1987: ACTION FORCE ISSUES 1 & 2 (MARVEL UK)

From March 1987: two-for-one thrills: the first two issues of Marvel UK'S ACTION FORCE 'revival'.

This came only a few months after BATTLE had lost the toy franchise (and, indeed, the Annex had already teased their new signing by running a G.I. JOE reprint in the back of THE TRANSFORMERS) but this was a significant change of direction. For a start: it was in colour.

Marvel also tried something that, as far as I know, they never tried before or since. They bundled issue two with the first as a freebie. Two comics for the price of one, held together by a plastic strip. The first issues (which, I believe, were supported by TV advertising as part of Hasbro's push to relaunch the toys) stayed on sale for a fortnight. 

Whether this strategy was a winner is debatable. It meant that if you somehow missed out, you couldn't jump on until issue three. Which is a big gap if you are a kid collector. But it did mean you got double the thrills... even if you had to wait a fortnight for the third outing.

The weekly itself shuttered after a mere fifty issues although the may have been as much down to the decline in British weeklies as it was a flaw with this particular title. 

The British strips from the weekly were reprinted as back-up strips in its successor ACTION FORCE MONTHLY (aka G.I. JOE EUROPEAN MISSIONS if you were reading imported copies in the States).