Charley's War Vol. 1: Boy Soldier: The Definitive Collection: Volume 1

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In addition to Charley’s War, Simon Ward is the editor on Modesty Blaise and The James Bond Omnibus. His recent film books include Alien: The Archive, Planet of the Apes: The Evolution of the Legend, RoboCop: The Definitive History, Chappie: The Art of the Movie and the forthcoming The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road, out next month. I read that the cement for the German pillboxes originally came from Britain via neutral Holland, but couldn’t confirm it, so I left it out. Later I found the evidence. January–October 1919. Charley and Bill Tozer head to Russia where they fight alongside the 'Whites' - pro-Monarchist Russians - against the Bolshevik Reds who are defending their Revolution, with Tozer serving as company sergeant major. Charley soon becomes disillusioned at the incompetence and cowardice amongst the Whites, some of whom change sides and join the Reds. Charley prevents rogue Bolshevik Colonel Spirodonov from capturing a White armoured train loaded with refugees and royal gold. In retrospect, this is possibly the only facet of the plot I don’t fully agree with. Not all the Officers in the trenches were like Snell – in fact very few were, and although the story has good Officers such as Cooper they are still shown as ‘hooray henry’ types (for example Lt Cooper had the …er… impediment every other word in his dialogue-showing him to be indecisive and bumbling). Most officers of the Great War suffered the same hardships that the men did and although it did happen, the image of the Officers eating fresh game in a cosy front line trench while the men died in mud outside are a little over worked. That though is my only grumbling about it in the whole of the six years it ran. The story’s main strength was that it had its foundations always in truth, as we shall see. Pacifism and Profiteering

Matthew: The Titan collections are very nicely presented with a fair amount of supplementary material. I think the company has done a good job. If it hadn’t been for Charley’s War, I doubt many people today would even be aware of this unwarranted invasion of a sovereign nation. Because today it’s the only example of mainstream popular culture – outside of film and television – that challenges the establishment view of World War One. Ginger is very typical of the fatalistic soldier so common on the Western Front. He reminds me of Frank Richards, the author of the book Old Soldiers Never Die , which I recommend to anyone who hasn’t read it. The humour of the British soldier in such indescribable hell is conveyed very well by Richards as it is by Ginger Jones. For example, what about this snippet of dialogue? The Sarge: “Let’s hope that brave lad makes it Jones”. Ginger: “Yes good mate was Charley, but he would drink his own bathwater”The 10-volume “Charley’s War” series from Titan Books and the first omnibus collection, Charley’s War – A Boy Soldier in the Great War, are available from all good book shops. A full list of the books is here on downthetubes This was not a comic that shied away from the true horrors of war. The conditions in the trenches were depicted accurately and the sheer brutality of the war couldn’t be escaped. It took an approach to character death that makes George R R Martin seem lenient in comparison. Since writing “Charley’s War”, Pat is now of the view that World War One was not, effectively, mass-murder, carried out by incompetent generals and politicians under the banner of patriotism, a theme of the deservedly highly-praised and much lauded strip (among comic fans here and in Europe, although not, sadly, by many others). He now feels the World War One was started deliberately by Britain to crush its rival Germany. We’re delighted to present some of it to the public for the very first timein this exhibition of war comics.”

My favourite character of all (and the origin of my cat’s name). Blue was a villain who had joined the French Foreign Legion to escape conviction. He met Charley after he surprised him as he was breaking into his house. Matthew: Pat did eventually leave and another writer, Scott Goodall, took over, but you’re not reprinting his strips.A one-time crony of Grogan's and the regiment's barber. He holds a grudge against Charley for his role in Grogan's death and they often clash. He dies at the Third Battle of Ypres, after taking shelter in a shell hole full of mustard gas.

The toy-inspired series Action Force didn’t even make the cover of the final issue of Battle Acton Force in which they appeared, but “Charley’s War” did Last year, I chatted to Simon Ward, who edited the tenth volume of Charley’s War for Titan Books. Some quotes from the conversation were used in an article that was published in the last issue of Comic Heroes magazine. Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to present the full, unedited transcript of our conversation online in case it was of interest to comic fans generally and/or of use to scholars of comics. Johnson, Robert (2012). The Afghan Way of War: How and Why They Fight. New York: Oxford University Press. p.307. ISBN 978-0-19-979856-8. The strip follows Charley's life in the trenches and his experiences during the war. Colquhoun put a meticulous level of research into the already well-researched scripts which Mills provided. The strip rarely flinched from providing an extremely frank portrayal of the horrors of war, so much so that in some later reprintings some of the artwork was censored. Mills added a political slant in the strip not seen in British war comics and avoided the standard heroics common in war comics generally. Episodes of Charley's War were reprinted in the Judge Dredd Megazine (#211–244, in 2003–2006). The First World War episodes were collected in ten graphic novels by Titan Books between 2004 and 2013. Rebellion's Treasury of British Comics imprint began a new series of graphic novels in 2018.This brutal form of punishment was in use by the British Army until the late 1920’s and is basically crucifixion on a gun wheel or fence. The punishment could be extended for up to 21 days and if it coincided with the man’s unit being in the frontline it was was suspended and then resumed as soon as the unit was relieved. Pat Mills intended to finish the story with in 1933 with Charley on the dole and Hitler coming to power but he was replaced as writer by Scott Goodall who had Charley entering the second World War and being evacuated from Dunkirk. Its final end came when artist Joe Colquohon became too ill to continue working. Some of the art is on permanent display at the Tank Museum in Bovington, and the Estate has loaned art out to various events and galleries in the UK and abroad] in the past couple of years Some people have accused him of using his writing as a vehicle for his political views – I don’t know about this because I’m unfamiliar with most of his other work (sorry Pat)!But it doesn’t really matter which side of the political fence you are on when it comes to Charley’s War. It’s my view that the storylines below are things that have been pointed out because they are simply wrong and needed to be exposed.

Simon: Pat obviously wanted to write about the Great War and he did that as purely and respectfully as possible. That was his passion and I daresay that was Joe’s passion as well. In 2019, Pat Mills wrote a lengthy and damning post about the way Rebellion treats him and other creators. Read it yourself, but the allegations include: Using one of his books as a loss leader to launch a new series, with all the associated financial burden of that falling on the creators with no compensation; Deliberately withholding the number of units sold from creators; Rebellion taking a staggering 90% of profits from each book sold, leaving just 5% for writers and 5% for artists; That other creators are afraid to speak out because they worry that it will stop them getting work from Rebellion in the future. Droganes, Constance (September 19, 2008). "Arthur Kent settles suits over 'Charlie Wilson's War' ". CTV News . Retrieved August 16, 2013. Though later parts of the story covered the Russian Civil War (and, in episodes written by Scott Goodall, the early part of the Second World War), Pat Mills has stated that Charley's story should end at the end of the First World War, [ citation needed] and this has been reflected in the collections published by Titan Comics.Everyone assumed that young readers were only interested in action. Charley’s War proved them wrong. It was the No 1 story in Battle for its entire run, which is amazing because it’s such an anti-war story.”