Offering four singular World War Two adventures, issues 5019
– 5022 of Commando delve into the comic’s classic roots, while delivering
distinctive twists on archetypal tales. From battle torn French villages to the
choppy waves of the English Channel, our heroes come in Matilda tanks, Henschel
126s, and Air Sea Rescue motor launches...and sometimes they fight on both
sides…
5019: Home of Heroes:
Tank Commander
| Story | Ferg
Handley | Art |Vila | Cover | Janek Matysiak |
Two tanks take centre stage in Janek’s stunningly realistic
cover, as one Matilda’s gun barrel fires, the explosion mirrored where the shell
hits the rival Panzer. However, this diminution of the war, focusing on only one
squadron’s battle, acts as a microcosm, offering more attention to the
characters, but keeping the stakes as high as ever.
Handley’s story focuses on Lieutenant Mark Watmore, stranded
in the French Hamlet, Saint-Nadine, and tasked with covering the allies retreat
to Dunkirk. But when a lone Matilda tank crawls into the quiet Hamlet, crewed by
its squad’s lone survivor, Sergeant Jack Taylor, who warns Watmore of
approaching Jerries, they have only one choice: to train Watmore’s men in the
tank and use it to defend their position!
Filled with Vila’s strong-jawed Tommies, and stunning
attention to uniform and vehicles, “Tank Commander” is a great addition to any
collection.
5020: The Gold
Collection: Sea Ace
| Story | Brunt | Art
| Gordon C. Livingstone |Cover | Gordon C. Livingstone |
Originally Commando No. 346 (July
1968) reprinted No. 1071 (October 1976)
Brunt’s timeless story
from 1968 is a Commando classic of friends turned rivals, allowing a varied
view on war, duty, revenge and morality. In it, Norman Scott, an Air Sea Rescue
pacifist wants only to save lives instead of taking them. Norman had witnessed
loss and suffering on both sides from WWI, but Hugh Webster, a friend from his
past, is blinded by revenge for his father’s mental degradation as a result of
shell-shock from the trenches. Webster wants the Germans to pay – no matter the
cost - and he won’t let Norman get in his way…
Emphasising this rivalry, Gordon C. Livingstone’s cover highlights
the dynamic binary of the characters by dissecting the page with the wing of
Focke-Wulf 190, separating the red from yellow in the sky.
5021: Action and
Adventure: Caught in Crossfire
| Story | George Low
|Art | Rodriguez & Morahin | Cover | David Alexander |
Rodriguez and Morahin’s cinematic artwork takes the reader
from the dark, clammy interiors of the Burmese jungle to the perilous, icy
heights of the Swiss Alps, the artists’ sense of scale adding to the tension of
George Low’s gripping story of cat-and-mouse. It is this scene above Alps that
David Alexander’s moody cover takes inspiration from, as we see a Henschel 126 strafing
in the wind, tailed by two aircraft on either side, as lightning strikes against
the snow-capped peaks behind them!
Belonging to one of the “the evilest alliances ever formed”,
Captain Isamu Nagata, an intelligence officer of the Imperial Japanese Army no
longer believes in the war. But after accidentally shooting a German looter,
Nagata is forced on the run, taking him across borders and against enemy and
ally alike. For him surrender is no option...
5022: The Silver
Collection: Trouble Trooper
| Story | C. G.
Walker | Art | Keith Shone | Cover | Alan Burrows |
Originally Commando No. 2594
(August 1992)
Alan Burrows’s cover is pure Commando grit, creating a
thrilling pairing with C. G. Walker’s story of one of Commando’s most “likable
rogues”, Trooper Bill Bourne. Notorious for going A.W.O.L., despite his best
intentions, Bourne is no stranger to trouble, or breaking the rules… But when
war breaks out, Bourne must learn to obey orders and stick with his team.
Charmingly drawn with thick, curly hair and a cheeky grin,
Keith Shone’s illustrations of Bourne really capture the charismatic vagabond,
while robbers in fedoras and trench coats, along with bleeding gutters between
the panels add to the lure of his artwork and fully compliment Walker’s exhilarating
story.
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