Writer – Gary Friedrich
Artist – Dick Ayers
Inker – Vince Colletta
Colours – George Roussos
Letters – Denise Vladimir

While on a training exercise in the ocean, Laurie – the only female soldier of the Deadly Dozen, gets caught up underneath the waves in a net, something that could prove fatal had it been a live mission. Kelly, of course, is furious, but that anger does not last for long as he is in love with the woman, though he does not necessarily state it. Gary Friedrich, who has toyed with the idea of romance between Laurie and Kelly finally brings it a reality as the two go out on a date, what with the two having a little downtime and it is, to say the least, kind of sweet and everything that readers of this book have been waiting to see. Sadly, it does not last very long as being a war title, it must always return to it and a mission rears its head for Kelly and the Deadly Dozen sooner than he would have liked. Said mission involves heading to a German fortress in order to both capture it and put a stop to a Dr. Sweikert, a madman who likes to experiment on those he deems lesser. Once the group hits the beach, that is when things pick up and Friedrich along with Dick Ayers, tell an action-packed tale that involves a kidnapping, an impersonation and a plan to get in the fortress hospital without causing any undue notice. As it is, things do not go according to plan as Laurie who is doing the impersonating, did not change the ID of the visiting Nazi doctor the Americans kidnapped and so a mission that might have gone off without a hitch has now become far more complicated. When all is said and done, the creative team leave it all on a cliff-hanger that finds Kelly and Laurie in big trouble, becoming new fodder for Sweikert’s experiments. Altogether this was a great issue that featured a furtherance of a long-gestating plotline and the best kind of mission the team could have gone on, at least from a reader’s perspective as it leaves them in a perilous predicament and readers on the edge of their seat.

4 out of 5