Commando
Issues 4939-4942 - On Sale 11 August 2016
Commando
No 4939 – Retreat-Or Die!
Staff
Sergeant Sid Charlton was a born soldier, tough and resolute. Caught up in the
Allied retreat from Norway in 1940, he and his men were determined to live to
fight the Germans another day — but they were cut off from the most direct
route to the coast.
Led by an intelligent but
inexperienced young officer, Lieutenant John Barclay, they had to take a
dangerous detour through hostile territory. Commandeering a stolen enemy truck,
the retreat was on…
Story:
George Low
Art: Jaume
Forns
Cover:
Janek Matysiak
Commando
No 4940 – Flying Flea
When war
came to the island of Silau, south east of New Guinea, the pilots of a Royal
Australian Air Force squadron laughed at two freakish-looking planes already
operating there.
“Pop” Onslow and his son, Willie,
ran an air-freight business which used an ancient Vickers Virginia bomber and
an odd little crate called a “Flying Flea” — the Aussies reckoned it looked
like a motor bike with wings.
When Willie took the Flea into
the air and ran rings around the latest Tomahawk fighter the RAAF men
considered letting the plucky civilians join the war effort.
Introduction
The little
machine at the heart of the late Ken Barr’s wonderful cover is, of course, a
real aircraft and not some kind of artistic license on our behalf. Created by
Frenchman Henri Mignet, his HM14 was known colloquially as the ‘Flying Flea’
because of the translation of its nickname, ‘Pou du Ciel’ — literally ‘Louse of
the Sky’.
I think it’s fantastic when
Commando features these real life curios and it is even better when they
practically become characters in their own right — and that’s certainly the
case here.
Scott
Montgomery, Deputy Editor
Flying
Flea, originally Commando No 235, (November 1966), re-issued as No 911
(February 1975)
Story: Mcowan
Art: Cicuendez
Cover: Ken
Barr
Commando
No 4941 – Ram Raiders
It was a
daring tactic known as the “Taran” — using an aircraft as an aerial battering
ram. Major Ilya Bezkhov of the Russian Air Force had used it on several
occasions and lived to tell the tale.
When the Royal Air Force took on
a mission to deliver four Tomahawk fighter-bombers to the Russians, Squadron
Leader Peter Deacon clashed with Bezkhov, whom he viewed as unhinged — a danger
to himself and everyone else around him.
However, Bezkhov saw the
interfering Englishman as a coward. Could they work together to defeat the
might of the German Luftwaffe?
Story:
Steve Taylor
Art: Keith
Page
Cover: Keith
Page
Commando
No 4942 – Kill Me If You Can!
It was
only a bone, white and shiny, with odd painting and carving on it. An Aborigine
mystic had said it would protect the wearer from any harm.
Well, if you’re an infantryman
fighting in a modern war, you aren’t going to believe in that kind of thing,
are you? Unless, of course, it starts saving your life — then you might begin
to think there was something in it after all!
Introduction:
Geography
is, naturally enough, hugely important in Commando. Every tale must have a
proper sense of place — the authors and, especially, the artists must evoke
each location realistically enough to convince readers of the story’s
authenticity and create a sense of drama and atmosphere. Here the dense jungles
of New Guinea are brilliantly brought to life by interior artist Dalfiume and
cover illustrator Ian Kennedy.
And, this fortnight’s Gold
collection classic, Flying Flea (No 4940), is also set in the Far Eastern
grandeur of New Guinea’s truly impressive landscape. That book is well worth a
read too if you haven’t already done so.
Scott
Montgomery, Deputy Editor
Kill Me If
You Can! Originally Commando No 1110 (March 1977), re-issued as No 2444
(February 1991)
Story: N.
Allen
Art:
Dalfiume
Cover: Ian
Kennedy
