Commando Comics – Writers

Commando 4739 - 'Attack on Arabia' cover art by Ian Kennedy

Commando 4739 – ‘Attack on Arabia’ cover art by Ian Kennedy

Last Updated: 14th December 2018

Published by DC Thomson, Commando For Action and Adventure  is Britain’s longest serving war comic, publishing stories of action and adventure since 1961. These stories, with their mixture of excitement, danger and courage under fire, and the dynamic artwork that accompanies them, have won Commando a loyal readership over the decades.

See Also

• British Comic Companion – Commando For Action and Adventure

• British War Comic Collections: Commando

• Commando Comics Artists

WRITERS

Some of the credits for the artists who have worked on Commando are a little obscure, but Steve Holland has researched them diligently down the years and identified many of them for an article on his Bear Alley site first published in 2012 here

Heath Ackley


Norman Adams


A. Carney Allan


Nick Allen


Mick Anglo (1916 – 2011)
Writer and artist. Also creator of Marvelman

• Steve Holland’s tribute to Mick Angle is here on Bear Alley


Matt Badham
Freelance journalist, well known for his articles on comics and creators for an assortment of titles including Judge Dredd Megazine


Bailey


Baker (possibly Fred Baker)


Barnard


David Barnett (pseudonym used on staff-written issues)


Martin Belderson
Better known as a documentary film maker

• Read Steve Holland’s profile here


Benson


Bett-Gray


David E. Bingley


Sean Blair
• Read Sean Blair’s article about writing for Commando here


Ed Blandford


Nigel Boanas


Boothby


Sydney J. Bounds (1920 – 2006)
Sydney James Bounds sold his first story in 1943 and was one of the more prolific authors of the ‘mushroom jungle’ post-war era of cheap paperback publishing and beyond. Although he wrote over 40 novels, Syd’s metier was always the short story of which he wrote hundreds, many published anonymously in children’s papers and annuals.

• Read Steve Holland’s tribute on Bear Alley here


David Boutland

David was a regular contributor to New Worlds under the pen-name David Rome, his first story, “Time of Arrival” published in the April 1961 issue. He also published stories in AmazingGalaxy and the anthologies New Writings in SFNew Writings in Horror and more and was also a regular contributor to CommandoWar Picture Library and Battle Picture Library, penning at least 23 volumes in 1964-68.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Boyle


Brenchley


Gordon W. Brunt


Brueton


Roy E. Bullen
Military author Roy Bullen was a (perhaps irregular) contributor to various D C Thomson papers whose writing career seems to stretch to quite a few decades. His comics credits include Battle Picture Library for Fleetway and Commando in the late 1960s and early 1970s as well as penning a strip for Buddy in the early 1980s.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Burden


Fergus Cannan
Fergus Cannan wrote three issues of Commando back in 2004-05 but is primarily a writer of non-fiction about Scottish history

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Bernard Castle (house pseudonym used by David Motton, E. C. Tubb, others; given as Eric Castle on some reprints)


Allan Chalmers (possibly a staff pseudonym)


Chester


Ian Clark


Colin Clayton


Roger Clegg
Surrey-based R. P. Clegg was one of the most prolific authors of war-related pocket libraries in the 1960s, who contributed to both Fleetway and D.C Thomson.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Jason Cobley
Arriving as an author of Commando in 2018, Jason is a well-established writer of comics in Britaon’s thriving independently=published  arena, creator of the popular adventure character Bulldog, who has appeared in his own titles and the anthology comic Paragon.

• Jason Cobley’s official blog: writingcobblers.blogspot.com


Steve Coombs


J. O. Cornes
 J. O. Cornes may have had a lengthy career working anonymously for DC Thomson. His full output is unlikely to ever be known, but what Steve Holland has uncovered hints at a career of some length.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Coughlin


Crawcroft


Crowther


Dailly


Daniel


Richard Davis


Day


Mrs. Donnelly (possibly Jane Donnelly)


James Doonan


Dorward


F. G. Douglas


Harry Douthwaite


Chris Dows


Du Feu


Elliot


Evison


William H. Fear


Mary Feldwick
One of very few female British war comics writers, Mary was a regular contributor to Fleetway, DC Thomson and Micron war libraries. 
• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Shane Filer


Gerry Finley-Day


Chris Fitzsimmons
Chris wrote comic strips and stories in his spare time for Thomsons, including “Hover Rovers” for The Hornet. His main career was as a newspaper journalist on various newspapers in Lancashire and Cheshire. He later become a local government press officer until his retirement.

