AXA (comics)

The cover of the first issue of the Eclipse Comics title. Art by Romero.

AXA was the title of a newspaper comic strip featuring an eponymous lead character, which was published in British daily tabloid The Sun from 1978 to 1986. It was written by Donne Avenell and drawn by Romero.

Publication history

Commissioned by The Sun in 1978, the series was designed as a daily three-panel adventure strip. The strip proved highly popular but the Sun suddenly cancelled the strip midway through a story in 1986.

Romero created 2238 strips in black/white before the comic was cancelled. The last strip published in the sun was number 2232. It was published on November 16, 1985 (according to the Ken Pierce re-production of the AXA comic in book #9).

Romero returned to draw his previous series, Modesty Blaise, but also took AXA to the American company Eclipse Comics, who published a two issue series of all-new adventures, though this time with much less nudity and Chuck Dixon as writer. Another comic book version of AXA was later produced for the Swedish comic magazine "Magnum". All the strips from The Sun have been reprinted in trade paperback format by Ken Pierce Books.

In 2000 Romero created "AXA 2000". No official illustrations have been released.

A film version of the strip was announced in 2005. In 2008 Unizarre International Film & Television Productions was officially attached as Producer of the film version. October Pictures are confirmed as co-producers.

In January 2011, a mobile phone game was released based on the AXA character. The game targets mainly Nokia phones, but is written in Java and is therefore expandable to other platforms.

Synopsis

Opening on a post-apocalyptic Earth in the year 2080, Axa is a woman who, having grown sick of the regimented and stifling society inside a domed city, flees into the untamed wilderness. The strip mixed elements of science fiction and sword-swinging barbarian tales (the lead character herself bears more than a casual similarity to Red Sonja). However, it is arguable that the strip's main draw were the frequent depictions of the gorgeous and full-figured Axa's tendency to wind up topless or fully nude, as rendered by the skilled pin-up artist Romero. This tendency was set as early as the series' third installment in which, in a denuding act of defiance, Axa violently tears off her jumpsuit to show her rejection of the domed city's ways. She immediately went on to replace her attire with a reliably flimsy rag bikini, which would become the character's signature outfit throughout the remainder of the series.

Reprints

Ken Pierce Books (US)

1. The Beginning, the Chosen (1981)
2. The Desired (1982)
3. The Brave, The Gambler (1983)
4. The Earthbound, the Tempted (1983)
5. The Eager, The Carefree (1984)
6. The Dwarfed, The Untamed (1984)
7. The Mobile, The Unmasked (1985)
8. The Castaway, the Seeker (1986)
9. The Escapist, The Starstruck, The Betrayed (1988)

• Axa Color Album (1985)

Sources

• AXA publications in Charlie Mensuel BDoubliées (French)

Footnotes

AXA Game on IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1820389/

External links

• AXA movie website
• Unizarre Film International Film & Television Productions