Tagged: London

FORTIER TAKES ON ‘THE ZEPPELIN’!

ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier
UCHRONIC TALES – The Zeppelin
By W. Peter Miller
Uchronic Press
55 pages
Recently I reviewed a short digest novella from Moonstone Books and mentioned liking this handy format for a quick, enjoyable reading experience. Well, California based writer, W. Peter Miller has launched his own series of such small paperbacks called “Unchronic Tales,” and the first one is entitled, “The Zeppelin.”
Now from the back cover copy, we’re told that these books will be set in an alternate world which is much like our own but then again different in some pretty startling and unique ways.  And make no mistake about “Unchronic Tales,” they are definitely part of the New Pulp Fiction movement sweeping the literary world today.
The hero of this first novella is American Agent Clark Tyler who has gone over to England at the start of World War One to enlist and do his part.  When a super Zeppelin, the Eisern Feist, attacks London one night, British Intelligence learns the bombing raid is actually a cover up for a more sinister German mission.  The Germans have kidnapped the daughter of famous scientist and are bringing her back to Berlin to utilize the special formula she now possesses, a formula that bestows her with a rather unbelievable ability.
Thus it is that she must be rescued at all cost and Tyler and his team fly off in modified tri-planes to overtake the dirigible, get aboard her and find the young lady before the massive airship can cross the channel and reach Germany.
Miller’s writing is pulp-perfect and the action nonstop from beginning to end. Tyler is a great, stalwart champion and the young, lovely scientist a spunky spitfire capable of holding her own when the action kicks into high gear. But before they can successfully complete her rescue, both of them will have to battle their way through an entire crew of German airmen and a team of highly trained, deadly German Commandos. 
Having relished this great little book, this reviewer is looking forward to digging into the second titled, “The Horn.”  If it is as good as, “The Zeppelin,” we pulp fans have much to celebrate. 

Walt Disney Animation Announces Frozen for November 2013

BURBANK, Calif. (June 11, 2012) – Walt Disney Animation Studios presents an epic tale of adventure and comedy in “Frozen,” a computer-animated feature film slated for the big screen in November 2013. Directed by Chris Buck (Tarzan, Surf’s Up) and produced by Peter Del Vecho (Winnie the Pooh, The Princess and the Frog), Frozen features the vocal talents of film/TV/stage star Kristen Bell as Anna, a young dreamer about to take the adventure of a lifetime, and Tony Award ®-winning actress Idina Menzel as Elsa the Snow Queen. The movie will feature original songs by Broadway greats Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

In Frozen, a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, so Anna (voice of Bell) must team up with Kristoff, a daring mountain man, on the grandest of journeys to find the Snow Queen (voice of Menzel) and put an end to the icy spell. Encountering Everest-like extremes, mystical creatures and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.

Bell has starred in a variety of films, including the comedies Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Couples Retreat, and the upcoming films Hit & Run, Some Girls and the Farrelly Brothers’ Movie 43. On the small screen, Bell is currently starring in the Showtime series House of Lies alongside Don Cheadle; she has also starred in Heroes and Veronica Mars. Broadway credits include The Crucible and Tom Sawyer.

Menzel, who won a Tony Award® as Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Elphaba in Broadway’s Wicked (2004), landed her first role on Broadway in 1995 in the Tony Award-winning musical Rent. Film credits include Enchanted and the feature film Rent. She has appeared in a recurring role on TV’s Glee and recently released Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony, a live concert with an orchestra led by composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch. Menzel is currently on a North American concert tour.

Robert Lopez is a three-time Tony Award®-winning writer of the Tony and Grammy® Award-winning musical The Book of Mormon, which was co-written with Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park), and the musical Avenue Q, which ran for six years on Broadway and four years in London’s West End.  Lopez teamed with wife Anderson-Lopez, whose Drama Desk-winning show In Transit is Broadway-bound, to write original songs for 2011’s Winnie the Pooh, a stage version of Finding Nemo and a new musical called Up Here.

 

Win a Copy of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

shh2-34884-300x198-1836386On Tuesday, Warner Home Video will release Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows on Blu-ray Combo Pack or Digital Download and they have made two Blu-ray Combo Packs available for ComicMix readers.

Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as the world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, and Jude Law returns as his friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room…until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may give him an advantage over the renowned detective. Around the globe, headlines break the news: a scandal takes down an Indian cotton tycoon; a Chinese opium trader dies of an apparent overdose; bombings in Strasbourg and Vienna; the death of an American steel magnate… No one sees the connective thread between these seemingly random events—no one, that is, except the great Sherlock Holmes, who has discerned a deliberate web of death and destruction. At its center sits a singularly sinister spider: Moriarty. Holmes’ investigation into Moriarty’s plot becomes more dangerous as it leads him and Watson out of London to France, Germany and finally Switzerland. But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead, and moving perilously close to completing his ominous plan. If he succeeds, it will not only bring him immense wealth and power but alter the course of history.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D6D9EDE7EAAF6CF[/youtube]

To win, tell us which is your favorite Sherlock Holmes disguise from this film or its predecessor. All entries must be posted on our site by 11:59 p.m., Monday, June 18. The judgment of ComicMix’s judges will be final. Entrants must have a current domestic address, no post office boxes allowed.

REVIEW: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

While I like Sherlock Holmes, I am far from a scholar nor have I seen every film adaptation or read every pastiche written. Still, I love the concept and the characters and setting are certainly appealing. Holmes, as created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is etched in the public mind as one of the most brilliant consulting detectives ever imagined with no clue going unnoticed. His encyclopedic knowledge is legendary and his eccentricities make him nothing but fascinating, including the desire to have Dr. John Watson accompany him as companion and official biographer, a level of narcissism unique in the late 19th century.

As a result, when it was learned Guy Ritchie was to helm a new adaptation with Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes, eyebrows rose around the world. Then we saw the 2009 release, and were generally pleased with the bromance between Downey and Jude Law, the latest Watson. This was a more athletic and handsomer Holmes, even capable of expressing desire for Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams). The film horrified some and enthralled the rest, earning big bucks and prompting Warner Bros. to fast-track a sequel.

A Game of Shadows opened in December and did quite well at the global box office and now it comes to home video and digital download from Warner Home Video. After the first film established Holmes, Watson, and London, the time had come to introduce audiences to the greatest criminal mind found in literature, Prof. James Moriarty. He was teased at the end of the first film and this time we waste little footage making it clear he’s the antagonist. We’ve already adored Jared Harris’ villainy as David Robert Jones on Fringe so were pleased to see him cast as the intellectual equal to Holmes.

Holmes has determined that a series of unconnected events points to Moriarty manipulating economic and political events in Europe to push the countries on an inevitable path to war. It falls to the detective to thwart the scheme but the key difference between the two is the professor’s willingness to callously murder and destroy while Holmes remains a moral individual. It doesn’t take Holmes long to convince Watson the sum of his equation is correct and despite his impending nuptials to Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly), the doctor agrees to assist. And we’re off.

Along the way, we briefly see Irene before she is killed by the villain and the participation of Mycroft Holmes (a delightful Stephen Fry). Additionally, Holmes becomes intertwined with the affairs of a gypsy clan including Simza (Noomi Rapace) while Watson more or less parallels that with his confrontations with a former military sharpshooter Sebastian Moran (Paul Anderson).

This time around, there’s a lot of sound and fury but in the end it doesn’t signify a lot. Moriarty is correct that the countries are headed inevitably towards war, as happens 24 years later in our world, but the geopolitical issues are never brought up and audiences are left to take the man at his word. His intricate scheme for war profiteering shows a certain level of impatience, a trait Holmes never exploits. Instead, there’s fighting, running, shooting, and lots of talk. The film’s rhythm feels off-kilter as some characters impossibly escape death one time too many while others are dropped with ease. The final confrontation between the two masters, over the clichéd chess table, is well done but by then we’re feeling somewhat exhausted and not all that invested in the outcome.

What is nice is that we get more Holmesvision coupled at the end with Moriartyvision and their final battle is nicely imagined until the final solution, which echoes “The Final Problem” on which the movie is most loosely based.

In the end, the film was a mildly entertaining way to pass an evening but it doesn’t measure up to the first and felt somewhat bloated. If they really move ahead with a third installment, one hopes they find a stronger story.

The video looks and sounds great allowing you to luxuriate in the costumes, sets, and nicely integrated CGI backgrounds.

