In the course of this story, Straker, Foster, and Freeman
re-visit a half-demolished house, the site of a UFO crash "a
few months back."
This is probably the home of John and Stella Croxley, into which
a UFO crashed in "E.S.P.", placing this story a few
months after that one. This also places the story some time in
1982-1984.
On the
former
Technodelic website, their feature on the history of the UFO
comic strips in Countdown magazine speculated that Alan
Fennell may have been the author of this
story.
|
Panel 3 of pages 1-2 depict SHADO
control with a more complex setup of
computer stations and personnel than
in episodes of the TV series.
Frankly, this is the more believable
interpretation. It could be argued
that this room does exist within
SHADO underground HQ, we just never
saw it (due to TV budget
considerations), though panel 14
implies that this control center is
right outside Straker's office, like
the control room seen in the TV
series. |
 |
Panel 4 of pages 1-2 depicts SHADO Mobiles deployed out of
Markers Universal transport trucks, just as in some episodes of the TV series. However, the truck seen here just
says Marker instead of Markers.
SHADO control projects the UFO to a termination near St.
Louis, U.S.A. St. Louis is a city in the U.S. state of
Missouri. The UFO is later seen firing at General
Henderson's car on Highway 70. This would be a reference to
Interstate 70, which runs through St. Louis.
This story introduces General Calper as a stand-in at the
conference when IAC President General Henderson is wounded
in the UFO attack. Calper seems to have the same adversarial
attitude towards Straker and SHADO that Henderson had in
"Conflict".
Panel 7 of pages 1-2 depicts Straker and Calper flying on
what is described as a SHADAIR jet. But the presence of
propellers reveals it is not a true jet! In fact, it is the
same SHADO aircraft seen in "Ordeal"
(though the interior cockpit of the craft seen on pages 3-4
does not look much like the one in that episode).
Several UFO fan sites designate this aircraft as a SHADAIR
Kingfisher helicopter; I've been unable to determine from
where they obtained this designation.
Panel 11 of pages 3-4 seems to show Sky 1 shooting a missile
out of its nose, like an Interceptor, instead of from its
wing-mounted missile pods.
Judging by the building seen in panel 4 of pages 5-6, the
IAC conference in New York is being held in the U.N. Building.
The U.N. Building flies the flags of all member nations in
front and, here, two of the flags are identifiable: The
vertical blue, yellow, red bars of Chad (appearing twice!)
and the horizontal yellow, blue, red bars of Columbia. The
others are indistinct or seem to be fictional.
The race car taken from the movie lot by Straker to escape
General Calper appears to be a Formula One style car.
|
The police car that chases Straker's Formula One looks
rather similar to a DeLorean...in a story that was printed
several years before the DeLorean was designed! Possibly,
it's actually a Mercedes-Benz C111 experimental sports car,
seen in a TV Action article later in issue #85
(1972). |
 |
 |
| Police car in this story |
Mercedes-Benz C111 experimental sports
car from
TV Action
#85 |
Why do the streets of England seem to be nearly deserted as
SHADO Mobiles and race cars flit through city streets?!
The ruined house on pages 11-12 at which Freeman meets up
with Straker and Foster is said to be the site of a UFO
crash a few months ago. This is probably the home of John
and Stella Croxley, into which a UFO crashed in
"E.S.P.", though the drawing
of the house here is slightly different than the look of the
one in the episode; the differences could merely be due to artistic license.
On page 13-14, Captain Carlin is referred to as Colonel
Karlin!
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
How did the aliens know where General Henderson would be
when they attacked?
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Episode Studies
