Bill Savage
| Bill Savage | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Fleetway |
| First appearance | 2000 AD No. 1 (1977) |
| Created by | Pat Mills |
Bill Savage is a fictional character in the British comic anthology 2000 AD, which first appeared in the story Invasion! in issues 1–51. He is a resistance fighter in the Free European Army (FEAR) against the Volgans, who invaded and conquered Britain in 1999 during the Eight Hour War. His family include his brother Jack, a pub owner in Birmingham who was apparently killed when the Midlands was nuked; his sister Cassie and her disabled husband Noddie (who was brain damaged by Volgan non-lethal weaponry), who assist in the resistance; and his other brother Tom, a journalist who publicly co-operated with the Volgans.
Bill Savage appeared in the first issue of 2000 AD (1977), as part of the series Invasion! depicting the conquest of Britain by the Volgan's People's Republic (an alternate version of the USSR which had replaced Communism with Fascism) in the then future year 1999. A truck driver from East London, he was not particularly political but after discovering his wife, son and daughter had died as collateral damage from a Volgan tank shell, he went out to kill any Volgans he could find. His successful extermination of a Volgan tank crew was spotted by Lieutenant Peter Silk, a member of the British resistance, and Savage was drafted in. Initially leading the Mad Dogs (with Lt. Silk as his 2nd in command) guerilla unit out of a secret base in the Isle of Dogs, Bill Savage became the most successful resistance agent. His flamboyant actions and brutal common sense turned the tide of many missions.
When the heir to the throne, Prince John, returned to Britain, Savage and Silk were involved in keeping him safe and attempting to smuggle him back to Canada. They succeeded, though Silk was killed by Volgan agents. Invasion! ended in prog 51 with Savage believing that, as the Volgan agents had murdered American citizens, the United States would cease being isolationist and would liberate Britain.
In 1979 Bill Savage returned to 2000 AD in Disaster 1990. Set before Invasion! it depicted Savage dealing with the consequences of a nuclear accident that causes the melting of the Arctic Ice Cap and a temporary rise of the coastline that floods southern England.
The story of Bill Savage's fight against the Volgans continued on in 2004 when 2000 AD published Savage: Taking Liberties; it took place in 2004, turning the strip into an alternate present story rather than alternate future. Savage was depicted as a far grimmer and generally sociopathic character than before; at one point, he slaughters a restaurant full of civilians simply for eating in the same place that Volgans and collaborators do.
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