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{{short description|British comic book story}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox comics story arc 
| title = Baker's Half-Dozen
| image = File:SpeedComic19031980.jpg
| imagesize = 
| caption = The cover to the 29 March 1980 edition of ''[[Speed (British comics)|Speed]]'', featuring Sarge Baker of "Baker's Half-Dozen".
| alt =
| publisher = [[IPC Magazines]]
| date =
| startmo = 23 February
| startyr = 1980
| endmo = 16 August
| endyr = 1980
| War=y
| titles = ''[[Speed (British comics)|Speed]]'' 23 February to 16 August 1980 ''Speed Annual'' 1981
| notable = y
| main_char_team = Sarge Baker Pete Carey Hardisty Taff Moody Joe Peach Corporal Rudge Perot Singh
| writers = Unidentified{{efn|name=fn1|''[[Speed (British comics)|Speed]]'' did not carry credits on strips, and documentation from the era has not survived; Stephen Jewell has speculated that it may have been written by [[Angus Allan]].<ref name=FourColourClassics/>}}
| artists = [[Mike Western]]
| pencillers =
| inkers =
| letterers =
| editors = [[Barrie Tomlinson]]
| colorists =
| CEheader =
| TPB = 'Collected edition'
| ISBN =
| TPB# =
| ISBN# =
| cat =
| cat+# =
| sortkey = Baker's Half-Dozen
| self-titled =
| nonUS = y
}}
'''"Baker's Half-Dozen"''' is a [[British comics|British comic]] [[War comics|war]] story published in the weekly [[anthology]] ''[[Speed (British comics)|Speed]]'' from 23 February to 16 August 1980, published by [[IPC Magazines]]. The story is set in the [[North African campaign]] of [[World War II]], and features six [[British Empire in World War II|British Commonwealth]] stragglers formed into a unit by the mysterious 'Sarge' Baker.

==Creation==
{{see also|Speed (British comics)#Creation}}
While the rest of the contents of ''Speed'' had a sporting bent to fit in with the title, as a war story "Baker's Half-Dozen" was an incongruous inclusion despite attempts to play up the title unit's fast-moving tactics. ''Speed'' editor [[Barrie Tomlinson]] was unable to recall how the story had ended up in the magazine, referring to its' placement as "a strange one".<ref name=FourColourClassics/> For some years he thought it was a reprint as he created all of the other stories in ''Speed'' himself.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T8pHEAAAQBAJ | isbn=9781785313585 | title=Comic Book Hero | date=24 September 2017 | publisher=Pitch }}</ref> Tomlinson has speculated that the story was rejected from another IPC title, suggesting war comic ''[[Battle (comics)|Battle]]'' as the most likely source, and was possibly included to replace a strip vetoed by IPC management. As such the writer of the story is currently unknown; in a 2019 article on ''Speed'' for ''[[Judge Dredd Megazine]]'', Stephen Jewell speculated that it was "most probably" written by [[Angus Allan]]. The artist however has been firmly identified as veteran [[Mike Western]].<ref name=FourColourClassics>{{cite magazine |last=Jewell |first=Stephen |date=16 July 2019 |title=Fast Fiction |magazine=[[Judge Dredd Megazine]] |publisher=[[Rebellion Developments]]|issue=410}}</ref>

==Publishing history==
The story ran in black-and-white three-page instalments in ''Speed'' from 23 February to 16 August 1980.<ref name=FleetwayCompanion>{{cite book |last=Holland |first=Steve |date=2002 |title=The Fleetway Companion |url= |location=[[Rotherham]] |publisher=CJ & Publication}}</ref> However, while the magazine initially sold respectably, reader research indicated that "Baker's Half-Dozen" was one of the less popular series, and it was replaced from the 23 August 1980 edition of ''Speed'', replaced by another World War II story - aerial combat serial "Hit and Run".<ref name=FourColourClassics/> A text story featuring the characters was included in the 1981 ''Speed Annual''.<ref name=FleetwayCompanion/>

In 2014, small Irish publisher [[Hibernia Comics]] licenced the serial from [[Egmont Publishing]]. Hibernia publisher Dave McDonald considered the story a "great, self-contained action strip, which was like a cross between [[The Sarge]] and [[Darkie's Mob]]".<ref name=FourColourClassics/> The limited-edition 70 page paperback collection was issued in November 2014<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2015/01/recent-releases-september-december-2014.html|title=Bear Alley: Recent Releases: September-December 2014|date=6 January 2015}}</ref> and featured both a foreword and a pin-up illustration by ''2000 AD'' artist [[Rufus Dayglo]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rufusdayglo.com/other|title=Rufus Dayglo — OTHER|website=Rufus Dayglo}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://judgetutorsemple.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/bakers-half-dozen-spoiler-light/|title=Bakers Half Dozen – spoiler light|date=30 November 2014}}</ref> and a cover by Richard Pearce.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://downthetubes.net/hibernia-releases-library-of-death-and-bakers-half-dozen-strip-collections-new-scream-archive-announced/ | title=Hibernia releases "Library of Death" and "Baker's Half Dozen" strip collections, new Scream! Archive announced | date=8 December 2014 }}</ref> The contents of ''Speed'' were among the post-1970 [[IPC Magazines]]/[[Fleetway Publications]] properties purchased by [[Rebellion Developments]] in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/2000ad-publisher-adds-classic-british-comics|title=2000AD publisher bags Roy of the Rovers and other classic British comics|via=www.wired.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://downthetubes.net/british-comics-reference/classic-british-comics-who-owns-what/|title=Classic British Comics: Who Owns What?|date=4 October 2018|website=downthetubes.net}}</ref>

