Just time for a quick post. Thanks again to editor Calum Laird at DC Thomson for supplying the info and cover images for the four issues of Commando that are in the shops now. What an excellent dogfight illustration by Carlos Pino for the cover of issue 4467!
Here we go...
Commando No 4467 — Invasion Alert
It was a dark and stormy night when four Home Guard men began swapping war stories while they waited for their unit’s youngest member to turn up. As they talked, it became obvious they had seen action the world over, on land and in the air.
These were men tested in the fire of battle and not found wanting.
Invaders beware!
Story: Mac MacDonald
Art: Carlos Pino
Cover: Carlos Pino
Commando 4468 — “Giant!”
Flight Lieutenant Graham Granger, his co-pilot, Paul Denning and the crew of their RAF Beaufort couldn’t believe the sheer size of the German Me323 Gigant transport aircraft when they first saw one in the skies over North Africa. As it burst from the clouds and almost collided with them, they understood why it was called the “Giant”.
Little did they know that they’d encounter more of the airborne monsters very soon. They’d even, on a daring mission to enemy territory, end up flying one!
Story: Alan Hebden
Art: Rezzonico
Cover: Ian Kennedy
Commando No 4469 — Death Mission
IN BLOOD AND SAND…
200 blistering, bullet-whipped desert miles they went behind enemy lines, a handful of men on a mission that was almost certain death. Their task — to blow to smithereens Rommel’s most vital supply port, crippling his infamous Afrika Korps.
Success could save thousands of Allied lives. But British desert HQ knew success was a chance in a million.
Trouble is, no-one could tell these volunteers that they were expected to fail, to be captured and killed. They wouldn’t listen. They just wouldn’t believe it.
For these were no ordinary soldiers…
Introduction by Calum Laird, Commando Editor
This story from Commando’s Gold Collection is a 24-carat classic. From Ken Barr’s full throttle cover to the back cover’s opening line — “In Blood And Sand…” — to the final frame it’s action all the way. All that with main characters who are as hostile to each other as they are to the enemy.
Artist Gordon Livingstone, who brought this Spence strip to life, was in his first year as a Commando artist but there is his trademark fine line and eye for detail. Never was the experience of National Service in British uniform so well used.
It may be 50 years old, but this Golden Oldie is fresh as a daisy.
Death Mission, originally Commando No 34 (August 1962)
Story: Spence
Art: Gordon Livingstone
Cover: Ken Barr
Commando No 4470 — Big Trouble For Corporal Hubert!
It was Christmas Eve, 1944, and a special section of tough German paratroopers were shooting at a British Army cook!
Poor Hubert — he was a very good cook indeed but he wasn’t really much of a fighting man. However, the Germans had been told that he was carrying top-secret documents and that was enough for them.
Look out, Hubert!
Introduction by Scott Montgomery, Deputy Editor
Here is a story from Commando’s Silver Collection that’s as delicious as the scrumptious fare created by its main character — army cook extraordinaire — Corporal Hubert Durande.
The recipe for a jolly Commando yarn is as follows: Take one eccentric chef, add a dash of espionage, mix in a squad of crack British troops, a helping of Nazi villainy, and bring to the boil…
This script was served up by Roger Sanderson, now the prolific author of Mills & Boon romance novels, and our compliments for the tasty visuals go to artists Terry Patrick and Jeff Bevan. I hope I’ve whetted your appetite for adventure…now enjoy the main course!
Big Trouble For Corporal Hubert!, originally Commando No 2061 (February 1987)
Story: Roger Sanderson
Art: Terry Patrick
Cover: Jeff Bevan
http://www.commandocomics.com
This week's issue of The Dandy sees Kid Cops return for a third series. The title and concept was created by the Dandy editorial for the 2010 relaunch and I developed it further, designing the characters and writing and drawing the strip.
Kid Cops are Sgt.Nick and Officer Bobby who bring their own brand of law and justice to the streets of Dandytown, usually to thwart crazy extremes of Health and Safety.
Kid Cops replaces Postman Prat which has just ended its second series. The Dandy is on sale Wednesdays, 36 full colour pages for £1.99.
Difficulty finding it in your area? Subscribe to The Dandy here:
http://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/Group-Dandy.aspx
Update 1/2/2012: I notice a certain critic (the usual one) has been indulging in at least three posts of lengthy Dandy-bashing over on his blog the past few days. That is his right of course, and no one could or should deny him his opinions, repetitive as they are. (Although to say that today's artists attained their position through luck or bad editorship is either sour grapes or ignorance.) I do however wish he'd realize that his views are clouded by his nostalgia of an era long gone. And by nostalgia I don't just mean a preference for the particular issues of comics one once read, but for a rose-tinted ideal of the past, including comics from before one's time.
It's only natural that one would prefer the comics of one's childhood, but consider the fate of Classics from the Comics. 64 packed pages of some of the best strips DC Thomson ever published from the 1950s to 1980s in a cheap, affordable format, but sadly it couldn't sustain enough of a modern audience to make it viable any more.
When you're older there's a reason why the modern world may not be appealing as that of bygone days. It's simply the generation gap. Time moves on, and the style of comics changes as it always has. My Grandad thought Whizzer and Chips of 1969 "wasn't as good" as Illustrated Chips that he read in 1900. Back in the 1980s I remember thinking that some comics of the Eighties were not as good as those of the past. But I wasn't viewing them through a child's eyes. Hopefully I know better now. These days I meet 30-somethings who grew up on those comics in the 1980s and they think they were wonderful. Likewise, today's young readers will no doubt have the same affection in 20 or 30 years time for the comics they grew up with, such as The Dandy of 2012.
The critic can quite comfortably predict that The Dandy will eventually fail of course. Every British comic launched in the 20th Century has folded, with a handful of exceptions. It's like predicting someone will eventually die. Nothing lasts forever, so whenever The Dandy, Beano, 2000AD, etc finally fade away the critic can crow "I told you so. They should have listened to me! Yes, me! Over here! Notice me dammit!", whilst ignoring the fact that all the comics of his past that he holds up as templates for success have long since perished, despite many of them being undeniably brilliant.
The Dandy and other such comics are, as they've always been, aimed at children. If adults get some fun out of them too then that's a bonus. But those few adults who resent modern comics for not being like they used to be? They really need to move on and just enjoy the comics they do like.
Brilliant cartoonist and writer Jamie Smart has unleashed some wise words from out of his brain over on his blog. If you want to do comics, it's worthwhile reading what Jamie has to say about what you can expect when your work is published (or even self-published). Here's an extract: "If you want to draw comics well, you need an intelligence behind you, a certain level of awareness. When you’re at school, learning irrelevant minutiae does seem pointless, but when you leave you realise it was all to raise your general smarts."
Having experienced some nasty online abuse himself, Jamie has some words to say about "fans" who do little but bitch about things they don't like: "most will just move on and find something else they enjoy instead. The rest, the tiny proportional slither left, the very few who’ve seen your work, and dislike it, and don’t want to move on, THEY will comment on it, because they seem to believe their opinion is very important. And they, are stupid. Because art, by its very nature, is subjective.It would be impossible to create art everyone enjoys, and why would you want to?"All interesting stuff, with some commonsense advice for people starting out in comics. To read it all, visit http://www.fumboo.com/blog/everythingexciting/
Only three issues in and already Strip Magazine feels like an old friend one looks forward to re-acquainting with every month. There's a few surprises this time too, with the debut of two new stories. First off, the European serial The Devil's Heritage kicks off with a 10 page first chapter. Set in 1938 this intriguing thriller is written by Jerome Felix and nicely illustrated by Paul Gastine. I'm already hooked and eager to know what happens next.
The other new strip is Bogey-Man Bob, also from an international source, taking up the back cover. This should appeal to old fans of Frankie Stein (and to new readers) and features attractive cartoon work by Gerard Leever.
Sadly, Recovery Inc. isn't in this issue, and further chapters have been postponed until later in the year. I suspect its absence may annoy some readers but The Devil's Heritage is an excellent replacement.
There's another six pages of Warpaint by Phil Hester and John McCrea, with the story developing well. It manages to strike a good balance between being a fast paced action strip and something deeper, which isn't always an easy feat to pull off.
Black Ops Extreme this issue is a self-contained flashback episode written by John Freeman as ever and drawn by guest artist Nick Dyer. In tone, this is probably the closest strip in the comic to IPC's Action, albeit with a modern approach. Well, if we discount the Hook Jaw reprint of course. Speaking of which, the body count continues to rise as the great white shark claims more victims.
Age of Heroes continues, by James Hudnall and John Ridgway, with the luxury of 11 pages. I only recently became aware that this originally appeared in an Image Comic series in the 1990s but I'm sure that, like for me, it'll be new for many readers. Indeed, it's still fresh and worthwhile even if one has read it before as John Ridgway is colouring his artwork for Strip Magazine. (I understand it was in black and white in the original printing.) This issue also includes an interview with John where he mentions continuing the series beyond its original chapters.
The aforementioned Nick Dyer also illustrates another strip in this issue in the form of Black Dragon, written by Richmond Clements. The character will return at a later date in an ongoing series.
Another couple of features include an interview with writer and artist Jason Cobley and an article on IPC's fondly remembered Starlord comic.
At present, unless you subscribe, Strip Magazine is still only available to buy from comic specialist shops. Issue 3 should be available now, although I know of at least one Forbidden Planet that still hasn't had their copies from the distributor. Hopefully that will be rectified this Wednesday if not before.
I know that some people think that the comic should have been available in newsagents from the outset but sadly in this day and age that isn't practical for new publications without the sort of budgets that big companies can afford. Print Media Productions are doing this right; starting small and building up. While some people do little but complain about the state of comics, John Freeman and the contributors of Strip Magazine are out there doing something about it. I know who gets my respect.
Strip Magazine continues to develop nicely and is a great bargain at 68 pages for just £2.99. (Most US comics cost that just for 20 pages of story.) It's well worth your support.
http://stripcomicmagazineuk.blogspot.com/
Such a commercial venture would have been unthinkable from DC Thomson years ago, but times change and selling the "brand" is the order of the day now. The Broons and Oor Wullie began their weekly pages in The Sunday Post back in 1936, illustrated by Dudley D. Watkins, possibly the most accomplished and respected artist DC Thomson ever had. When Mr Watkins suddenly passed away in 1969 the strips ran as reprints for several years for it was felt no other artist could replace him. Eventually newer artists were assigned, encouraged to "ghost" the style of Dudley Watkins as closely as possible. Peter Davidson is the current artist, with Morris Heggie as scriptwriter, making sure the two strips still appear in the newspaper every Sunday.