The Blu-ray comes with the Maximum Movie Mode hosted by Downey, who snarkily asks if we’re unwell or it’s rainy out, the only possible reasons people would watch the film a second time with the extras. He makes some nice comments about the production, how things were choreographer and shot so we get the usual assortment of behind-the-scenes material so yes, if you’re looking to kill two hours (less actually if you skip ahead to just Downey moments)  and like this sort of material, it’s worth a look.

There are 35 minutes of collected Focus Point featurettes in bite-size chunks focusing on the characters and situations. No deleted scenes or gag reels can be found here.

Additional material can be found on the Movie App with script-to-screen comparisons, maps, character bios and other material but that requires serious desire on your part and heralds a movie away from disc to the web for such content.

Mindy Newell: Success And Failure, Part 3

Picking up the thread…

College a no-go. Work a disaster. Israel a bust.

Spending a lonely night sitting in the terminal at Lod Airport (now David Ben Gurion Airport) waiting for my 5 A.M. flight to New York. Trying to ignore leering men. Struggling to stay awake. Not knowing where to go or what to do. Thinking I didn’t have a friend in the world. Nor a family. Believing they were so disgusted with me that my dad would rather foot the bill to keep me away from home than have me there. Wishing I was brave enough to go to Paris, London, Rome or Madrid. All I had to do was exchange the ticket.

That was the worst part, I think. Some part of me was mocking herself. Even as I checked in, as I was boarding, while I was finding my seat, some part of me was mocking, laughing hideously, scoffing and scorning.

Coward. Loser. Fuck-up.

Poor little lost girl.

I landed at JFK Airport. No one there to meet me.  Three hours later my mom and my Aunt Ida showed up.

Aunt Ida. She had an uncanny ability to show up when I was in trouble or unhappy, no matter where or far away I happened to be.

The first time was when I was staying at my Aunt Augie’s house on Long Island while my parents went on a trip. My aunt had gotten me an absolutely beautiful party dress to wear to a birthday party. Only it had a crinoline undergarment. Crinoline, for those of you too young to remember, was a god-awful material that looked like lace soaked in lacquer. It was as stiff as a board and scratched – no, stabbed – the skin. Well, my aunt put me in this dress and I was in pain. I cried and carried on and basically threw your average terrible childhood tantrum, even throwing ice cream into the face of the birthday girl. (I was really little, which perhaps explains my inability to simply tell my aunt that the dress “wasn’t working for me.”) Even after the dress came off, I continued to sob. After hours of this, the doorbell rang. Aunt Augie went to the door, and there stood her sister (my mom’s sister, too, of course), my Aunt Ida. I ran into her arms, screaming Fairy Godmother! Help me!! In her arms I quieted.  (Poor Aunt Augie. I so hurt her feelings.)

The second time that stands out in my memory is the time I was seven years old, and away at camp. I was climbing a tree. Climbing higher and higher, ignoring everyone far below me to come down. I climbed until I couldn’t climb any higher, and promptly fell off the tree. Whomp! A perfect executed, score ten, belly flop. My face kissed the pavement. Hell, my face tongued the pavement.  I remember voices around me. And lifting my eyes to see… my fairy godmother. Aunt Ida.

And here she was again, my fairy godmother. Come to rescue me from JFK airport.

Come to rescue me from myself.

Next week: “All you can do is open up the throttle all the way and keep your nose up in the air.”

First Lieutenant Meyer C. Newell

P-51 Mustang Fighter Jock

Separated from his squadron, shot up and leaking hydraulic fluid somewhere in the skies over Burma

TUESDAY MORNING: Michael Davis Isn’t Happy Until…

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Emily S. Whitten Goes Splitsville!

 

REVIEW: Neverland

You gotta give writer/director Nick Willing credit. He continues to mine public domain works to give them modern day twists and gets Syfy to pay for them. Overall, these have been largely hit or miss affairs which began way back in 2007 with Tin Man, reimagining L. Frank Baum’s Tin woodsman as a sheriff in Oz with Neal McDonough doing his best with weak material. It was still head and shoulders about the god awful 2009 debacle Alice, that proved Willing had no ear to the lyricism of the authors he was pillaging.

