new comic: Rules for Bad Guys

Showing posts with label Rules for Bad Guys. Show all posts

Air Ace Picture Library 483 One Moment of Glory

5:47 AM | Labels: aaaagh, Air Ace Picture Library, an inarticulate cry, Blenheim, Hurricanes, Rules for Bad Guys, Typhoon

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 German's 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 ariel euphanasia ridding the skies of looney 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!

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Air Ace Picture Library 326 War in the Air

4:20 AM | Labels: Air Ace Picture Library, Blenheim, British War Comic, Fock Wulf, me 109, Rules for Bad Guys, square jaw, Tash, 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 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!

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Air Ace Picture Library 412 Tigers in Action

4:29 PM | Labels: aaaagh, Air Ace Picture Library, americans, Lysanders, Mitsubishi bombers, Nakajimas, p40, Rules for Bad Guys, Tomahawks, Warhawk, Zeros

More Americans? Well not exactly. Even though the Americans are talked up at the beginning - there is a literary slight of hand and the story is not really about them at all despite the expectations set by the title. Tigers in Action is really about a British pilot Alan Sinclair. He is a former pilot, tagged unfit to fly due to a head wound sustained in the Battle of Britain. He jokes that the steel plate in his skull makes him "the only pilot with an armoured head". More about that later.

The Americans line up for their typical stereotypes and are depicted as being brave, brash and boastful. The British are relatively bland but suffer from having a pompous superior officer (who does make good in the end). The Chinese (after all the Flying Tigers are a Chinese unit formed with foreign pilots) manage to escape being badly stereotyped and are depicted as brave and intelligent. Finally the Japanese are shown as arrogant and boastful. However what's really interesting is that a lot of effort or consideration has gone into not drawing Japanese faces in full or at all. Is there something sinister behind this decision? Was the thinking that readers might get confused between the Chinese and their Japanese opponents. I've never had a problem in distinguishing between the Germans and their opponents - so why should there be problem with distinguishing between Chinese and Japanese. Or am I just looking at this through a filter created by years of political correctness?

Otherwise Tigers in Action is a pretty good story following the squadron getting chased around China as the Japanese continue their aggressive attacks. The bromance between Alan Sinclair (Englishman) and Mike Wade (American) comes to an abrupt end when Wade is shot down over the jungle due to a lack of concentration by Sinclair. Was Sinclair's old head wound to blame? While Sinclair undergoes medical evaluation to find out, Wade has a series of adventures with the ground troops and returns to finish off the story with his friend. There are also a good number of elaborate plans , frantic opportunities, grim determination from both sides and lots of aircraft in the sky and at times even more falling out of the sky.

As expected there is a fine assortment of aircraft in Tigers in Action including Tomahawks, Nakajimas, twin-engined Mitsubishi bombers, Lysanders, Zeros and Warhawks which is always a good thing to see in an Air Ace Picture Library.

Look! Lots and lots of aircraft. Good to see a Nakajima buzzing around.

Look Ma! No helmet hair! (These two have spent the whole morning flying around and have just taken off their flying helmets and their coiffures are still perfect!)

Murder!

Time to get that mocking hiss fixed. It might still be covered by warranty.

A good AAAAGH! from a Japanese pilot.

I'm fighting my over developed sense of school boy humour to leave this one alone.

The good old days!

What is it with this guys hair?

Lysanders! Always a welcome sight in any pocket war comic.

Oops! The Tigers go from heros to Zeros in no time at all.

Do I really have to take off all of my clothes for you to check my pulse? Hey! Are you really a doctor?

Bad guy lesson number 33 never diss the enemy while during a smoko break. You should know what happens next.

Nasty business. The allies don't get it all their own way in this one.

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War Picture Library 74 Front Line

4:53 AM | Labels: aaaagh, British War Comic, Frontline, Rules for Bad Guys, Tash, Typhoon, War Picture Library

If you went through life and everybody around you kept on getting killed - wouldn't you develop some sort of phobia? Bob Maxwell is that kind of a man. However he has an excuse - he's in the middle of a war.

To start off with his company gets wiped out. Then the counter attack fails...and this is just the beginning. Where ever he goes the places, the things and the people around him get shot-up, blown-up or machine gunned.

Even the favoured Lieutenant gets it - only he is replaced by a puffed up arrogant and ignorant artillery captain who is beautifully drawn as he is instantly unlikeable. Front Line is doing well as a story until all of a sudden there is an Old Chateau found intact, unravaged, fully furnished, and complete with all fixtures and fittings all in place. It looks like it's ready to list on realestate.com.au or feature in an episode of Location, Location, Location or have Joan Rivers rummage through it on How Did You Get So Rich?

Then there is the family legend that the chateau will fall when the last male heir dies. Then guess which Frenchman, of all the Frenchmen in the world, manages to crash land his Typhoon into the front yard and flatten the garden gnomes and tyre swans?

After this point there are no surprises - which is a bit of shame as I was just getting used to them.

The artwork is also not immune to a surprise or two. Some of the work is fluid but most of it is stiff. The cover has an unfinished quality to it - well at least to my untrained eyes. However the expression of the man with the sten gun does well to evoke a mixture of horror, angst and fear. Between the covers the artwork has its highs and lows as mentioned before - but the artist's invitation to dislike the artillery captain can only be immediately accepted.

Front Line is one of those pocket war comic stories that is mostly enjoyable.