Action #1

14 Feb 1976; Cover price 7p.
32 pages. B&W contents.
IPC Magazines Ltd.

Edited by Pat Mills.

Cover by UNKNOWN.

Free "The Red Arrow" plane.

Contents:

.2 Look Out! Action is Deadly! introduction. / Win Prizes rewards for letters, jokes, and drawings. On offer is Skimmer Disc, £1 Postal Order, Action Tee Shirt, Tiger Tank (Hasegawa 1/72 scale), and Thunder Chief plane (Monogram 1/72 scale) / The Red Arrow free gift flying instructions. / The Money Man's Throwing ££££'s Away

.3 Dredger UNTITLED [Hasan Gadazi] w: UNKNOWN; a: UNKNOWN.

.6 Hellman of Hammer Force UNTITLED [First Across the Frontier] w: Gerry Finley-Day; a: Mike Dorey.

.9 Blackjack UNTITLED [A Left Jab to the Head] w: John Wagner; a: Trigo.

12 Knowall readers' questions feature. / Guess What? picture puzzle. / Action Mouse UNTITLED [Box Your Shadow] w: UNKNOWN; a: Joe Collins.

13 Play Till You Drop! UNTITLED [First Game of the Season] w: UNKNOWN; a: Barry Mitchell.

16 Hookjaw UNTITLED [The Killer Still Has the Hook in its Jaw] w: Ken Armstrong; a: Ramon Sola.

20 Sports Stars of the Future Les Collins (half page). / Soccer Session with the Boss The Throw-In / Twit of the Week reader feature. / Vote in Action

21 Sport's Not For Losers! UNTITLED [Crippled] w: Steve MacManus; a: Dudley Wynn.

24 The Coffin Sub UNTITLED [The Mediterranean, 1941] w: UNKNOWN; a: Angelo Todaro.

27 Action Packed! Next Week (half page) / UNTITLED [Hi. The name's Steve... Steve McManus].

28 The Running Man UNTITLED [Manhunt for Cop Killer as Fifth Policeman Dies] w: Steve MacManus; a: Horacio Lalia.

32 In Action Next Week!

Once again I'm missing the free gift, for reasons that should be obvious. The absence of these items usually doesn't bother me, but this plane - with handy catapult to sent it flying at speed - looks like a perfect way to waste an afternoon. It's frustrating that so many ridiculously fun items are missing, yet more mundane gifts - postcards, posters, badges, trading cards - are routinely present and correct.

But I'm meant to be dealing with contents, so without further ado:

Beneath an average cover, despite not really playing to Action's strengths, there is a lot to like. At publication the most enticing editorial content must have been The Money Man's Throwing ££££'s Away - every Saturday Money Man would turn up in a different town to give money to readers. On Saturday the 14th, between 11am and 12 noon, he made an appearance at Whitgift Centre, Croydon, and if challenged with "You are the Money Man of Action," he would hand over five pounds. Only for the first reader to do so, mind you, though an additional five readers would receive £1.

Absolutely a product of the seventies, Dredger is often described as the title's Dirty Harry. Presaging The Professionals prominent use of an agency designation (D16 in the case of the strip, CI5 in the case of the series), Dredger also used a tough, no-nonsense figure who refused to bow to regulations when they interfered with his agenda. After serving five years in the Royal Marine Commandos, Dredger had been discharged for brutality, thereafter becoming a mercenary, then joining DI6. It is a fascinating back-story, yet isn't elaboated upon.

In 1973, Hasan Gadazi, Prime Minister of Kuran, is returning home after signing an oil deal with Britain. Targeted by Arab assassins, he is wounded by gunfire when boarding his flight at Heathrow - despite being guarded by Agent Breed of DI6. Dredger manages to stop the shooter by ramming the man's car with a forklift. Dredger accompanies Breed to ensure there are no more attempts on Gadazi's life, but once in the air terrorists armed with sub-machine guns take passengers hostage, threatening to execute Gadazi. Dredger leaps into action, takes out the terrorists, and learns that the pilot is also involved.

