Tag Archives: Sandy James

Airwolf, Annuals, Christmas

AiRWOLF ANNUAL 1986: FLYiNG HiGH?

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The almighty trinity of 80s TV shows for me were Knight Rider, Airwolf and The A-Team. A finer trilogy of series would be hard to find. With Michael and K.I.T.T. already enjoying their own yearly real time read through it’s time to move on to Stringfellow Hawke, Dominic Santini, Michael Coldsmith-Briggs III aka Archangel and their supersonic hi-tech helicopter, Airwolf. Unfortunately there was only ever one Airwolf Annual, released for Christmas 1985. Is it a goodie?

Unlike the majority of licenced annuals I read as a kid this one wasn’t produced by Grandreams or Marvel and instead was published by World International Publishing. I recognise the logo but am unaware if I ever owned any of their annuals to gleam what this might be like in comparison to Grandreams’ Knight Rider books for example, so the only way to find out is to nose dive right in.

The opening spread is a good start, with a rare behind-the-scenes photograph from the series. Airwolf itself (or “herself” as the characters would have said) was a gorgeous piece of production design. Underneath it all is a standard Bell 222A chopper, not that you could tell! A few years before Airwolf, Dan O’Bannon, the writer of the Blue Thunder movie described his helicopter as a “fast, black wasp” in his script, then described what appeared on the screen as a standard helicopter with a whole bunch of crap hanging off it.

Airwolf definitely fitted his original description much better. The idea behind it was a wolf in sheep’s clothing (hence the uniform patch you can see on the cover). It was meant to look like an executive helicopter until battle commenced, when guns and missile launchers would slide out, and inside was a control centre full of technology for use on covert operations that made us 80s kids drool.

The book kicks off with a quick two-page fact-file feature. It’s not brilliantly designed but does include the introduction used as part of the opening credits in season one and a word-for-word recreation of Marella’s (Archangel’s top assistant from The Firm) description of Airwolf from the pilot movie. Well, it’s almost word-for-word. Apparently the original ending of “Airwolf is a Mach 1+ chopper that can kick butt” was too much for the annual. Really?

Unlike the Knight Rider annuals which had a pretty even mix of gorgeous comic strips and prose stories, pin-ups, interviews and behind-the-scenes features, Airwolf’s annual is more basic in its list of contents. One lone strip is accompanied by no less than seven text stories. There are a small handful of pin-ups, a basic board game, a helicopter name wordsearch and a two-page look at some other helicopters from the real world (not exactly ‘exclusive’ content).

So yes, the prose stories are the main (turbo) thrust of this book and in general they’re very good, each one reading like the final act of a really enjoyable episode. There is a big caveat with that though, which we’ll get to in a bit. Unfortunately there’s no indiction inside the book of who wrote these. Whoever it was seems to have had a good handle on the show, at least the first season which was probably all that had been shown in the UK when this was written well in advance of its publication date.

The best two stories are A Hostage to the Storm and Border Incident. The former is the first in the book so we’re off to a great start. It has an interesting setup in which the cargo ship Galveston Star makes its way through a buffeting storm, described as a vessel procured by a mysterious man called Robert Hughes, who paid off the shipping company’s $10 million loan in return for registering his ship with them. Apparently used to shift tractor spares around the world no one has ever been able to confirm this.

In reality Robert Hughes is Archangel and the Galveston Star is used to ferry Airwolf to far off countries, kind of like how the semi-trailer truck transported K.I.T.T. in Knight Rider. I love this idea and wish the series itself had implemented it. The Firm has lost contact with a weapons satellite and are taking its creator, Professor Viljoen to Angola where he’ll go up in Airwolf to try to reestablish contact before it falls into enemy hands. Except, it’s all a ruse.

The Professor’s son has been missing since Vietnam and he’s exhausted all his options to find him. Even the government seems to have given up. He thought once The Firm was in Angola where he’d safely landed the satellite (after finding out his son had been taken there) and he told them his story, they’d have no choice but to help a desperate father. Of course Archangel fumes about the betrayal but String and Dom think they can help.

The scene is something the show just wouldn’t have been able to reproduce, so it’s exactly the kind of thing fans would love to read

With Angola, Cuba and Russia all involved in the plot the writer is very familiar with the Cold War stories of the show’s first year. There are also plenty of great character interactions, everyone acting just as they would on TV, especially our Airwolf crew’s patter and the way they’re able to manipulate Archangel into doing the right thing. There’s also a thrilling take off from the cargo bay of the ship in the middle of the storm, the ship swaying wildly while Hawke expertly counters the movements as they hover inside the ship and finally take Airwolf out into the safety of the sky.

The only real problem here is the choice of images to illustrate the story. The scene I’ve just described in particular is something the show just wouldn’t have been able to reproduce, so it’s exactly the kind of thing fans would love to read. However, it’s illustrated with a rather bland image of Airwolf moving away from the ship with Archangel and Marella apparently watching. I say apparently, because we only see them from the back.

This leads me on to the main problem with the annual, the art illustrating the prose stories. Any images of the characters or of Airwolf itself are copied straight from stills of the show, as if they’ve been traced from a television screen. With every single image I could point you towards the episode and scene in question (I’m a huge fan if you hadn’t guessed) that has been passed off as original art. It’s like an 80s version of terrible A.I. art.

