Japanese as people?

This is pretty much a rarity for a war comic to portray Japanese as human beings. Even though World War Two had been over for close to 20 years racist ideas were still pretty hard to put aside. Of course judging or forgiving the past is an easy enough way to not thinking, and in its self provides an easy way to be entertained. Stories need bad guys. In this instance it's just odd seeing them not being bad.

Miserable...accursed Australians...

...a more apt description of Australians I have never heard before. Particularly now we're in the thick of the international rugby season and that the cricket isn't all that far away.

Finally concerning the animated individuals highlighted here. Wouldn't you be doing better service to your emperor by living for him? Just sayin'.

Moustache Monday!

Dealing with idiots is an occupational hazard of the moustache. Putting up with beefy English bully boys and politically incorrect smug buffoons with polished desks are part of the job. Put yourself in desert head's situation. It would have been easy to give them what they wanted - to add more polish to the desk as it were... However he chose the more rigid path of being questioned by Mike. Mike put it to him for a whole hour and gave it his all. Yet all he received was a bit of chat. Tired of talking the stuffed shirt moustacheless wonder asks for all the men to be put on the foredeck. Now that's the time to leave.

Tale of One Story Told Twice

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.

Moustache Monday!

Not all moustache is good moustache. There are those that recognise the power and decide to use it for deceit and, even worse, sometimes evil. Just think of all that grooming and trimming used for bad and not for good. Take this fellow here...he clearly is a man of intelligence and clearly the leader. Counting comes to him as naturally as breathing does to others. He will have considered his options and understands what he needs to do - it's just a shame that he has decided to use his talents for wrong doing. Such a shame that his moustache can't think and act for him!  

Cover of the Week Air Ace Picture Library 261 Pacific Invasion!

You could be forgiven for believing that World War 2 in the Pacific only involved 2 combatant nations. However the cover of Air Ace Picture Library 267 Pacific Invasion leaves little doubt on who they were and what was involved.

A lone British fighter appears to be taking on the might of the Imperial Japanese Navy during an invasion. The awkwardly placed and politically incorrect cutaway says it all "As the Japanese hordes swarmed ashore, the Warhawks dived - to destroy".

The water is a beautiful blue - it doesn't look right. However I have seen the turquoise blue of the Coral Sea and I can only say that the artist may have got it right.

On the down side those landing craft look a little bit clumsy and those big ships look a little too close to the shore for my liking. As stated before the cutaway doesn't do too much either.

However I love the smoke trails from those guns (or rockets) and that beautiful blue water. 7/10

Air Ace Picture Library 248 The Missing Bombers

The Japanese are so reasonable in this story they could be confused for Germans. When Air Ace Picture Library 248 The Missing Bombers turns to the Japanese they're not getting ready to die for the Emperor, nor are they calling anybody a dog, nor do they get a lot of chances to let out a final AIEEEE! The lack of stereotyping is a little bit disturbing. In fact the Japanese are portrayed as an organised enemy who just happen to make the mistake of fighting against the Allies. The artwork also doesn't have that agro guy looking though his extra thick spectacles as you would expect in one of these comic books.

All the racism is a part of the story and not in the story - if you know what I mean.

At the centre of The Missing Bombers is Kenaka Cooper, a flying chappy, who has a Japanese mother and an English father. His posting to a Wellington squadron raises a few eyebrows as well as a few hackles. Not only are the allies hard up against it now they have to contend with having a traitor in their midst. Kenaka is of course no traitor.

I like seeing Wellington bombers in pocket war comics and I was a little disappointed not to see more of them. However for some reason there a lots and lots of panels with blokes just standing around  - this issue should win a prize for the most small crowd scenes seen in a war comic book. Needless to say the narrative device of getting the Wellingtons to fly through the secret canyon is just silly.

In its own way The Missing Bombers is a sensitive story as the men around Cooper have to come grips with his ethnicity.

Well if you look really closely only 3 of them are really flying. Two of them are sort of crashing and the last one is missing.

Three disjointed panels of action on the same page. I think the artist was standing a bit close to the ink fumes.

That almost sounds reasonable. Are you sure you're the bad guys?

It's a message from your wife. She says don't forget to go past the supermarket on the way home and pick up some bread and milk.

Who else knows about this?

So that's way he's shorter than everyone else!

Well say it out loud man! You're about to get in an aircraft with him.

Nice panel.

Hey! Why go over it when you can go through it.

Interesting perspective.

Why would you have to do that? Also that guy on the radio looks like he's just lost a bet.

Can I move if I surrender?

Check out the cool gun the Japanese marine is holding.



















I don't know if holding hands with another man would be considered manly back in 1963.

War Picture Library 136 Last Ditch

Last Ditch just hits all the wrong buttons. It means well but just doesn't translate well once it's made the long hard transition from 1962 to 2011. Let's start with the bad guys - not only are they hopeless, stupid, arrogant and lousy shots they also happen to be foreigners with either limited or poor English language skills.

The four good guys have a better time of it. One is a hopeless drunk. You know he's on the highway to redemption - so that means he won't be walking off page 64 at the end. His nemesis is the conservative unimaginative captain who has every opportunity to change his way of thinking and finally does so. There's the young go getter, who realises that in order to make things happen he has to go against authority, as embodied by his captain. Finally there's the sergeant who is good at hitting his Japanese opponents with the heavy end of his rifle/Bren gun/hand.

