Achtung! Commando – a short-lived homage to Britain’s longest-running war comic recalled 

Achtung! Commando Issue One

Despite its longevity, DC Thomson’s last serving pocket library title, Commando, has never gained the kind of fan documentation that other British comics have. Achtung! Commando was a short-lived attempt to change that, published at the turn of the century but lasting just four issues.

Edited by comics artist and historian Peter Richardson, only four issues of the Achtung! Commando fanzine were published, all printed individually and with sales figures in the hundreds.

“Back in the day, I remember seeing adverts in Comics International for this (occasional) series of “fanzines” for Commando,” notes downthetubes contributor Richard Sheaf.

“Fanzine doesn’t really do them justice, these are A5, full colour throughout. If you could have got them in Tesco you’d be calling them a magazine. But there we go, editor Peter Richardson was doing his darn best!

“At the time, I  balked slightly at the cover price (£15 was a lot then), and only bought Issue Four, and regretted not buying Issues 1-3.”

Achtung Commando! was founded on the principle that there were a lot of people who were into Commando comics who just didn’t seem to know that many of the artists they were oohing and ahhing over had worked far and beyond the confines of the pages of the world’s longest running pocket library,” says Peter of the ‘zine’s origins.

“Similarly, there were devotees of Warren comics that were blissfully unaware that many of the artists whose work they were so captivated by had actually learned their trade working for publications such as Commando and its Fleetway rivals War, Air Ace and Battle Picture Library.”

Some great Commando-related features appear on Peter’s Cloud 109 blog, but if you still want to track down copies of the original publication, copies do turn up now and again on sites like eBay and Amazon, so Richard has been able to fill the holes in his collection.

Here’s what you may have missed, and I’ve also highlighted just some of the related great Commando-related items on Peterr’s Cloud 109 blog, too.

Issue One

52 pages

• Interview with Ken Barr
• The Commando Index – Issues 1-30 (publication date, cover art and story art)
• Patrick Wright – an appreciation
Commando – a personal recollection by David Whitehead

• Check out Peter’s guide to Ken Barr’s Commando covers 1234

Patrick Wright’s cartoons

Achtung! Commando Issue Two

Issue Two
80 pages

• Editorial and letters
• Writing for Commando – by David Whitehead
• 50 years of writing with Syd J. Bounds by Steve Holland

Steve’s obituary for Syd J. Bounds features on his Bear Alley blog

Achtung! Commando Issue Three

Issue Three
64 pages

• Editorial
• Interview with George Low
• Commando Index – Issues 61-90
Commando comics and me – by Harry Warren
• The writer’s craft – a closer look at Harry Warren’s Commandos
• Ken Barr – the comic strips

Achtung! Commando Issue FourIssue Four
64 pages
Published in May 2002

• Editorial
• Interview with Ian Kennedy
• Ian Kennedy – The Air Ace years

Read more about Ian Kennedy’s work for Victor

• Check out Lost in Translation – Ian Kennedy’s Tybalt – Ian’s little known work for Scandinavian comics

• A version of this item has featured in entries on the Boys Adventure Blog

• Check out Peter Richardson’s web site here and enjoy his own work and comic features on Cloud 109



Categories: downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

1 reply

Trackbacks

  1. This Week’s Top Ten Most Read Stories on downthetubes | downthetubes.net

Discover more from downthetubes.net

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading