The Phantom Patrol

"Here come the Trojans — armed to the teeth! Get ready for big trouble!"

The Phantom Patrol by Willie Patterson and Gerry Embleton, edited and introduced by Steve Holland
To be published: 1 October 2024
Format: A4, 130 pages, b/w, softcover, with matte cover

 

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Available on AMAZON.CO.UK.

THE PHANTOM PATROL

In the summer of 1941, Sergeant Joe Timm and his infantry patrol were trapped in the Greek hills a mile away from the sea and a hidden landing craft that would take them to safety. The Germans hold a vital Pass ahead of them and escape seems impossible. German shells begin to drop around their heads, uncovering a cavern with a curious looking craft. Inside, Joe grabs a strange-looking apparatus and rejoins his men just as the Germans advance into their hiding place. Escaping through the cave system, they reach their landing craft only to face more danger as Stuka dive-bomber turns and screams down at them. As the men hit the deck, Joe accidentally pushes a switch on the apparatus.

The Stuka disappears. Instead, on the horizon they see ancient galleys battling and Corporal Jock McLuckie realises the truth... it was they who had disappeared, transported back 3,000 years. With a tank, a landing craft, a handful of guns and a captured Nazi, the British infantry unit find themselves in the midst of the Trojan Wars.

The Phantom Patrol is a superb yarn of a kind that British comics did best. Fast-moving and wildly plotted, the story grows more complex as the patrol battles its way through Egypt and Private Paddy O'Connell finds himself adrift in time with a police trooper from the future. Flitting from past to future, will the Sarge and his men manage to escape back to now... and, given the situation they left behind, will they survive even if they do get back?

This lost classic with artwork by Gerry Embleton has been rarely seen since it's original appearance in Swift. The Phantom Patrol reprints all 57 episodes in one blockbuster volume with a wraparound colour cover by Chris Weston.