Gerry Finley-Day

• Born — 1947 • Birthplace — Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland • Nationality — Scottish • Write — y • Notable Works — Rogue Trooper The V.C.s Fiends of the Eastern Front • Nonus — y

He began his career at D.C. Thomson & Co., before becoming the editor of IPC Media's girls' title Tammy in 1971, for which he wrote strips such as Ella on Easy Street and The Camp on Candy Island. Tammy's stories were full of cruelty and adversity, based on research showing that girls wanted stories that made them cry. Finley-Day rose to become deputy managing editor of IPC's girls' comics department, but quit to become a freelance writer. In 1974 he was drafted in by Pat Mills to help develop characters for Battle Picture Weekly, launched the following year, for which he wrote Rat Pack, The Sarge, The Bootneck Boy, D-Day Dawson, Return of the Eagle, Sergeant Without Stripes, Cold Steele, Skreamer of the Stukas, Glory Rider, Cooley's Gun, Action Force, One-Eyed Jack and many others. He had a penchant for creating honourable German heroes, including Fighter from the Sky, Panzer G-Man, Commando King, Sea Wolf, and perhaps the best known, Hellman of Hammer Force, which started out in Action and transferred to Battle after Action was merged into it. Other strips he wrote for Action include Green's Grudge War and Dredger. Finley-Day was one of the mainstays of early 2000 AD, writing Invasion!, Dan Dare, Fiends of the Eastern Front, and a couple of early episodes of Judge Dredd, and became their specialist in future war stories, first with The V.C.s, and then his most enduring character, Rogue Trooper, which still features occasionally, written by other writers — although Finley-Day returned to the character for a one-off story in 2010. He also wrote Blackhawk for Tornado, and several strips for the revived Eagle, including Saddle Tramp, Sergeant Streetwise, Jake's Platoon, The Hand, and episodes of The Collector. In August 2022, Rebellion published The Best of Gerry Finley-Day with a short UK booking signing tour at Forbidden Planet shops. The book includes the full Harry 20 on the High Rock as well as excerpts from Dan Dare and the V.C.s