It means very few of the illustrations relate to the plots of the stories. Any that are original are pretty poor and have as little detail in them as possible, such as above with characters facing away. In another drawing in the book String, Archangel and Marella are recoiling from an explosion and they all just happen to have their hands covering their faces so the artist doesn’t have to draw them. Although, you can see enough of Marella to see she’s been portrayed as a white woman! This is just laziness (and offensive).

Then we get to the villains. Obviously these are original characters so surely they have to be drawn properly? Have a look at these three examples. No, I didn’t realise Donald Pleasance‘s Blofeld, Gert Frobe‘s Goldfinger or Peter Cushing were all Airwolf characters either. (Thanks to David Leach for helping me name Peter here, he was on the tip of my tongue!)

For a show that was so visual, that had such incredible aerial photography, the annual falls drastically short in this regard. The artist chosen to illustrate the vast majority of a book based on such a TV show seems to be completely out of their depth. Thankfully renowned IPC/Fleetway artist Sandy James steps in for the six-page comic strip tucked away in the middle of the book, called Snow to Eskimos. However, it appears even one of my favourite Ring Raiders artists isn’t that familiar with the source material either.

This first image brought me a lot of hope. Despite Airwolf being completely the wrong colour at least it looks like itself and Sandy hasn’t resorted to copying images from the show. However, as fans will see below, it all goes downhill from there. What is that interior all about when the missiles are actually launched from the flight stick? Since when did Airwolf have DeLorean doors? Where is Archangel’s eye patch?

That last panel in particular makes me think Sandy had never seen the show, which is fair enough, but after David Lloyd told me all about the research he did in order to draw the Knight Rider annuals it’s very disappointing. If Sandy was only working from a script then it was clearly written by someone also unfamiliar the show. It’s a truly terrible script, with dull, robotic dialogue and little of consequence happening.

Clearly it wasn’t written by whoever wrote the prose stories, who definitely knew their stuff! Let’s have a quick run through the others before I tell you more about my second favourite. 

Shotgun Doublecross starts with all of the key Airwolf visuals. The cabin. The lake. The eagle. The cello. Tet the dog. Hawke’s insanely good hearing. He’s kidnapped from his home and told he must use Airwolf to help traffic some planes across Mexican airspace for a cartel because his long-lost brother Sinjin is also on board. He goes up against The Firm for this one and there’s some great dialogue between the key players. You can almost hear the actors saying their lines.

Desert Death Trap is a basic rescue mission story but is imaginatively portrayed, the action playing out just like one of the show’s thrilling dogfights, painting exciting pictures in the readers’ heads (to make up for the ones on the page). Flames Over the Water revisits the death of Hawke’s family on the lake, something only touched upon in the pilot movie. The opening page in particular is surprisingly beautifully written for an annual.

The so-called villain of the piece is seeking revenge on the US because of the death of his one true love by indiscriminate American bombing campaigns, placing the Airwolf crew in a more sympathetic position. In the Shadow of the Wolverine involves a covert op for The Firm gone wrong, a Cold War prisoner swap in a blizzard and a brilliantly written character whose allegiances kept me guessing to the very end.

It paints a wonderful picture of serenity when the cabin didn’t feel like an isolated place but was instead full of warmth and love

Then there’s Day of the Hunter which is a very silly story right at the back of the book, so unfortunately the whole thing ends on a low note. Believe it or not it involves Airwolf, a train and another helicopter all inside a train tunnel. No, really! If the rest of the prose stories feel like grittier season one fare, this is straight out of the fourth season. Fans will know what I mean by that.

But back to that other story I’d listed as a favourite. Border Incident kicks off with Dom reminiscing about happier times, when all of the Hawke family were alive, happy and at home. It paints a wonderful picture of serenity when the cabin didn’t feel like an isolated place but was instead full of warmth and love, and the portrayals of String and Sinjin as children are both funny and feel completely accurate even though we never saw their younger selves on the show.

String has taken Airwolf on a mission alone. Now, fans will instantly think this isn’t possible, Airwolf needs at least a two-person crew. Unfortunately there’s no explanation of how that’s achievable, and some of the ‘copters abilities used here would be impossible without Dom being in the rear cabin. But we’ll forget about that and put it down to a simple misunderstanding on the part of the writer because the rest of the story is fantastic.

It’s an uncharacteristic but deliberate decision by String, setting the reader on edge right from the off. As it turns out this particular mission once again involves the possibility of Sinjin being found, but String was doubtful about the source of the information and wanted Dom to work the case from the outside, where the villain character wouldn’t be watching. Dom could go undercover and find out the truth, while being ready just in case they needed to fight their way back out.

Knowing Dom would never have allowed him to go alone he took Airwolf and then cheekily got Archangel and Marella to pick up Dom and tell him! There’s a very funny scene where Dom is ranting and raving to the two Firm operatives, not listening to a word of their explanation about the mission, until they tell him String knew he wouldn’t have allowed him to go alone. To which Dom suddenly calms down, basically says, “Yep, that’s right” and heads off on the mission!

