Prog 7 - MACH 1

Mach 1 creates a diversion so he can sneak into Armstrongs hotel.
He tells Armstrong that he has come on behalf of Her Majesty's Government and he is to take him back to London. Armstrong stares in disbelief...Probe is just one man and he's not going to risk his life with 'schoolboy heroics'.

He calls in a guard to arrest Probe. Probe does what's neccessary to convince Armstrong.
Armstrong is convinced. Probe lowers him on rope out of the window. He steals an army truck and both men are on their way out of the city. Then, Probe spots a secret police car with an escort. He tells Armstrong to keep his head down. He doesn't want them to recognize him. But Probe spots something else...
He turns the truck around and goes back to help Pepe. Armstrong is enraged! How dare Probe endanger his life for a 'dirty peasant brat!'

Probe smashes the truck into the side of the Secret Police car. He leaves the truck and engages the escort.
Inside the car is the Bolavian Head of the Secret Police - Colonel Villarcho. He can't believe his eyes. Mach 1 is killing all his men! He orders his driver to lock all the car doors...but Pepe smiles and tells him that that won't stop 'Senor Johnny.' And he's right. Probe rips off the car door to free Pepe...but Colonel Villarcho is cunning.
Mach 1 surrenders. Villarcho takes him, Pepe and Armstrong to the secret police H.Q.
Probe decides to have his computer brain shut off his hyperpower. He wants to give them the impression that his power has left him. Villarcho thinks he's faking and has a doctor examine him. The doctor tells him that Probe is not faking, that he is in fact 'as weak as a baby!'

Villarcho takes advantage of the situation. He punches and kicks Probe around. After the beating, they dump Probe into a cell...tomorrow they are going torture him.

Alone in the cell...Probe orders his computer brain to switch his hyperpower back on.

The next day he is brought in front of Villarcho. Villarcho has his men tie Probe to two pillars. He tells Probe that what he is about to feel is 'beyond the normal meaning of pain.' The whipping begins...but with Probes hyperpower back to fool strength, the whipping feels just like a tickling across his back.

Probe makes his move and breaks free...
The toppling of the pillars causes the building to cave in...Probe rescues Villarcho. He uses Villarcho as a human shield while he sets Armstrong and Pepe free. Villarchos' troops won't shoot as long as Probe has him in his grasp.

Probe commandeers a chopper and they escape. But what to do about Villarcho?
Problem solved! That wraps up another chapter in John Probes life.

We get another fictional country here...Bolavia. Gosh, I wonder what country that could be? ;-) And something I didn't think Probe could do. He turned off his power. I didn't know that he could that. It will be interesting to see if it is explored further in the series. My memory is a bit fuzzy and I can't remember if they address this again.

Good writing by Mills again and solid art by Enio.

Prog 7 - Invasion

The Volgan troops comandeer a train. They joke that the British have no more fight left in them.

An hour later a Volgan armored column is making it's way to Oxford. At the front of the column is Volgan Field Marshall Zinski. The column comes to a halt at a railroad crossing. They wait awhile until eventually the barrier is lifted for them to cross. The Field Marsahll isn't to happy with the lenght of time it took the signalman to raise the barrier. He'll be glad when when "his kind will be replaced by efficient Volgans."

But the signalman is none other then Bill Savage! He radios his men..."The Fly is in the web!" He lowers the barrier again...this time trapping Zinski's car.
They realise that it's a trap..but too late! There's a train coming down the tracks. The soldiers in the car run for cover. Zinski is too slow. He's fat and can't seem to move quick enough...and...
...that's the end of Field Marshall Zinski!

Savage radios his units and they come out from the surrounding wheatfields where they've been hiding and take the Volgans by surprise. The Volgans haven't the stomach for battle and turn and flee.

Just as Savage decides to pull out Volgan gunships arrive! Now it's Savages' turn to be taken by surprise.
The elite Spyder Troops armed with flamethrowers are destroying the Resistance. Savage knows that they'll all be burned alive unless he can take out the Spyder Troop chopper. Armed with a rocket launcher...he shoots and hits one chopper causing it to crash into the second chopper. They're saved!
Something is bothering Savage...how did the Volgans know the resistance would strike at the railroad crossing.

Later back at the base, on Londons Isle of Dogs, Savage gets his answer. Listening to the Volgan News broadcast, it's revealed that thanks to a last minute tip-off the Volgans were able to destroy most of the resistance despite losing Field Marshall Zinski.

Savage and his Mad Dogs were betrayed!

After an investigation, a new member of the resistance confesses that he sold them out for money. Savage is pissed! Half his men were wiped out because of the traitors greed.

The Resistance has to get tougher if they're going to drive out the invaders!
Good installment.

It shows Savages' first setback. Even though they killed a lot of Volgans, the price was too high. The fact that a traitor was discovered amongst Savages men adds an extra dimension to the strip. Not everything in 'Invasion' is going to be so straight forward and black and white.

I like Mills structure to the script. The train on the first page is the train that gets derailed later on.

The Volgan arrogance and disregard towards the conquered is really emphasised here with Zinskis comments on shooting the signalman and also by the Volgan troops in kicking the civiians off the train and making them ride in cattle cars. Mills is definitely making comparisons with the Volgans and Nazis.

Mills script really shines. As for the art...I don't really care for it. Sarompas does an okay job but it feels lifeless...I can't put my finger on why...it just does.

Prog 6 - MACH 1

We open with MACH 1 coming to the aid of a friend. But he's too late! His friend is dead and now Probe is determined to beat Kreuzer and his 'Werewolves' to the Nazi gold.

Probe arrives at Lake Constance and dives right in. He can't waste time because Karl had told him that Kreuzer and his men where planning on lifting the gold that night. He approaches the wreck of the sunken ship.

He rips the ships hold apart to get the gold but something isn't right...
The 'Werewolf' divers have been using the nazi corpses as cover.
Probe has a fight on his hands. He smashes one of the divers heads with his hand instantly killing him. More divers arrive armed with spear guns. One spears probe in the arm. MACH 1 has to end this quick or else he'll be in serious trouble. If it's the gold they want...they can have it...
Probe swims to the surface and sees Kreuzers boat skimming the lake. He decides to pay Kreuzer a visit...Hyperpower style!

Probe swims so fast towards the boat that the crew onboard think that it's a torpedo that's been aimed at the boat. He attaches himself to one of the hydrofoils and breaks it off. The majority of the crew jump overboard in a panic.
Probe pulls himself onboard the ship even though his computer brain advises against it. He takes out the last member of the crew before he can get off a shot...
And then comes face to face with Kreuzer. MACH 1 rips the spear from out of his arm. Kreuzer can't believe his eyes..the strenght of MACH 1 has him rattled.

Probe wants all the details on the Werewolf Organisation...
Kreuzer hands him a dossier with all the details as the ship heads full steam ahead towards some rocks.
...and that's all she wrote.

Decent episode the only problem I have is that Probe tells Kreuzer to say 'Hello' to his dead Werewolf thugs and also to his friend Karl when he joins them in the afterlife. Why would Probe do that unless he thinks Karl is in hell with Kruezer and co? Strange one that.

Mike Dorey did the artwork on this. Dorey was never one of my favorites but the job he did on this is really exceptional. His drawing Karls beaten face is quite gruesome. You can really tell that the Werewolf thugs went to town on him.

Pat Mills writing is top notch even if the script at the end seems out of place.

Prog 4 - MACH 1

I love the title of this MACH 1 installment, 'In 24 hours a President must die!'

John Probe is on a mission to eliminate the President of Irania, (No prize for guessing what country 'Irania' is based on.)before the President can launch an invasion on their neighbors Turkostan. It's going to be a tough mission. The Presidents palace is heavily guarded.

Rather than waste time, Probe tries the direct approach.
He's arrested and taken to the secret police headquarters and is interrogated by a Colonel Krall.
The Colonels henchmen are surprised that Probe has no weapons. Probe responds that he 'doesn't need fancy gadgets. I'm going to kill the swine with my bare hands!'

Krall says that Probe is full of it and he's going to skin him alive. The interrogation begins... Thanks to MACH 1's hyper-strength, he's able to withstand the torture with a minimum of discomfort. The interrogation is interrupted by an officer that informs Krall that the President is curious about his British prisoner and would like to see him. Krall chains Probe, he wants to make sure that he can't carry out his threat to kill the President.

Probes gamble has paid off...now, he will get face time with the dictator.

President Mudar is just as vicious as his underling Krall. Probe tells him, quite nonchalantly, how he is going to die.
Mudar is interrupted by one of his men. The officer tell Mudar that his invasion force is ready. Mudar has no time to waste on Probe and orders that he be taken back to Colonel Krall for futher interrogation. MACH 1 makes his move. He snaps the chains that bind him and kills Mudar's men.
And true to his word, Probe kills Mudar by a hyper-powered karate chop!
Krall has been watching and decides to take Probe out with one of his hunting guns. A gun so powerful it can stop a charging rhino! Probe races forward in an effort to stop him...but too late. He takes the brunt of the blast!
With his hyper-power depleting, Probe takes a huge risk, he charges forward, crashing both him and a stunned Krall, through a window.
Krall is dead and MACH 1 makes his escape. He steals an armored car, crashes it through the palace gates and makes his way across the border. We end the strip with Sharpe paying Probe a visit in hospital where he's recovering from his wounds.
He has completed his mission. By assassinating Mudar he has stopped Irania from invading Turkostan.

Lots of good stuff in this strip.

We see that Probe is human after all. He barely makes it out alive. And his computer brain has a weakness...it doesn't have any working knowledge of old weaponry. When Probe steals the tank, it can't give him any data on it because it's an old tank, it can only give him data on 'new' vehicles.

The strip ends with a conversation between Sharpe and Probe and we're left with the impression that Sharpe is glad that Probe made it out alive because he's cost the government so much money. It speaks a lot about Sharpes character.

Nice fun script by Mills and decent art by Enio.

