Biggles: new writer; old style.

Recently, I picked up a 3-in-1 compilation of Biggles at an airport bookstore. Titled 'Sky Wars', I felt the same delight as I had when I saw Commando comics on bookshelves. And yes, it was a Euro Books publication again. In a rush, I bought the book. But as I began reading the first story, 'The 13th Tooth of the Devil', something was amiss. Biggles looked the same. There were plenty of cigarettes and drinks. Lots of planes too… but something was not quite right. I looked at the credits page again and spotted the words 'based on characters created by W.E Johns'.

I was disappointed, but decided that it was unfair to "judge a book by the cover" (so to speak). And I'm glad I did. Picking up Biggles where W.E Johns left him, i.e. after WWI as an investigator for the Scotland Yard's Royal Air Police, Michel Oleffe (the new writer) uses the same settings for a host of new stories and does for Biggles what Marvel Comics writers failed to do with 'The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones'.

Oleffe retains every important aspect of Biggles that endeared him to readers. The classic airplanes, the old-time pilot's uniforms, the romance of the RAF in its heyday, the self-assured way in which the men carry themselves, and of course, his buddies, Algy, Bertie and Ginger. And yes, they're all still single and quite eligible.

The plots are good too. The stories themselves have an order, with references made to past adventures. Oleffe does a good job of following WWII and basing stories in that chronology. There's just one hiccup though, and this was one that W.E Johns had slipped up as well… the ageing of the characters. Biggles seems to have stopped aging since Johns last put a pencil to him. But that can be forgiven. What matters is that Biggles lives on!