There’s an exciting climax involving Airwolf down a booby-trapped mine shaft which again would never have been seen on TV, at least not without those very unconvincing models some of our action shows used back then. Again, there are no images to go with it, the closest being the one above of the annual’s opening image of Airwolf with some poorly drawn cliff faces around it.

After all these years I never thought I’d get to discover any new Airwolf material

In conclusion, for fans this is really a book of two halves: the writing and the art. While it’s nice to see any artwork of Airwolf these days it’s instantly forgettable, however that shouldn’t put anyone off buying it. There are no introductions for those unfamiliar with the plot of the show but for those up to speed there are six great stories here (and the other two are easily forgotten). After all these years I never thought I’d get to discover any new Airwolf material so that in and of itself has been a joy.

For most fans season one is the best of Airwolf and the closest to creator Donald P. Bellisario’s vision (before the studio started interfering from season two onwards). It keeps to the Cold War theme of that season and the humour of the interactions between the main characters is present, cutting through the drama and intrigue perfectly. On the one hand it’s a shame there isn’t more variety to its contents, but now that I’ve finished it I wouldn’t want to sacrifice any of those six great stories to fit other things in.

The book is easily found on eBay for a few quid, so if you’re an Airwolf nut like me you really shouldn’t miss out on this. Reading it can be bittersweet at times when we remember we’ve lost all three of the main actors in recent years, but the memory of their characters lives on. For me that’s through the BluRay set on my shelf, now proudly accompanied by some superb writing in the Airwolf Annual 1986.

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CHRiSTMAS 2023

Comic Reviews, Super Naturals

SUPER NATURALS ADVENTURE BOOK: ALL iN THE NAME

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Originally due on the blog at the beginning of February, like the Ring Raiders Special this had been loaned to a friend who I don’t get to see too often and I’ve just gotten it back. So here we are, rounding off the Super Naturals read through at last. The Adventure Book went on sale alongside #8 (the penultimate issue) and while it was a strange time of year for a special, it was probably originally aimed at all those potential new festive toy owners.

While reference is made to the comic it’s usually in a past tense, looking back at previous issues and stories. There’s no mention of it being on sale or placing an order in newsagents, even the page of readers’ drawings doesn’t include the address to send more in. Sadly, while the original idea may have been to lure new readers in it appears the writing was already on the wall by the time this went to the printers. But let’s concentrate on the fact we have an extra edition to enjoy.

It certainly feels special as soon as you pick it up. It’s a chunky 68-page book with high quality internal pages and a very glossy card cover with new, gorgeous painted Ian Kennedy art. Excuse the marks on mine, tracking this down was difficult (I didn’t know it existed until a few years ago) and I even had to hang it outside to get rid of the wet grass smell it had for whatever reason. It must’ve been stored in a garden shed by the eBay seller. It’s all good now though so I can read it without gagging.

There’s nothing from The Doll unfortunately but there is one particularly superb feature

That’s a very full contents list but when you go through the actual book it’s not as packed as it initially seems. There’s only one original Super Naturals strip with the main characters, although there are two new Ghostlings tales and a text story. There’s a lot of reprint though, like the preview issue’s cover, strip and free card, the masks given away previously (printed as basic images now, not masks), a Scream strip and some of the toy photographs are reused too.

There are some new photos though, as well as a disappointing quiz which amounts to nothing more than drawings of the characters and asking readers to identify them, some new illustrations from readers as mentioned and one particularly superb feature which I’ll get to in a bit. No, there’s nothing from The Doll unfortunately, the terrifying dummy being contained within the fortnightly only, but let’s take a look at the new stories beginning with Destruction Run.

Skull, Burnheart, Snakebite and Weird Wolf break through into our world in the middle of a shopping mall. An earthquake has struck the west coast of America and an aid train is speeding its way there filled with vital medicines and personnel. The comic established the characters never knew where they’d end up but this contradicts that; Skull has a pre-formed plan to destroy the track ahead of the train with the Bat Bopper, causing a devastating crash to kill everyone on board and stop the supplies reaching those in need, leading to more deaths.

The artwork is more simplistic than we were used to in the fortnightly, in fact Geoff Campion (Lion, Valiant, Battle Picture Weekly) definitely doesn’t bring the level of detail fans of his would be used to. I loved his work in Ring Raiders but here it feels rushed. I do like his background colouring when our characters are in Ghostworld though. His version is a psychedelic nether region that would’ve been impossible in the comic’s black and white strips.

The story is a basic one, which is understandable as it’s really for new readers and doesn’t have the luxury of being multipart, with only a limited amount of pages to get a satisfying conclusion. The evil doers destroy the bridge as the train rumbles across it then somehow Eagle Eye’s ‘Powers of Truth’ create lightning bolts, his electrical charges holding the collapsing iron girders together just long enough. It makes no sense and contradicts Eagle Eye’s powers from the fortnightly so not a great start.

After several pages of toy photographs lifted directly from the comic and the aforementioned reprint of the preview issue (which ended on a cliffhanger, surely frustrating for new readers) we come to the first thing in this special edition that truly excited me as a fan. It’s a look at artist Sandy James’ original concept drawings which he created when the comic was being developed.

