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No.4371
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IN FEBRUARY 1942, AFTER AN OVERWHELMINGLY SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN IN MALAYA, JAPANESE FORCES STORMED ASHORE ON SINGAPORE ISLAND TO BEGIN THE FINAL PHASE OF THEIR OFFENSIVE AGAINST THE BRITISH IN MALAYSIA.
DRIVE ‘EM BACK… AARGH! BANZAI!
STORY ALAN HEBDEN ART BENET COVER BENET
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4 A MILITARY PRISON LAY IN THE PATH OF THE JAPANESE ADVANCE AND THE PROVOST-MARSHALS IN CHARGE WERE FORCED TO CARRY OUT A HURRIED EVACUATION OF THE INMATES. GET A MOVE ON! THE JAPS’LL BE HERE SOON AND YOU DON’T WANT TO BECOME THEIR PRISONERS, BELIEVE YOU ME!
ENEMY AIRCRAFT!
THE WARNING HAD COME TOO LATE. THREE NAKAJIMA Ki-43 OSCAR FIGHTER-BOMBERS ROARED IN, THEIR HIGH-EXPLOSIVE LOADS DESTROYING THE LORRIES AND KILLING MOST OF THE PROVOST-MARSHALS.
TAKE COVER…UURGH!
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5 TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE CONFUSION, THE SURVIVING CONVICTS MADE A BREAK FOR IT, SCATTERING IN ALL DIRECTIONS. JELLY JAKES, A SMALL FERRET-LIKE MAN, URGED HIS HUGE COMPANION, THE APPARENTLY SLOW-WITTED TITCH MOONEY, TO COME WITH HIM. FOLLOW ME, TITCH. THIS IS OUR CHANCE!
RIGHT YOU ARE, JELLY. ER…WHERE WE GOING?
HMM, THE BIG FELLOW’S MUSCLES MIGHT COME IN USEFUL. I THINK I’LL TAG ALONG.
CORPORAL SMILER DAWSON WAS NEVER ONE TO MISS AN OPPORTUNITY, THOUGH HE WASN’T EXACTLY WELCOMED WITH OPEN ARMS BY THE OTHER TWO. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, SMILER? PUSH OFF!
YEAH, PUSH OFF!
USE YOUR NOGGINS, LADS. THREE TOGETHER STAND A BETTER CHANCE THAN TWO. ONCE WE REACH SINGAPORE CITY WE CAN GO OUR SEPARATE WAYS.
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6 SMILER’S REMARK BROUGHT A SCORNFUL LAUGH FROM A CELL WINDOW IN THE ISOLATION WING WHERE ONE LAST PRISONER REMAINED SECURELY LOCKED UP.
EVEN A BLIND MAN CAN SEE SINGAPORE’S DOOMED! LET ME OUT AND I CAN GET ALL FOUR OF US AWAY. WHO’S HE?
DON’TCHA KNOW, SMILER? THAT’S CAPTAIN GUY TENBY, OFFICER AND TRAITOR! HE’S IN ISOLATION TO SAVE HIM BEIN’ TORN APART BY THE OTHER PRISONERS.
THOUGH NONE OF THE THREE CONVICTS BELOW WERE EXACTLY LILY WHITE, ALL DREW THE LINE AT TREASON. AS FAR AS THEY WERE CONCERNED THE CAPTAIN DESERVED EVERYTHING HE GOT. AS ONE, THEY TURNED AWAY, IGNORING THE IMPRISONED OFFICER’S PLEAS.
I’M INNOCENT! I WAS SET UP!
FORGET ‘IM. LET’S GET OUT OF ‘ERE.
YEAH, THAT’S WHATWE ALL SAY. DOESN’T MEAN WE DIDN’T DO IT. IF YOU’RE LUCKY YOUR JAP FRIENDS MIGHT PIN A MEDAL ON YOU!
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7 ONE THING SMILER KNEW ABOUT JELLY WAS THAT THE LITTLE MAN WAS A BORN COWARD. THEY HADN’T GONE HALF A MILE BEFORE SHOOTING BROKE OUT IN THE DISTANCE AND HE DIVED FOR COVER IN BLIND PANIC. SMILER SEIZED THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET RID OF HIM.
