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Tornado: Sexton Blake's Last Gasp
by John Drummond
An offshoot of 2000AD comic, TORNADO appeared in 1979 and ran for 22 issues. Upon opening the cover of number 1, readers were confronted by this face:
It was, they quickly learned, Victor Drago: "A name that struck terror into the most hardened of evil-doers — from the slums of London's East End to the teeming waterfronts of Shanghai, Drago was the private detective who never gave up a case — often succeeding where the toughest policemen failed!"
But anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was, in fact, Sexton Blake. So what happened to turn him into Victor Drago? Some commentators have suggested that the editors had, at the last moment, come to the conclusion that Blake was too old-fashioned for a 2000AD-related title. But the truth is that a copyright problem had arisen after it was discovered that Fleetway had inadvertently signed away the rights to produce new Blake material (this occurred in relation to ITV's Sexton Blake television series in the 1960s). There was no choice: they had to alter the name.
For Sexton Blake fans, though, 'Victor Drago' is simply a pseudonym... and these comic strips represent the great detective's last gasp: a final blast of glory courtesy of writer Bill Henry (aka Jack Adrian) and artist Mike Dorey. After this, for Sexton Blake, the printing presses ground to a halt.
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TORNADO · Issue 1 · 24/3/1979 · IPC Magazines · 10p
TERROR OF TROLL ISLAND (Part 1)
by Bill Henry and Mike Dorey
Other content: The Mind of Wolfie Smith; Angry Planet; The Tale of Benkei; Wagner's Walk; Captain Klep
Notes:
London, February 1929, and a gang of villains are rowing across the river, transporting a crate. But when they reach dry land, they find Victor Drago waiting. They attack but are set upon by Drago's assistants Spencer and Brutus the bloodhound; thinly disguised versions of Tinker and Pedro. Once the gang is rounded up, the police arrive, led by Detective-Inspector Carter, who looks identical to Sexton Blake's friend, Detective-Inspector Coutts. Carter breaks open the crate and finds that it is filled with dope. Drago, Spencer and Brutus return to their Baker Street headquarters where they receive a telephone call; a man named Moffat pleads for them to come to Troll Island, off the coast of Cornwall. Before the caller can explain further, he is cut off. The next panel reveals  that this is a trap. The detective duo begin their journey to the South West is Drago's Rolls Royce, the Silver Lady. Just four panels later, this vehicle is referred to as the Grey Panther, which, of course, is the name of Sexton Blake's Rolls. Just in case there's any lingering doubt that this strip was originally intended to be about Blake, the car's number plate is SB 192. They reach the island in a thick fog. As they drive across the causeway, a figure stumbles into view and collapses: he has been shot with a crossbow!
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TORNADO · Issue 2 · 31/3/1979 · IPC Magazines · 10p
TERROR OF TROLL ISLAND (Part 2)
by Bill Henry and Mike Dorey
Other content: The Mind of Wolfie Smith; Angry Planet; The Tale of Benkei; Wagner's Walk; Captain Klep
Notes: The dead man is Moffat. As Drago and Spencer drive forward in search of the killer, the man they are after creeps out of the fog behind them and throws Moffat's corpse into the sea. Meanwhile, the detective duo reach the house of Edgar Hollis, an eccentric thriller-writer who is famous for losing a fortune gambling on horses (just like Edgar Wallis). Hollis has two servants, named Lofts and Adley (a reference to Blake scholars W. O. G. Lofts and D. J. Adley). He denies any knowledge of Moffat but invites Drago and Spencer to join his house party and continue their investigations there. Hollis reveals that he doesn't write his own stories; his party is made up from his team of six ghost writers - one of whom is named Jack Hamilton Teed (after Blake writer G. H. Teed). The butler, Adley, secretly warns Drago that the group plans to murder him.
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 TORNADO · Issue 3 · 7/4/1979 · IPC Magazines · 10p
TERROR OF TROLL ISLAND (Part 3)
by Bill Henry and Mike Dorey
Other content: Storm; Wagner's Walk; Angry Planet; The Mind of Wolfie Smith; The Tale of Benkei; Captain Klep
Notes: Drago and Spencer follow Adley down to the cellars to learn more. But, while there, a crossbow is fired from the shadows at the top of some stairs. The detective duo chase the killer through a warren of dark passages but lose his trail. When they return to Adley, they find the butler dead. The party guests are informed of the murder and one of them, Kevin Minelli, spots the crossbow lying on a box in the garden. He hurries out to fetch it but it is booby-trapped; when he picks it up, the box explodes, killing him instantly.