A brief introduction explains to the readers how Tonka would’ve supplied basic details about the characters and it was up to Sandy to take the toys and turn them into proper comics characters that other artists could work with. While Sandy never illustrated any of the strips in the comic he did produce some of the fun covers and his artwork made up the preview’s character introduction card, reprinted here.

Sandy’s ability to bring those plastic action figures (whose faces were only ever shown in holographic form) to life on the page is pretty incredible. Editor Barrie Tomlinson’s Wildcat comic would do something similar in its Holiday Special, although there artist Ian Kennedy was creating all original characters, not working from tiny toys. I loved Sandy’s bold, colourful work in Ring Raiders where he also brought toys to life in incredible fashion. It’s such a shame he never got to draw a strip for the Super Naturals.

Given his fascination with football and the fact he also edited Roy of the Rovers, Tiger, Hot-Shot etc, it’s pretty clear our text story set inside Wembley Stadium was written by editor Barrie Tomlinson. Teenager Davey Johnson and his school team are on their way to a match when the windows of their bus suddenly cave in! This is a particular aspect of Super Naturals I liked, the fact any piece of glass could end up suddenly becoming a gateway from Ghostworld with terrifying skeletal monsters, witches and snakes piling out.

The story conjures up a pretty terrifying image of the windows of a school bus caving in around a load of children, then trapping them inside amongst the shards of glass with the evil Super Naturals. Skull’s plan this time is to destroy the stadium while it’s filled with 75,000 spectators, killing as many as possible and spreading fear through those that survive. What stands out in the story is how we humans know of the existence of the Super Naturals, even who’s who!

While it was only a matter of time until this happened it does seem very quick. The fortnightly was still building their mythology and they were scarier when humans didn’t know what they were. It also contradicts the strips in this very book where police opened fire on the good guys because they didn’t know there were two sides. But that’s just me quibbling. The story is well written and reminds me of the ‘Story So Far’ stories at the beginning of each Transformers Annual which placed a young person into the fantastical world of the characters, painting a picture from the viewpoint of the readers themselves.

Particularly good here are the moments when Barrie takes his time to describe the abilities of the Super Naturals as they attack. Here’s a good example, as evil Ghostling Rags is hit by lightning from Viking Thunder Bolt‘s hammer: “Changing from Egyptian Pharaoh to wrapped Mummy, Rags gave a scream of pain and lurched forward, his dirty bandages flicking this way and that, every length of cloth eager to bind, hold and smother.” Wembley War is the best Super Naturals story here.

There are two Ghostlings stories included, the light-hearted strips in the regular comic that would cut through the children’s horror. It’s nice to see Mr Lucky and See-Thru get starring roles for the first time. Mr Lucky is pitted against Scary Cat, fulfilling the prophecies of a madman who thinks aliens are due to land on Earth, before it becomes a chase across the city, turning each other into ever more ludicrous creatures or objects via their magical spells. Drawn by Keith Page (M.A.S.K., Commando, Thunderbirds The Comic) it’s actually quite funny.

The other strip is drawn by regular Ghostlings artist Anthony Williams and sees the good and evil servants of the Super Naturals arrive during the Great Fire of London. The evil Ghostlings wish to use it to their advantage and it’s up to Spooks and See-Thru to head them off, all the while being careful not to help the humans too much or else they could affect history. Samuel Pepys even pops ups. It’s fun and interesting in equal measure and as the last strip with the licenced characters it rounds things off nicely.

He hides the body in the box alongside the puppets and simply goes to bed

The regular comic’s anthology series The Scary Cat Challenge, in which readers’ ideas were turned into full comic strips didn’t exactly hold back on the horror. For a kid’s comic it wasn’t afraid to kill off characters in some rather shocking ways, children included, for example in #6 which had the best entry of the series. Unfortunately we don’t get a reader idea here, instead it’s a Scream reprint from #7 of that legendary but equally short-lived comic of Barrie’s.

Freddie Fresco hates his job as a Punch and Judy performer, often cursing the puppets, kicking them into their box at the end of each day. But one night his manager tells him the show is over, the crowds have dwindled and he’ll no longer pay Freddie to perform. Already on edge with frustration and anger at his everyday existence this news pushes Freddie over the edge and he wallops Sam with a plank of wood, meaning to wound and scare him into changing his mind. Instead, he kills him.

He hides the body in the box alongside the puppets and simply goes to bed. He’s taken care of his problem and will dispose of the body the next day. It’s not like he has anybody in his life that could question it. But in the middle of the night he suddenly awakes to find his puppets have attached themselves to his hands and they threaten him, telling him they’ll turn him in for murder unless he takes them back to the booth on the beach so they can continue entertaining the children.

He tries to remove them but they beat him again and again with the hard wooden clubs he used on them for so long. Eventually he gives in and on the final page we see how the show goes on, day after day, week after week. At the end of the season Freddie doesn’t pack up and leave and when the council arrive to forcibly remove his sideshow they make a startling discovery.

