Sgt. Streetwise

"Sgt. Streetwise" was a photographic comic series published in the British comic book "Eagle", from issue 1 (dated March 27 1982) to at least issue 78 (dated September 17 1983). It was written by Gerry Finley-Day with photography by Dave Watts.

Plot

The action-based strip featured Detective Sergeant Wise (his first name never being given), a special police operative working undercover to the point of living in a boarding house pretending to be an odd-job man. Many of the early strips in Eagle were photographed rather than hand-drawn; to maximise the impact of the 'realistic' format Wise was a master of disguise, with strips involving Wise infiltrating criminal gangs, being incognito, or even simply using his knowledge of human perception to hide in some elaborate manner.

Wise's superior was Inspector Taggert (created before the TV show of similar name), who would brief Wise on missions by phoning up as his "Uncle George", or even encounter him as a seemingly random passer-by.

Wise was occasionally accompanied by Constable Botham, who in the tradition of British police fiction, was an incompetent buffoon, jeopardising missions and often striking up conversations with criminals believing they were Wise in disguise.

Publication

Sgt. Streetwise appeared intermittently in Eagle issues, and continued when Eagle converted to a fully-drawn format; however the strip's premise was not as visually effective without the confines of the photo-strip format, and the strip was soon discontinued.