[crashryan]

Another great read. I've become a rabid Buck Ryan fan (must have been bitten by one of those bats). The premise doesn't altogether convince me, though. Chernov may have had "remarkable" sabotage success in the USSR, but he chose the clunkiest means of setting himself up in "Gt" Britain. Guess he never heard about honey, flies, and vinegar. By stomping in and taking over instead of going undercover, Chernov guaranteed an enemy who'd need constant watching. He may as well have worn a sign that said, "German spy."

I'm interested by the role agriculture plays in these wartime stories. In US comics spies always went after manufacturing, especially the more macho industries like aircraft factories and weapons plants. Destroying the food supply is just as--perhaps more--threatening, but I guess America considered itself a manufacturing nation while England identified more with agriculture.

As a fan of old British advertising art I laughed aloud at Buck's remark regarding the mad bull: "What did [Chernov] do...whisper "Oxo" in its ear?"

Link to the book: Buck Ryan hunts Axis Spies