The story is a great fit for the book, what with it being based around small toys. It’s written by James Tomlinson (credited as James Nicholas), Barrie’s son whose work I enjoyed so much in Ring Raiders the year after Super Naturals. The artist was Brendan McCarthy whose comics work includes 2000AD, DC’s Solo and Crisis. But it’s Brendan’s TV and film work which really astounds, as he went on to work as a designer on ReBoot and the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action movie (both childhood faves) and was co-writer on Mad Max: Fury Road.

To finish off I’d just like to show you a couple of the toy pages which I think show the quality of the range. One hologram I’ve wanted to see since I started this read through is the inside of the Tomb of Doom but unfortunately every photo so far has had its doors closed. In the first part of The Legend of the Super Naturals back in the preview issue (and reprinted here) we saw a spooky staircase leading into Ghostworld drawn in the strip. It was all very atmospheric but what did the toy it was based on look like?

While photographs will never convey the full 3D nature of holograms it’s clear from this just how intricate the original models used to create them must’ve been. I’d love to see photos of the creation process. The holograms in each character model were just as good and the second spread above shows the tomb alongside more from the series. It’s just a shame the Bat Bopper is missing its superb vampiric hologram sticker on its front for some reason.

The Punch and Judy Horror Show ended up being a real highlight here, which when you consider it was made for another comic doesn’t seem to bode well for the review, but I think overall the Adventure Book would’ve done a good job introducing new toy owners to the Super Naturals comic. But then again, if the toys and thus the comic had been a success this would’ve been all new content. It doesn’t feel like the surprising children’s horror comic we’ve come to know on the blog, but then again the clue is in the name ‘Adventure Book’ I guess. It’s still an interesting addition to the series even if it doesn’t live up to what came before.

iSSUE EiGHT < > iSSUE NiNE

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Comic Reviews, Ring Raiders

RiNG RAiDERS SPECiAL: SPECiAL iNDEED!

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When editor Barrie Tomlinson gave us the bad news that #6 of Fleetway‘s Ring Raiders was to be the last, he told us they hoped to produce a special the following year to finish off all the stories frustratingly left on cliffhangers. Given how comic specials usually appeared in April or May, and the fact I didn’t know if it’d even be published, you can imagine my surprise when my parents came back from the shops with this some time in February of 1990. With its gorgeous Ian Kennedy cover and a hefty weight to it, I immediately ran to my room where all my planes and bases could be found.

Also in my room were my comics and after giving the special a quick flick through and seeing glimpses of exciting aerial action I decided to spend the whole day with these characters and read through all of the previous issues, every single story (including the ones that had already finished) before settling down for this mammoth 64-page feast of an issue. The regular comic was 24 pages so this felt like a real treat! Especially when we got not one, but two covers from Ian.

Was #7 meant to be the start of the comic recolouring the logo each issue? Or was it just for this special? Who knows? But clearly Ian had finished the next two covers and I think this inner page (likely #8’s cover) is just beautiful, evocative of the Commando covers he was so well known for but with a modern (for the time) splash of colour on the Corsair. Wonderful. You’ll have to excuse the state of the pages though. This is my original comic and it was read so many times back then, devoured over and over. The creases and tears tell a story though, of a much loved comic I couldn’t get enough of as a kid.

I really enjoyed reading through the fortnightly and was meant to cover this several months ago but had forgotten I’d let a friend borrow it (and the Super Naturals Adventure Book) and she’s not someone I see too often. But here we are at last. I’ve been looking forward to this. As you can see we kick things off with Operation Chill as colourfully brought to life by Carlos Pino, which only began in the final issue. When a cruise ship carrying a talented bunch of school kids crashed at its destination port with no one on board Wing Commander Max Miles and his Freedom Wing were dispatched to track them down.

His wing ended up over chilly Arctic waters and fired upon from an unknown source, with only giant icebergs beneath them. On the first page of this issue’s strip you can see gun ports in one of them and it’s on this that our ejected pilot Frank Turner finds himself. Another character named by the comic, Frank is soon set upon by Skull Squadron goons but he’s not as unarmed as it would seem, using another of the miniature gadgets the comic invented for the rings.

The iceberg was also on the move! At this point as a kid I had an idea of what was really underneath the ice and the next part of the story confirmed my suspicions. This particular segment would’ve been in #8 with a release date of 23rd December, the Christmas issue. If all had gone according to plan eager kids awaiting Santa would’ve read this just a few days in advance, and no toy in the series was more sought after than the Skull Action Assault Base!

While readers had seen the base in the Trackdown strip we have to remember these are time travel stories and so, much like with Doctor Who for example, timelines can be presented out of order. Even though this takes place a few years after Trackdown in order of actual date, for the time travelling characters it occurred before it. This is when the Ring Raiders themselves first encountered Skull Squadron‘s new mobile HQ. Over time it would’ve been fun to piece together these events into a timeline.

The villain is of course Chiller, the most used in the comic and simply the most sinister, not to mention the most fun for the reader. The plan is to re-educate the kids as mind slaves but, even after Chiller takes to the skies with his new ice weapon and takes out two of the Raider planes, Commander Miles doesn’t give in, making the most audacious of moves by landing on the base. Staying inside the cockpit and using the plane’s weaponry to disable the base he soon overpowers the enemy and commandeers it.

