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Wayne Markley
by Wayne Markley
Quality’s Blackhawk #26
One of numerous contradictions I have discovered about myself throughout the years is I have always been a dedicated pacifist as well as yet I am a huge fan of war comics. Go figure. In the history of comic books there have been titles dedicated to war going back to the beginning of comics. during the second world War, the idea of war certainly ended up being the focus of numerous titles as well as influenced the development of such traditional heroes as Captain America. There was one more grow of war comics in the 1950s primarily as DC shifted their superhero books to new genres such as All American Comics (home of the golden Age eco-friendly Lantern) ending up being All American guy of war (after a short run as All-American Western) as well as star Spangled Comics ended up being star Spangled war Stories. There were likewise other titles like Our army at war as well as Our combating Forces. high quality likewise had a number of war books including the traditional Blackhawk as well as G.I. Combat. In the mid-1950s. DC took over Blackhawk as well as G.I. battle from high quality Comics, adding them to their war line. There were likewise a number of war books from Charlton as well as other publishers however none of them increased to the popularity of the DC titles. many of these DC titles lasted up until the late 1990s when they lastly faded away.
Sgt Fury #3
Marvel likewise had a few war titles, such as Battle, however war was never there primary focus throughout their history. With the birth of marvel Comics (from Atlas prior) in the late 1950s as well as early 1960s, Stan Lee as well as Jack Kirby produced Sgt. Fury as well as his shouting Commandos. This was about a difficult as nails army Sergeant as well as his team combating around the world in stories that were mainly directly ahead action stories that were extremely similar to all of the type of stories that marvel was doing at the time. They were character driven action stories in a war setting rather than the superhero dressing. It was gritty difficult man stories that were self-contained. At one point, even Captain America guest started in the book.
Our army at war #107
DC, on the other hand, had mainly self-contained short stories their war books, primarily about a particular heroic soldier or eent. In the late 1950s, DC started to relocation towards utilizing routine characters in their war books. For example, Our army At war Sgt. rock as well as simple business ended up being the lead feature. even then, many of the early stories were only ten to twelve pages with back-up stories about all elements of war. Our army at war featured a who’s who of fantastic artists with Joe Kubert doing one of the biggest runs on a single character, Sgt. Rock, ever. based on the success of a lead character in the book, DC added Gunner as well as Sarge (and Pooch) to Our combating Forces.
Our combating Forces #125
In the late 1960s, Our combating Forces debuted a new series replacing Lt. hunter as well as the Hellcats (DCs attempt to do Sgt. Fury) with what I think about a extremely underrated series, The Losers. The Losers integrated four of DCs war heroes who lost their own books to type a special war task force, including Gunner as well as Sarge, Capt. Storm, as well as Johnny Cloud. The series featured a long run with art by the late, great, as well as extremely underrated John Severin. just recently in the pages of Superman, the Losers were provided their appropriate send off in a fantastic like story in the Superman special by Peter Tomasi. Mlle Marie was added to star Spangled war Stories, which would later function The war that Time failed to remember (G.I.s vs dinosaurs, every bit kid’s dream); opponent Ace (one of the biggest war books ever) as well as the unknown Soldier. One last DC war book I cannot neglect is G.I. battle which featured the Haunted Tank, where a WW2 storage tank was haunted (assisted) by the ghost of a civil war general. The book rises far above the silly concept. This book is understood for the spectacular art by Russ Heath as well as Sam Glanzman. Sadly, practically none of this material has been collected or is currently in print. What was collected in the Archives as well as Showcases are now long out of print. If only DC would go back as well as gather this fantastic material as well as show it the like it deserves.
All of this history aside, let me talk about the actual topic of this blog, British war comics. just like America, the English were doing war comics going back to the earliest days of comics in England however they were performed in the conventional British style, with a relatively vanilla type of story. In the 1970s IPC released a comic called battle photo regular that altered British comics because of the stories they told were truth based, frequently violent, as well as influenced a generation of creators. There were a number of features that ran in Battle, ranging from the silly to the painful, with possibly the best, as well as many moving strip, being Charley’s War, about a young soldier as well as his experiences in world war One. This story is commonly thought about a traditional in the genre for many years as well as has been lost to American audiences. Over the years, Titan released ten hardcover volumes collecting all of Charley’s war (Mostly. There was at least one story omitted in the collection). Recently, Rebellion has issued the total Charley’s war in three inexpensive softcovers that are America for your reading enjoyment. before I address Charley’s war directly, let me state these are an incredible checked out as well as they take the very best of DC’s character driven stories as well as add Marvel’s gritty action to integrate to make a ideal war book that is both moving, in addition to entertaining. I cannot suggest this entire series extremely enough.
