Originally Published In Issue 67
Reprinted In Issue 126
First published back in October of 1973, Issue 67 of the ‘Pocket Chiller Library’ comic series was titled ‘Trip Fantastic’. The comic was later reprinted under the same title within Issue 126.
During the 1970s the ‘Pocket Chiller Library’ was a pocket-sized mainstream horror comic which ran for a total of 137 issues between 1971 and 1977. Each month, two issues of the comic were published, amounting to a total of twenty-four issues of the comic published each year.
However, it should be noted that issue 83 and then from issue 86 onwards, the publishers started reprinting the earlier stories. Of these reprints, the first 29 reprints (issues 83 and then 86 – 113) retitled the story. As such, there were only ever a total of 84 unique stories within the series, despite there being more titles.
Unfortunately, each issue was undated, making it difficult to be sure of the date for first publication of each issue. However, it is widely understood the comics were monthly publications, with two publications released simultaneously each month, with the original stories running from January 1971. Therefore, the above date of publication is a relatively reasonable assumption.
Additionally, each issue was unfortunately uncredited to either the writer or the comic artist(s).
Boi and Shee had been selected by The Global Intelligence Agency for a special assignment, code named: ‘Coward’. The agency suspected an extra-terrestrial being as being responsible for the disappearance of several man and women from over the years. A being they refer to as Intel.
It appears year after year, with unfailing regularity, people have been disappearing within the neighbourhood of the Bengorn Mountains. The missing people all had something in common – they’re all intelligent and completely opposed to violence. Individuals who’d avoid physical confrontation at any price. Cowards.
Boi and Shee’s mission was to seek out Intel and destroy it. For this task, the pair must make their way up the hazardous Bengorn Mountains, all the while displaying the cowardly characteristics which Intel seeks out. However, what the extra-terrestrial super being has in store for those considered to be potential victims, is a trip beyond anything the pair could ever have imagined.
What the pair face, at the diabolical whim of this super being, is a trip through space and time, to test Boi’s cowardice, and seal the fate of the pair once and for all…
This issue is a little different from most PCLs. Instead of being a creepy horror, or a chilling thriller, what we have instead is a time travelling Sci-Fi story. In fact, there’s really very little in the way of anything ‘chilling’ in the whole story, other than then the constant peril the pair face throughout the length of the tale.
Essentially, what the story entails is a pair of agents who are subjected to a series of perilous scenarios, hand selected by this super being, to test Boi’s character, so that this alien being can assess his cowardice.
The five levels of Intel’s ‘character tests’ see the pair becoming slaves in Ancient Egypt, then flung forward through time to an amphitheatre in Rome at the dawn of the Christian era, then onto the Titanic after hitting the iceberg, and finally, into a hijacked jet plane high above the ocean.
All through these tests, we see Boi responding to the situation with yellow-livered cowardice. The danger he’s presented with in each scenario, resulting in Boi instantly seeking self-preservation at any cost. Shee on the other hand, is a force to be reckoned with. Constantly standing up against the threat and having to save her own skin time and time again.
The end result is a humorous sci-fi story, with a storyline akin to a condensed ‘Best Of’ from the ‘Quantum Leap’ (1989 – 1993). Boi’s yellow-bellied cowardice is the main ingredient that delivers the comedy. Seeing how he’ll react to each scenario. How his spinelessness will have him constantly recoiling from danger at the detriment of everyone else.
The finale is pure sci-fi through and through. It’s wacky and you absolutely need to suspend all notion of disbelief. It’s also utterly cheesy, with an utterly cringy ending that’s far removed from your usual PCL comic.
Nevertheless, it’s still a highly entertaining read, packed with humorous twists and turns. Just don’t be expecting any horror in this particular issue.
The comic book runs for a total of 64 pages.
© DLS Reviews
