Review by Karl Verhoven

The Running Man reprints two stories written for serialisation in the mid-1970s by future 2000AD editor Steve MacManus. The title story is an action thriller while ‘Hold Hill 109’ is a tense World War II drama.

British runner Mike Carter is abducted in New York and given facial surgery to resemble an American gangster, and once he escapes he’s instantly recognisable to every policeman in the city and beyond. Such is his supposed notoriety even bus drivers are prone to exclaiming “Why you’re Vito Scarlatti… You filthy cop killer”. Start picking, and the premise doesn’t greatly hold up, not least why Scarlatti didn’t undergo the facial surgery, but the premise makes for a tense weekly four pages of a man on the run. MacManus conceives a succession of improbable escapes in assorted circumstances as Carter evades the law. In the third episode alone he jumps from a moving bus, negotiates crossing a motorway while being shot at by a police helicopter and has to run across the field in a football stadium during a game, thankfully this time without the helicopter endangering the public. Soon it’s not just the cops on Carter’s trail, but assassin Crazy Luigi.

From gangsters through hillbillies to satanic cults and film sets, MacManus isn’t shy about advertising his influences, and Argentinian artist Horacio Lalia brings it all to dynamic life. He delivers the sights of the USA as Carter travels across the country, brilliantly maximising the improbable action. Carter is a generic action hero hunk even after facial surgery, but Lalia’s other cast members are designed to have personality. Set your logic button to mute and ‘The Running Man’ is still a lot of fun.

Running only seven episodes, ‘Hold Hill 109’ has what for the time was the clever gimmick of each of them being a single day in the lives of British soldiers repelling Germans in the North African desert during World War II. MacManus cranks up the the suspense chapter by chapter, and is blessed by Jim Watson’s art. Watson’s not one for page design, and at first glance the pages seem too packed and messy, but panel by panel the art shines. Watson supplies incredibly detailed weapons and uniforms, and rugged soldiers in realistic action. MacManus’ dialogue is of the “very well Englander you have won again, but time is running out for you” variety, but the plotting overcomes that sort of banality to deliver the thrills.

The Running Man isn’t available from major online bookshops, but can be ordered directly from Hibernia Comics.