Spray lashed the cockpit screen, blinding the big pilot as he fought the bucking controls to belly-land the crippled Albacore in the choppy sea. Once, twice, she bounced before she hit the icy water at terrifying speed.
This was the second time young "Gusty" Bellows of the Fleet Air Arm had come off second-best to Kapitan Kreuzmann of the German Navy - the ruthless Kreuzmann, with his submarine mother-ship, "Seewolf", bristling with guns, and his pack of U-boats. But Gusty was determined that next time it would be different - if there was a next time…
Introduction
It's a difficult thing to do, to write a successful war comic based on ships. Ask Pat Mills - creator of Charley's War - he'll tell you. What Roger Clegg did here was to throw in some aircraft, add a man wracked with guilt and paint a very effective villain. All these lift it above the waves trying to suck it under.
With a menace-laden Ken Barr cover and some very atmospheric art by the King Of Zip-A-Tone, Gordon Livingstone, who almost has you feeling the icy water round your ankles, it the classic Commando formula - believable characters struggling against the odds…and themselves.
Calum Laird, Commando Editor
Note: Originally published as Commando No 168 (June 1965) and re-issued as No 805 (January 1974).
Log in to comment