==Plot summary==
As the [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|British Eighth Army]] is routed by an [[Afrika Korps]] [[Battle of Gazala|counter-attack]] in January 1942, Pete Carey and pretty boy Joe Peach are the only survivors of a column of [[M3 Stuart|Stuart tanks]] ambushed by [[Panzer]]s. They escape to a nearby village only to find it has also been overran, and discover just four survivors in hiding - [[Second Australian Imperial Force|Second Australian]] infantryman Hardisty, [[Army Catering Corps]] Corporal Rudge, 'Taff' Moody of the [[Royal Welch Fusiliers]] and Perot Singh from the [[3rd Indian Motor Brigade]]. Demoralised and far behind the retreating British lines, the group are about to surrender to a German [[half-track]] when a crazed man with sergeant stripes tattooed on his arm, handcuffs hanging from one wrist and a [[Bren light machine gun|Bren gun]] kills the would be-captors. He introduces himself as Sarge Baker, and tells the group that under his command they will fight their way back to friendly lines - whether they like it or not.

The group finds a wrecked [[motorpool]], and Carey is able to refashion wrecked motorbikes into a pair of three-man vehicles he christens 'Sand-Jockeys'. The unit head out into open desert, evading German troops and [[Junkers Ju 87]] dive-bombers. While most of the soldiers respond well to Baker's all-action style of command, Rudge gradually develops a dislike of the enigmatic sergeant. They destroy a German detachment at a [[watering hole]], finding they were escorting a [[Waffen-SS]] colonel carrying important dispatches revealing the location of a secret communications centre at El Homra. Baker decides the group will attack it themselves, leading Rudge to talk Moody into escaping in the night with the team's food and water. The pair blunder into a German patrol but are rescued by Baker, who disciplines the pair. He then leads them to a successful attack on El Homra; the Germans send out an expert sniper known only as the Limping Vulture - an old enemy of Baker's - to pick off the squad in response, wounding Carey and Hardisty. Baker is able to capture him, and beats the Vulture unconscious when he tries to tell the men about the reason for his handcuffs. During a firefight, Rudge and Moody try to get to the Vulture and find out more but the man is shot before he can tell them anything.

A friendly fire incident sees Baker shoot down an RAF Bristol Blenheim; the unit tries to rescue the surviving crew before roving [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] nomads kill them. The tribesmen take Baker hostage; Rudge and Moody lobby to leave him behind, until Carey points out that Baker has all their maps, and the radio in the Blenheim has been wrecked in the crash. They rescue him and soon run into a [[Long Range Desert Group]] who take them to British lines. The LRDG's base is under the command of Major John Braggat, who Baker is eager to confront. Baker and Braggat had been on a patrol six months earlier when they had been caught by the Vulture, and the Major had bought his freedom by giving their captors vital British intelligence. The Germans had planned to execute Baker by leaving him in the desert handcuffed to a wooden post; he chewed through the post to get free. Moody and Rudge make one final attempt to kill Baker, but are overwhelmed by Singh and Peach. The remaining unit prepares to hand the three traitors over - but first Baker orders Peach to fetch a saw and cut the handcuffs off his wrist.<ref>{{ cite comic||artist=[[Mike Western]] | story=Baker's Half Dozen| title=[[Speed (British comics)|Speed]]| | issue=|date=23 February to 16 August 1980| publisher=[[IPC Magazines]] }}</ref>

==Collected edition==
{| class="wikitable" width="85%"
|-
!width=18%| Title
!width=5%| ISBN
!width=15%| Publisher
!width=13%| Release date
!width=49%| Contents
|-
| ''Baker's Half-Dozen''
| N/A
|[[Hibernia Comics]]
|November 2014
|Material from ''[[Speed (British comics)|Speed]]'' 23 February to 16 August 1980 and ''Speed Annual'' 1981.
|}

==Reception==
[[Lew Stringer]] praised the production values of the Hibernia collection, while also feeling Western's "powerful, tough artwork" made the story memorable.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2014/12/more-classics-from-1980s-collected.html | title=BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: More classics from the 1980s collected | date=10 December 2014 }}</ref> David McDonald would reaffirm his belief that "Baker's Half-Dozen" was among Western's best work in a blog article for Rebellion Developments' [[Treasury of British Comics]] website.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://treasuryofbritishcomics.com/news/the-classic-comic-book-art-of-mike-western/ | title=The classic comic book art of Mike Western | Treasury of British Comics }}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Buster}}

[[Category:1980 comics debuts]]
[[Category:1980 comics endings]]
[[Category:British comic strips]]
[[Category:Comics set during World War II]]
[[Category:Comics set in Africa]]
[[Category:Fleetway and IPC Comics strips]]

Baker's Half-Dozen - Revision history

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