This book was officially released on 11 December, 1978 - barely three weeks after the Jonestown massacre took place in South America. Released as a "Special Edition", this issue by itself and the following series in general would become one of MC's bigger "what the Hell??"s. 'Battle at John'stown' was a direct result of Beers' morbid fascination with Jim Jones' hypnotic power over hundreds of 'losers' as well as his brazenly criminal activities as a 'reverend'. With Scot Mills characteristic help, this book got to be what it was intended to be, a sarcastic parody loosely styled around true events. John Beers summarized the idea when he named the book after him.