Read an interview with Chris at Victor & Hornet – this includes sample scripts


Arthur and Peter Fleming

Although credited separately, Arthur and Peter were one and the same person – a Glasgow school teacher accor. The two names  have separate records of their work in the DC Thomson archives


Frost (possibly Kelman Frost)


Gallivan


Diana Muriel Garbutt
One of the contributors to the WarBattleAir Ace and War at Sea picture libraries, who also wrote “Battler Britton” and “Dick Daring” stories for Thriller Picture Library and, in the early 1980s, contributed a handful of stories to Commando.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Gardner (H.T. Gardner?)


Ken Gentry


Gonzalez


Comics writer Scott Goodall

Comics writer Scott Goodall

M. Scott Goodall MBE (1937, died 7th March 2016)
Born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1935, Scott, who grew up reading DC Thomson adventure titles such as Wizard and Hotspur, was a prolific comics writer whose credits included work for both DC Thomson and Fleetway.

His credits include strips for TV Century 21 — writing, among other things, “Thunderbirds” and “Zero X”; Valiant – including the title’s lead strip, “Captain Hurricane” for many years – and Battle – continuing, for example, Pat Mills “Charley’s War” into World War Two, working with that prestigious series original artist, Joe Colquhoun.

(While those later “Charley’ War” stories are unlikely to be rerpinted, they are remembered with fondness by some fans of the strip).

Scott also worked on the New Eagle – creating the strips “Invisible Boy” and “Walk Or Die”, and working on other strips including “Manix” and on humour comics such as Cor!! – writing one of his favourite strips, “Rat-Trap” – and Buster. His credits on the latter title include two more personal favourites – “Galaxus The Thing From Outer Space”, and he was the creator of “Fishboy” drawn by artists that included John Stokes; and other strips such as “Zarga” and “Marney the Fox”.

• Read our tribute to Scott Goodall here


(J. M.?) Gray


A. Green


Bernard Gregg


Peter Grehan
Peter Grehan has scripted a number of issues of Commando during the 21st century. His LinkedIn profile reveals that he has written widely for film, audio, magazines and technical publications.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Commando Presents Ramseys Raiders 1 CoverFerg Handley
A regular contributor to Commando, Ferg is the co-creator of the recurring characters “Ramsey’s Raiders”, the first two stories being the first-ever Commando tales to be re-published in colour, in 2018.

He has also written extensively for Panini UK and numerous commissioned  independent comics projects.

• Read Michael Erickson’s interview at Bear Alley here
Ferg Handley’s Commando credits on the official Commando site
Read Jeremy Briggs review of the Ramsey’s Raiders collection


Hardwick (possibly (Ronald Hardwick)


Hardy


Tom Hart


Hay


Robert Hayes


Alan Hebden


Eric Hebden


Alan Hemus (1925 – 2009)
Hemus was known as a tremendous storyteller amongst the editors at DC Thomson, probably  best known for his work on the Starblazer buddy-cop series Grok & Zero, but whose credits stretch back to the establishment of the publisher’s “Big Five” adventure comics in the 1930s.

• Read Steve Holland’s tribute on Bear Alley here


Ian Hemus


Henderson (possibly (Alex Henderson)


David Heptonstall


Hinett


A. Hitchman


Holding


Colin Howard


Simon Jowett


Ian Kellie


Jim Kenner
An American by birth, with a different name, For more information about his contribution to British comics you should pick up a copy of Steve Holland’s Boys’ World: Ticket To Adventure – the history of one of the finest and most collectable of British comics.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Knight


Andrew Knighton

Andrew Knighton joined Commando in 2018. He’s a comics writer, author and freelance writer who writes science fiction, fantasy, steampunk and historical fiction, with short stories in a wide range of publications and several books of his own.

He also writes custom murder mystery party games – you can find out more and commission your own game here.


Andrew Knowles (or Anthony Knowles?)


Mike Knowles
Prolific comics script writer whose credits for DC Thomson include both Commando and Starblazer.

