It also brings to mind the Airfix and Matchbox kit box artwork, Action Man imagery and countless other war-related boys’ toys of the period. “Our readers like strong characters,” adds Laird, “and they like a good hero.”Īnd that is exactly what Commando delivers with the Commando covers of square jawed heroes and some anti-heroes offering a potent brew of nostalgia and graphic comic art that encapsulate the war comic heyday of the sixties and seventies. There have been forays into Vietnam, the First World War and specially produced for the National Army Museum exhibition, Issue No 4419, The Mystery and the Museum, tells the story of a soldier returning from the current conflict in Afghanistan with an old pith helmet he has found.Ī visit to the National Army Museum identifies the find as “a British sola topee from the Victorian period” and so begins a classic Commando flashback story of camaraderie, heroism and treachery during the 19th century Afghan wars. That’s not to say Commando doesn’t deal with other conflicts. And because you have that huge canvas to work on as a storyteller you can go anywhere and it gives you a huge range.” “You can take a guy from Brighton or Bolton and put him in Burma and it’s a one-line explanation. “World War Two is good from a storytelling point of view because it is so vast,” he adds.
“If you boil it down every successful Commando story is about people, it’s always about people. Laird says the current Commando, which still turns out two new issues and two classics from the back catalogue every two weeks, tries to stick to the “core values” established in the first ten years. Within just 10 years the comics had become so popular that DC Thomson, who publish the Beano and the Dandy, began printing eight issues a month instead of two. “That said the first Commando, Walk or Die, sold 45,000, so it was a big hit from day one.” I think we just captured something in the name. “War Picture Library or Commando? Every vacuum cleaner is a Hoover and every pocket war novel is a Commando. “If you think about it, what’s the better name?” says Commando Editor Calum Laird. The latter lost its way (and its readership) in the early to mid-eighties leaving the door open for the purer story-led approach and the stronger brand of Commando.
To date almost 4,500 pocket-sized issues have carried similar tales of courage and redemption within distinctive full colour covers visualising everything from the blitzing of machine gun nests and the sharpening of bayonets to the snarls of sadistic colonels and the desperate battle cries of battle weary soldiers.īut as well as showcasing the art, the exhibition also tackled the history of war comics, how they came about and the main rivalry that Commando had with its competitors such as War Picture Library. A young Commando lieutenant teaches a ruthless, blood-thirsty SS Colonel a lesson he will never forget. In many ways this issue set the benchmark for the next 50 years, both with its striking imagery and its story – in which a Tank Corps corporal and a German officer – two bitter enemies thrown together – struggle to survive the Western Desert. A selection of stunning creations developed for the Commando covers included the first, by veteran comic artist Ken Barr, for a lively tale called Walk or Die, which first graced the magazine stands in June 1961. But I think the reason Commando survived was due to the high quality stories and the good original artwork.”Īnd it is the latter that takes centre stage. “A lot of the younger generation now learn about the Second World War more from Call of Duty and Medal of Honour and video games of that ilk. “There is an obvious nostalgia effect” he says, “especially as comic readership has declined in the face of the choices available.