On this day, 18 April 1987: Battle with Storm Force

Apr 18

Apr 18 On this day, 18 April 1987: Battle with Storm Force

On this day, 18 April 1987 … While set in an alternative, radiation-scarred Britain (presumably a few years later than 1987? I haven’t read enough of this series to know when it’s supposed to be), Battle’s Storm Force is very much of its place and time and there is a late 1980s/early 1990s Bond-ish feel to the latest adventure of international terrorism-busters John Storm, The Mole, Magnus, Porcupine, Stiletto, Griffin and Mikron. ‘The Man Who Stole Polaris’ sees them strike back against Mister Kruise, a walking cadaver who has, as the title suggests, seized control of a cargo of armed Polaris missiles with which to hold the world to ransom.

It’s a long-range strike from the era of D-Day Dawson, Lofty’s One-man Luftwaffe, Major Eazy and the Rat Pack, but by now Battle seems to have been less interested in the conflicts of history. Sure, here in this issue are the original Pat Mills version of Charley’s War, Germans on the Eastern Front in Death Squad, the Vietnam-set Fighting Mann and good old Johnny Red, but I think I’m correct that most (possibly all?) these stories are reprints from Battle’s earlier years. The rest is made up of two Storm Force strips (‘Polaris’ and Operation Mole Machine) and Invasion!, about a Falkland Islands lad who gets hooked into action with British troops during the 1982 conflict.

Just a bit too heavy on the macho nastiness in this one for me, gentle soul that I am, but in Colquhoun, Cooper, Watson, Vanyo, Bradbury and Kennedy there is fantastic artwork. I’ll read anything drawn by these guys.