This final panel has Miles posing as he does on the toy packaging. Hmm, he’s called Max Miles and his plane is the Knight Fighter… and in Knight Rider we had Devon Miles… oh I’m just overthinking that, right? Anyway, with the funny image of Frank using the Skull base’s facilities Barrie’s story comes to an end with four parts here, making five altogether so originally it was due to conclude in #10. Who knows if the next story would’ve seen Skull Squadron coming for their base, but it would’ve made for an excellent battle if they had.

This would’ve sealed the deal for Ring Raiders as one of the very best action adventure comics in the UK

On to what was the main strip in the comic for me, the epic Trackdown written by Angus Allan and drawn by famous British artist John Cooper. It always felt epic in its scope, story, use of character and pace, and as it turned out it truly was as epic. With five four-page episodes in the special, altogether it was 11 parts and 48 pages in length. Beginning in #1 on 16th September 1989 it wouldn’t have come to its explosive finale until #11 on 3rd February 1990. Getting the final 20 pages here feels like a bit of a cheat, but these are the best pages in this special, and indeed the series.

In fact, the very first part here (which we’d have enjoyed in #7) would’ve sealed the deal for Ring Raiders as one of the very best action adventure comics in the UK. The Doomsday Device is on its way back to Skull Squadron in Blackjack’s auto-piloted Harrier while he’s taken a young boy hostage in a biplane, threatening to throw him out. Wing Commander Joe Thundercloud of Rescue Wing can only chase one, but which one? Much to Blackjack’s surprise he takes off after the Harrier, or so it seems.

This sequence is thrilling today, so imagine reading this at 12-years-of-age surrounded by all the toy planes, including the one featured here! Scorch orders Blackjack to toss the boy out of the plane to his death, but Blackjack hesitates, just long enough for Joe to swing his plane round and come at the biplane at a 90 degree angle and slice it in half, giving the Air Carrier Justice the order with split second timing to beam up based on his location. The boy (and half the plane) materialise on the Ring Raiders’ flying base while the rest plummets to the ground.

Where could this story go from here? Clearly anything is possible and next Angus has the Wing Commander catch up with the Harrier. With Blackjack out of the picture, Joe disables its engines and then picks it up with his own F-16, using the power of the ring to convert his own body’s energy into extra power to try to get the pilotless plane to the Justice.

But as a caption reminds us, “Use of the rings means terrible physical exhaustion” and, tapped into his mind as well as his body, Joe’s wish to protect those he holds dear and the panic over the screaming engines accidentally sees him activate the time jump engines with his thoughts, ending up back in prehistoric times, now flying above dinosaurs! As you can see the Harrier is no longer balanced atop his plane. The strain was too much for his body to bare and he lost control, the Harrier tumbling into the lake below.

How amazing was this scenario for young comics fans? Ring Raiders deserved a much larger audience than it got in the end because this was top comic action with or without the licence. But as a fan of the toys this was the most amazing thing I’d ever read in my young life as far as I was concerned. (We love hyperbole as kids.) It was a story I’d replay with my Matchbox planes over and over. I think I even created a tiny biplane out of Lego so it could be cut in half, that’s how much I loved this.

Contacting the Justice over millions of years via more use of the ring (and nearly passing out as a result) the rest of the force arrives, giving Joe time to get his energy back and load up the F-16 with Super Sidewinder missiles which he uses to destroy the side of the lake (it overlooks a cliff), draining its water and exposing the Harrier with the Doomsday Device in its cockpit. But the sky suddenly fills with more explosions. Blackjack in his replacement aircraft and his Havoc Wing were tracking his original plane all along.

It may be black and white but that last panel of part nine (third episode here) exudes atmosphere. The sun feels hot, the Harrier ominously coming out of silhouette as Joe looks desperately for his arch enemy. My memory had this as a cliffhanger in the fortnightly, such was the impact it had on me but nope, it’s right here with the next part on the very next page. Simply gorgeous imagery by John Cooper there.

Using the ring has consequences and must be used sparingly, unlike in the cartoon version

The characters having replacement back up planes may initially seem to ruin the drama and tension somewhat but it’s not uncommon. Later in Castle of Doom Yasuo needs his reserve machine in a hurry but the landing crew try to dissuade him as you’ll see. Clearly each character has their main craft and a reserve, which makes sense militarily and they’re never presented as a cheap way of continuing the action. It adds another layer of authenticity to something so fantastical.

The story comes to its conclusion as Blackjack steals the device back while Skull Squadron keep anyone from launching from the Justice with an all-out assault. But, with the device dangling from a claw under Blackjack’s cockpit Joe blasts it, opens his own cockpit and uses the power of his ring like a form of tractor beam to pull it aboard. Thing is, the ring was never meant to be used that way and with too much toll on his body already he loses control. Scenes like this establish that the ring isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free-card, it has consequences and must be used sparingly, unlike in the cartoon version.

