Osprey’s Battles of World War II Relaunched to mark 70th anniversary of the end of the conflict

By John Freeman on May 7, 2015

Osprey’s Battles of World War II, a monthly series from RBA Coleccionables, is being relaunched. The first issue goes on sale on next week, 13th May, priced £4.99.

While unconnected, the new edition follows hot on the heels of Osprey’s alliance with Commando to publish new graphic novels and looks to me that it’s potentially a great resource for anyone drawing or writing strip set during that global conflict.

Launched in 2009 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, Battles of World War II is returning to mark the end of the conflict. The series chronicles the war, year-by-year and battle-by-battle and provides a fitting history of the most significant event of the 20th Century.

The original collection, produced by Osprey Publishing (best known for its military history books) and RBA Coleccionables, had a fortnightly frequency and each issue featured a 96-page hardback book detailing the key military campaigns and biggest battles from the Second World War.

Taking in all of the theatres of the conflict, the title covers campaigns fought on sea, air and land from around the world during the six years of fighting.

On sale just after the 70th anniversary of VE Day (8th May), the relaunched title will be six monthly issues featuring two of the 96-page books from the original collection. It will analyse the origins and outcomes of the battles featured in words and photographs, combined with conventional maps, campaign diagrams and unique 3D battle scenes, bringing the historic events to life in vivid detail.

The relaunched Osprey’s Battles of World War II is not being offered to subscribers as stocks are limited, so this will be the last chance for readers to get behind this collection.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.