Friday's Favorite OTR

 Counterspy: "Washington Woman Spy" 6/8/42

David Harding recruits an Army officer to help trap a beautiful Gestapo spy. But he doesn't count on the officer falling in love with her.

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Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Special Episode: A Star for ERB with Scott Tracy G...

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Special Episode: A Star for ERB with Scott Tracy G...:   Tracy talks about his work to have Edgar Rice Burroughs awarded a star on the Palm Springs Walk of the Stars. ERB has indeed been honored ...

Tramp in Armor

 

I first read Colin Forbes' 1969 novel Tramp in Armour two or three decades ago and loved it. I'm pretty sure I remember reading it a second time in 2005, on my first trip to South Sudan. In those pre-Kindle days and with a 30 pound limit on luggage (we fly into Sudan on a small putt-putt plane), I was only able to bring a few paperbacks for the trip and had to ration them carefully. 

Anyway, my paperback disappeared some time ago, but I recently ran across another copy and enjoyed reading it yet again.

In May 1940, a British tank is trapped in a railway tunnel in Belgium for several days right after the Germans attack. When they dig themselves out, they find themselves many miles behind enemy lines.

This is the basic premise of Tramp in Armour, an unlikely plot made possible because the German tanks blitzing across France have outrun their infantry and there are few actual occupation troops between "Bert" (the British tank) and the front lines near Dunkirk. Still, getting back to the Allied lines is not without danger. A series of mini-adventures keep the tension high and present us with a number of truly edge-of-your-seat action scenes. The tank has to hide under a bridge while a German armored column drives right over them; they have to deal with a "helpful" Belgium civilian who may not be who he claims to be; French looters take a potshot at them; a wounded crewman needs a doctor, and so on. Every time they fight or plan their way out of one dangerous situation, something else dangerous pops up almost immediately. The story's pace is one for which the word "breathless" was created.

It's great stuff, with the non-stop prose going fast enough to hide most of the more unrealistic parts. The main character--Sgt. Barnes--is an excellent soldier able to improvise constantly, but he's also very human, subject to exhaustion and mistakes. 

There are a series of coincidences near the end that might stretch credulity too far. First, they kill an officer in a staff car that just happens to carry vital information with him (though, to be fair, the author footnotes that something similar happened in real life.) Second, the crew is joined by a downed RAF pilot who happens to be an demolitions expert. Third, they just happened to find some abandoned explosives. 

But, since this leads to a fantastic final battle in which Barnes rigs the tank to become a bomb aimed at a vital German ammunition dump, I'm willing to forgive what might otherwise be one coincidence too many. Also, by this time, the crew has gone through so much and accomplished so much by the skin of their teeth, that (dramatically speaking) they have earned a little good luck.

Sadly, Tramp in Armour appears to be out-of-print at the moment. Keep an eye peeled for a used paperback. It'll be worth your money.

The Ghost of Redbeard

 

(NOTE: Two weeks ago, I wrote that I would begin a look at the Legion of Superheroes "Great Darkness Saga" today, but life is uncertain and confusing and that will actually begin next week.]

Gold Key's adaptation of Saturday morning's Scooby Doo... Where Are You? was a mixture of original stories and adaptations of the TV episodes. Scooby Doo #6 (June 1971), for instance, had one adaptation and one original story. In both instances, the writer or writers are unidentified and the art (both cover and interior) is by Warren Tufts.

Today, we'll look at "The Ghost of Redbeard," based on the episode "Go Away Ghost Ship." In two weeks, we'll examine this issue's completely original tale.

"Redbeard" is sometimes a beat-by-beat adapation of the orginal episode, though there are some interesting differences. The gang is at a malt shop when they hear news about ships (all belonging to the same guy) being hijacked by a pirate ghost. On TV, they read this in a newspaper. The comic book story changes this to listening to a radio report. It's a minor change, but it actually makes sense. Adding dialogue from the radio announcer conveys the same information, but makes the scene a little more dynamic (and adds a gag in which the announcer reacts directly to something Shaggy says).

The gang needs to pull off a wacky scheme to get past a creepy butler and talk to the shipping magnate, but this works. They learn that one of the magnate's ancestors captured Redbeard, so now the pirate's ghost has returned and is looking for revenge.

At one point, we see the creepy butler listening in. This is an effective red herring that also sets up a nice twist at the end when "Redbeard" is unmasked.

The gang head out in a motorboat, looking for the pirate ship. A mysterious fog rolls in, followed by the pirate ship. The gang's small boat is rammed and they all climb aboard the ship, though Shaggy and Scooby have been seperated from the others.

Slapstick shenanigans ensue. At one point, Velma thinks she's been shot after a door slams with a loud bang. This is another interesting change, as it's Shaggy that thinks he's been shot in the cartoon and a dramatic "death scene" is more fitting for his personality. It was suggested to me that the writer was working on an early version of the script and that at first made sense. But then I realized this issue was published well over a year after the episode aired. I suppose the writer liked the gag, but the flow of the story in a comic book format required changing it to Velma.

The action eventually moves to a large cave in which the loot from the various ships is stored. After some more slapstick shenanigans, the bad guys are captured and unmasked. Redbeard is really the shipping magnate, who needed the loot to pay off his gambling debts. In the cartoon, he was selling the loot for money he needed to save his company. Changing this to "gambling debts" was probably just to make his confession more concise and cut down on the number/size of word balloons. 

It's here that the comic book story adds a nice new twist to the story. At this point in the cartoon, the Coast Guard is called in to make the arrests. The butler is mentioned in passing as having been a suspect.

In the comic book story, the butler shows up again and turns out to be an insurance investigator who was also after the shipping magnate. I like this change a lot. It changes him from a throw-away red herring into a more interesting character.

Warren Tufts art work is dynamic and fun, as well as faithful to the look of the characters and the show. 

That's it for now. Next week, we begin our look at the "Great Darkness Saga." I promise for real this time. 

Cover Cavalcade

 

A wonderful Neal Adams cover from 1970.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 X Minus One: "Early Model" 7/11/57

A space explorer is given a new device designed to protect him from any danger. But when he tries to establish relations with a primitive alien culture, the device turns out to work TOO well!

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Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Pocast #59: The Lost World, Chapters 5 - 8

Edgar Rice Burroughs Podcast: Mini-Pocast #59: The Lost World, Chapters 5 - 8:   A discussion of Chapters 5 through 8 of The Lost World, by Arthur Conan Doyle.  We meet the remaining two main characters and travel to th...

Wedding Anniversary Break

 

1948: art by Jack Kirby

No Wednesday or Thursday posts this week as it is the week of my wife's birthday AND our wedding anniversary. I need to spend the time fending off her former suitors.

Wedding Anniversary Break

 

1975: Art by Gil Kane, with alterations by John Romita

No Wednesday or Thursday posts this week, as this week contains both my wife's birthday and our wedding anniversary.  We need to spend this time together protecting the Earth from Dormammu.

Cover Cavalcade

 

A 1962 reprint of the original Buck Rogers novel. (Though he wasn't nicknamed Buck until he spun off into a comic strip.)