Somewhere between baleful and steely.

Time for some pen and ink appreciation. Look at the wonderful shadowing and stern jaw of our man in the foreground. His expression is somewhere between baleful and steely. Everything in this story has been leading to this moment and it shows.

Not Everyone's a Winner

Some boys do and some boys don't. Sadly Norman is one of the boys who didn't. There would be some prescient karma in place if among the crowd  there was an individual in authority or intimate comrade who's given name was James. However such ill-placed humorous coincidences may be considered in poor taste given the gravity of the situation.

Dead people don't often make into the panels of pocket war comics, given the number of dead people war produces it appears somewhat of an oxymoron. Dead protagonists are even rarer. To have one dead and intact is veritably monumental. Let it not be said that it is ever too late.

The Heavenly Trio

These men are winners even though they are all dead. They gave the Hun a good licking even though it may have been misguided at times. The chap in the centre managed to outlive the other two. Even though he was driven by blind rage at time to avenge his friends' deaths it appears that inappropriate use of raw emotion is no barrier to become part of the trio eternal.
 

This is a wonderful version of the afterlife where, despite what ravages of mortal existence may be visited upon your temporary person, your life eternal will continue in perfection immortal. Does this also mean the 'inseperables' are stuck with each other for ever? Like in forever forever? No doubt if they are the best of chums then everything will be OK. Are they allowed to swap positions. Can they swap outfits? Or are they compelled to stride through the clouds , with the light at their backs, for always. Having said that, they do appear to be very happy to do that.

Oh the joy of a job well done!

Dead Snow

For every avalanche that buries a bunch of Nazis something like this is bound to happen once every now and again...

War Picture Library 412 Murder Charge

 Is being brave enough? Sergeant Bill Holt is clearly brave enough but what happens when being brave interferes with orders - even if they are the wrong orders?War Picture Library 412 Murder Charge is all about not giving up and keeping up the fight even though you are ordered to retreat and are under questionable command.
Sergeant Holt is the replacement NCO for a cynical platoon lead by an ungrateful officer. The worst thing about Lieutenant Jessup is that he's already given up - he's lost the fight in him and he's prone to panic and is open to the offer of surrender. Holt, however, is ready to keep on fighting and when forced too has no alternative but to kill Jessup in order to save a desperate situation.
Interestingly this happens by page 37, leaving 21 pages to tail-end the story. Holt knows that the army has a dim view on NCOs shooting their officers so he decides to go absent without leave but not before leading the remnant of his platoon to relative safety. The fly in the ointment of his little farewell plan is the dead lieutenant's pet corporal who is quick to report the (technically correct) murder to his superiors. The commanding officers want Holt brought back alive and the remainder of the story follows Holt's naturally dramatic retrieval.
Murder Charge is a very well constructed and thought out action filled War Picture Library comic. The writing is strong and even though there's plenty of action - none of it is gratuitous.
Only if more stories could be like this one.

 Says who?

Not looking good... particularly when there's an ACH! and an AAGH! involved. Also that guy in the front of the panel doesn't look too happy.

Stukas!

Happy to be alive or just sharing a good joke?

Derision with a capital h.

He doesn't look very cool, calm or efficient to me.

Broken English? Nothing wrong with his sentence structure.

...or we could stay here safe behind this rock.

 Nice composition.

They teach you how to stand like that in German officer's school.

It would be very messy inside that little tank now.

War Picture Library 220 The Atlantic Wall

There's a breath of honesty in The Atlantic Wall that is missing in most other pocket war comics. Victory is paid in blood. The toll of British dead is extraordinarily high. At the risk of sounding morbid it is this aspect of the story that makes it a good read. Not all the characters who are introduced survive.

The pivot of the story is Brigadier "Blood and Thunder" "Big Jumbo"  JMB Oliphant - an inspiration to his men as well as a perfectly eccentric English officer. He prefers to go into battle wearing his monocle and a black jumper with his two hunting dogs by his side and a sten gun in his hands. He's quick to praise and promote initiative. He is interested in results! Also (and perhaps alarming to our modern sensibilities) he has little time for sentimentality, for example the Brigadier sees a dead British soldier clutching a piat as a wasted firing opportunity. The tears can come later.
This is where the honesty can be found. Of course there are the typical extreme comic book moments. There can be no other way. However minor characters are given a chance to evolve. After that they are unlucky and buy it or lucky and survive. Which is interesting to find a War Picture Library story that openly says that luck sometimes has a part to play in success. But as we learn in The Atlantic Wall luck is only created by making things happen and things only happen as a result of strong leadership.

 Now that's how you wage war!

You might be smug now...

Sergeant Goldfinger (bottom right hand corner) survives the battle only to meet his fate several years later at the hands of another Englishman.

 You do the right things and this is what happens...

