Thunderbolt and Smokey!

Thunderbolt and Smokey! was a photographic comic series published in the British comic book Eagle, from issue 1 (dated March 27, 1982) until issue 27 (dated September 25, 1983). It was written by Tom Tully, with photography by John Powell. The uncredited actors in the leading roles were Richard Cray (Thunderbolt) and Ian Green (Smokey), and the strip was largely shot at the Magna Carta School in Egham Hythe, Surrey.

Plot

The strip followed the attempts of two pupils, Colin "Thunderbolt" Dexter and Leo "Smokey" Beckles, to create an effective under-14s football team for their school, Dedfield School. The previous team had been withdrawn by the school's games master, Mr. Ferris, after a string of disastrous losses, earning the school the nickname "Dead-loss".

As one of Eagle's early photographic strips, Thunderbolt and Smokey! achieved levels of realism rarely seen in drawn strips, in that most of the football action shots were taken either during real 15-minute matches or dedicated set plays, both against pupils attending the school where the strip was shot.

With the help of their friend "Wimpey" Jones, they assembled a team from the school's naturally gifted pupils, and used tactics such as playing in front of the headmaster to win support. Apart from other teams, their main obstacles proved to be Mr. Ferris, who was surprisingly uncooperative for a teacher of physical education, and various bullies from Dedfield, including Brian "Jaws" Jenner.

The strip largely stuck to the stock formula of football-related boy's fiction - that of a makeshift team of amateurs narrowly winning match after match against more experienced teams (and in this strip's case, teams of older boys) by a combination of luck and raw talent. By the strip's end, Dedfield had reached the final of the Collyer cup. However, over-confidence proved to be their undoing, and they narrowly lost. The strip ended with Mr. Ferris congratulating Thunderbolt and Smokey on reversing Dedfield's reputation, something that he had tried to do and failed.

West Ham United goalkeeper Phil Parkes guested in one issue. Dedfield's goalkeeper Johnny Stringer had been beaten up by Jenner and was unable to play in the semi-final due to a shoulder injury, so Dexter had to play in goal, being the only player in the team to have played in goal before. Dexter's father had a friend who knew Parkes and organized a day of training with him at West Ham's training ground. The training paid off and Dedfield won the semi-final despite sabotage efforts from Jenner.