Original run Battler Britton first appeared in
Amalgamated Press'
Sun #362 (January 14, 1956) (
Sun was acquired by AP from rival publisher J. B. Allen).
Mike Butterworth wrote early episodes of
Battler Britton, which were illustrated by
Geoff Campion; later artwork was provided by
Gianluigi Coppola,
Hugo Pratt,
Francisco Solano López,
Ian Kennedy, Pat Nicolle, and Graham Coton. Battler Britton became the
Sun cover feature with issue #490 (June 28, 1958), and from April to September 1959 the publication carried the tagline ''Battler Britton's Own Weekly
. Sun
merged with Lion in 1959, as Amalgamated Press was acquired by what became IPC/Fleetway. After appearing in Sun
, Battler Britton'' was featured on the cover of Fleetway's
Knockout in 1960–1961. The
Battler Britton strip was later a mainstay of
Thriller Picture Library,
Air Ace Picture Library, and
War Picture Library. He later appeared in
The Champion,
Valiant, and a couple of
Valiant annuals, and the
Battler Britton Picture Library Holiday Special, published annually from 1977 to 1984.
2006 revival After a series of acquisitions,
Time Warner became the license holder of Battler Britain (along with a whole stable of IPC characters, including
Captain Hurricane,
Robot Archie,
The Steel Claw and
The Spider, as well as minor characters like
Fishboy and
Faceache). In the summer of 2004,
DC Comics acquired the license. Comics writer (and
World War II enthusiast)
Garth Ennis revived Battler Britain in 2006 in
Battler Britton: Bloody Good Show, a five-part series published by DC Comics/
WildStorm with art by
Colin Wilson. Covers were by
Garry Leach. The series featured the ace fighter pilot commanding a squadron of
Bristol Beaufighters in
North Africa during the Second World War. A trade paperback was released in 2007 (), which contained some additional information on the original character.
Current licensee In August 2016,
Rebellion Developments acquired the
Fleetway library from
Egmont Group, making it the owner of all comics characters and titles created by
IPC's subsidiaries after January 1, 1970, together with 26 specified characters who appeared in
Buster and
Roy of the Rovers; while IPC currently retains its other comics characters and titles, including
Sexton Blake,
The Steel Claw, and Battler Britton (but not
Dan Dare, which was sold separately and is now owned by the Dan Dare Corporation). == References ==