother, believed dead after the Volgans nuked the midlands, Jack says they are not Volgan collaborators and is about to tell Bill what he has been doing. In 1999 Jack is in his Pub when his stepson Viktor tells him his mum Zoya wants to see him, Zoyas husband, Brendan was killed during a bank robbery that he and Jack were doing, back at his house Zoya tells him that a war between Britain and the Volgans is about to begin. She tells him that she is an Agent for the Volgan Security Service and they must leave immediately, when they are one hundred and fifty miles away, they are safe from the blast, Zoya tells him because he is ruthless she would like him to be an interrogator for when the Volgans take over, Jack accepts. Back in 2010 Jack tells him he couldn't contact them for their safety but hasn't told him what happened in 1999, Bill and Jack embrace.
Jack tells Bill that he has joined Stop The Robots campaign because people are scared of them, Jack tells Bill he is the only one who can stop them. Later Bill is talking to Howard Quartz about the parade that is going to happen, they are temporarily cut off the Quartz brothers start taking about how to stop the True Democracy Party from coming to power saying they need Bill Savage to speak out against them. In London Jack savage and his gang hack into the Prime Minister car and make it crash and they have order from Rankov to get rid of Bill, Jack says he will deal with Bill
In their sister's Cafe Bill and Jack talk about the parade; Bill does not trust Jack. During the parade Howard Quartz is secretly talking to Bill who has his gang secretly monitoring the parade suddenly they see someone acting suspiciously, suddenly the Hammersteins turn on the parade, Thought the Army manages to get the Hammerstines back under control, the Cyborgs hack into the Raptor Drones,Bill and his team kill the Cyborgs, however doesn't stop one Hammerstine from killing Howard Quartz, now Bill plans to kill Jack. Bill finds Jack in Buckingham Palace, Jack tells Bill the only reason he survived because he looked after him, Bill tells him the Hammersitnes are back under control, Jack tells him he has the Raptor Drones now, Bill and Jack begin to fight. With the Raptor Drones back under control and kill Jack, Three months later the True Democracy Party are in charge and have had the Raptor Drones removed. In a secret location, doctors have saved Howard Quartz brain and put it in a machine, his brother is determined to save him Howard Quartz begins to speak and plans revenge on Bill Savage.
Bill Savage is talking with the Prime Minister saying he is planning to help liberate the rest of Europe, meanwhile back at the White House Howard Quartz brain has been put in a robotic suite hearing that Savage is going to Europe he sees his chance for revenge.
In 2015, Savage now living in Volgan occupied Germany, runs The Butchers Hook Mittie in Berlin, he discovers the Volgans have something called The Thousand Year Star, that could change the war, and the only one who knows what it is a Graffiti Artist called Wolfie Vos, a member of the Edelweiss Pirates, and somewhere call Beelitz Sanatorium is where it was made.
Savage is tracked down by Nika Volodina a member of the secret police, however her corrupt boss the Colonel Marshal and his team attack and Voldonia and Savage must work together when they escape a vehicle is a robot in disguise attacks them
The robot is a ZS1 Troop Carrier, that is also carrying Straw Dogs, Savage and Voldonia go to a Cemetery in Mitte and go to a tomb where weapons are hidden, when suddenly Voldonia turns on Savage
Savage tells Voldonia that she must kill him to prove her loyalty the Colonel Marshall watching orders the Straw Dogs to kill them both, Voldonia realising she is betrayed, teaming up again they escape, Voldonia asks Savage what he knows about Beelitz Sanatorium, Savage tells her it was used by Wolfgang Schmidit a serial killer called The Beast of Beelitz, he is now called Beate Schmidt after applying for gender reassignment
Voldonia and Savage escape the Straw Dogs but are captured Wolfie Vos and the Edelweiss Pirates who plan to kill Savage because the Volgans are killing everyone in because Savage kills them
The execution is stopped when the Volgans attack, Wolfie Vos lets Savage and Voldonia go with weapons. Whilst on a train to Beelitz Sanatorium they are attacked by Straw Dogs
Savage and Voldonia fight there way through the train, the then grab on to the transport ship, the Colonel Marshal is waiting for them, Voldonia manages to taser him in the face, causing him to fall to his death, however more Straw Dogs are waiting for them

The weapons of Bill Savage

When Invasion! started, Bill Savage was armed with a double-barreled side-by-side shotgun. After getting into contact with the British Resistance, he was given a pump-action shotgun. Throughout the original series and in the new Savage series, Bill Savage is shown to be skilled in the use of various types of firearms – both friendly and enemy
The various firearms Bill Savage uses in the Invasion! and Savage series comics, besides his tried and trusted double-barreled side-by-side shotgun, are:
The Volgans were originally intended to be the Russian army, but IPC's management forced a last-minute change to a fictional group for fear of offending the Russian embassy. Savage portrays the Volgans as Russians, following a name change.

Collected editions

The titles have been collected into trade paperbacks: