First of this month's Commando comics

These four issues of Commando are in the shops now. All are printed with a fifth ink on the cover in the form of a gun metal silver enhancement. Something a bit different for Britain's longest-running adventure comic!

Thanks to DC Thomson for the following info.

Commando Issues 4659-4662 – On sale now

Commando No 4659 – Bad Vibrations

Running from a hail of lead fired by vengeful Germans as tons of concrete from collapsing U-Boat crashed down around them — just a normal day at the office for the Convict Commandos, surely?

   This time, though, Guy Tenby, Smiler Dawson, Titch Mooney and new boy Spider Mackay were really worried. They had lost one man on a previous mission and this one had been giving off bad vibrations from the start.

Story: Alan Hebden

Art: Benet

Cover: Benet

http://www.commandocomics.com/latest-issues/5th-december-2013-collection?issue=4659

Commando No 4660 – Terror Patrol

The narrow Channel between England and the Continent has always been vital to our safety. That was where Drake took on his enemies, the Spanish Armada — and in the last war it was where the little ships of the torpedo flotillas took on their German foes, sweeping them back from our shores.

   

This story is about these patrol boats and the heroes who sailed them. And especially it is about Bill Ashby, flotilla commander, who conquered not only the fast E-boats, but even Germany’s mightiest battleship!

Introduction

Many of the naval battles that were fought in the narrow seas of the English Channel were fought in darkness, masked from the probing eyes of RAF or Luftwaffe. With this in mind, Sostres was a brilliant choice of artist for the inside work, his high-contrast style perfectly suiting the partially illuminated night. The story handles the one man’s change from commanded to commanding without ever losing any of the action Commando is known for. Ken Barr’s cover almost seems like an unnecessary extra but of course it isn’t!

Calum Laird, Commando Editor

Terror Patrol originally Commando No 66 (Apr 1963)

Story: Clegg

Art: Sostres

Cover: Ken Barr

http://www.commandocomics.com/latest-issues/5th-december-2013-collection?issue=4660

Commando No 4661 – “Sink The Odessa!”

Royal Navy Lieutenant Mike Fraser and Chief Petty Officer Derek Chalmers were frogmen — well used to going on daring solo operations in the murky ocean depths aboard their underwater chariot. 

   But when an important job to sink a strategically vital battleship went awry in the German-occupied Crimean region of Russia, they found themselves teaming up with a rag-tag guerrilla group in a desperate attempt to complete their mission.

Story: Alan Hebden

Art: Morahin

Cover: Janek Matysiak

http://www.commandocomics.com/latest-issues/5th-december-2013-collection?issue=4661

Commando No 4662 – The Flying Shark

He was a brilliant fighter pilot, ruthless and cunning — he knew no fear. For his breath-taking skill and sheer nerve he was known to friend and foe alike as “The Flying Shark”.

   But there was another reason for that name. Tattooed on the pilot’s shoulder was the emblem of a shark’s head. He didn’t know how it had got there — in fact, he didn’t even know who he really was!

Introduction

Brought to you by a trio of our finest contributors — each of whom is without doubt firing on all creative cylinders — The Flying Shark is classic Commando through and through. 

   Writer Roger Sanderson — now best known as a prolific author of Mills & Boon romance novels — delivers an exciting script with a neat mystery at its core. Visually, Gordon Livingstone’s interior artwork is up to its usual impeccable standard while Ian Kennedy’s cover is typically stunning. 

   As I said: classic Commando. I hope you enjoy re-visiting it.    

Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor

The Flying Shark, originally Commando No 2224 (October 1988), re-issued as No 3724 (June 2004)

Story: Roger Sanderson

Art: Gordon Livingstone

Cover: Ian Kennedy

http://www.commandocomics.com/latest-issues/5th-december-2013-collection?issue=4662

Charles Grigg 1916 - 2013

I'm sorry to report that tonight I was informed by the family of comic artist Charles Grigg that he passed away at 5.30 this morning. 

His son Roger said that his father had "just celebrated his 97th birthday with his sons, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, other relatives and friends. We will all miss you Dad." His grandson Russ added "RIP Grandad we'll all miss you so much. At last you can be with Gran".

Charles Grigg, affectionately known as Charlie or Chas, originally worked as an engineer in the Midlands before he began freelancing as an artist for DC Thomson in the 1950s. His skills proved to be popular with the readers and he continued drawing numerous comic strips for the company for almost 40 years. One of his earliest strips for the company was Charlie the Chimp which he illustrated for The Dandy from 1957 to 1960.

Back then, DC Thomson did not allow artists to sign their work, but the characters that Charlie drew would be familiar with millions of children. In 1961 he was asked to take over the cover artwork of The Dandy's lead strip, Korky the Cat, which he then drew for the next 22 years. 

Charlie's version of Korky became the definitive one, and the artist's marvellous ability with colour led to him producing some memorable covers for The Dandy Book and The Dandy Summer Special. 

Although most of Charlie's work was on humour strips such as Korky for The Dandy and Foxy and Splodge for The Topper, he was also able to turn his hand to adventure work. Some of his most memorable serials being The Red Wrecker, The Purple Cloud, and The Umbrella Men, all for The Dandy.