Too late to save the co-pilot and flight engineer, Dredger is forced to take control of the plane. Talked down by air traffic control, the flight ends with destroyed tyres and the under-carriage caved in, although the passengers are saved. Breed acknowledges that Dredger, in spite of his rough edges, managed to get results. A very topical story for the era, when standing orders for pilots were to cooperate with terrorists hijacking their flights. For a comic, especially even one aimed at young readers, it concludes slightly too neat and clean to be believable.

Dredger is a fascinating character, even here. Completely at ease in even the most pressing circumstances, he shows little regard for accepted protocols and displays the kind of action hero behaviour which would dominate films a decade later. There is a tension with the more reserved Breed, continuing through the dramatic rescue, which promises to deliver future disagreements. There is a slight hint of ITC's formula here, and this would make for a highly entertaining adventure series - just in case any television producers are reading this.

Published a year before the release of Cross of Iron, Gerry Finley-Day's Hellman of Hammer Force opens on the first of May, as Germany's blitzkrieg on the West begins, with panzer commander Major Kurt Hellman leading the Hammer Force's charge across the Belgian border. He differs from stereotypical representations of German officers in British comics, stating that he kills tanks but not men if it can be helped. The progress of the advance is halted until Reichscommissar Gauleiter Kastner can join the unit to witness their effectiveness firsthand.

Hellman considers the Nazi officer a slimy toad, and his thoughts on the man don't improve when told to murder British soldiers. Instead of obeying orders, he sends his men in to capture the British instead. Stating that he considers himself a soldier and not a butcher, Hellman insists that there be honour in battle. Kastner, disapproving the lack of respect from his subordinate, prepares to send a report to SS headquarters in Berlin. It's surprising how quickly the strip gets into a rhythm, with Hellman trying his hardest to keep the fighting as clean as he can. It is a very impressive beginning, with the characters' personalities are clearly depicted from the start.

The first sports story stars Jack Barron, a young up-and-coming heavyweight known in the ring as Blackjack. The fourth round of his seventh fight in the World Championship finds him seemingly coasting to an assured victory against "Irish" Tom Tully, but just before the bell rings Barron takes a hit to the face. Yank Kraski, Jack's American trainer, seals the cut on his brow, and he concludes the fight with a resounding victory. A few weeks later Jack gets himself checked out, as he's been having trouble with his sight ever since the fight.

A Harley Street doctor informs Jack that a fragment of bone is affecting the optic nerve, and if he keeps fighting he will go blind within one year. Wandering the streets, attempting to process the prognosis, Jack encounters a group of young men attacking kids and wades into the fight. After ensuring their safety Jack hands them tickets to the fight, deciding that he is going to be world champion even if it blinds him. A great set-up, with a likable lead facing a massive disadvantage should he continue on his path. Intelligently handled, with enough edge to fit alongside the more aggressive material.

Play Till You Drop!, the ubiquitous football strip, follows Alec Shaw, striker for Rampton City. After a dirty tackle Alec is taken to the treatment room where he encounters Vernon Grice, a newspaper reporter for the Daily Comet. The reporter tells him that proof has been uncovered that Alec's father, City player of note Tom Shaw, accepted a bribe to throw a match. Outraged, Alec refuses to accept the allegation - until he sees a photograph of his father with bookmaker Bernie Wallace. Grice demands payment in order to keep the information out of print, and Alec agrees in order to preserve his late father's reputation.

A simple enough start, with a mystery to be solved (circumstances of the photograph), an injury to overcome, and a crooked reporter to take down. It feels as if the strip is working on plotting-by-numbers at this point, and not much characterization is present, but the strip works on its own level.

Hook Jaw is the star of Action, a great white shark roaming the sea looking for fresh meat. At an oil drilling platform it bites a diver's leg off and slashes the air hose of another. Chief diver Rick Mason is powerless to intervene when Bannion, struggling for air, drops his weight belt. When Bannion hits the surface he explodes thanks to nitrogen narcosis. Mason, furious with the Red McNally, the rig boss, for drilling in a shark's nursery, accuses the man of putting profit before safety.

