As part of downthetubes’ celebration of DC Thomson’s Commando reaching issue 6000 as one of the batch of four titles released this week, Jeremy Briggs asked former Warlord editor Bill Graham, writing as William Graham, about his work on issue 6002, “Kampfgruppe Falken: Escape Stalingrad”…
Two armies clashed within Russia’s industrial capital in one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War. Every man was desperate to get out, but Major Heinz Falken had orders to get in – not only to get in, but to get one man out…
Commanded to rescue the son of one of the Führer’s favourite generals, Falken had no choice. He had to save the one lucky soul he was sent for or face a firing squad!
For the final celebratory issue in this 6000th issue set, DCT have brought out the big guns and got ex-Boys’ Comic editor from yesteryear out of the storeroom — Bill Graham, whose name you might recognise from the likes of Football Picture Monthly and Warlord! He’s come out of retirement to pen this amazing issue, alongside his longtime colleague and maestro Manuel Benet!
downthetubes: As the editor of Warlord, can you tell us how the “Kampfgruppe Falken” strip came about in the first place?
Bill Graham: Up to the early 1970’s nearly everything written about the war had been from the Allied side. Then came the books written by the likes of Leo Kessler and Sven Hassell. I read most of them. When I became chief sub-editor of Warlord I suggested a story about German soldiers. The management at the time had all served in the war and turned down the idea flat.
It was only after I became editor and we’d seen our rivals – Battle – print a story about a German combatant that they relented. The character of Heinz Falken was always in my mind. There was no glorifying of what German forces did during the war. It was a case of what some fighting men had to do merely to survive in a nightmarish situation.
One scriptwriter stood out for me – Alan Hemus. I met him in Norwich and we went over the story at length. Now, here’s the thing. Alan had served during World War Two and he had no problem writing about a German. Alan lived in Spain for a short time and during that time he met a German of similar age. This German told Alan that he’d been in the SS. Alan told me the only thing that troubled him was that the German received a bigger pension from his government!
downthetubes: What was like to return to a character that you had worked with some 40 years beforehand – was Heinz Falken a particularly memorable character for you?
Bill: After writing the foreword for the Union Jack Jackson Graphic Novel, Commando asked if I would care to submit ideas for a script. Falken immediately came to mind. He was far and away my favourite character from Warlord.
It was a pleasure to be involved with him and his mates again. I worked out the whole synopsis over a weekend. Actually I’d never written a Falken script before. After coming up with the original idea, I sub-edited Alan’s scripts. And they didn’t require much changing!
downthetubes: After working on DCT’s weekly comics you became editor of Commando stablemates Football Picture Story Monthly and Starblazer, and after retiring from DCT you wrote thriller novels as William A Graham. Was it difficult to return to writing in the style of a long form comic strip for Commando or was it something that came back readily?
Bill: I wrote very few scripts for Warlord. And they usually ran to around 25-30 frames. Commando is a whole new ball game… 130 plus pics. In Warlord, much of the layouts of the pages was left to the artists. Commando is written to a very strict format. I don’t mind admitting I struggled with it at first. But I had great help from the Commando editorial team. I’ve written another script – not Falken – and I found that a bit easier.
I’ve had two novels published and a third is with a publisher at the moment. It’s a tough world publishing. Helps if you’re a game show host or an actor. I wasn’t writing the novels for a living, so I really enjoyed writing them. Totally different from comics.
downthetubes: Having been on the editorial side of things for so long in DCT, what was it like to be on the other side so to speak as an external writer, and do you think that things have changed much since you were working there?
Bill: It’s almost 17 years since I retired. The changes at the firm have been massive. For a start, the building where my office was has been gutted and is now mainly open plan. I visited it a couple of years ago and couldn’t work out where my desk had been. Honestly, I think I would struggle in the new set-up. In my day, we sat in our little offices with a staff of three or four and kicked ideas around. Having said that, Commando is still turning out stories that are the equal of the first issues with good writing and great artwork.
downthetubes: Are there any other characters from you time editing Warlord, or any of the other comics, who you think would work in the heritage editions of Commando or that you would like to write?
Bill: There were so many good characters in Warlord that merit reviving. I’d have to trawl through the files to pick them out. One non-Warlord character comes to mind: Wilson the Wonder Athlete. First appeared as a text story on Wizard in 1943 (I think), later in picture-story form in Hornet in the 60’s. Final appearance was in Spike in the early 80’s. There was also a paperback book.
There were several series and in one he was a Spitfire pilot who was shot down and was posted missing. Of course he reappeared after the war to set new world records. Would that qualify for place in the Commando archive editions?
Commando 6002: Kampfgruppe Falken: Escape Stalingrad is in newsagents now, and available as a digital edition
• Your full downthetubes guide to the “Commando Issue 6000” set is here
• Commando Comics are online at commandocomics.com | Commando Collection Sets on the DC Thomson Webshop | DC Thomson – Subscriptions | Commando Comics on AmazonUK | Commando Comics on Magzter | Follow Commando Comics on Facebook | X | YouTube |
Head downthetubes for…
• downthetubes covered Bill’s retirement here
• Details of Bill’s Alan Linton detective novels, written as William A Graham, are here
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
News, reviews, interviews and features for print and on-line: Spaceship Away (since October 2005), Bear Alley (since February 2007), downthetubes (since June 2007), and Eagle Times (since October 2008). Plus DC Thomson’s The Art Of Ian Kennedy, Titan’s Dan Dare and Johnny Red reprints, Ilex’s War Comics: A Graphic History and 500 Essential Graphic Novels, and Print Media’s The Iron Moon and Strip magazine.
Categories: Books, British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comic Creator Interviews, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Other Worlds
Bones & Betrayals: A Chat with Andi Ewington, Erica Marks and Calum Alexander Watt 
Cy Dethan’s new novel, “Bad Sector” in the spotlight
Leave a Reply