Bad Company is a series of comic scripts in 2000AD Magazine, the first appearing in 1986. Written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by Bret Ewins, Jim McCarthy & Steve Dillon.

Set in the future where a group of renegade soldiers fight a Vietnam style war against a psychotic race of aliens named the Krool. It follows the journey of raw recruit Danny Franks, from a naive soldier to a war hardened veteran. The Company is led by Kano, a Frankenstein like man who was forced to undergo horrible experiments and mutilation while a prisoner of the Krool.

This page is my tribute to this comic book series and contains character profiles on all the Bad Company members except for Bad Company 2002. It was only a short series and the characters were nowhere near as memorable as the others. One of them didn't even get a name!

This series has gone for years at a time with no new stories, however, in 2015 and 2017 we were treated to a brand new story which brought back some of the old characters. I feel these are the best ones since the original.

Click here for my thoughts on the series.

Bad Company appeared in the following stories:

Bad Company (progs 500-519, 1986-87)

Danny Franks is a raw recruit and has been thrown right into a war the humans can't possibly win. However he and his fellow soldiers are about to be rescued by a band of psychotic renegage troops led by the monstrous Kano: Bad Company

Follow Danny Franks as he makes a journey from naive soldier to war hardened veteren and to the final battle on Ararat, to save humanity from the Krool.

The Bewilderness (progs 548-557, 1987-88)

Having bearly survived the war on Ararat against the Krool, Danny Franks, Mad Tommy Churchill and Mac are the only survivors and have been requested to reform Bad Company to track down a psychotic beast terrorising one of the ghetto planets. Could this psychotic beast really be Kano, the former leader of Bad Company whose body was never found?

To find this beast they must first recruit new members of Bad Company.

The Krool Heart (progs 576-585, 1988)

Danny Franks and Kano lead the new Bad Company to a new planet; the Krool Heart in an attempt to destroy the Krool once and for all.

Simply (prog 601, 1988)

A one-off story, involving Danny Franks which took place while he was in Bad Company on Ararat. Danny meets a good Krool.

Young Men Marching (Annual 1989)

A one-off special about a war correspondent who meets Bad Company while they were on Ararat. Also we see how Danny Franks ended up being recruited to fight the Krool war.

Ararat (Annual 1990)

A text story which takes place during the time of the first story, before Bad Company reach the Golgotha Plains. Bad Company attack a Krool Caravan and some disturbing things happen.

Kano (progs 828-837, 1993)

It has been 5 years since the final battle on Ararat and now Kano is settled down with a wife and child on a "Good planet". However his now peaceful life is about to be shattered as monstrous mutants start attacking and killing villagers.

Kano vows to protect the village but doesn't count on being joined by ghosts of his former unit Bad Company.

Down Among the Dead Men (Annual 2001)

Teaser for the upcoming Bad Company 2002 story. Kano is on his way to the Krool Heart and sees a hallucination of Danny Franks brought on by an item he purchased which contains the winds of the Golgotha Plains.

Bad Company 2002 (Progs 1273-1277, 2001)

There is trouble at the Krool heart and it seems Danny Franks is no longer able to control the Krool as he used to. Kano vows to return there and destroy the heart, as well as Danny Franks and enlists new members of Bad Company to do it.

B.A.D Company

Previously unpublished 'pilot' version produced for the projected Judge Dredd Fortnightly in 1984

First Casualties (Progs 1950-1961, 2015)

This story takes places 10 years after the Ararat wars where Danny Franks is now in a veterans home heavily medicated due to PTSD. Also with him are old Bad Company stalwarts, Mad Tommy Churchill, Thrax and Flytrap. And of course it wouldn't be Bad Company without the unexpected/expected appearance of Kano! This one contains many flashbacks to the original stories, including additional events that took place. The question is what really happened and why are dead members of Bad Company still alive?

Terrorists (Progs 2061-2072, 2017)

Part 2 of the "First Casualties" story.

Bad Company have learnt the truth about the Ararat War and in an attempt to make the truth public are branded terrorists by those trying to silence them. They must track down a guy named Crowley to find proof.

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Click here for my thoughts on the series.

If you want a more thorough run down and critique of the earlier stories, check out these links. The reviewer's cynical witt will give you plenty of laughs and although I don't share Orlock's negative opinions on the Bewilderness, Krool Heart and Kano stories, he pretty much nails it with the majority of his observations...

Bad Company 1

Bad Company 2

Bad Company 3