Paddy Payne: Warrior of the Skies; Lion Comic, 1 August 1964

'If a man, proportionate to his size, could leap as high as a flea, he could jump 76 miles'

Paddy's on a secret mission (in his Spitfire floatplane; how cool is that?)to deliver a secret code to Stark Island, and he has just 24 hours. After an attack by FW190s, Paddy's short on fuel, but a friendly Sunderland comes to the rescue...but Nazi naval Captain Karl Erhardt is on the case...

The oldest page on my collection, and a super one at that. Panel 6 is worth the price of admission alone. Coton, like Joe Colquhoun was a master of economy and efficiency, conveying a completely realised world in just a few strokes of the pen. Superb.

Reprinted in Lion and Thunder, 29 January 1972, which is when the surtitle was added, and the page re-paginated.

Ink, marker and white out on board
Board 1: 10.5" x 16.5"
Board 2: 10.5" x 16.5"

Writer: Frederick E Smith (?)