Charlie moved into semi-retirement 30 years ago after which he illustrated saucy seaside postcards for the Bamforth postcard company. Sadly, as The Birmingham Post reported in 2012, in recent years he began to suffer from vascular dementia and was cared for by his son Steve. 

Regrettably, I never met Mr.Grigg but his artwork provided so much childhood pleasure when I was reading The Dandy in the 1960s. Published on Mondays back then, it gave a bright start to the week and I eagerly looked forward to whether Korky would 'win' or 'lose' on that week's cover. (I always wanted him to win, thwarting the mice or the gamekeeper.) I thrilled to the adventure strips The Red Wrecker and The Umbrella Men, with Charlie's detailed artwork drawing me into that strange world of ordinary British towns under siege from some bizarre menace. The Dandy Summer Specials became synonymous with journeys to Blackpool, with the discovery of Charlie's luxuriously coloured covers becoming a part of that long-anticipated summer holiday. Then on Christmas Day, the delight of unwrapping the latest Dandy Book, with the first sight being Charlie's festive covers. 

Though most of us never knew the man personally, Charles Grigg was part of our lives, with his warm, funny and enthralling comic strips bringing smiles to millions of children over the years. And as adults, we still have those happy memories, - and if we're lucky, the comics too, - to reflect on. I hope those thoughts will be of some comfort to Mr.Grigg's family at this time. He was one of the best.

(As always, click the images to see them larger. All images in this article are Copyright DC Thomson, except for the Bamforth postcard.)

Mike Noble Interviewed

Thanks to John Freeman for the heads up on this. There's a great video interview by Chris Thompson with the artist Mike Noble on You Tube, where Mike talks about his early days as an illustrator and his work for TV21 and Look-in. It also shows some of his original art illustrations of his time during World War 2. A fascinating insight into the background of one of the best adventure artists to grace British comics.

You can view the video by clicking this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpY0Y5uCGi8

Below: Mike Noble's excellent artwork on the second Timeslip strip (Look-in No.2, 16th January 1971).

The Christmas Toxic hits the shelves

With traditional snow on the logo, the Christmas issue of Toxic is out today, a day earlier than expected. The 48 page issue comes bagged with a load of gifts including a Minecraft poster and a bow and arrow set. 

Inside the mag, amongst all the fun features and puzzles there's a reprint of a Team Toxic two page Christmas story I did several years ago so if you missed it back then, now's your chance to see it. 

I'm pleased to say that as from the next issue I'll be doing all-new Team Toxic stories again! You can find out more on my other blog here. 

The Christmas Toxic is £3.99 and available in newsagents and supermarkets now!

POW! ANNUAL Cover gallery

As I did the Wham! Annual cover gallery the other day I thought I'd run one on Pow! annuals too, as they dovetail into each other at the end. 

Pow! was launched as a weekly comic in January 1967 and production must have started on an annual very early as the Pow! Annual 1968 was published in September '67. The cover above is by Graham Allen. Contents included various funnies from Pow! plus a complete one-off adventure strip and reprints from Amazing Spider-Man No.1 and the first Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD story from Strange Tales. As those Marvel strips had already been reprinted in the weekly a few months before, it seemed an odd choice. I must admit it put me off wanting the book, but I finally bought it on eBay a few years ago. 

Opening the book presented us with a nice spread drawn by Stan McMurtry. Unlike the Wham! Annual spreads, it didn't continue from the cover but I thought it was worthy of inclusion here anyway. 

A year later, the Pow! Annual 1969 displayed a cover by Gordon Hogg, plus a Spider-Man in an awkward pose because it had been taken out of context (and redrawn) and a Sgt.Fury vignette by Jack Kirby.

The battle that had begun on the cover continued inside, also by Gordon Hogg. Despite the appearance of The Cloak here, the strips in the annuals featuring the super-spy were not by his creator Mike Higgs. Instead, they were quite poor efforts, and Mike wasn't even asked to contribute.

With the Pow! Annual 1970 the humour aspect had gone from the cover, replaced by a copy of a Steve Ditko Spider-Man pose. Curiously, many of the interior strips featured characters from Smash!, presumably because Pow! had merged into Smash! in late 1968. (The Cloak strips this year were slightly improved ghostings of Mike Higgs' style but it would still have been far better to have Mike contribute.) There was clearly a budget cut though, with just over 50% of the content being Marvel reprint.

An unexpected revamp with Pow! Annual 1971 bringing all-new, all-different content with brand new British superheroes! Even stranger, they've never appeared anywhere since! (You can read more about that in a previous post here.)

The Pow! Annual 1972 was the book's final solo title and a bit of a mixed bag. I've no idea who did the seemingly rushed cover with the neanderthal and his oddly placed head, but it relates to the Appointment with F.E.A.R. story inside which featured Doctor Morg (last seen in the weekly Pow! serial Experiment X). The rest of the book was a mixture of reprints from old Odhams comics such as Boys World and a few new strips.

A year later, Pow! Annual merged into the Wham! Annual to produce Wham! and Pow! Annual 1973. I've already covered this the other day in my Wham! Annual post but here's the cover again for continuity with the other books in this posting...

...and also the cover once more to the Wham! and Pow! Annual 1974 by Joe Colquhoun...

So there you have it. The book changed completely within just a few years, but it outlived the 86 weekly issues and managed to be a very entertaining read.