It’s probably safe to say that when all is said and done, Bad Company will not be looked upon as Peter Milligan’s greatest achievement.
Milligan’s tale of inter-species war, originally serialized in 2000 AD from 1986 to 1990, is a fairly light and silly read. It doesn’t contain much in the way of social commentary or characterization, nor is it entirely original. But for all that, it’s still a heck of a lot of fun.
Danny Franks has found himself in the middle of a war on a foreign planet. Ararat is a subject of no small contention between humanity and the Krool, a vicious alien race. Ararat will serve as the bridgehead for a full-scale invasion of Earth, something the humans would like to prevent. But the war isn’t going at all well: The Krool are technologically advanced and utterly merciless. They slaughter indiscriminately, torture prisoners, and even reanimate the human dead as their own zombie soldiers.
In short time, Danny’s unit is nearly wiped out and surrounded by the Krool. They’re sure to be slaughtered, until… Bad Company arrives! This motley crew, led by the Frankenstein-like Kano, has gained the edge in the war by being as ruthless and vicious as the Krool themselves. Just like the Krool, they are utterly merciless, torture their prisoners, and will even use their fellow soldiers as bait – something Danny and his comrades find out, as they’re conscripted into service in Bad Company.
For all the aliens, monsters and robots, Bad Company is essentially an old-fashioned war comic. Take Sgt. Rock, throw him in a setting that looks a lot like Viet Nam, then add the aforementioned aliens, monsters and robots. Bad Company is a fairly traditional collection of misfits and archetypes: Kano, the rough but intelligent leader; Thrax, a vicious killer who’d shoot the soldiers beside him if he thought it would gain the advantage; Wallflower, Kano’s robot assistant; and Mad Tommy, who thinks he’s fighting against the Germans in the 1930s.
The central theme, too, is a familiar one: As Danny spends time with Bad Company, he comes to learn that they have a method to their madness, and while their behaviour may seem uncivilized, it may be the only way to defeat the Krool. But at the same time, can Danny learn to fight the Krool and still retain his humanity?
If this all sounds terribly unoriginal, that’s only because it is. Bad Company takes bits and pieces from war stories spread across the past century and assembles them patchwork like one of the Krools’ vicious War Zombies. But one wants to call it a “loving homage” or simply a “derivative ripoff” doesn’t really matter, because it’s so much fun. Milligan gives the impression of a man who grew up with Sgt. Rock and other like comics, and seems to have a blast playing with all the conventions. Much like Garth Ennis, Milligan combines the over-the-top with the tried-and-true to come up with a story that’s enjoyable enough to make you forget it’s so silly.
None of that would be possible without the artistic contributions of Brett Ewins and Jim McCarthy. The visuals in Bad Company are befitting the story: Dark, shadowy, and grim. Ewins keeps the members of Bad Company distinctive and in focus, while keeping the numerous monsters and fiends shadowy and ill-defined. He carries the carnage effectively without ever going overboard – and there’s lots to go overboard with – and comes up with countless character and monster designs that carry the required balance of absurdity and horror. The Losers’ Jock, who provided the new cover for the collection, has obviously been influenced by Ewins’ work: Anyone who’s read Jock & Andy Diggle’s own series about military misfits will find Ewins’ angular, shadowy work very familiar.
Bad Company certainly doesn’t rival Shade or X-Force among Peter Milligan’s work, but it’s not really meant to. This is much closer in spirit to his mainstream superhero work, though it escapes that soulless feeling that Marvel’s editorial department often seems to bring out in him. This is a much younger Milligan having some fun. Amusingly, it reads quite a lot like Garth Ennis having some fun, too.
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One response to “Milligan Mania: Bad Company”
Good points – Bad Company is just a retread of earlier IPC and Fleetway war stories (specifically Darkie’s Mob) but set in space. As you say, Bad Company is fairly conventional, but I’d argue that Milligan just uses that framework to set up the FAR more interesting work that is contained within Bad Company 2. The sequel, which followed right after, pretty much ignores all the boy’s own adventure of the first story for a much odder tale in which the fighting is secondary to the questions of identity that always come up in Milligan’s work. That is one he’ll be remembered for.