Here’s the intel on this week’s Commando comics releases from DC Thomson (Issues 4991 – 4994), on sale in all good newsagents from Thursday 9th February 2017 and various digital platforms…

We note the title is heading rapidly toward its landmark 5000th issue – a massive achievement!

Commando 4991 – Achtung, We Surrender
Originally Commando No. 311 (February 1968)
Story: George Low Art: Keith Page Cover: Keith Page

In 1940, small time crook Ned Turpin claimed to be the descendant of the infamous highwayman, Dick Turpin. He, with his partner in crime, Bert Bloomer, had no intention of involving himself in the war… or at least until he was caught robbing notorious East London gangsters, the Bailey brothers.

Shipped off to France to avoid the Baileys and time behind bars, Ned and Bert found themselves on the front line in a war they wanted no part of. The advancing Germans had heard many cries on the battlefields, but now they would hear the screams of… Achtung, we surrender!

Commando 4992 – Legion of the Lost
Story: Mepham Art: Segrelles Cover: Segrelles

The Foreign Legion breeds tough men. Sergeant Steve Millar was tough – he needed to be.

He was stranded in the desert with a fortune of gold. He knew he would be attacked by Germans, Italians and marauding Arabs. And for company he had four legionnaires – killers all, with the smell of gold in their nostrils.

Commando Team Background Intel: Mepham’s tale of the legendary Foreign Legion challenges the intense Espirit de Corps traditionally established by the Legion’s units. With enemy forces surrounding our heroes as they cross treacherous desert conditions, it is essential that they work as a team. Their journey goes to plan until the Legionnaire’s Code of Honour is disrupted by an irrefutable force: gold.

Mepham brilliantly explores the soldiers’ fight for survival, and the unfortunate consequences of greed in this thrilling tale. Illustrated wonderfully by the talented Segrelles, Legion of the Lost is an epic adventure through the desert to find where man’s wealth really lays.

Commando 4993 – Barbed Wire Battlers
Story: George Low Art: Rezzonico and Morahin Cover: Janek Matysiak

Seaman Andy Walker had been a loner all his life. From his beginnings at the orphanage to his posting in the Royal Navy, Andy struggled to be accepted…

But Andy’s isolation worsened when he was captured and put in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Once his jailers learnt he could speak their language, he was singled out and, from his fellow prisoners’ perspective, given special treatment.

It would take everything Andy had to prove he was no traitor, no Japanese pet… to prove that he was one of them. That he was a Barbed Wire Battler!

Commando 4994 – Ground Strike!
Originally Commando No. 2518 (November 1991)
Story: Alan Hemus Art: Terry Patrick Cover: Ian Kennedy

The Bristol Beaufighter packed an awesome punch with its arsenal of machine guns and cannons. Turned against an enemy, it was a lethal weapon of war.

But one Beaufighter pilot, Andy Shaw, knew to his cost that it could be just as deadly against a friendly target hit by mistake…

Commando Team Background Intel: Alan Hemus does it again in this outstanding Commando outing. Hemus’ storytelling is at the top of its game with his two heroes, Andy and Harry, caught in a web of uncertainty.

They shoot down a launch, convinced it’s an enemy E-Boat, but their superiors believe they have actually sunk one of their own rescue launches. Their moral dilemma looms over them until the climax. The tension Hemus draws out in the plot is matched by the scratch lines of Terry Patrick’s interior art.

This all topped off with another amazing Ian Kennedy cover!

Susbcribe online: www.commandocomics.com

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.

Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: Alan Hemus, Commando, Commando, DC Thomson, downthetubes News, George Low, Ian Kennedy, Janek Matysiak, Keith Page, Mepham, Morahin, Rezzonico, Segrelles, Terry Patrick, War Comics, War Comics