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TORNADO · Issue 4 · 14/4/1979 · IPC Magazines · 10p
TERROR OF TROLL ISLAND (Part 4)
by Bill Henry and Mike Dorey
Other content: Black Hawk; Storm; Wagner's Walk; Angry Planet; The Mind of Wolfie Smith; Captain Klep
Notes: Drago decides that it's time the police were called but when he picks up the telephone he finds that the lines have been cut. He and Spencer try to leave in their car but nails have been placed on the causeway and their Rolls Royce suffers two punctured front tyres. With a storm raging, walking across the causeway is out of the question. They walk back to the house. As they reach it, a large stone ornament is pushed from the roof, narrowly missing the detective. They rush up to the top floor where they find a secret panel leading to a warren of secret passages. In one, embedded in the wall, there is a television (which, this being 1929, Spencer doesn't recognise - Drago has to explain what it is). On it, they watch as Sydney Golt, Hollis's secretary, is murdered. Then the floor opens and Drago and his assistant plummet into darkness.
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TORNADO · Issue 5 · 21/4/1979 · IPC Magazines · 10p
TERROR OF TROLL ISLAND (Part 5)
by Bill Henry and Mike Dorey
Other content: Black Hawk; Storm; Wagner's Walk; Angry Planet; The Mind of Wolfie Smith; Captain Klep
Notes: Victor Drago and Spencer fall through the trap door into an icy underground stream which they follow out onto the storm-lashed coast. They see the body of Moffat on the rocks. Returning to Hollis's mansion, they start to search the library for the television transmitter. Lofts trieds to stop them but Drago fights him off. Later, the servant informs the investigator that Hollis would like to see him in his rooms. Drago goes up to the chamber but finds it empty. He spots a note on Hollis's typewriter... it tells him that a crossbow bolt is aimed at his head and he has three seconds to live.
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TORNADO · Issue 6 · 28/4/1979 · IPC Magazines · 10p
TERROR OF TROLL ISLAND (Part 6)
by Bill Henry and Mike Dorey
Other content: Black Hawk; Storm; Wagner's Walk; Angry Planet; The Mind of Wolfie Smith; Captain Klep
Notes: Spencer arrives just in time to save his guv'nor's life and the two men follow the killer who locks himself in a room. Drago shoots the lock, they enter, and inside find Edgar Hollis, crossbow in hand. The famous author claims not to have known it was Drago he was aiming at and warns the detective, advising him to escape by air. He then passes out. The Butler, Lofts, reveals that there is a small airstrip on the island and a plane in Hollis's hanger. Blake tells the guests that he is going to take the plane and fly to the mainland for the police. But this is merely a lure to tempt the real killer out of hiding. He and Spencer head for the airstrip, only to find that someone is already leaving in the plane.
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TORNADO · Issue 7 · 5/5/1979 · IPC Magazines · 10p
TERROR OF TROLL ISLAND (Part 7)
by Bill Henry and Mike Dorey
Other content: Black Hawk; Storm; Wagner's Walk; Angry Planet; The Mind of Wolfie Smith; Captain Klep
Notes:
For the one and only time, Victor Drago features on the cover of TORNADO. Racing to catch the plane, the detective leaps onto the wing. The aircraft takes off but with the extra weight, the pilot cannot maintain control and crashes. Drago escapes without injury but the pilot is dead; the body is that of Sidney Golt, Hollis's secretary. His apparent death on TV had been a fake. Returning to the house, Drago reveals to Lofts that he knows the butler is actually a bodyguard and that neither he nor Hollis are responsible for the murders. Hollis, in fact, was being set up to be framed for killing Drago. The four remaining writers are the villains, and now they hold the detective at gunpoint. Together, Drago and Spencer overcome their opponents in a savage fist-fight and, when the storm finally clears, the police arrive to take the men into custody. "The idea of framing a crime writer with his own crimes was an ingenious one," says Drago... ...
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