Charley’s War: The conclusive Collection Vol. 1 – young boy Soldier
The series is damaged down into three collections. The very first is called Charley’s War: The conclusive Collection Vol. 1 – young boy Soldier. This is complied with by Charley’s War: The conclusive Collection Vol. 2 – siblings in Arms. The third as well as concluding volume is Charley’s War: The conclusive Collection Vol. 3 – Remembrance. all of the stories are written by Pat Mills as well as drawn by Joe Colquhoun. Pat Mills is possibly finest understood for his creations Marshall legislation as well as Nemesis the Warlock, in addition to various judge Dredd stories. Joe Colquhoun was finest understood for drawing Roy of the Rovers prior to Charley’s War. I believe a great deal of people (including me) overlooked exactly how skilled Colquhoun was. While his page designs are in the custom of English comics of the ‘70s, the details of his drawings are amazing. Every panel is packed with bit things that make the horror as well as the disgust of the trench warfare of the very first world war come to life. It may be a gaping wound of a soldier in the background or a feline eating a rat. While extremely different, it is as great as Kubert’s work on Sgt. Rock. just amazing.
Charley’s War: The conclusive Collection Vol. 3 – Remembrance
The story is told from the point of view of a 16 year old young boy named Charley Bourne who lies about his age to join the war as well as is taken since the army needs bodies. Each story is three to five page chapters told from Charley’s point of view as well as each opening as well as closing of many of the stories being Charley’s hand written letters to his father back house in England. The story opens in France in 1916, just before the battle of Somme. The stories continue to tell the horror the guy went with to the end of the war. Charley is not the brightest young chap, as well as his naïveté plays into exactly how he sees the war. There is likewise the supporting cast, which are at times stereotypical British armed forces type (the bully Sgt., oblivious leaders who are persuaded the end is in sight. The young leader who sees the truth). all of these characters assist flesh out the pain as well as suffering that is all around Charley, that at times Charley does not seem to see. Sadly, there are a number of characters you get to understand as well as care for that do not make it out of the war. While I agree a great deal of British comics are a difficult checked out for American audiences because of the different storytelling style as well as page layouts, I believe this story is worth your time to struggle though the difficulties you may have.
These new editions are likewise performed in a style which enables the original comics to run in their original dimensions, as well as all of the color sections are brought back (covers, annuals, etc.), none of which were in the hardcover collections. The stories were likewise reformatted to fit the hardcover size, while the softcovers are performed in a size to in shape the original art. These books are really larger than the original battle photo regular comics.
Garth Ennis provides battle classics 1
One developer who was deeply influenced by battle photo regular is Garth Ennis. If you look at a great deal of Garth’s writing, you will see he returns to the idea of war over as well as over as well as he freely characteristics his like of the genre to Battle. I have written numerous times about exactly how fantastic Garth’s war stories are. just inspect out his four volumes of war stories or his Battlefields collections as well as you’ll see what I mean. These are moving tales of war by a range of artists that have the enthusiasm as well as truth that Garth checked out in his youth in the pages of Battle. I bring these up since there are two gorgeous hardcovers from Titanbooks collecting Garth’s preferred stories from the pages of battle photo Weekly. These two volumes are called Garth Ennis provides battle classics 1 as well as Garth Ennis provides battle classics 2. Both books are large as well as huge, over 250 pages each, as well as reprint the very best of battle as well as you can see in these collections the breadth of the pain as well as suffering war brings. Garth has done an incredible task choosing these stories as well as provides explanations as to why he selected these stories. Both of these battle collections, or any type of of Garth Ennis was stories, are extremely recommend.
Garth Ennis’ Battlefields
This wraps it up for this blog. I greatly delight in Garth Ennis’ war books, be it his war Stories, Battlefields, opponent Ace, war is Hell: very first flight of the Phantom Eagle, or any type of of his other works. I do not believe you can truly appreciate the depth of his work unless you go back as well as checked out this source material (and inspirations) for his stories. Charley’s war is a moving ,and at times painful, checked out about the very first world war as well as it put battle on the map in the world of British comics. between Charley’s war as well as Garth Ennis’ battle classics you will have hours of fantastic reading also a history lesson. These are not the difficult man Sgt. Fury stories that marvel did nor the war is hell stories that DC did so well. These stories are graphic at times as well as always moving, most likely better to the Warren’s traditional Blazing battle much more than anything else in American comics.
Are you a huge a fan of war books as I am? have you checked out Charley’s war or commando or any type of of the British was comics? What did you think? I would like to hear your opinions as well as comments. What would you recommend? I can be reached at MFBWAY@AOL.COM or on Facebook at Wayne Markley. nothing I have written right here shows the thoughts or opinions of Westfield Comics or their employees. I do hope you have delighted in this blog and…
Thank you.