GEORGE PRESTON

Full Name:	George Preston
Series Name:	The Finger On The Trigger
Nationality:	British
Organization:	British Secret Service
Occupation	Agent

Creator:	Unknown
Time Span:	1967 - 1967

ABOUT THE SERIES

George Preston is an agent with the British Secret Service.

He is the one with, as the title of the overall series of adventures states, The Finger On the Trigger. That trigger in this instance is any weapon that Preston might be able to get his hands on at the time. The purpose for having that finger on that trigger is to kill Adolf Hitler.

It is near the start of World War II. The beginning of the quest by Preston, an endeavor which will earn for him the nickname of Phantom, will take place in June of 1940. Preston, already an experienced operative with the Secret Service, had put forth his audacious idea to bird-dog the German Chancellor and find an opportunity to dispatch him.

"I worked as a journalist in Germany until the outbreak of the War," Preston explains to his superior. "I know it like the back of my hand. I also know France well and our intelligence people reckoning that Hitler will be there soon." Preston will go on to explain that his hatred for Hitler was a personal one. His younger brother, Ted, had been in Austria some time before and been arrested for spying. Despite an appeal to Hitler, Ted died by firing squad and Preston had a new mission in life.

Preston is likely in his early-to-mid thirties, having short brown hair atop a strong, determined nearly handsome face. He will prove to be as determined and steadfast as he gave his supervisor to understand and though he will not actually succeed in ending Hitler's life, over time he will cause considerable trouble to the war efforts of the Third Reich by eliminating more than one of their top military leaders along the way.

The adventures of Preston will last the length of the War and will see Preston travel all over Europe from France to Germany to Poland to the Ukraine and back to Germany. Months will turn into years but his determination will never falter.

COMIC BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, AND MANGA

Number of Stories:	12
First Appearance:	1967
Last Appearance:	1967

The Victor was a British comicbook publication produced by DC Thomson from January, 1961 to November, 1992, resulting in 1,657 weekly issues.

An anthology magazine it was filled with largely serialized adventures of a wide range of genres from westerns to futuristic science fiction. Sports would also be a constant as would a myriad of police detectives.

World War II would be particularly of interest and there would be a considerable number of tales taking place during those long years.

The Finger On The Trigger was but one of those tales. It would not last very long. This is not surprising to me in the least because how long could a writer hope to keep up interest in a character whose only objective is to kill a political figure that we know going into the series does not get eliminated.

Most of the dozen adventures were told in a single issue. A couple did span two weekly issues. While one adventure might immediately flow into the next one, the demarcations I have used as separations from one adventure to another seem appropriate.


1			'The Start Of The Mission' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #309, January 21, 1967, 4 black and white pages. Flying into Occupied France, George Preston heads to Paris to get a sniper rifle from an old friend and waylay Hitler on that man's arrival to accept France's surrender. The shot is true but a bulletproof vest will save Hitler though a ricochet will eliminate General Rudolf Swartz, a "really vicious thug".

1			'Hitler's Passing Convoy' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #310, January 28, 1967, 3 black and white pages. Hearing that Hitler was going to make an inspection of coastal defenses, George Preston goes undercover on a farm along the expected route. Hitler's stop for the night at a chateau will give Preston his chance. Realizing at the last minute that the intended target was an imposter, Preston decides to assuage his frustration by taking out another German general, this one named Tesch.

3			'The Purloined Satchel' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #311-312, February 4 and 11, 1967, 7 black and white pages. George Preston is heading back to Paris, traveling on a train using forged papers identifying him as a colonel in the German Secret Police. After learning a General Lehmann is also on the train, Preston manages to steal his satchel loaded with papers of Operation Sealion, the invasion of England. He also learns the itinerary of Hitler over the next few days. His next attempt will be thwarted by a German sniper but not before eliminating several generals by grenade.

4			'The Flying Dutchman' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #313-314, February 18 and 25, 1967, 7 black and white pages. Finding that Hitler is making another visit to Paris, George Preston is determined to make another try for him. When that does not work so well, Preston makes a desperate try at using an incoming plane as a missile! Scratch several high ranking officers and one murderous bodyguard to the Fuehrer.

5			'The Fake Forgeries' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #315, March 4, 1967, 4 black and white pages. Finding his way to Berlin, George Preston comes upon an SS Captain named Kasser, a man that he knew before the War. To escape, he finds a victim of a bombing raid and steals his papers, not knowing that those papers were in fact phony!

6			'To Invade Russia' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #316, March 11, 1967, 3 black and white pages. Escaping from the Gestapo, George Preston steals a truck and races to the nearest train station. There he is stunned to find Colonel Jubenitz, the "swine wo was in charge of the firing squad" that killed Preston's brother. Going after him, Preston will learn of the start of an invasion of Russia.

7			'In The Barrel Of A Cannon' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #317, March 18, 1967, 2 black and white pages. Needing fresh documents to continue his pursuit of Hitler, George Preston asks for help of a Resistance leader but must wait a couple of days for the work to be finished. Staying out of sight that long will prove difficult.

8			'An Old Friend In Poland' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #318, March 25, 1967, 3 black and white pages. Investigating more of the new invasion of Russia, George Preston comes into contact with an old friend in Poland named Wink. To get the latest intel back to London will require Preston infiltrate a German radio station..

9			'Getting Out Of Poland' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #319, April 1, 1967, 3 black and white pages. Having gotten the word of German invasion of Russia back to London via a radio broadcast, George Preston must now find a way to get himself free. Also nice would be making a German installation a prime target for Russian bombers.

10			'The Hunting Lodge' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #320, April 8, 1967, 3 black and white pages. Word comes to George Preston that Hitler is bound for Zanda to stay at a fancy hunting lodge there so to that region Preston next heads. Once again he comes across his brother's executioner, Colonel Jubenitz, and one more chance to get his revenge.

11			'Trouble In The Ukraine' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #321, April 15, 1967, 2 black and white pages. Working with the Polish Resistance, George Preston learns that Hitler is heading to the Ukraine so there, too, is Preston. Another miss will leave Hitler alive but not so with a bunch more German generals and staff.

12			'The Last Chance' Published by DC Thomson Contributors: Unknown (writer and artist) Copyright: 1967 Published in The Victor, #322, April 22, 1967, 3 black and white pages. It is 1945 and Berlin is nearing capture. George Preston is awaiting one more chance to kill his hated target and this time he is determined to not fail!

MY COMMENTS

Stealing a page or two from Geoffrey Household's Raymond Ingleman, aka Rouge Male, this tells of one man's determination to eradicate Hitler. It will have quite a few months jump by towards the end of the series, some without much notice, culminating with the Russian conquest of Berlin and Hitler's supposed (according to this series' intelligence) suicide.

Some aspects of the stories are enjoyable but there is no suspense to speak of and little to make the reader really give a darn about the mission, especially since the reader knows it cannot succeed for several years.

I found myself yawning a lot.

GRADE

My Grade: B-

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