Taking to the air, McNally fires at Hook aw, injuring the shark enough to turn the other sharks against the maneater. The amassed sharks aren't enough to stop Hook Jaw, and he escapes to fight another day. Simple, brutal, and with a very dark sense of humour, Hook Jaw functions less as an adventure strip and more as horror. There is an aspect of the plotting - concerning an implacable killer which cannot be stopped - that anticipates slasher films, The colour printing makes the strip all the more visceral - red ink has rarely been used to such effect.

Dan Walker, the protagonist of Sport's Not For Losers, is an athlete with Barncastle Harriers, who, during the 110 metre hurdles, gets hit in the face. With a seriously damaged Achilles tendon, he is told by a doctor that his running days are over for at least a year - if he attempts to run, he might be crippled for life. After witnessing his brother running from a gang, and hurdling over a wall to escape, Dan gets the notion to transform Len into a top athlete - but first must convince him to give up cigarettes.

There's a few lines which feel almost as if this has been sponsored by one of the regular health initiatives which ran in comics over the years, yet the sense of (then-)contemporary social awareness is palpable. Dan's attempt to turn his brother Len's life around is, while not spectacularly original, at least presented in a realistic manner, with enough obstacles preventing this goal to provide a fair amount of antagonism. Sport's Not For Losers wasn't a strip I was looking forward to tackling, but it isn't as bad as the name suggests.

The Mediterranean, 1941. The periscope of British submarine H.M.S. Conquest spots two Italian destroyers approaching. Lieutenant Commander Mark Kane orders a torpedo strike against one of the vessels, but the second destroyer turns to engage the sub with depth charges. Five men are killed in the explosions, and Kane orders their bodies to be placed in the torpedo tubes along with some wreckage to convince the Italians that they have succeeded in destroying the boat. Having survived the encounter, Kane is dismayed to learn that the sub is filling with chlorine gas, and they are powerless to surface.

A leak shorts the electrical equipment, and an explosion rips through the submarine - the force of which assists Kane in opening the escape hatch, the outrush of air propelling him to the surface. Happily, this isn't Hook Jaw, so he doesn't explode when he reaches the surface, but he is the sole survivor of the incident. Kane considers himself a deserter, that he should have gone down with his ship. The submarine, having sunk in shallow water off the coast of North Africa, is soon recovered, and Kane is cleared of all blame by an inquiry.

Given command of his former ship, the Conquest, the crew are less than happy at the prospect of serving under him. Unnerved, Kane's crew view him as Captain of a sub brought back from the dead, and that they are now sailing in The Coffin Sub. Which is the coolest name imaginable for a series set on a submarine. Whatever problems I have with the miraculous survival of the main character, he's a wonderfully different protagonist. A very impressive beginning. It's a shame that the rush of air which pushed him to the surface didn't raise the corpses of his crew, for extra nightmarish imagery, but the extremely evocative artwork is good enough without ghoulish garnishing.

The Running Man starts in a bar on Seventh Avenue, New York. Vito Scarlatti is in the midst of a hold-up when a passing police officer enters the bar. He's shot and killed, and as Vito makes his escape another officer is killed. Young Vito has killed five policemen in the space of twelve weeks, and a manhunt is on for him. Carter, a runner in New York to take part in the 5,000 metres at Yankee Stadium, is blown up with a rigged champagne bottle, Awakening in what he presumes to be hospital, Carter discovers that he has been given plastic surgery. Removing his bandages, he finds himself with the face of another man.

Leaving his room, Carter finds himself on the docks rather than in a hospital. Relief at seeing a police car turns to fright when they open fire on him, believing him to be Vito Scarlatti. Forced to run like never before, a race for his very life, Carter must find out what has happened and why.

In many ways the weakest strip - an incendiary bomb which doesn't kill at such close range, easy plastic surgery, and a hospital set built in such an unlikely location - there's a fairly complex plot, helped by having The Godfather influencing the portrayal of the antagonists. Even by the era's standards, the behaviour of police - opening fire on an unarmed man - seems a little over the top, but it makes for an interesting predicament for Carter to deal with.

Much more entertaining than the cover suggests, Action may not be firing on all cylinders straight from the first issue, but there's more than enough to keep my hopes up for future issues.