d is downright puzzling....sure there were sometimes continuity errors in I SPY, but overall it was a great fantasy comic-world that could easily have been stretched out a lot longer than most of the stories actually were; many scenes had to be depicted almost in 'shorthand', out of neccessity...
SPARKY issue 277; MAY 9, 1970:
OPERATION I SPY: 'OPERATION GRAB'; part 4 0f 6:
SUIT NO. 2 and all that....
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above: if it's not one thing it's another! Amongst other things, 1970 had seen MASTERMIND start up WORLD WAR 3, MR X ruling the UK in WESTMINSTER for a brief period, and now an army of renegade ANDROIDS were wreaking havoc in the UK.-------and it's still only MAY of this year!
SYNOPSIS: I SPY has escaped from jail through underground drainage systems, and is on his way to SPY HQ to pick up 'suit number 2' from base, as his original gadget-laden outfit had been dismantled in prison. Stopping off at a convenient manhole cover, he surveys the chaotic scenes of an army of MATIC-MEN, who are pulverising BRITISH FORCES and looting all banks in the nation.
The mysterious quartet behind this ambitious scam are finally revealed:---- MR MASTERMIND, MAHAIREE YOGI, MR TEMPEST and CAMMY FLAGE------who have the captive BOSS SPY at their derelict secret location, where oriental fiend MAHAIREE is in the process of hypnotizing BOSS into planting one of the deadly homing flowers onto I SPY'S second suit [M M sadistically places a second flower into the retuning BOSS' pocket, and waits before releasing a deadly MATIC-MAN.]

above: finally revealed: the sinister quartet of arch-deviants. no flat-screen tellies in 1970!
A seemingly naked I SPY returns to HQ through a handy vent, and enters SUIT NUMBER 2 just as BOSS returns, who places a homing-flower on the shhh!-guy's lapel: BOSS is acting in an inane fashion due to hypnosis, and I SPY duly 'breaks him out of it' with an abrupt handclap. BOSS' memories come poring back, and the dilemmas of the events in EPISODE ONE are duly explained [this was the terrible night in which a demonic MATIC-MAN smashed into SPY HQ, abducted BOSS, and hurled him clean off a cliff].
The following strange events are finally explained:
the freak gale that uprooted the vast tree was likely whipped up by MR TEMPEST;
the strange FRENCHMAN clobbered by the tree and freed by I SPY ---and passed on the deadly homing-flower----was CAMMY FLAGE in disguise;
the figure of 'BOSS' seen thrown off a cliff miles away by the vast robot was actually a dummy;
the damaged interior of SPY HQ and the uprooted OAK were repaired by the MATIC-MEN whilst I SPY was out cold;
------and BOSS was hypnotized by MAHAIREE to act as if all was still 'normal'.
The cold, harsh light of reality beams to the forefront now, as MASTERMIND'S MATIC-MAN homes in on SPY HQ, once again completely obliterating all in it's path, aiming it's lethal sights at the flower on I SPY'S suit: in the nick of time, our hero recognizes the deadly danger, throwing the plant clear where it is effectively vaporised by the rampaging droid. [here. it is revealed for the first time that the MATIC-MEN have tank-like missile-firing devices, which they unleash by holding their 'firing-arms' out level, detatching their hands temporarily, and unleash power-shells]. The sinister robot now automatically homes in on the flower planted on BOSS, who awkwardly fumbles in panic over domestic furniture. I SPY unleashes a power-boxing-glove, which sends BOSS reeling out of harm's way.

Once again, the lethal flower is tossed aside to a safer location, where it is totally obliterated by the unstoppable ROBOT. It's deadly work complete, the MATIC-MAN returns to MASTERMIND'S HQ, where the demented genius rejoices at his returning army of androids, who have successfully neutralized the UK'S armed forces, and are unloading the spoils of the nation's wealth.
A right-rollocking, action-packed bonanza of an episode, played out almost entirely in the seldom-utilized SPY HQ with fantastic anarchic imagery bedazzling the 3 pages of mayhem. Excellent sinister image of MAHAIREE, as he hypnotizes the gormless BOSS [who looks completely blank and vacant as a result]. This episode also serves the dual purpose of explaining many of the mysterious events of the opening episode, however, how MASTERMIND pulled off the fake footage of I SPY 'ransacking the vaults' in the ZORICH BANK on the security FILM is skipped over: presumably this was CAMMY in I SPY disguise, aided and abetted by a MATIC-MAN, whom wrenched the vault-door open.
The terrifying imagery of lethal shell-blasting from a demonic DROID in a domestic setting is a powerful scenario, in a highly-effective, guilt-free outing.
the fact that I SPY has access to a brand-new suit bode well at the time: there must surely be loads of new stories on the horizon! In fact, nothing could have been further from the truth.....
I SPY'S DEVICES: power-rocketed-assisted boxing-glove.
Can I SPY beat the MATIC-MEN? Don't miss NEXT WEEK'S INSTALMENT!

