Prog 3 - Flesh

We left last issue with young ranger Joe fighting for his life against a Pteranodon. A couple of rangers in an air buggy see Joe is in trouble and shoot the winged dinosaur down. As the creature falls, it lets go of Joe, who hits the ground with just his ego bruised.
But the air buggy crew aren't paying attention, for behind them a massive dinosaur has them in her sights.
The huge tryannosaur she-devil makes easy work of the rangers and their vehicle.
After she snacks down on the fallen rangers, she turns her attention to Joe. Joe can't believe it! After his lucky escape in the air...he is now going to be Tyrannosaur food!

The tyrannosaur has the rookie's legs in her mouth when the calvary arrives in the form of Earl Reagan on horseback. Earls only chance to free Joe from the creatures jaws is to strike a goad into the head of the dinosaur...he succeeds and takes her eye out in the process!
And so...one of the great villains in 2000ad history is born...Old One Eye!

The rookie thanks Reagan thinking that they've killed the brute. Reagan tells him to forget it and that they'd better get moving.

Reagan decides to take a detour to Carver City because Joe's legs are bleeding badly and he needs a doctor. His crew start moving the herd of Alamosaurs towards their new destination.
(What the hell is a 'kronj' town? Looks like someone misspelt 'crazy'!)

Reagan has made a bad error of judgement...he thought he killed the Tyrannosaur pack leader...he was wrong...so wrong...and Old One Eye would be AVENGED!!!
Pretty fun installment with lots of action and the introduction of 2000ad royalty...Old One Eye. Her son and grandson, Satanus and Golgotha, would later give Judge Dredd and the ABC Warriors a few headaches. It's really fantastic that Pat Mills will eventually create a 2000ad 'universe' by tying in Old One Eye and her brood into other strips.

Also interesting is the notion of a city of time travellers set up in the prehistoric period. You just know that that's just asking for trouble down the road.

Prog 2 - INVASION

To be completely honest...one of the main reasons I wanted to do this blog was to show off some fantastic artwork. And this splash page is fantastic artwork!

An interesting note about Invasion is that the fictional Volgans were in fact supposed to be Soviet Union troops but the higher ups got cold feet and wanted fictional baddies instead. A bit of a shame really but worked out quite well in the long run for the 2000ad Universe. Pat Mills would later revisit the Volgans with the ABC Warriors and a more modern take on Savage.

The story opens with scenes of more Volgan brutality. The Volgans are killing the survivors of their nuclear attack on a major city (the strip says a midland city!) and hanging politicians from the nearest lamposts...which is not necessarily and bad thing. :-)

A group of Volgans are celebrating in a pub, rubbing the locals faces in it, when up pops Savage.

Savage proceeds to blast them to pieces and in totally bizarre fashion...he runs out of ammo and leaves the room to reload! The volgans come to their senses and try and rush Savage. Which Savage kills them all...leaves the bar...blows up their tank outside and walks off into the sunset while a stranger watches for the shadows and says...

The dialogue by todays standards is pretty funny. I couldn't help but think that the 'Stranger' is a Friend of Dorothy.

But that's not the only piece of dialogue that made me chuckle. Check out the panel below for some Dirty Harry inspired spoken words...but not as cool as the original.

Overall, it's pretty standard fare. The artwork is pretty damn good except for one panel. The panel I've posted below...It looks like Savage is shooting clones and the soldier in the middle is either doing a bizarre dance or has a huge headache!
One more thing of note. The tank crew that Bill offs in this episode are the
soldiers responsible for murdering Bills wife and kids. How Bill knows this...we
aren't told.

Prog 1 - INVASION

What a great splash page to begin a story with.

Invasion wasted no time in getting straight into the action. In 6 pages we get the invasion of Britain by an East Asian army -The Volgans -(no doubt based on the Soviet Union.) The reluctance of other nations to step in and help Britain, raping of Britains natural resources, a glimpse of how harsh living under a Volgan regime would be and finally, last but not least Bill Savage's 'origin' story. All that in 6 pages!

You can tell by the art on the strip that the artist used photo-reference a lot. But this is photo-reference done really well as opposed to some artists today that more or less trace the photos. Here's a panel with Angela Rippon-esque newsreader. To those that don't know or where too young to remember...Angela was the first female news anchor for the BBC.

Bill Savage was based on Stanley bakers character from 'Hell Drivers'.
Watch the trailer here...www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8qFD2s0Fwg


It wasn't unusual for Pat Mills, who was editor then, to loosely base ideas or characters on popular movies or actors. For example...the Harlem Heroes was Mills answer to Rollerball and Dredd was basically Clint Eastwoods "Harry Callahan'.



The basic story is this...In a war that took only 8 hours, Britain has been invaded by a harsh and brutal regime from Eastern Asia. Bill Savage is a lorry (Truck) driver who's returning to his family when he finds out that his family have been killed by a stray shell from a Volgan tank. Savage finds his shotgun and takes out the nearest Volgan patrol.

Britain may have surrendered but Savages war has only just begun.

Savage is Britains 'Punisher' or is the Punisher the USA's 'Savage'?