|  | | Issue 1 | | Cover Date | | 14th February 1976 | | Click the cover to read | |  First Issue. Free gift included - The Red Arrow, a red plastic plane with a catapult to launch it from. Normally lost within a week. Money Man is in Croydon, Action Man tries fire breathing, regular feature Soccer Session with The Boss begins. Another regular feature, Sports Star of the Future, begins with Les Collins - Speedway. | | |  Normal first issue fare, as we are introduced to all the characters and the features that will become a regular part of the comic. | |  |  | Dredger
1973, and new D.I.6. Agent Dredger is introduced to future partner Simon Breed during a hijacking at Heathrow Airport. The target is Hasan Gadazi - Prime Minister of Kuran. The hijackers manage to smuggle sub-machine guns through security before the plane takes off. Dredger shoots all but one, who he threatens by sticking a grenade in his mouth. Having discovered that the pilot is part of the organisation, Dredger deals with him, takes over the controls and makes a forced landing back at Heathrow, job done. |  | Hellman of Hammer Force
Hellman is the first German to enter Belgium on May 1st 1940, showing his fair play by ordering his men to shoot at tank tracks not crews. Hammer Force are ordered to wait for an SS Commissar, Gauleiter Kastner. Hellman refuses to acknowledge the Nazi salute and is called away to engage a British Guards Troop. Hellman refuses to use excessive force, preferring to take prisoners in a fair fight, which enraged Kastner. Hellman says he is a soldier, not a butcher. Hammer Force leave for the coast and Kastner tags along. |  | Blackjack
The fourth round of the seventh fight of Jack Barron's boxing career, and he is beating 'Irish' Tom Tully (!). Jack gets a blow to the head which affects his vision. He goes on to win, but feels something is wrong. A Harley Street doctor tells Jack he must give up boxing or a bone fragment will sever his optic nerve. After an incident in his neighbourhood, Jack realises he can't let down the kids who look up to him, and vows to take the title even if he must go blind to do it. |  | Play Till You Drop!
Alec Shaw is a top striker for First Division Rampton City. Football is his love, and he isn't interested in sponsors or their money. During the first match of the season he goes off injured. Vernon Grice from the Daily Comet visits Alec and tells him that his famous footballing father Tom Shaw was taking bribes. Grice wants money not to show photographs to the press, and Alec pays up. Unfortunately this is just the first payment and Alec's troubles are just beginning. |  |
Hook Jaw
May 1972, a Caribbean fishing boat hooks a great white shark. The anglers put a gaff hook into its jaw and get ready to finish it off. The shark lashes out, breaking off the hook and killing the man who put it there. June 1973 and 'Hook Jaw' has a reputation. He attacks and kills some divers working on the oil rig of Red McNally. McNally takes to the air and tries to kill
Hook Jaw with a rifle shot. believing he has been successful, McNally tells the crew that
Hook Jaw is dead, and their shark problem is over. He hasn't reckoned with the shark's will to survive, and the lead diver, Rick Mason, shows McNally that he is wrong. McNally refuses to admit defeat. |  | Sport's Not For Losers
Athletics hopeful Dan Walker falls in an important race and damages his ankle. He is told his running days are over. Dan's dad, an ex-champion athlete, is crestfallen as his other son Len is a useless layabout. Len smokes and gambles and can't hold down a job. Dan sees Len get into bother later that night and is impressed as Len legs it, hurdling over garden walls. Dan decides that Len could be a champion, and tells him to give up the fags as his training starts in the morning. |  | The Coffin Sub
The Mediterranean, 1941. British submarine H.M.S. Conquest attacks an Italian destroyer patrol but is caught in a barrage of depth charges. Lieutenant Commander Mark Kane convinces the Italians that the sub has been destroyed by sending corpses and debris from the torpedo tubes. The Italians head off, but the Conquest's damaged batteries start to leak chlorine gas, poisoning the men. Kane attempts to save his men by opening the hatch, but as he is blasted towards the surface, he realises he is the only survivor. The Conquest is refitted, and Kane, absolved by a court matrial, resumes command, but his new crew can see he has a death wish as Kane blames himself for deserting his former crew. |  | The Running Man
Seventh Avenue, New York City, 1970. Vito Scarlatti is holding up a bar, but is spotted by the NYPD. He kills an officer as he tries to escape. This is Vito's fifth cop-killing. His father, a mafia Don, formulates a plan to take the heat off Vito. British athlete Mike Carter, in New York for a big race, is spotted by the Don's men as a match for Vito. They send him a booby-trapped bottle of champagne which explodes in Mike's face. He wakes in hospital, his face in bandages, with many questions. The staff do not help him. When Mike removes the bandages he sees that his face has been reshaped with plastic surgery. As he runs out of the room he realises the hospital is a fake, he is in some disused dockland. As Mike flags down a passing patrol car, they recognise him as Vito Scarlatti and begin to shoot. Mike runs, this time for his life. | |
