• 98 – 109 (first series; picture story; artist Philpotts).
• 123 - 134 (second series; artist Philpotts).
• 180 - 188 (third series; artist Philpotts).
• 213 - ?. (title - 'M' Marks the Spot).
• 286 - 297 (title - Voice of Berlin; text; artist Gifford?).
• 309 - 323 Deathless Men Strike Again. (capturing, killing of Nazi criminals after WW2).
• 419 - 426 (artist not known).
• a series from this strip RP and collected as Red Dagger issue 27.
• starts before 955 - ? RP of 'M' Marks the Spot series; in The Hotspur; different unknown artist.

Writer:- The Hornet editorial team. Artists:- Philpotts, unless otherwise stated.

Main cast:- Alymar Gregson also known as Jack One and double agent Colonel Von Reich; featuring various resistance fighters known as Jack followed by a number; Billy Mitchell (appeared in the Deathless Men Strike Again series only).

Time period:- Second World War, various European countries.

This tough, dark series is a no holds fight to the death between the resistance organisation known as the The Deathless Men (escapees from German prison camps during 1942) and the German SS and Gestapo. Both sides shoot, stab, poison, blow up, torture, punch up, garrotte and electrocute each other. Quite a tough series for a boys comic. I've always felt that The Hornet ran darker stories than the Victor. Possibly this was due to the different editors approach and preferences in story content for the comic they edited.

The Deathless Men is no ramshackle organisation, this is a highly trained group of men, very nattily attired in suits, hats and ties, with scarves over their faces to mask their identities. The Deathless Men's security though can be questioned, in that everyone one of them knows the identity of their leader, a British secret agent, Alymar Gregson, a double agent, also known as Jack One. Gregson had been planted in the Gestapo in 1936 with the cover name Von Reich and by the outbreak of World War Two, has reached the position of second-in-command of the Gestapo Nazi police. (Himmler being the leader of the Gestapo in this series as he was in real life).

But the story and the action didn't finish with the end of the second world war. Many wanted SS and Gestapo officers had escaped from Germany and were attempting to rebuild their lives in other countries around the world. Gregson, under his own name dedicated his life in tracking them down and bringing them (where possible), to justice. The Deathless Men organisation had been disbanded by the end of the second world war, but with the help of former Jacks, Gregson able to succeed in his missions.

At the very bottom of this page is a short one page feature from the 1964 Victor annual (artist not known) about the work of famous spies during the Second World War. One spy featured is General Alex Schottland, who rose to be a member of the German High Command. Maybe the character of Alymar Gregson is based on Schottland?

The following adventures of are from issues 99; 100; 101; 106; 125; 128; 132; 182; 286 (text story); 309 & 318.

text © Adrian Banfield, 2014; artwork © D.C. Thomson Co. Ltd.