Undaunted, thanks to positive ratings from an undiscerning audience, last winter Willing returned with Neverland, a prequel to James Barrie’s Peter Pan. In this version, it all began centuries ago, when the pirate Elizabeth Bonny (Anna Friel) came upon a glowing orb amongst her spoils and when she tired of it and used it for target practice, it shattered, sending the ship and crew to Neverland, a colorful dimension. We then jump ahead and meet Peter (Charlie Rowe), an orphan; prowling the streets of 1906 London, partnered with Jimmy (Rhys Ifans). When the gang steals the same orb, they disappear, leaving Peter and Jimmy alone. Tracking down the orb’s owner, Peter is taken to Neverland and his all-too familiar adventures begin. In addition to riffing on Barrie, the miniseries also borrows heavily from many of the pop culture genre hits from the last decade.

Bonny is still around, cozying up to Jimmy, whom she now dubs Hook, and in time we touch on all the Barrie tropes from Indians to crocodiles. New characters to the tale include Queen Elizabeth’s alchemist, Dr. Fludd (Charles Dance), who finds a spirit he dubs Tinkerbell (voiced by Keira Knightly). Bob Hoskins reprises his Smee from the misguided Hook film from the 1990s. Overall, it’s an appealing cast doing the best they can with poor writing and unoriginal material.

Producers Robert Halmi, Sr. and Jr. know how to stretch a buck, get just enough recognizable names into the cast for international sales and turn literary classics into Velveeta. The miniseries utilizes tons of green screen work but it’s low budget green screen so isn’t as sharp as it should be. In the conversational commentary by Willing, he goes on at length about working with green screen and some of that is more interesting than the story itself.

The video is an acceptable transfer with fine sound. The miniseries comes with a scant handful of extras beyond the commentary. The best of the lot is the 22 minute Neverland: Access All Areas featureete used to promote the miniseries before it aired. You get a woefully inadequate 15 minutes of The Story Behind the Story: Cast Interviews, and a brief look at Green Screen to Scene; a visually interesting Journey into Neverland: Art Gallery.

HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT TO JASON DARK VI-‘FROM A WATERY GRAVE’!

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock

FROM A WATERY GRAVE
by Guido Henkel
Published by Thunder Peak Publishing
2010

A tragic shipwreck, all hands and a horde of treasure lost a century ago off the English Coast literally returns to haunt the countryside and entice Supernatural Investigator Jason Dark and his partner Siu Lin to investigate!  Throw in another consulting detective, a rather ominous Asian crimelord, pirate ghosts, cursed gold coins, and an invisible wall of death and you have the sixth Jason Dark Adventure from Guido Henkel-FROM A WATERY GRAVE!

The midpoint of the Dark series, this sixth novella is definitely a step up from its predecessor.  It veers back toward the first four books from Henkel, shimmers with a bit of the same imagination, glistens with a hint of tight plotting and decent pacing.   The most fascinating part of this story was the care Henkel gave to the doomed crew of the sunken ship, both as they died and when they returned as ghosts.  These ‘monsters’, though there was more tragedy than terror attached to them, were wonderfully realized and intriguing, much more so than most of the human cast around them.

One of the aspects of this book, however, that was extremely laborious was the name dropping.  Henkel had, until FROM A WATERY GRAVE, rather creatively peopled the Dark stories with hints and glimpses of famous historic and literary characters, particularly a handful associated with London’s best known Consulting Detective from the Victorian Era.  In FROM A WATERY GRAVE, however, the subtlety that Henkel wielded so masterfully in the earlier tales is completely gone and some of the references and inclusions of famous characters are ham handed and seem to be inserted simply for effect.  One completely makes no sense at all and adds nothing to the story.    I am definitely a fan of tales that ‘cross over’ characters from other works, but I had become such a fan of Henkel’s silken approach to it in previous books that the way it was handled in this one disappointed me.

THREE OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT- There’s a progression back toward the greatness that Dark 1-4 possessed and I truly hope later volumes return to that with gusto!

HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT TO DR. PROMETHEUS-JASON DARK V!

