Corriere
dei Piccoli / Corrierino 1993 #18 Featuring: James,
IQ, Gordo,
Phoebe,
Trevor,
Coach
Mitchell, Baron
von Skarin. Synopsis: At
a nuclear research laboratory in London, a scientist called Professor
Waight is holding a press conference about a major breakthrough; he's
managed to find a successful way to produce unlimited clean energy via
cold fusion. The journalists are suitably impressed, saying it's the
invention of the century and will be worth millions, but Waight has
another appointment and soon has to leave. Outside, two men in
trenchcoats and hats appear, and ask to speak to him. He tells them
he's running late, but one of the men punches him in the stomach, and
he's tied up, gagged and bundled into a car, which then speeds away. James
dives off the cliff and into Loch Ness. IQ, Phoebe and Gordo are
already there in a speedboat; James climbs aboard, and the gang
resolves to save Professor Waight and Paula from the house on the
cliff. Meanwhile, Baron von Skarin - flanked by Schnitzel the dog -
tells a tied-up Professor Waite that he's organised a 'nice family
gathering' for him, and turns on a television screen. Waite is
horrified to see Paula tied up on a large wooden block in the basement,
next to a docked submarine, with a circular saw moving towards her,
cutting through the wood. The professor has no choice but to start
writing down the cold fusion formula for von Skarin, although the baron
secretly intends to make both father and daughter 'disappear' once he
has what he wants. The
Baron orders his men to fire at them as they drift away, but the
bullets bounce off the indestructible parachute, and James and the
professor descend to safety on a beach below. Gordo picks them up in
the speedboat, and Professor Waight explains that he saw a submarine in
the basement where Paula was being held, which is level with the lake.
IQ says his sonar gizmo has detected the submarine, but Phoebe points
out it could have detected the Loch Ness Monster instead. To test the
theory, James activates IQ's old magnetic pulse remote control, saying
they should see whether the 'monster' has an engine or not. Sure
enough, von Skarin's submarine rises to the surface, as his engine has
stopped. Von Skarin escapes from the sub onto a helicopter, then throws
a tied-up Paula from the chopper into the lake. James and the professor
fish her out, and the father and daughter are reunited - while von
Skarin vows that Bond will pay as he flies away. The Warfielders return
to the airport to pick up Trevor, who is annoyed that the gang all left
while he was buying a sandwich. He asks what they've been doing, and
James tells him that they fought the Loch Ness Monster. Trevor thinks
James is just making fun of him - which in fairness, he is. Review: While this strip obviously shares the same setting as the TV episode No Such Loch,
this is a very different and altogether more grown-up story. There's no
larger-than-life mechanical Nessie to contend with here - well, not
quite in the same way, at least - and Plank is replaced by the less
comical figure of Baron von Skarin, whose trenchcoated assistants also
give off a very sinister air; they're violent too, firing proper guns
about the place rather than lasers, and even punch poor Professor
Waight in the stomach when they kidnap him. Later, Waight gives up his
cold fusion formula when he's forced to watch his daughter Paula tied
up as a circular saw approaches her head, in a sequence that seems to
us a tad too dark for a children's comic; and later, poor Paula is
thrown, still tied up, from a helicopter by von Skarin as he makes his
escape. All of this makes for a tense and compelling story, with plenty
of action thrown into the mix too. It's not devoid of lightness,
however, thanks to the inclusion of Trevor, who returns at the end to
play his traditional role of the butt of James's jokes. |
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