Squareheads down for the big Boche gang-bang

He must know Captain Edmund Blackadder! Well he is an airman. Maybe he's a Twenty Minuter as well. Clearly he's no rubber desk Johnny. 


All political correctness and Blackadder worship aside. There certainly appears to be a lot of room in that Blenheim to swing that large gun around. You'd have recruits queuing up around the corner for the opportunity to fly around in such comfort.

But would Lord Flasheart fly such an aircraft? Woof!

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.

War Picture Library 56 The Crowded Sky

Wow! There a lot of words in the Crowded Sky it almost should have been called the Crowded Page. I'm not saying that's a bad thing either. In a few short pages there is no doubt why Weymann (a German with a conscious) is so keen to fight the Nazis.

Just before the war begins he is approached by one of his countrymen who wants to escape Germany with his family. Weymann is affronted and considers the man to be a criminal. However he is brow beaten by an Englishman (Stowell) who offers to help the man. Weymann believes he is only naturally defending his country and cannot understand how Stowell can protect someone who is clearly a criminal. However Weymann's fast track to redemption begins when his own family is murdered by the Gestapo.

The story then sees Weymann escaping Gemany and joining the RAF. However it's not all plain sailling - you can take the boy out of Nazi Germany but you can't always take the Nazi Germany out of the boy. In other words he's not very good at being one of the chaps and this raises some tension and suspicion with the rest of the crew. However his Teutonic sense of duty, obligation and leadership sees him coming through for his crew.

Everything is going swimmingly until the navigators brother - the Englishman who saw Weymann when he was being patriotic - turns up one day. So in a nice moral twist Weymann is now the very same type of criminal that he would have once denounced and Stowell would have defended.

But of course there's always that one more mission to fly.

So in the end Weymann's sense of obligation is so great that he saves his crew from their crippled Blenheim and then he attempts to bring the aircraft back to base. The outcome has already been provided by the prophetic words of the CO concerning Spartans and their shields earlier in the story.

In the air there is a feast of early model Blenheims, tri-motor Junkers, trainers, Spitfires, Messerschmidts, Whirlwinds and even a gratuitous Lysander. The line work on the aircraft is well done as well as the composition and layout of the panels.

Not only is this a well written sophisticated story with excellent artwork  - it's also a planefest and you've got to love that!

...and do you know why you'll lose the war Jerry? Because we British know how to stand with our hands on our hips better than you can.

Weymann walked away because he knew he had been defeated by the better man.

Templehof airport looks more like Rick's Bar.

A civilian aircraft! You don't see many of those around these parts.

Crashed, upside down, dark, petrol, burnt oil, soar arm and German. Not a good day at the office.

That's right just like the Spartans. Except we're the pipe smoking, scarf wearing, dashing tash type. If you chaps want to be like Spartans you need to look like me!

Nice picture of a Blenheim.

An even nicer panel! However I can't help feeling the pilot of that 109 isn't the brightest crayon in the box.

Excellent gratuitous Lysander.

When things start reeking you know you're in trouble, big trouble.

How good is this pilot and his Whirlwind!












Whirlwind again!Damn right! Don't tell me what to do!

Air Ace Picture Library 483 One Moment of Glory

It’s no surprise the Allies won the war. If a feckless wonder like Ben Collis can go around killing people what hope did the Nazis have?

He can fly a Bristol Blenheim like he's ringing a bell, he can pinpoint targets like he’s shooting Wamp rats in Beggar's Canyon, he kills Nazis by the trainload, he brings himself and his crew alive back from every mission. And he’s still not happy!

Put simply Collis is an idiot. But the fates and pocket war comic gods will take this all away from him and turn him into a grease monkey.

Now imagine if he were an American and not some limp Englishman. The story would be forced into a different direction. Instead of flying around and moaning that he’s not in a Hurricane he’d be flying around, blowing up Nazis and saying/muttering/shouting “Want some? – Ha!” “Want some of this?” “Damn Nazis start something!” “Want me to finish it!” –ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Instead when he gets excited he says "wizard".

Otherwise it's a pretty good story where the hero gets want he wants only to throw it away for one moment of glory - but in a nice little play on the title he gets another chance at that one moment.

However in the art department I get the feeling this story may have undergone a few revisions or was made up on the fly. The barrage balloons appear to have been created with some disinterest and look hastily drawn. The interior of the Blenheim looks like it shouldn't (without going into detail) it looks very spacious and comfortable. Also most of the uniforms are just a little too neat for my liking.  Also the aircraft look more like the idea of what they should look like rather than what they actually look like.

In the end Collis mans up, give himself an uppercut and gets on with it.

Those Nazis know how to make the local till a field.

Lessons for bad guys number 23. Don't go around saying how you wish it wasn't you. You'll only bring your comrades to a sticky end.

How could the Germans expect to win after being faced with such politeness?


From now on this is how I cus..."Name of a dog!"



 Ahhh the early Blenheim Mk1. Sex in the skies having a smack at the Nazi war machine.

Why car D.K384?

You kill people for living. Keep it together man!You're starting to creep me out.

...a small one man fighter could penetrate the defences...

Fritz was an idiot. All the other guys in the flak unit knew it and they did their best to ignore him.

 ...badly drawn barrage balloons. That'll keep the bombers away.

Oh that instance between Agggh! and the end!

 Just like shooting Wamp rats in Beggar's Canyon.

Nazi aerial euthanasia ridding the skies of loony Englishmen since 1939.

Expensive clatter - much much worse than the cheap ones.

Seems like a fair exchange, eight rockets for six Tiger tanks.

Run you scared Nazis!

Air Ace Picture Library 326 War in the Air

Fantastic! Only if more pocket war comics could have this depth of writing and inspirational artwork.

War in the Air proves that you can fit a good story in only 58 pages.

Shot down and captured on his very first mission, Flying Officer Jimmy Durrance watches a surrendering Blenheim from the imaginatively named YD Squadron deceive it's 2 escorting Messerschmitts and destroy them. Durrance wasn't the only witness to this act. Incensed by this treacherous disregard of aeronautical protocol the Germans vow revenge against the offending squadron.

This is an interesting angle for an Air Ace Picture Library with the British as the target for revenge - usually it's the other way around. The Nazi's really can't bring themselves to let bygones be bygones (they're like that you know!) and keep their vendetta going for more than 2 years.  For a self-proclaimed "lucky" squadron, YD squadron really take a beating and are on the brink of being disbanded. Can only make you think what was happening to the "unlucky" squadrons around them.

Of course Durrance manages to escape allowing for a few frames of POW tunnel digging action. Once he regains his lines who will be revealed as the British pilot who did the dirty on the Germans?

The illustrations in War in the Air are pretty darn good with the illustrator using as few lines as possible to great effect. The panel structure also seems to be influenced by DC or Marvel comics. Even though nobody says Aaargh! this is a clever bit of writing and illustrating.

Given a few more pages I would have ended this story a little differently - but this is a good one as it stands.

 That's a bit of a tight fit. Too many cream buns and they'll take you off the flying list.

I think "nicely" is a very apt term for this picture.

Look at the front of this Blenheim it looks like it's been designed by steam punks.

Nice panel layout .

Shouldn't that be "voxing"?

Nice layout.

Com'n skip - it's a enough to make a bloke paranoid.

Ahhh...the privileges of rank in the bath hut.

Damn fine tash and damn fine cravat.

Rules for Bad Guys # 276. Never ever say our "anythings" will stop the enemy. It's a sure fire way to make sure they don't.

A man on a mission!