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock

DR. PROMETHEUS
by Jason Henkel
Published by Thunder Peak Publishing
2010
Momentum is a hard thing to keep up in any endeavor and especially hard to do so with recurring characters in series fiction.   Some authors succeed marginally well for a long time, making their central cast interesting in every new installment, filling the plot with unigue traits, and giving fans both something similar to what came before and yet in its own way totally different.  Some authors succeed, but most eventually come to a point to where the story falls apart, the rock stops rolling forward, and what results is essentially a literary train wreck.
It even happens to series where the first four books were nearly the best of their type a reader could read.  
DR. PROMETHEUS, the fifth Jason Dark tale from Guido Henkel, tackles an interesting development in English history.  Due to laws passed regulating use of cadavers and how professionals acquire them, grave robbing has become quite the black market business for types who would engage in that.  And the best customer of these thieves of the dead, a doctor secluded in his own home, isolated by his own choosing- Dr. Prometheus.   Selling his soul to the Devil, it seems, Prometheus seeks to discover the secret of life, first extending it, then renewing it to the dead.  It’s this travesty against humanity that brings him into contact with Dark and his partner, Siu Lin and threatens the living of London with murder at the hands of the undead!
The premise of the story is interesting, with shades of Frankenstein being present as it opens.  As a matter of fact, the opening pages are the only satisfying parts of this tale.  Very quickly, the story descends into confusion.  There are way too many points of view being juggled, very little descriptive tissue connected to the narrative, and a complete lack of cohesion within the story.  The villain of the piece is poorly realized and his motivation even moreso.  Dark and Siu Lin seem inserted into this almost accidentally and work their way through it in a plodding manner, not typical of Henkel’s previous tales.   Even the introduction of Herbert, Dark’s oft mentioned ally, into the story doesn’t help much, but in fact only adds to the confusion due to it just being accepted and not suitably explained to possibly new readers just who Herbert is.
My biggest complaint with this story is how Henkel portrays Siu Lin.  Or more to the point, doesn’t portray her.   She’s not a major component in this fifth Dark tale, which is fine, but for what little we do see her, it seems as if she’s someone else, as if Henkel has disregarded what I took to be careful building of interest in her.  This added the biggest disappointment in a story that held little else that I found interesting.
TWO OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT- I thoroughly enjoy the series as a whole, but this installment gives me a lot of reason to worry about what follows.

DEBUT EBOOK FROM UCHRONIC PRESS FOR 99 CENTS!

Press Release

The Uchronic Press is proud to announce “Uchronic Tales: The Zeppelin,” our debut release. This action-packed 18,000 word novella by W. Peter Miller with a cover by Mike Fyles features the premiere appearance of Clark Tyler, a man that trouble seems to find. Or perhaps he is just good at finding it. This story is available now on Kindle, with Nook and all other formats to follow as soon as possible.

 The Uchronic Press is here to serve all readers that crave action, excitement, and a bit of an edge in their pulp adventure fiction. Our stories take place in an alternate past, a uchronic world greatly like our own, but with a dash more mystery, danger, and the macabre. Here you will find heroic adventures, outlandish science, ferocious alchemy, mystic forces, and an alternate history just slightly larger than our own.

 Uchronic Tales: The Zeppelin features a young Clark Tyler, an American airman caught up in a conspiracy that threatens to turn the tide of the Great War. Reich Zeppelins have been bombing London mercilessly, but the night one of them takes a strange detour could turn the tide of the war. The Germans have kidnapped a mysterious passenger and it is up to Clark Tyler and a band of elite commandos to stop the massive airship Eisern Feist from returning her secrets to the Fatherland.

In the months ahead, danger will put Clark in a number of Uchronic Tales. Look for stories featuring the classic days of Hollywood, earth-shattering danger, lost civilizations, and bizarre visitors from the unknown aether.

Welcome to Uchronic Tales

Britain’s Commando Comics Celebrates 50 Years!

Britain’s favourite war comic, Commando, reached a major milestone in June 2011 when it celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first publication on 27th June 1961. Part of the Dundee-based DC Thomson & Co. Ltd stable of comics and magazines, Commando publishes 4 stories every fortnight — 2 new and 2 re-issued classic stories — and maintains its place as the home of comic action and adventure.Although it retains the classic illustrated cover and the iconic black and white comic artwork which has made it so beloved of the UK public, Commando has moved with the times over its 50 years and the stories contained within its pages now span a range of conflicts, right up to the first Gulf War in the early 1990s. Commando’s current editor, Calum Laird, who took over in 2007 said, “As someone who read Commando in the 60s and 70s, worked on the title as a junior member of staff in the 80s and 90s, and became editor in the 2000s, sitting in the hot seat for the 50th birthday is a great honour. Not everyone can have my career path but if Commando can entertain others as well as it did me, I’ll be very happy indeed!”

