#08jul

Pow! No. 25, dated 8 July 1967. This comic combined UK originated strips along with black and white reprints from various US Marvel comics. The strips in this issue were:

Spider-Man in The Return of Doctor Octopus - US reprint

The Group

The Cloak

The Python

Kicks

Nobby's Night Mares

The Dolls of St. Dominic's

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. - US reprint

Wee Willie Haggis, The Spy from Skye - Tired of waiting for a new Bond movie? Read all of le Carré? Then try this grim and gritty Cold War espionage adventure.

Bullet No. 126 dated 8 July 1978. Boys of Tanjong cover, artist unknown.

Warlord No. 198, 8 July 1978. Ryker cover by Jeff Bevan. The German military are considered to have used motorcycles more than any of the other armies during the Second World War. Most of those with sidecars will have been purpose built by BMW or Zundapp.

Battle Action No. 175, cover dated 8 July 1978. The last issue to featured the original Battle Action logo. Next week it was all change.

Battle Action No. 175, cover dated 8 July 1978 saw the end of the road for Major Kurt Hellman and his Hammer Force with art by Mike Dorey.

In 1979 the character effectively continued in the pages of the new Tornado comic. In the story 'Wagner's Walk' the Hellman character was renamed Major Kurt Wagner and his trusty sidekicks Max and Dekker reappear as Karl and Gruber.

In the first issue of Tornado the pair are still disguised as Generals (as above) and in a later issue Gruber is even referred to as Dekker in a panel.

I don't know why they chose to rename the characters other than to perhaps give the strip a new start with Tornado. It would have been nice just to have seen the strip continue as Hellman.

Another strip in Tornado underwent a name change before its first issue was published. The Victor Drago strip (also with art by Mike Dorey) was originally to be published under the Sexton Blake name. I understand the decision to change the name in that case was down to a rights issue over who actually owned the character (which wouldn't have been the case with Hellman).