Air Ace Picture Library 329 Contact!

Let me start by saying how much I hate Battler Britton and I need to really set aside my prejudices when I read a story with him in it.
Having said that Contact! is barely an OK story as very little time is spent in the sky over the convoys and more time is spent flouncing around French countryside with the French Resistance. Battler gets shot down or is forced to crash three times, and survives! He's at his superhero best/worst as he manages to fly an unknown German rocket plane with a propeller and  folding wings only known as the "Secret Plane", with little or no preparation. The only good thing about story is we also get to see a Sunderland flying boat, Liberator, Condor, Seafire, Spitfire, Lysander, Focke-Wulf, Walrus, and Ju 88.
Of course Battler also manages to down eight enemy aircraft, most of them from either his short flight in the "Secret Plane" or as a gunner in a Sunderland. He's so annoying!
Also it took me a little while to figure out what was happening with that cover. It has to do with that zooshing as the Spitfire leaves the catapult ramp on the cargo ship.

Book Exchange Stamps

The provenace. The journey. It's here. From book exchange to book exchange. What was it traded for? Was it or this a better read? Moved through so many hands. Now caught in hands of a collector. Will there ever be a release to that grip?

Bloody elephants.

If it isn't hard enough trying to fight a war in the jungle imagine how difficult it is having to deal with a pack of angry jungle elephants. Everyone has the right to be upset, these elephants perhaps more than most.

Are your flaps full down?

Perhaps our friend's flaps are a little too far down and he should stop pulling so hard. Or perhaps it is time to ease up. Idioms aside. Once you've crashed through the canopy, produced a landing of sorts, blatantly discarded the wings, and cut the fuel lines it's time for a stop don't you think? So time to leave those flaps alone and have a little lie down.

I imagine otherwise...

...I think Sam would have preferred to live a rich and full or pious and devout or long and wicked life or listless and wasted life (pick the one you prefer) rather than devote his last remaining moments to the thoughts of a disheveled and grim Englishman. Machismo is no substitute for empathy.

One of my favourites.

How could you not love this title? Jungle Snatch! So evocative. So vivid. So much fun. The school boy tittering (there it is again) just goes on and on. No need to draw any inevitable and puerile conclusions where this title sits in the minds of those who should know better.

Time for a Battler Britton reboot.

If other lesser mortals and immortals can be reimagined then why can't Battler? I know he's highly unlikeable. He's always right, he's never wrong, he's a big 'told you so', his plans always work, he's able to fly any aircraft, he always shoot down the King's enemies, he always knows what to do, he can always get out of a tight spot, his superiors rely on him, his men adore him, his colleagues respect him, he's resilient, he's resourceful, and the list goes on and on. So why no reboot? Why no overworked back story? Why no introduction of a sinister side? Why no spandex uniform? Come on Hollywood! You don't have to be an American to be a superhero...

When you've got it...

...everybody wants it. Time to give it away and indulge or time to pull a number of favours for use later? If you were clearly in demand what would you do? Don't let the doomsayers and fun sponges take away from your moment with the chaps. Stick up for your rights and let everyone get a turn.

Will it ever stop?

Schoolboy humour. Will it ever go away? Could it ever get more hopeless than this? Oh the sniggering...the restrained giggles, the mindless repetition, the unprovoked recitation. Childish? Guilty as charged!

Did Battler Britton Shoot this Dornier Down?

Last surviving Second World War Dornier bomber is to be raised from its watery grave after 70 years in biggest recovery of its kind

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2318808/Last-surviving-Second-World-War-Dornier-bomber-raised-watery-grave-70-years-biggest-recovery-kind.html#ixzz2SPOHZLIy


Meanwhile over at Boardgame Geek...

...Kyle has put together lyrics for a parody of the Thrift Shop song by Macklemore. Now that I've been inspired if I can turn my unique talents towards lyric writing I could have a hit on my hands...

I gotta pop some mags,
Only got 20 bucks in my pocket,
I’m on the sniff for pocket war comics,
Battler Britton? Awesome!

Air Ace Picture Library 349 Duel Over Malta

Why does Battler Britton brings out the best and worst in pocket war comics?

First the best. Duel Over Malta is really well drawn. This is one of those stories where the sky is full of aircraft. There are Stukas, Hamdens, Blenheims, Spitfires, Junker 88s, Me 109s, Beaufighters, Macchi 202s and Junkers 52 Trimotors. With all those aircraft there's plenty of action. Even the storyline itself is reasonable. Set during the siege of Malta the scene is set for Battler to blast some Jerries out of the sky. Battler and his squadron are assigned to fly in badly needed Spitfires and pilots to defend the embattled island. From the moment they take off from the pitching aircraft carrier to the landing on the bomb crater pocketed airfield Battler is in the thick of it. The moment he lands his aircraft it is immediately seconded by the local fighter hero, Squadron Leader Naylor, who uses the Spitfire for its designed purpose.

A cooperative and friendly rivalry develops between Naylor and Britton as they maintain the good fight against almost overwhelming odds.

So what's the worst? Battler has to go on and do something that's impossible. To most this might appear to be his most enduring quality - but not only does he bend and stretch the very laws of physics his actions are somewhat gratuitous to the plot, robbing an otherwise good story of some extra panels and pages.

There's a point in this story where everything seems to be going OK and then Battler has to pull the "Hang on - while I save the war moment". Again an endearing quality to some but not to me.

Another game of Risk in progress. While the man at the desk is clearly a German and the two guys before him are tram conductors - why does the guy in the background look British?

Rarely mentioned or pictured in pocket war comics here is a unique appearance of these two famous degenerates.

Now that does sound like trouble!

Battler looks a lot like Mr Bean.

Excellent! By that rate we should all be dead in a week and half.

Now that's an understatement.

Good mini Aagh! from the Ace of Spades.

  

What is wrong with these people? They manage to speak English most of the other times.

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.