Old-fashioned Comics: Commando - 0080 Traitor! (1963) / 0124 Black Ace (1964)

Commando

Publication information

Publisher D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd

Schedule: Four issues every two weeks

Format: Ongoing series

Genre: War

Publication date July 1961 – present

No. of issues 5322 ( 2020)

Commando For Action and Adventure, formerly known as Commando War Stories in Pictures, and colloquially known as Commando Comics, is a British comic book magazine that primarily draw its themes and backdrops from the various incidents of the First and Second World Wars. It was first published in July 1961 and is still in print today. It is noted for its distinctive 7 × 5½ inch, 68 page format that became a standard for these kinds of stories. "Commando" has remained more popular than many other British war comics, because of its character based stories and detailed black and white artwork, with only the covers in colour.

Cover #0001

The stories contain certain characteristic motifs; to mention a few – courage, cowardice, patriotism, dying for the sake of one's country, noble actions, and making a cup of refreshing tea while in the face of danger, enmity turning into friendship when the going gets tough, and so on. Apart from portraying these universal qualities, Commando Comics also show soldiers in national stereotypes, glorifying Allied soldiers, but showing soldiers as a mixture of good and evil. There was usually no continuity between books; each book was a complete story with start and finish, though recently series(2 or 3 stories) of books following the same character have been published.

Indicia Frequency

Bi-weekly (#1-24), tri-monthly (#25-30), weekly (#31-262), six times a month (#263-538),

four issues every other week (#539 onwards). Current (2013)

issues come out four every month, in one batch.

Publication history

The comic series, then going by the title Commando War Stories in Pictures, was launched by D.C. Thomson of Dundee, Scotland, in July 1961. It was an addition to the company's already high-profile comics, such as The Beano and The Dandy, as well as The Victor launched earlier that same year. During its launch year two issues were published per month, but due to the comic's increasing popularity this rose to four a month. Since 1971 there have been eight issues published per month. As of issue 539, certain stories have been reprinted. In September 1993 the comic title changed to Commando For Action and Adventure. The last issue to feature the former title was issue 2690, Password to Freedom, published in August. The first comic to feature the new title was issue 2691, A Race Against Time, published the following month.

As well as the comics, annuals were also produced in 1989 and 1990, each containing seven new stories. The annuals were in full colour and illustrated in the style of the time, not in the original style of the comics.

At its peak in terms of sales, in one month during the 1970s, Commando's comics circulation figures reached 750,000 according to George Low, who began working with Commando in 1963 and retired as editor in 2007. Current circulation is 9,600 copies a fortnight per issue.[6]

Landmark Issue no 4000 of Commando – 'Aces All!' – was released in April 2007. In 2011, Commando Comics celebrated their 50th anniversary of publication, having begun in 1961.They issued reprints of several of the early Commando stories from the 1960s.[8] Commando in 2011 re-printed (in reverse order) all of the first twelve issues from 1961. Since 2007, half of Commando issues released have been re-prints of earlier stories but the remainder are new and original stories and artwork.[ A book celebrating the best of Commando comics cover art was released in October 2011. In 2011, new editions of Commando became available via digital download.

omics, whilst still owned by D C Thomson based in Dundee, would now be printed by GGP Media in German

Commando released their 5,000th issue, 'Zero Hour,' in March 2017.

Artists and writers

Commando in its long history has employed 140 writers, over 100 cover artists & 120 interior artists.These artists & writers have been based in a variety of locations including the UK, Italy, Spain and Argentina. Notable artists who have worked on Commando include:-

Gordon Livingston who was one of the first artists employed by Commando when it began in 1961. His first issue was Commando No 4-Mercy for None first printed in July 1961. Livingston produced the interior story art for over 360 issues of Commando, his last work being issue no 3293-Sweeney's Island, released in December 1999, the same year he retired.He died in 2017.

Ken Barr who has produced the cover art for over 200 issues,

including the earliest ones printed in 1961.

John Ridgway, whose work with Commando began in 1971 with issue no 546 Mustang Ace and who has drawn the interior art for over 120 issues and for half of those, he also did the cover-art.

Denis McLoughlin came to Commando relatively late in his career. Having worked as an illustrator since the 1940s, he drew the interior art for his first Commando (no 1623 Fight Back) in 1982. McLoughlin drew the interior art for over 170 issues prior to his death in 2002 at the age of 84.

Ian Kennedy who, since 1970, has produced the cover-art for over 1200 issues of Commando and has also done the interior story art for a number of them (he also worked for Battle, Air Ace & War Picture Libraries)

Jose Maria Jorge was an Argentinian artist who had a distinctive and precise drawing style and who produced the interior art for 163 issues, mostly aviation and naval-themed stories. His work with Commando began in 1969 with issue no 384-Flying Fury and he had the honour of illustrating Commando No 4000 in 2007. His final issue was No 4329-Divided Aces printed shortly before his death at the age of 69 in 2010.

Keith Page began in 1996 with issue 2941 Odd Man Out and has since drawn the interior art for over 200 issues.

Shane Filer, a novelist whose first book Exit was published by Biblio Publishing[24] is a more recent contributor. He has written 7 issues, including No 5133-The Home Front which featured a rare female protagonist, and was illustrated by Carlos Pino.

Themes and stories

In the early years, all of Commando stories were devoted to the Second World War but in more recent decades, the comic has extended its range to a variety of conflicts including the First World War, the Cold War, Spanish Civil War, the Falklands, Korea, Vietnam and even ancient and medieval conflicts. A handful of issues have also dealt with fictional conflicts such as civil wars fought between imaginary states and there have even been a small number of Western and a science fiction stories released by Commando. One example was issue no 4139-Rebel Army, set in immediate aftermath of the US Civil War in the 1860s. Another was issue no 2774-Space Watch, a science-fiction adventure about spaceship battles. In more recent decades, Commando have been also willing to portray conflicts through the viewpoint of soldiers on the opposite side. Issues such as #2598-Let Me Fly & #2713-The Flying Musketeers portrayed World War II from the experiences of German combatants whilst #2574-Giant Duel was a story about Italian air-force bomber crews in World War II. Issue No 2445-Iron Cross Yank featured a German ex-Luftwaffe pilot who is allowed to join the US air-force and fight in the Korean War. Issue No 1168-Thunderbolt was notable for including a sympathetic portrayal of a Japanese pilot.

Despite the emphasis placed on action and adventure, the of Commando have placed great importance on achieving historical and technical accuracy as much as possible. The first editor of Commando, Charles Checkley, and his deputy Ian Forbes (who later became the second editor) both served in the Second World War. George Low remarked that Forbes always had a great respect for the Germans and that it was important that distinctions be made between fanatical Nazis and the ordinary German soldiers

[Wikipedia]