In Last Ditch the British escape, not surprisingly, from the clutches of the Japanese through a series of lucky scrapes in an old river boat. The interior of the river boat takes on Tardis like proportions anytime the Englishman find themselves below deck.

Despite these flaws it does have some clever charm in the blinding conservatism of Captain Winchester. Even though it hinders him from accepting that the Japanese have the capability to wage war on equal footing with Commonwealth troops it also allows him to 'do what's best' for the drunk and throw all the booze overboard.

Also I find the cover mesmerising. Perhaps it's that early 60s paint palette? In particular have a look at the light shine on that helmet - just perfect!

So there you have it, War Picture Library 136 Last Ditch - plenty of flaws, predictable ending, outrageously racist with plentiful gratuitous action. Some would say almost the perfect pocket war comic!

Could you stop them?

The officers' mess looks like the place to be.

I bet you desert head has been waiting his entire military career to say that.

Even the good guys get blown up every now and again. Aaagh! indeed!!

What are the odds? The Japanese, despite outnumbering the British about 5 to 1 and having the element of total surprise, lose this one.

The Japanese Sam I Am buys one.

No let him stay...we could use a fit dripping wet native boy for something around here.

A Japanese anything with no bottom in it isn't going to be any good to anybody.

There's a lot of unusual things going on on page 34 of Last Ditch. First the head only drawing of Chindwin Charlie delivering his confession. Second not only is the Sergeant's arm casually draped outside the panel, his burly elbow reaches into the panel below.

I'd have more credibility if I didn't look like a nonce.

We're better off without that demon booze.

Air Ace Picture Library 308 Ghost Ship

 Battler Britton!! What impossibilities will he accomplish this time? Am I the only person on the planet (or war comic blogosphere) who doesn't like him? Ghost Ship is really only saved by it's beautiful artwork and style - otherwise it's just rubbish.

It may be that times have moved on. Making fun of Irishmen as well as indigenous peoples because they speak English differently just isn't funny anymore. If it still is then this pocket war library is a riot. Surely not all people living on pacific islands want to eat white people - just as not all Irishmen are lovable rouges. Looking through the politically correct goggles at 40 plus years amplification  some things just don't stand up too well. However when Battler is put under the same examination he doesn't scrub up too well either. Is he meant to be a pompous prat or is he justifiably ignorant?

However the only thing in his favour is that he's not afraid to fly whatever aircraft is needed to get on with the show and he does so without complaint.

Ghost Ship sees Battler and his crew cruising the Pacific looking for the Ghost Ship, of the title, in a beautifully drawn Hampden.

If you were only looking at the artwork this is a quality production, however once you take notice of the storyline things take a bad turn. The storyline goes something like this...A Japanese cruiser is making a real pest of itself by sinking ships and blowing things up and then disappearing by using an array of smoke and mist dispensers.

So far so good.

Somewhere along in the story Battler and his Irish rear gunner meet an Irish beachcomber and his band of native followers. One of whom is called a leprechaun because he looks like one and can predict the future with some certainty...is there really any need to go on?



A swooping Hamden. However what is a Spalpeen?




Look at all that wide open sky.








Boy that was lucky!




That arrow deserves a large "Thonk" written next to it to announce it's arrival.




In another life they would be Ewoks.



Mr Flipping Foot! I LOL on this one!

This is really a great picture.



Who talks like this?




Battler knows what a cruiser blowing looks like. He won't be fooled.



Aussie Hurricanes.

Just a bit too comical.

I don't understand either.

War Picture Library 99 Spearhead

Is a slight misunderstanding enough to condemn your fighting brothers? Well according to Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Dawson it is more than enough. Dawson only has contempt for Americans after he misinterprets a comment from a large chinned American glider pilot.

Spearhead is a very well drawn, composed and animated story. Even though it's basically a shoot 'em up, bash with tash and dash affair the artwork is fantastic with great use of shadow and silhouette.

There's action in the air and on the beaches as glider airborne troops land in the sea and take direct fire from the enemy during the invasion of Sicily. A page or two then serve as a small respite to set the scene and reinforce Dawson's dislike of American pilots. He then only has his opinion confirmed by the introduction of American Airforce (and former bush pilot) Colonel Butch Gordon who is a loud mouthed, cigar chomping, sartorially challenged American pilot. Now with the scene set for some inter-allied animosity there's plenty of action. There's parachuting into Japanese held Burmese jungle to secure a clearing and build an airfield so more troops can arrive to win the war. So there's lots of opportunity for shooting, counter attacks, things to look grim and an arrggghh and aahhh or two.  The story ends with the inevitable reconciliation between should be friends.

No one is trying to get through a deep message or sneak through an agenda on the human condition in this story. This is purely what a pocket war comic should be - lots of action and a real page turner.

Big chinned Americans

Big panted Germans

That's one ugly German

Oh no! It looks like Cutter's bought it!

Smug Germans! Also lesson 23 for Bad Guys. Don't get call each other by your first names while you enjoy your work. It will only lead to a Mills 36 coming your way. 









That's right Karl - that's a Mills 36 coming your way.

Now! That's how you make an entrance!

That's how you wear a government issued suit - with crumpled style.

Itagaki is clearly an idiot.

Limb of Satan! I learn a new cuss everyday.

Check out Mr Muscles on the dozer.

What is wrong with that guy's hat?

Americans are very good at scooting around on their Jeeps and shooting up counter attacks.

Lessons for Bad Guys number 66. Don't forget when accepting the position of a sniper the golden rule is "hit and not be hit".

What a great tank picture. Can anybody help me out with what sort of tank it is?