The story constantly flips back and forth between which side is winning, every time success is within grasp of someone it flips again. It makes for genuinely tense, exciting reading, even as an adult. It’s also nice to see other characters milling about in the background or helping out here and there, giving more of an ensemble feeling to the cast than normal. Joe just about touches down without crashing and taking the future of the planet with him. Then our inside cover star Salty Salton launches against orders, his slow but manoeuvrable F-4U Corsair making it to the ground just in time to punch a hole in Blackjack’s cockpit, making him scarper.

Salty uses the ring to reenergise Joe’s and in turn Joe himself, the story wrapping up with doomsday averted and the device launched into deep space. What a ride. Ever since those early episodes with Rescue Wing’s Freddie Riley and the professor it’s been non-stop, the tension always building, with high-flying, high-octane stuff fans of the toys longed to see with one-on-one dogfights, crash landings, huge battles and at the centre of it all two characters driving the story forward. The story was never forgotten for a single page, never sacrificed to show off the action. These final Touchdown chapters were a worthy climax to the comic as a whole, even though that was never the intention.

Castle of Doom began in #6 and was instantly a favourite because it starred my two favourite characters, Wing Commander Yasuo Yakamura and Skull Leader Wraither, their planes being the first I ever purchased, so naturally I had a soft spot for them. Following on from the cliffhanger last time, how does a jet pilot rescue a man hanging by a branch on a cliff face? With this rather ingenious Rescue Pod above, that’s how. I love that.

This story has six parts here which would’ve taken it up to #11 with seven parts in total, so as you can see there was no standard length to a Ring Raiders story. This would’ve made for a wonderfully unpredictable reading experience if the comic had continued. Castle of Doom’s plot was all about using time travel to the past in order to affect future events, something which had always intrigued writer James Tomlinson (who went by James Nicholas at the time), and it’s clear he had great fun crafting this tale as it jumps about time zones within the isolated castle setting, layering the plot slowly over the first few episodes.

Basically, in 1989 (two hundred years hence) this castle would be seen as the ideal secure location for various governments of the world to gather and discuss the  growing threat of Skull Squadron, a meeting which would be key to the formation of the Ring Raiders. So Wraither and Vulture Wing have ventured back centuries to hypnotise (using a nose mounted ray of some sort) the family living there, planting a seed that wouldn’t be activated until hundreds of years later in the minds of their descendants.

This manifests itself as a mass shooting in 1989, the owners of the castle suddenly falling into a trance and opening fire with automatic assault weapons on all of the representatives present! Yakamura wins the day by using a low-yield missile to knock out a wall of the castle and take out half of the assassins, but the head of the family escapes and throws a grenade into an ammunition store. In the end the survivors evacuate just in time. The rest of the assassins are captured (I’d assume to come round later and be exonerated) and Wraither’s P-51 Mustang Galloping Ghoul is shot out of the sky, the mysterious pilot left abandoned in that time zone until Skull Squadron come to rescue him.

That’s it pretty much summed up but there are two main reasons I love this strip so much: the fact it’s full of great action between my two favourite pilots and planes and how it was delving into some of the backstory, taking tentative steps at setting up some mythology. It reads as an important early chapter in what I’d hoped would be a long-running comic. Wraither and Yakamura were likely chosen because they formed a special two-plane Matchbox Starter Pack (my Starter Pack in fact) and because of this it seemed they were destined to duke it out forever.

To the uninitiated it might seem daft to have two such vastly different planes engage in battle but it’s actually believable. Yasuo’s jet has speed on his side but is unable to make the kinds of quick manoeuvres over short distances Wraither can, and the latter’s ability to fly so close to the ground and mountains and use cloud cover to disappear and reappear at will evens the odds somewhat. In fact, the Grumman X-29 is almost trashed at one stage and Yasuo has to time jump back to the Justice for his reserve machine.

Untested and with unfinished computer systems which were such an integral part of his plane (Yasuo usually relied heavily upon the computer), it made for a tense showdown with Yasuo outnumbered four-to-one against Vulture Wing, the castle under attack by assassins, his inability to land to help and the castle poised to explode, wiping out the Ring Raiders before they’re even formed. The last three chapters were clearly not finished by the time the comic was cancelled as they are combined into one, 12-page finale.

Artist Don Wazejewski again brought James’ script to life and there are some lovely atmospheric visuals here (my favourite being the panel of Yasuo “almost hearing” Wraither’s laughter) and aerial battles that feel genuinely fast and exciting. I also like his chunky depictions of humans, especially on board the gigantic, high-tech Air Carrier Justice; there’s a certain Thunderbirds-esque feel to these particular scenes. Over 24 pages it’s a real thrill ride and it’s such a shame this would be the last meaty read of the special and the last time I’d see these characters.

It hasn’t lost any of its ability to excite for this 44-year-old. But then again, all those happy childhood memories of favourite characters and those little toy planes all bubble to the surface when I read any issue of this comic.

In such a serious storyline, with the tension ratcheting up page after page, there’s a genuine laugh-out-loud moment during the fast-paced climax as Yasuo delivers his missile. The story had made a lot out of the supposed mystery of who, or even what, was behind the mask of Wraither and his sinister character is perfectly portrayed, making this moment towards the end of the story even funnier for the fan in me.