• Read Mike’s article on his comics career on Bear Alley here


Calum Laird
Former Commando editor who left the role in 2015 (news item here)

• Read Michael Ericksson’s 2004 interview with Calum Laird here
Read Jeremy Briggs April 2008 interview with Calum here
Read Matt Badham’s August 2008 interview with Calum about writing Commando strips here
Read Jeremy Briggs January 2011 interview with Calum here, celebrating 50 years of Commando
Read Matt Badham’s January 2015 interview with Calum here


C. R. Lajeunesse (1930 – 2003
Carl Lajeunesse wrote a couple of issues of Commando in the late 1970s and sold a thriller to Robert Hale, Dead Man Running, published in 1981.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Lang


Douglas Leach


Lester


Littlewood


Alan Lomas
lan Lomas penned 32 issues of Commando in the four years between October 1973 and August 1977.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


George Low
George Low was also one of Commando‘s editors and has been writing strips for the comic since leaving the company

• Read Michael Eriksson’s 2004 interview with George Low on Bear Alley here
Read Jeremy Briggs 2007 interview with George Low


Castello Lucas (Luis Castelló Lucas)


Malcolm McDevitt


Mac Macdonald (pseudonym used on staff-written issues)


Peter McKenzie (K. P. McKenzie)


Iain McLaughlin


McLean


Rick McMullen


Robert McNeill


Ken McOwen


McPhail


Philip Madden


Terry Magee


Maitland


Derrick Markham


Anthony Matthews


Jenek Matysiak


Mepham (possibly Clement Roderick Mepham (1919- ))
• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Mitchell (G. Mitchell?)


R. A. “Monty” Montague
George Low’s history of the pocket library mentions Montague as “a prolific contributor to Commando, working from his base in Diss, Norfolk. He had experience of being in the RAF during the war and then serving with the colonial police after the hostilities. That gave him plenty of experience to call on, and he used it well with a fine spread of air, sea and ground stories. He was certainly a force to be reckoned with”.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Scott Montgomery
Also a former assistant editor of Commando


David Motton
Read our interview with David Motton – mainly about his work on “Dan Dare” for Eagle – here


Munslow


Peter Newark
In addition to hies work for Commando, Newark was a regular contributor to Boys’ World in 1963-64, especially the one-off “Hand of Fate” and “Ticket to Adventure” series.

He began writing for Commando with Born to Fly (Issue 224, 1966) and wrote a total of 21 stories, ending with Shooting Star (483) in 1970.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Nicoll


O’Connell


O’Connor


Orme
Orme was the author of half a dozen Commando stories in 1968-70.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Parker


Parlett (A. G. B. Parlett?)


Parsons


Paterson


Bryan Perrett


N. Powell (N. Powell?)


Quarrell


Jason Quinn


Redbridge


John Richardson


Roy Rivett


Kris Roberts


Ross


Rudge


Salt


Roger Sanderson


Ken Sell


Skentlebery [spelling probably Skentelbery]
The true identity of this author of several Commando stories, but Steve Holland has had a darn good try identifying him!

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Smith ((J. W. Smith?)


Robert Smith


Spain


Speer


William Spence


Spencer


Giovanni Spinella


Stainton (probably D. L. G. Stainton)
• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Strange


Bill Styles (William Styles)


Suttar (Jack Sutter?)


Thomas (J & S Thomas?)


Brent Towns


E. C. Tubb


Turner


Tyson


Cyril G. Walker


Peter Wallage
Better known as a journalist, Wallage’s comics credits include Boy’s World as well as Commando.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Stephen Walsh
A Commando regular, film script writer Stephen Walsh also works with artist Keith Page on the Charlotte Corday project


Colin Watson


Webb


Gordon Wells


Welsh


David Whitehead
Read an interview on Bear Alley; and his essay on “Writing for Commando”, on the same site


Wilkinson


Philip Wilding
Writer and artist, whose credits also include The Book of American Frontier History, which he wrote and illustrated.

• Read Steve Holland’s profile on Bear Alley here


Alex Woodrow


Many issues were penned by members of staff, including editors Chick Checkley, Ian Forbes and George Low (now freelance)


With thanks to Colin Noble for additional information

Commando © DC Thomson