Simon Belmont celebrates a very special anniversary for DC Thomson’s ground-breaking war comic, Warlord, which launched this week in 1974…
On this day, 25th September 1974, a new weekly comic with a mould-breaking format and content, hit British newsagents. Unlike the other DC Thomson’s titles at the time, Hotspur, Rover, Victor and Wizard, the new Warlord focused solely on war stories.
IPC’s Battle Picture Weekly followed it to the news-stands six months later, and then, in December 1978, Warlord absorbed sister title Bullet, Thomson’s equivalent of Action.
Strangely, even though Warlord apparently outsold Battle (although this seems to be a matter of dispute – you can find sales figures for Battle here), it always seems that Battle is the title everyone thinks of first. Warlord ran for 627 issues until the issue cover dated 27th September 1986, when readers received the unwelcome “Great News for All Readers” that it would be joining Victor. Fortunately, the annuals continued till 1990 and the Summer Specials until 1991. Since 2019, certain characters have been revived in the still-published Commando, with a first Graphic Novel in 2024.
In the earlier years, Warlord focused on stories set in World War Two, but this later opened up to a range of other time periods, including Korea and the present day. Warlord didn’t just feature stories told from the perspective of the Allied side but included strong characters from the Axis side like “Kampfgruppe Falken” and “Iron Annie”.
Warlord’s lead story each week featured the adventures of “Codename Warlord”, the secret alias of Lord Peter Flint, a World War Two James Bond. The editorial team lavished the Flint strip with dynamic splash pages and longer episode lengths, plus art by the greats including Ron Smith, Neville Wilson, Horacio Altuna, Franc Fuentesman and Mike White.
Warlord also developed a roster of other recurring characters including names like Union Jack Jackson (UJJ), Kampfgruppe Falken, Killer Kane, Sergeant Rayker, Cassidy, Iron Annie, Tommy Atkins’ War, Big Willi, Wolverine, Harrier Squadron/Holocaust Squadron, Sgt Heavy, Goum. These featured the art of Mike Dorey, Carlos Pino, Terry Patrick, Jeff Bevan, John Cooper, with scripts by Mike Knowles, Denis Hughes and many others.
Each summer, the colour printing and better paper of the Summer Special, a much loved British tradition, provided an opportunity for artists like Ian Kennedy to provide stunning colour versions of characters like Union Jack Jackson and Killer Kane, normally seen only in black and white, unless they managed to grab the centre pages which was afforded a one-colour wash.
Warlord also featured one-off stories that retold key events from past conflicts and dynamic back covers that reflected a theme, such as illustrations of tanks, or what military hardware might look like forty years into the future, or photos from the RAF.
After a far-too-long hiatus, in 2019 Peter Flint and Union Jack Jackson finally got to feature in some new adventures, this time as guests in Commando comic. This year, 2024, it was the turn of Kampfgruppe Falken.
The “Codename Warlord” stories from Commando, plus the first six Warlord adventures, have also been released as the first ever Warlord Graphic Novel, which was previously featured on downthetubes, which is still available from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link).
Recently received intel teases news that Warlord artist Mike Dorey is working on bringing back another character for Commando, “Sergeant Rayker”, a strip about a black sergeant, Moses Rayker, in the US army (and military police) during World War Two, who distinguishes himself as a soldier but has to face racism from some of his comrades. The series began in issue 232 (cover dated 3rd March 1979) and last appeared in 1984.
We’ve also been informed other Commando stories featuring Warlord characters are in the works so, while Warlord as a weekly is long gone, its characters are very definitely living on!
Warlord Agents, Assemble!
Like many comics from this time, readers could send off a 40p Postal Order and receive membership of the Warlord club, complete with wallet, message from Lord Peter and secret codes to decipher messages on the members page that he edited.
Many of these agents are members of Warlord Facebook group (Fireball agents from Bullet are also welcome). The group was created four years ago, by the dearly missed Colin Noble, and is fortunate to include within its ranks, some of the original Editors, writers, artists, and their relatives.
Further Reading
Facebook group dedicated to the weekly comic, with 4000-plus members. Fireball fans also welcomed!
• DC Thomson’s Heritage Comics and Commando present… Codename: WARLORD Volume 1 is available to order from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Paperback, 200 Pages | ISBN: 978-1845359713
• Commando Comics: Official Site
Published by DC Thomson, Commando is Britain’s longest-serving war comic, printing stories of action and adventure since 1961. Still going strong, Commando prints four issues every two weeks — two all-new issues and two classic reprints from the Gold and Silver Collections.
• downthetubes: Two-Fisted action aplenty! Codename: Warlord collected
Includes a list of the title’s major characters
• ComicsUK has a gallery of Warlord Summer Specials here
Our thanks to Simon for this item, and everyone who helped bring assets together. This one’s for you, Colin!
Warlord and characters ©️ DC Thomson Media
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