THEY’RE SHOOTIN’ AT US!
IT’S ALL RIGHT, JELLY. IT’S NOT COMING FROM ANYWHERE CLOSE.
WE’D DO A LOT BETTER WITHOUT HIM, TITCH.
JELLY MAY HAVE BEEN A BORN COWARD BUT HE WAS ALSO A BORN SURVIVOR, WHICH WAS WHY HE’D BEFRIENDED TITCH IN THE FIRST PLACE. THE BIG MAN TURNED ON SMILER IN A DREADFUL RAGE. PUT ‘IM DOWN, TITCH . ‘E MAY BE A SMOOTH-TALKING SPIV BUT I HEAR ‘E’S ‘ANDY WITH A KNIFE.
ANYONE GETS LEFT BEHIND, IT’LL BE YOU — WITH HALF YOUR HEAD MISSING!
TALK ABOUT A HUMAN ATTACK DOG. JELLY’S CERTAINLY GOT HIMSELF A DANGEROUS MINDER.
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8 THE UNEASY TRIO CARRIED ON BUT SOON DISCOVERED THAT REACHING THE CITY WASN’T GOING TO BE AS STRAIGHTFORWARD AS THEY’D HOPED. ALERTED TO THE JAIL BREAK, SQUADS OF M.P.s WERE QUICKLY ROUNDING UP EVERY ESCAPEE THEY COULD FIND. THAT’S FAR ENOUGH, SUNSHINE! ONE MORE STEP AND I SHOOT!
THEY’RE REACTING FASTER THAN I THOUGHT THEY WOULD.
LET’S HEAD BACK AND TRY TO WORK OUR WAY ROUND BEHIND THEM.
AS IF TO ILLUSTRATE THE DANGER THEY WERE IN, ONE OF THE M.P.s SPOTTED THEM AS THEY TRIED TO SLIP QUICKLY AWAY. THERE ARE SOME MORE OF THEM HERE!
HECK! RUN FOR IT!
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9 THEY WERE FORCED TO GO BACK THE WAY THEY’D COME BUT THE SIGHT OF ANOTHER GROUP OF PRISONERS AHEAD BROUGHT RENEWED HOPE. LOOK, THAT LOT’S GOT THE SAME IDEA AS US.
LET’S FOLLOW ‘EM.
AS THEY MADE TO FOLLOW, THOUGH, A JAPANESE PATROL UNEXPECTEDLY EMERGED FROM NEARBY COVER AND GUNNED DOWN THE FIRST GROUP OF ESCAPEES WITHOUT MERCY. JAPS... AARGH!
KILL THE WHITE DOGS!
THERE WOULD BE NO ESCAPE THAT WAY.
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10 WITH JELLY ALMOST PARALYSED BY FEAR, TITCH VIRTUALLY CARRIED HIM AS THEY RACED CLEAR.
WE… WE’RE GOIN’ TO DIE!
NOT YET, JELLY.
THAT MIGHT CHANGE IF I GET MY HANDS ON THAT QUIVERING CARCASS OF HIS.
THEY FLED INTO NARROW STREETS PACKED WITH SMALL SHOPS, ALL ABANDONED AND MANY DAMAGED. AT FIRST IT SEEMED THEY MIGHT HAVE GOT AWAY BUT AROUND A CORNER THEY RAN STRAIGHT INTO ANOTHER PATROL. BY SHINTO!
EEEEK!
AH-HA! A KNIFEMAKER’S SHOP.
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There you are — stuck in a
military prison in Singapore when the Japanese smash into town. You know that if being a prisoner of the British is bad being a prisoner of the Japanese will be ten times worse. So if a man in British officer’s uniform was to offer to get you out if you’d work for him, you’d agree to do anything he ordered, wouldn’t you? The Convict Commandos did…and probably wished they hadn’t!
9 770262 262188
05
www.commandocomics.com
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