Black Hawk, Part 13

NAME
Black Hawk, Part 13

FIRST PUBLISHED
Tornado Issue 16

DATELINE
7 July 79

This issue of Tornado also features The Angry Planet, The Mind Of Wolfie Smith, Wagner's Walk, The Lawless Touch, Victor Drago, Captain Klep, Victor Drago's Black Museum Of Villains and The Billy Preston Report, with a cover by Ian Kennedy.

PAGE COUNT
5

REPRINTS
Black Hawk: The Intergalactic Gladiator.

SYNOPSIS
Black Hawk and his men escape Londinium.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of Boadicea, although not explicitly named as such.

INFORMATION
Human beings can hold their breath for at least three minutes.

BLACK HAWK
He, Stronus and Batus demonstrate to the men that they can hold their breath for three minutes. He orders the men to hold their breath and swim underwater, and under the cover of the waterfowl on the surface, to avoid being caught by the rebels. They successfully traverse the river.

OTHER CHARACTERS
MISTRESS
She flies over he waterfowl on the river preventing them from flying off.

STRONUS
He, Black Hawk and Batus demonstrate to the men that they can hold their breath for three minutes. He stops a breathless Barabba from breaking the surface of the water. They successfully traverse the river.

BATUS
He, Black Hawk and Stronus demonstrate to the men that they can hold their breath for three minutes. They successfully traverse the river.

BARABBA
He runs out of whilst swimming underwater and Black Hawk forces him to breathe air from a discarded wineskin. They successfully traverse the river.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
None.

WORST LINES
None.

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
A Roman mile is equivalent to 1620 yards or 1481 metres (see MISTAKES below).

MISTAKES
Black Hawk estimates the distance to swim as half a Roman mile, so about 740 metres. The current freestyle world record for the 400 metres is 3 minutes 40.07 seconds, so well over the three minute mark. The closest distance measured for which a world record is collated that I could find was the 800 metres freestyle and 7 minutes 32.12 seconds, so it's no wonder Barabba was running out of air. That said the current record for holding one's breath underwater (without resorting to breathing pure oxygen) is 11 minutes 35 seconds.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: G.F. Day
Artist: Azpiri
Letters: Unknown

REVIEW
This is dull. Black Hawk's demonstration of holding his breath and his yelling to Stronus and Batus whilst hiding from the rebels are both pretty daft.

Next Week: Chariots Of Death!