500 Posts! Party time!

Close Range. Complete Story as found in Battle Picture Library 498 Hunt the Traitor

Crusader Tank Profile

The desert seems to be an appropriate place to find Crusaders. This is the first installment of hopefully many more of this British tank. These frames come from the mini (or should that be supplementary?) story "Close Range" found in the 1970 Battle Picture Library 498 Hunt the Traitor.

Let us root the Englanders...

Some people are very forward in their intentions and choose not to hide their actions. Discretion appears to be foreign word to this people. Unless of course their intent is to be discreet, however given the nature of the endeavour at hand, that would be highly unlikely. Where do you stand when it comes to Englanders?

Just plain pretty

When you think about it, there should only be so much that can be done with ink to paper. Thinking about it too much can get you into a state of bother. This panel of men waiting in the desert is just wonderful.

Good looks. I've got them.

You know it must be a real let down to fight a war and be ugly. Luckily I've got it where it counts in the "look at me department". The enemy doesn't stand a chance. That's why I decide to go direct every time, if you know what I mean. I'll even be able to do it with my eyes closed and think of England.

It works!

Could this be the best Nazi Detector  Room ever! It has only just been installed and it has found 3 of them already. Not only does it find Nazis it also removes them. Making the room ready to use again and again. When not in use the Nazi Detector Room folds up and slides easily under your bed. Some construction required. Instructions included. Batteries not supplied.

You won't believe what happens to this Nazi next...

Amazing. Hard to believe what only a few grams of lead can do to the morally and politically corrupt fighting for their miserable lives. Brave. There is no doubt. Wrong. There is no doubt. Poor kommand of English. There is no doubt.

Cables down the passage.

The big bang theory is here and now. Fear not god botherers or soulless deniers. This isn't about that big question - proof or no proof, faith or no faith. This is about getting both your hands on it and giving it a good plunge and watching and enjoying what happens next. Push back be the only thing you need focus on and let your own experience guide you to what constitutes a safe distance.

Celebrating 300+ Posts!

Hooray! Pockets War Comics reaches 300 posts.  So far so good...
In writing this blog I've discovered more things about pocket war comics than I thought were possible. I've also made a few friends for which I am grateful. I've also found a number of other blogs and websites that I would not have found otherwise. Thank you to everybody for your support - you know who you are.
Here's to the next 300!

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.

Tiger Tank Profile Number 2

More Tiger tanks this time from Battle Picture Library 13 Battle Order. Well actually it's really only the one Tiger tank found at the begining of the story.

Another good job of illustrating this large hunk of metal.

There's a small bonus at the end of the sequence when a Cromwell turns up to ruin the party. I guess you don't get to see too many of those in a comic books.

Now only if I can find more of them...

Covers in no real order