Visitors to the website (www.commandocomics.com) can also get their hands on some famous Commando cover posters (in A1 size format), exclusively, for the introductory price of £19.99. This September will also see a brand new collaboration for Commando, with the launch of the “Draw Your Weapons” exhibition – celebrating the iconic artwork from 50 years of the comic – at the National Army Museum in London. The exhibition will open on 1st September and Calum commented, “Everyone is delighted that this major exhibition of Commando artwork is to be hosted by the National Army Museum, as one of the key activities of our 50th anniversary celebrations. We’re sure that fans of Commando old and new, will revel in this display of comic art at its best, exhibited so dynamically by the National Army Museum.

Commando No 4447 Colours Of Courage

The proudest possessions of any regiment are its colours — the flags which it carries into battle. Its history is recorded on these colours, the victories it has won.
A regiment guards its colours fiercely. To have them captured by the enemy is a terrible thing. But when a man hands over the colours to save his own skin it is a disgrace that brave soldiers can hardly bear think about.

Introduction by Calum Laird, Commando Editor

If there are two things difficult to get right in a Commando they are French Resistance stories and ghosts. Resistance stories could easily be 63 pages of skulking about avoiding searching German soldiers and ghosts could easily look like normal characters drawn without enough ink.
Thanks to ace story-teller Cyril Walker, Colours Of Courage cracks along with plenty of action to break up the tension. And Arthur Fleming — an art teacher from Glasgow — manages to skilfully depict a glowing figure despite only having black ink and white paper to work with.
Wrapped in one of Ian Kennedy’s superbly drawn and laid-out covers it’s got all it needs for a cracking Commando.

Colours Of Courage, originally Commando No 1182 (December 1977), re-issued as No 2412 (October 1990)

Story: Cyril Walker
Art: Arthur Fleming
Cover Art: Ian Kennedy

Commando No 4448
The Four Scars

Corporal Bill Kirk felt the tiny life-raft rock lazily as the Jap struggled aboard. Both turned to look at the sinking Jap prison-ship they’d been on — Bill a prisoner, the Jap a guard. Then they turned back, to look at each other; and what that Jap read in Bill Kirk’s eyes made him start back in fear.
But there was no escape for him. With only the vast empty ocean and the sharks circling the raft for witnesses, they grappled in a fight to the finish.

Introduction by Calum Laird, Commando Editor

I’ve mentioned before that I my childhood Commando issues at the back of the garage a few years ago. Some I had to look at again to refresh my memory, but not this one. I don’t know how many times I read and re-read this in the 60s but it must have been a lot because I had almost total recall.
Ken Barr’s cover with its ethereal hand hovering over the action, Victor de la Fuente’s action-packed, high-energy inside art and Eric Hebden’s crackerjack of a story with its startling twist were just what the doctor ordered in 1965…and are equally so today. I think so anyway and I hope you’ll agree.
As an aside, Ken Barr used a sheet of transparent plastic sheet with the outline of the hand painted on it to get that ghostly effect. I certainly didn’t know that in 1965.

The Four Scars, originally Commando No 185 (October 1965), re-issued as No 831 (April 1974)

Story: Eric Hebden
Art: Victor de la Fuente
Cover Art: Ken Barr

Commando 4449
Days Of Danger

Simon Katz was a young German and a fervent anti-Nazi. A brilliant mathematician, he escaped Germany by the skin of his teeth and went to work as a code-breaker for the British.
Not long after, Sergeant Barney Taft also made an escape – from the bullet-strafed beaches of Dunkirk.
Though they were on the same side, when circumstances threw the pair together, they clashed bitterly. But could they manage to work together against a ruthless enemy? They would have to if they were to survive.

Story: Stephen Walsh
Art: Vila
Cover Art: Nicholas Forder

Commando No 4450
The Nightmare War

Private Franz Bauer, a German Army engineer wounded during the invasion of France, was haunted by the deaths of his comrades in the same battle — wiped out by a mine. When he recovered he threw himself into his new job developing the remote-controlled Borgward IV demolition vehicle, hoping it might save other German lives.
His chance to save thousands of lives would come, but he would be working alongside an unlikely ally — someone who had nightmares every bit as bad as Franz’s.

Story: Mac MacDonald
Art: Keith Page
Cover Art: Keith Page