Battle Picture Weekly and Valiant
23rd October 1976 – 22nd January 1977
Writer: Alan Hebden
Artist: Carlos Ezquerra
Picking up from the previous series’ final panels, Major Eazy is battling Rommel’s Afrika Korps in the deserts of Libya. Eazy is serving with the 8th Army’s Long-Range Desert Group. Fighting alongside him is Tewfik, the major’s cut-throat Bedouin guide. The combination of Eazy’s sniping skills and coolness under fire, alongside Tewfik’s desert fighting skills and murderous nature make for a deadly partnership. Eazy’s Australian allies are seen in their original context as Major Carlisle returns, and the action takes in the might of German panzer armour, double-agents, power-crazed sheiks, General Balsover and the Brigadier, archaeologists, Nazi fanatics, stolen gold and Erwin Rommel himself. The final panel cuts back to Italy, as Eazy begins to recount the next chapter in his adventures.
Despite the quality of the scans presented here, the third series of Major Eazy had a lot going for it. Beginning in the first combined issue with Valiant, Alan Hebden brought in a few new ideas that lifted the series up a gear. Tewfik made a perfect foil for Eazy, and was a stark contrast to the reliably ordinary Sergeant Daly. Callbacks to characters seen in the Italian campaign offered some familiarity for the readers, whilst the new theatre of war allowed for more inventive storylines. Ezquerra’s work was as faultless as ever, and his characterisation of Tewfik showed a man with a real zest for killing. The LRDG era would be seen again in the fifth and final series, but first there was the promise of the Rat Pack to get out of the way. (more…)
