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It's all happening in there I tell you! Murder I say! Murder! But this is war! Where is the murder? There I tell you! There!
What does this officer know? What does he really know? The intense gaze and accusationational gesture raise tension in an already tense situation. Also he is clearly a warrior, and an officer, as he has a desert hardened tan, a pistol and a wristwatch.The sense that something is happening "in there" is nicely and simply created by the viewing window of the action contained within the red wall or boundary. This is further emphasised by the shadow behind the officer that naturally doesn't fall through the window. Also in the window itself there's a scene of a gritty battle pitting raw flesh against hardend steel as the sun beats down from a cloudless sky over a sandy desert.
As covers go, War Picture Library 412 Murder Charge is an absolute winner 10/10!
A big man needs a big moustache. A big moustache is needed to deliver news that others may not want to hear. Using several words where one will suffice is also a useful skill. Notice how the Big Man Big Moustache can use several words to convey a meaning. While Mr No Moustache Fur Collar is bereft of any imagination and resorts to a dual-syllabic response. It could be argued that both are appropriate to the circumstances however it takes a man of moustache to provide the elegance, authority and gravity that such a statement necessitates.
See Double Dynamite fly.
She likes to go zoom zoom zoom. She likes to fire her guns blam blam blam.
The bad men don't like her and they shoot rat-a-tat-tat rat-a-tat-tat. Double Dynamite thinks the bad men are silly and she flies over their heads zoom zoom zoom. This makes the bad men angry and they use their big guns boom boom boom and hurt Double Dynamite by blowing off one of her engines.
Even though she is hurt she doesn't care. She can still go zoom zoom zoom and her guns can still go blam blam blam. The bad men start to say mean things and that annoys Double Dynamite. She knows it's wrong to hurt anybody - even bad mean angry people.
She is happy to fly around and shoot her guns but the bad men start to say cruel things. Double Dynamite is quite cross with them and tells them to stop. The bad men stop being cruel, mean and angry and promise not to do it again.
Double Dynamite is happy now and she flys home to get her engine fixed and get some new ammunition. She can't wait for the new day to start so she can fly back out and play.
Where to start? Time to look at creases, tears and staple rust marks. I'm quite taken by these recent editions to my collection. Everything about them is wonderful from the artwork to the back cover advertisements and of course everything in between. The imperfections do anything but detract from their beauty. They are the evidence of a full and long life. Now I know there are those of you who will flinch or even sneer at the very notion of a rust stain or a scuff. Why? These comic books were published about 50 years ago and were no doubt owned by a succession of boys - the fact that they've made it this far is a miracle in itself. Creases are a sign of being read, put away, stacked and re-read and then moved around, and then perhaps sorted and read again. Now that they've reached my care for the time being they'll find a bit more attention to their preservation. You might ask, now that they're been, "collected" and "preserved " will they ever be read again? Absolutely by me!
When a moustache leads the soldiers of destruction one thing needs to be made perfectly clear. Is it luck or leadership that brings success? Some believe that only the ownership of certain talismans can focus and provoke the unrelenting energies that are required to inflict significant trauma to one’s enemies. Others say that leadership in all its forms, waxed, shaved, groomed, oiled, clipped, or teased provides the dedication and inspiration that followers find in their betters when committed to the task of remorseless annihilation. However one thing is always certain - Moustache Monday! is always on the money!
You can hide in the sand. You can hide in the snow. You can hide wherever you can. No matter where you hide that Stuka is up there...looking for you...and you alone on Stuka Sunday!
Not all moustache is tash and dash! Dealing with pencil necks and swarthy types can be difficult at the best of times - in a heated argument it would feel like the worst of times. Respect like moustache wax needs to worked and taken to the ends. Serious types are apt to living up to their own tedium and it takes a moustache to see beyond all that. Despite the glares, death stares and accusations the time is ready to fix the cloth cap, firm the gaze and speak the truth!
This is the story of one story told twice. Both Battle Picture Library 75 Bandits One Five and Air Ace Picture Library 352 Squadron Airborne are the same story. Are there any clues as to why the name needed to be changed?
The subhead flashes offer no clue - Squadron Airborne makes mention of "Blind hatred can cloud a man's judgment", while Bandits One Five declares "Their lives were measured in seconds in the skies over Burma" Both clearly have something to do with the Japanese and the British. Yet why the different names?
The Battle Picture Library version is published in September 1962 while the Air Ace Version is published in August 1967. Perhaps there was a copyright issue as the later issue makes no mention of it being previously published. Perhaps somebody didn't want to pay somebody else royalties? Who can say? Who knows?
The Air Ace edition runs to 64 pages while the later Battle Picture Library edition cuts out at 58 pages. So what failed to make it across space and time? Page 3 has 2 panels showing hurricanes giving the Japanese infantry a hard time. A panel each on page 14 and 15 showing British airman scrambling from their tents disappear. The 2 panels on page 24 are lost. One shows the hero making his way around the jungle while the other has him discovering dead and bloated enemy bodies. But then page 25, of the later Air Ace Picture Library, has a half panel of the hero discovering a manned enemy ammunition barge coming down the river found on page 29 drawn as a quarter panel in the "original"! Was this quarter panel redrawn, retraced or was the full panel rediscovered and reapplied? Furthermore an action sequence where the hero manages to survive a chance encounter with a single Japanese soldier and is then lucky to avoid a nearby patrol takes up a whole 4 pages, including some detail of the previously mention armed barge is excluded. Page 43 of the "old version" loses 2 panels showing some British earnestness.
Could we be witnessing a stirring of racial sensitivity in 1967 that wasn't present in 1962? Or was it just simply a question of cost?
Is the story changed? Does four pages down equate to less of a story? It does take the desperation out of the first quarter. In the "later" edition the hero is just stumbling around the jungle until he finds the armed barge loaded with explosives which comes into play at the end of the story. In the earlier story there's more tension in the hero's life with the chance single encounter and the patrol before he finds the barge.
I prefer the drama.
Firecrackers. What use are they? There are few things a moustache finds uncomfortable. Strangely firecrackers in awkward positions are one of them. Face an enemy - no problem. Dodge bullets - no problem. Bare knuckled fisticuffs - no problem. Lead others - no problem. Pay attention to grooming and tailoring - no problem. Have a firecracker placed somewhere where you rather wouldn't have one placed - problem. A man of moustache would much prefer a stick of dynamite to a firecracker. Perhaps it is a question of honour.
It only takes one to get you. Is this the Stuka that will find you?
Help could be all around but that's little consolation if there's a crazy Stuka pilot with only one aim...
Is there a chance that he could be stopped before he finds you on Stuka Sunday?
Are you interested? Do you want to know more?
Sometimes information can be really boring even if it's on a topic that you love. However there are ways of presenting information that make you want to take notice.
So how is it done?
Max Gadney openly shares his thoughts on designing graphic articles for WW2 Magazine.
I really don't know too much about WW2 Magazine but from what I've seen through Max's website I shall be on the look out for them from now on.
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