After that momentous blockbuster we’ve only got two individual chapters to go. Next up is the seventh and final part of Freedom Flight. Tom Tully’s story involved Skull Squadron using a band of rebels for their own ends, assisting them in their attempts to overthrow a democratically elected government in South America. The story ended on a cliffhanger in #6 which had Skull Leader Mako’s ‘Sea Hunter’ MiG-29 about to be blown out of the sky by Raider Yuri Kirkov’s missile, fired from his ‘Comet’ F-4 Phantom.

As the young readers could be fans of either side of the never-ending war we would sometimes see the cliffhangers sway towards Skull Squadron, although this was used sparingly in the issues published. Still, it made for a refreshing change. Speaking of which, after 40 pages of beautiful black and white art, turning the page to see Sandy James’ full colour pages is a shock to the system.In the best possible way of course.

This being just the one chapter it’s basically the end of the battle that was raging months ago in the comic, so alongside the juicier stories in the special it unfortunately feels rather slight. However, in actual fact, if read with the previous half dozen instalments it’s the perfect, exciting ending with Kirkov finally fighting his way to victory after the hardships of other issues. His missile closes in on Mako and he even sees off the wingmen who attempt to come to the rescue.

Usually this would mean the end of the plane and most certainly the character, what with him not bailing out before impact, but as we readers know and as Kirkov suspects, Mako’s craft can operate underwater so the Ring Raiders must content themselves with the fact he’s escaped. Without the futuristic back up the rebels are soon defeated and our heroes travel back to the Justice to await their next mission, their work in the air complete.

Just one page later Kirkov returns in the one-off character story we would’ve read in #7 and it’s quite possibly the best one of the series, or at the very least right up there with Chiller’s in #3. As usual it kicks off with an air battle against the Skulls. Wraither again actually. As he expertly uses clouds to vanish into thin air during battle, Kirkov is reminded of the mist covered skies of Vietnam through which he flew in his Douglas A-1 Skyraider after defecting from Russia to fight for the United States.

Those of us who grew up in the 1980s will remember most of our heroes in primetime television had fought in the war, each one suffering some degree of personal trauma (Thomas Magnum, Magnum PI), physical damage (Michael Knight, Knight Rider) or psychological issues (Stringfellow Hawke, Airwolf). So as a young teenager this lent a credibility to Ring Raiders, seeing a character caught up in a real world war, one that we were all too aware of at the time and of the devastation it caused.

I think it could’ve reached beyond those obsessed with the toys if given the chance

The story was a real treat and as the last strip the comic would ever publish it made an impact; its gritty, rain-and-mist-shrouded panels evoking the same atmosphere we were used to in flashbacks in those aforementioned television shows (and later in the 90s when Bravo showed Tour of Duty which I became completely hooked by). Reading it now, Scott Goodall’s well-paced script and John Gillat’s superb artwork take me right back to those times. In fact, it feels all the more mature reading it now through adult eyes when compared to the other strips in this issue.

The story is a bit well worn by now, with a mysterious character helping our hero in their desperate time of need, only for us to find out that person had actually died and it must have been an illusion of some sort (although implied to have been their spirit continuing to help people as they had done in life). It’s the fact this story is in Ring Raiders and is illustrated in the way that it is that makes it so very special.

The perfect way to wrap up Ring Raiders, not just this special but the comic as a whole. Not only is it a superb strip, it shows the real potential this comic had in the range of its storytelling and how I think it could’ve reached beyond those obsessed with the toys if given the chance. It’s heartbreaking to finish the final story but I think it just proves the point I’ve been making since the beginning. Rounding off the issue is the second Photo File by James, this time one of his favourites and cover star the F-104 Starfighter,.

Well, that’s it.

James and Barrie were able to tell me the names of some further adventures that we never got to see. Hill Kill was written by Scott Goodall so possibly another character piece, Viking Job was by Tom Tully and Sandy James (their follow up to Freedom Flight and most likely set in the distant past), Surprise Attack, Skull Surprise was by Barrie Tomlinson himself so most likely was to be drawn by Carlos Pino and there was an unnamed Christmas story by James Tomlinson and Don Wazejewski, plus another story by the same team called Blow Bubbles, whatever that was about. A Christmas issue of this comic would’ve been nothing short of awesome for me! Oh well.

Proof that licenced toy comics could be taken seriously and produce excellent results

Ring Raiders could effortlessly flip between the futuristic and the historical, the fantastical and the realistic, keeping its feet grounded with believable, likeable characters, exciting action, superb art and interesting stories. If it had continued goodness knows how much better it would’ve got as it developed. It’s anthology style worked a treat and for those few short months I didn’t just run, I sprinted to the newsagents every other week to get my next fix.

OiNK aside, the fact this comic remains my number one from childhood with only seven issues to show for itself should tell you something.

Ring Raiders was a superb comic and is well worth picking up, although be aware issues can go for a pretty penny on eBay and you’ll be very lucky indeed to find this special. (There were also two annuals but they were by Grandreams, had nothing to do with the comic and are really poor, with no strips, just bad text stories and basic art.) Ring Raiders was proof that licenced toy comics could be taken seriously and produce excellent results. Kudos to Barrie and the whole team, thank you for a superb comic and for some really enjoyable memories.

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