Von Hoffman's Invasion Book One

To historians, there is something just as fascinating about failure as there is about success. In comics we tend to measure success by longevity, but that is not always the best measure. Similarly, a very short run does not always offer a complete picture of a comic's worth. Take Jet, for instance. It lasted a mere 22 issues (1 May-25 September 1971), a very poor performance as far as publisher IPC was concerned. It was swiftly absorbed into Buster, which was not even its closest companion title. That was probably Lion.

Lion, however, had then only recently merged with Thunder, so the choice was made to let Buster take on board a limited number of strips. The editors chose carefully and rescued only the real gems from the remains of Jet: "Faceache" by Ken Reid, recently released by Rebellion, and the adventure strip "Von Hoffman's Invasion" – a classic of the weird-menace tradition so loved by IPC in the 1960s and 1970s.

What's not to love about a strip featuring a barking mad ex-Nazi scientist, imprisoned after the war, but still fighting for the Reich after his release 25 years later? When it's written by Tom Tully and drawn by Eric Bradbury, we are looking at a perfect storm of insanity, humour and genius, both story-wise and artistically.

On his release, Doktor Von Hoffman returns to his laboratory and plots his revenge on Britain, his crazy brain concocting a gas that can enlarge common creatures to monstrous size. The gas also means that the creatures will only obey the sound of Von Hoffman's voice. It's a natural side-effect of animal enlargement (I refer you to Doktor Herman von Skulz's experiments in animal growth described in "Kelly's Eye", Valiant, 1965-66).

Von Hoffman, riding a 100-foot long eel, attacks a passenger ferry in the English Channel before coming ashore in Cornwall, where a small village is beset by a giant crab and, when Von Hoffman finds himself trapped in a damaged shop, a giant wasp. The only problem Von Hoffman experiences is that he cannot predict how long the effects of the gas will last.

When his wasp is taken out by a military helicopter, Von Hoffman transfers to a giant frog and flattens a Land Rover ("Another victory over the accursed Britishers!"). He is unaware that Professor John Drake lives in the nearby village of Little Upton with his sister (Jean) and two sons, Barry and Joey... and not forgetting Major, the dog, who becomes the next victim of Von Hoffman's enlarging gas. Von Hoffman uses Major and other local dogs to destroy the village and silence the boys, who have seen him... and then accidentally discover an insecticide invented by their father is also an antidote for the gas.

Alone, the boys put some of the insecticide in a crop sprayer and the remaining bottles in Joy's soap-box cart. Then they set out in pursuit of Von Hoffman... who, at that moment, is using a giant mole to break into a military base, where they are testing the new Marathon Tank. As he devastates the base, Von Hoffman recognises General Taggart – the man who marched the victorious British into the evil scientist's home town.

Von Hoffman's path crosses those of the Drake boys at a monkey sanctuary.

Giant wood worms, bunnies, stag beetles... all get the enlargement gas treatment. Jet was then merged with Buster and the storyline goes even more off-kilter as Von Hoffman tries to destroy the English Global Cup football team (possibly a tie-in with the soccer cards on offer with the newly merged comic), kidnapping Bobby Dare with a giant budgie.

A giant rat, a giant spider, a giant hedgehog, an ant, a fly... the adventure continues with Von Hoffman evading capture. Even with only a handful of enlarging gas pills remaining, he is still an enemy to be feared.

This is classic Tom Tully, who twists the story in unexpected directions to keep the action racing along at breakneck pace. He was a master of keeping an idea afloat and keeping fun levels at fever pitch for weeks on end. The strip also introduces a couple of typical Tully-esque side-characters to keep things moving: forgetful Cynthia Fulbright, breeder of prize Pekes and passionate soccer fan, and Peter "Potty" Potter, inventor of robotic dinosaurs. They are there for plot purposes, but Tully imbues them with more character than was necessary for such minor roles.

As for Eric Bradbury's art... I'm biased as I've been a fan since first encountering his work on "House of Dolmann" – another Tully/Bradbury team-up – and here he can let loose with giant creatures under the control of a demented Nazi version of Doc Diamond (another scrawny scientist with an umbrella). What more could you want?

Well, volume two... that's what you could want.

Von Hoffman's Invasion by Tom Tully & Eric Bradbury. Rebellion ISBN 978-1781-08626-1, 23 August 2018, 130pp, £12.99. Available via Amazon.