William Sampson or Samson, the Wolf of Kabul, was a character in British boys' papers published by D. C. Thomson & Co. He first appeared in The Wizard in 1922.

Publication history

When the Wolf of Kabul series began, The Wizard, like the other D. C. Thomson titles, was a story paper with illustrations. The series reappeared in comic

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 format in issue 102 of The Hotspur in 1961, and ran there until 1975. It appeared in Buddy from 1981 to 1983. Meanwhile Warlord included a prequel

Prequel

A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...

 series, Young Wolf, about Sampson's childhood, starting with its first issue in 1974.

Description

Second Lieutenant Bill Sampson was an agent of the British Intelligence Corps on the Northwest Frontier. Disguised as a native (but given away by his blue eyes), he was armed only with two knives, while his Oriental sidekick, Chung, made devastating use of a cricket bat

Cricket bat

A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batsmen in the sport of cricket to hit the ball. It is usually made of willow wood. Its use is first mentioned in 1624....

 which he called "clicky-ba":

Clicky-ba thundered, and men with crushed heads squirmed on the path. Dreadful sounds echoed up the cliffs as the vanguard of Yahaw Khan's army swung this way and that, retreating and advancing in turns ... In sheer desperation they attacked, but found themselves opposed not only by Chung, but by the twin daggers of the Wolf. He used those blades with a skill that had yet to be equalled. When he struck it was as sure as the attack of a snake. Men dropped. The daggers in the hands of the Wolf were red to their silver hilts.

Chung often apologised for his headbashing: "Lord, I am full of humble sorrow—I did not mean to knock down these men—'clicky-ba' merely turned in my hand".

One scholar has suggested that Samson and Chung were based on Major Lumsden and Dilawar Khan in the first year of the Boy's Own Paper

Boy's Own Paper

The Boy's Own Paper was a British story paper aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967.-Publishing history:The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract Society as a means to encourage younger children to read and also instil Christian morals...

, 1879. Chung,"apparently a Tibetan", was depicted as as much a hero as the Wolf.

During the Second World War, like other D. C. Thomson comics heroes, the Wolf and Chung combatted Nazis. In 1941 they went behind Italian lines in Libya, and Chung stopped an Italian officer from torturing prisoners:

It was the last command that ever passed his lips. The foliage of a nearby tree rustled and a strange object flashed down. It landed with a thud on the soldier's helmet and even his steel helmet failed to protect his skull.

The object which had hurtled down was a cricket bat, much battered and ominously stained. The blade was split and bound in places with lengths of brass wire.

'Ho! I crack skulls!' howled a terrible voice. 'Tremble, little men who serve He-of-the-Chin! The Shadow of the Wolf falls upon you!'

In popular culture

In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, publication of which began in 1999. The series spans two six-issue limited series and a graphic novel from the America's Best Comics imprint of Wildstorm/DC, and a third miniseries...

, the Wolf of Kabul appears in Black Dossier

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is an original graphic novel in the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. It was the last volume of the series to be published by DC Comics. Although the third book to be...

as William Samson, Jr., son of the League's coach driver in Volume II, William Samson, Sr. He joined a hastily strung-together version of the League commanded by Joan Worralson

Worrals

Flight Officer Joan Worralson, better known as "Worrals", is a fictional character created by W. E. Johns, more famous for his series of books about Biggles.Worrals was a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in the Second World War...

, but her repeated rebuffing of his advances strained relations, albeit not for long, because Worrals's League collapsed on its first mission.

External links

• Complete first episode of The Wolf of Kabul from Rover and Wizard, 25 January 1964, at Vic Whittle's British Comics site.
• Jess Nevins' Pulp and Adventure Heroes site, now on Reocities.