Psycho old dude with dogs wastes two bad guys.

Karl and Ernst have their final lesson.

If there wasn't a war on I'd let them eat you.

Thems big Nazis.

 Our weird little guys are better than your little weird guys.

 Outstanding lack of sentimentality. I love it.

 What? Daring do not enough? Luck had no part to play in it.

 The old I got you but you got me Aggghhh!

 What! Remorse? Where did this nonsense come from?

For you windowhead the war is over.

Battle Picture Library 99 Battle Royal

There's this truck driver, see? But he's not really a truck driver, well he really is, he's really a king. Yeah! A real king. Except he doesn't have a kingdom - well he does, but it's not a patch of dirt or a castle - well there was one but that's under water now. It got flooded by the king to save his kingdom. Because a kingdom is about people and not crowns and things. That, boys and girls, is the story contained in Battle Picture Library 99 Battle Royal. And that's a Royal with cheese.

The king of the story is a truck driving private by the name of Hazard who is given the kingship, and a tumble down castle in the middle of a swamp (but without huge tracts of land) as a bequest from a dying Dutchman. Not because he was nice guy but because Hazard is made of the right stuff to lead men and fight.

There's much direct reference in this story that you can't be made of the right stuff if you're only a truck driver - after all you're not a fighting man are you? That reminds me, I understand that Benny Hill was a truck driver in Europe after the D-Day landings. However, unlike Hazard he didn't start shooting Germans or become royalty.

The story becomes interesting when Hazard, in full possession of his castle in the swamp, goes feral and starts shooting at British Commandos, who want to destroy his kingdom by opening some sluice gates in order to flood the formidable German defences. However Hazard reminds himself of the big picture and realises that if losing his kingdom also means drowning a lot of Germans then he should do it.

The really stupid part of the story involves the location of seat of the kingdom - a ruined castle on an island swarming with resistance fighters that the Germans somehow missed in their planning for the defence of the area.

However there is a darker side to this pocket war comic. The enemy is not usually shown being refused mercy and there also are a fair few dead people to be seen lying around.
However despite the absurd story, Battle Picture Library 99 Battle Royal is a rolicking good read!

Shark Leader? These guys are full of it!

Sometimes you just have to fight back. Too bad about the Lieutenant and the Sarge.

 What a great expression on that officer's face.

 Squareheads! Why do they get in the way?

The double AAGH! Now there's a first.

 No mercy!

 ...and you'll never guess that's where our secret base is located!

Nice gun!

Just like in Portahouse Blue.

Thank you captain obvious.

 Sometimes the bad guys have a win.

Rare to see dead good guys.

 That oufit is a bit tight Hazard.

 You'd be saying more than himmel!

Is that a grenade in your pocket or are you happy to see me?

War Picture Library 135 The Big Arena

Shirts off and Australians. Why do the two always go together? Without fail Australian war picture comic troops are always keen to throw off their kit and show off their chests. The other typical traits of Australians in these stories are their disregard for authority and their fearless fighting ability and spirit.

War Picture Library 135 The Big Arena follows a pair of battle hardened and battle weary Aussie blokes who decide they need a rest from fighting and decide to go absent without leave. Even the officers understand and allow them to skip off for a short break. However  the spit and polish by the book just out from Australia provost sergeant major doesn't understand how things really work in the shooting war and he is determined to bring the two battle weary malingerers into line even if has to cross enemy lines to do it.

Naturally, through a series of adventures, the sergeant comes to fully understand the two heroes and it is only a matter of time before he is brought under the spell of the bromance. Finally he learns how things work in a shooting army.

Australians in pocket war comics never fail to impress. They're always smiling, always shooting and willing to give it a go. They also tend to be larger than mortal men and this is certainly true in The Big Arena where two of the main characters are easily breaking 6'6'' if not bigger.

This is a big story of men from a big country in another big country during a big war.

You're about to eat my cold steal you accursed Australier! And don't laugh at my skinny legs.

When most Spandau teams go out of business they usually have a sale first.

Ginger Meggs grows up and goes to war.

This is a great plan. I can see how this is going to work.

This tank crew looks like the right age for tank crew - a bunch of young punks.

You know you're a part of the Commonwealth because everybody has got different hats.











You don't see a lot of blokes from India in these things - but it's good to see two of them relaxing.

This sergeant is big enough to play lock for the Wallabies.

Passes? Passes? We don't need no stinkin' passes.

Oh the desperation.

Good degree of concern, dread and anticipation in this panel.

Australians will always create an opportunity to take off their shirts.

You think? I thought it was a lost tribe of Mongolians on their final stretch home. Boy did I get that one wrong.

The desert is a big place.

When things go bad...

...they go really bad.

Under the Southern Cross I stand. A sprig of wattle in my hand. 'Stralya! You Bloody Beauty!