Friday, 20 August 2010

21 Gun Salute

We know that the PROJECT SWORD storyline was dark and apocalyptic. And as befitted such a grim tale for Sixties kids,  it was bristling with ray guns! Very un-PC now, back then we patroled the garden with a Johnny Seven One Man Army and Secret Sam Spy Case! So ray guns in comics were mandatory and SWORD was no different. Just taking a look at the four SWORD 'books' [TV21 1969 Annual, 2 Make A Model Books and the 1969 SWORD Annual itself], never mind the many comics, the arsenal just grew and grew! So let's have a peek if we dare at the uberviolent Swordiverse [some of the weaponry I've named to make it easier to identify them]
In no particular order, first up is what became the standard issue rifle of SWORD guards pictured above [from The Loyal and the Dead in TV21 1969 Annual]
Here we have a sort of harpoon launcher to fend off killer sharks [Make a Model Book]
The arch enemies of SWORD were the Casuals and they were armed to the teeth as well! Here they've acquired a large canon of sorts [source to follow]
But the Casuals really got into the swing of their rebellion in the SWORD Annual, where they were led into a particularly nasty skirmish by an anonymous Barbiesque femme fatale whom I shall name 'Mortars and Lasers'. Said Mortars brandished a thread-barrelled machine gun, which may have been taken from a SWORD armoury but it's hard to say [Snow Train in 1969 Annual]
Alas, after a blistering gunfight Mortars and Lasers sadly meets her end, which is a shame from a story point of view as she must have lit up the page for pubescent boy and modern girl readers alike. It's only now with my older eyes that I can see how generally violent the whole strip is and how particularly stark her demise must have seemed in 1969 [Snow Train in 1969 Annual].
Above is a better illustration of the standard SWORD issue weapon, which I'll call the 'speargun' from here on in [Moon Crawler in 1969 Annual]
The Casuals were armed with all manner of custom hardware. I call the above the 'Mal Ramsden' and it's owner, Mal Ramsden, is hell-bent on purloining a Moon Crawler! [Moon Crawler 1969]
and here, in an oddly drawn strip about the troublesome Logan, is probably a badly drawn SWORD standard issue [1969 Annual]
The 'Mes Amis' appeared to be a French Casual weapon, but again could be a hastilly-rendered SWORD rifle [1969 Annual]
The 'Lomax', SWORD issue, looks like a drill [1969 Annual]
The 'Jupiter', again a SWORD issue, appears to be a shortened 'speargun'. the vehicle is an ANT [1969 Annual]
The 'speargun' up close [1969 Annual]
above - the 'Penetroscope' - yes, that's it's name! [1969 Annual]
'Rush the Gates' is another Casual custom - could be two-handled [1969 Annual]
'Rush the Gates 2' above could be a SWORD rifle but could also be a Casual special [1969 Annual]
The 'Keefer' or 'I've Got No Love for Sword' again could be the SWORD rifle in the wrong hands? [1969 Annual]
'Lomax 2' is a definately a drill - maybe a laser [1969 Annual]
Above is ..well the 'Uugh', a pistol with a phallic head! [1969 Annual]
and finally on our short tour of the Annuals' firepower are these two SWORD weapons seemingly used in unfortunate battles with big game [1969 Annual]
That's it folks. Tame by today's standards?  It's a wonder there wasn't a SWORD toy rifle or pistol produced like those found in the Thunderbirds, Stingray, Fireball Xl5 and Captain Scarlet toy armouries [none of which I ever saw as a kid. Anyone?] Shame.

1 comment:

  1. Maybe there would have been such a gun had SWORD ever been a television series (which perhaps it is in some really cool parallel universe).

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