Yeesh, it only took four issues for Danny to go full-on hardened vet.

Also, I'm reading these out of order, so it's like picking up an issue of Sgt. Rock and instead of Bulldozer, Little Sure Shot, and Ice Cream Soldier; Rock was leading Hotfoot, Lefty, and Alamo Pete. Somewhere along the line, something bad had happened...From 1988, Bad Company #4, reprinting the titular serial from 1987 progs 2000 AD #509-510, written by Peter Milligan, pencils by Brett Ewins, inks by Jim McCarthy.  

On the planet Ararat, Bad Company was getting it on all sides, as the Krool's "zombie beat" was re-animating dead earth soldiers against them. (I'm sure it's just 90's techno; Grant Morrison established that ages ago!) Robot medic Wallbanger thinks it can block the frequency, but they needed equipment, so the rogue unit was forced to head for the remaining earth soldiers at Sector 8; which involves fighting through the insane Marshal Bonehead and the Skull Possee. (The extra 'e' is for...insane? That's how crazy they are!)

After a battle, their commandeered Krool transport breaks down again, near where Danny had buried his friend Malcolm, but he finds the grave empty. Mac tries to play it off as animals got the body, but Danny's pretty sure Malcolm was now a war zombie. Pointed-eared Thrax asks, why not just decapitate all the bodies before the zombie beat brings them back; but Wallbanger says that'd take about three months to get all the earther corpses...Arriving at Sector 8, the remaining regular forces are disorganized and leaderless; but also afraid of the "wild animals" of Bad Company, which Danny remembers had been his first impression of them as well, and now he was one of them.

While the Krool could have just rolled over Sector 8 now if they had known how bad off it was; reinforcements were coming: earth elite Lord Ireland, who would almost certainly try to kill Bad Company, since they knew the truth, that earth was dying. Sector 8 finds itself under siege by the Skull Possee, as the zombie beat starts; and Danny is as cool as the other side of your pillow, since all he sees is "a lot of soft skin to be burst or scorched or torn..." Damn, son.

Darn, I thought I had all of Bad Company on digital...I'm pretty sure Milligan is building up Danny as hard when in some ways he's still all marshmallow: he has far more human feelings than Kano or Thrax, who are more like robots than Wallbanger. Also this issue: more Peter Milligan, with the first two progs of "Freaks", then more street football in "The Mean Arena." "Freaks" has art by John Higgins, but the protagonist is an unlikeable, looks-obsessed cad, who gets sucked into another world of hideously ugly inhabitants--or, they're ugly to him, anyway. "The Mean Arena" starts to get rolling, as the Slayers lose another player, but per the rulebook they can ask for a volunteer from the crowd, and dear Grudd I wish the NFL would institute that immediately. (In the pre-season, that'd get viewership up!) The Slayers get a ringer, though: fabled American player Matt Tallon, long believed dead, steps in; but he has reasons of his own...(Written by Tom Tully, art by John Richardson.) Warning: if you dig up the next few issues of Bad Company, you might get to read all of "Freaks," but after this title ended, "The Mean Arena" continued in 2000 AD Showcase until that series ended, so you'd have to look overseas for the conclusion!