James Bacon headed to the Commando and British Comic Swapmeet in Glasgow on Saturday (29th March 2025) and very much enjoyed the trip…
A colossal amount of comics, incredible art and great conversations over tea and delicious cake welcomed fans last Saturday at the Commando and British Comic Swapmeet in Glasgow.
The trip to the 29th Glasgow Sea Scouts Headquarters was one that many fans and professionals made on Saturday, and it was definitely worth it. Many fans converged keen to buy comics and were not disappointed – not only by the bargains to be had, but the selection and quantity available.
In true swap meet fashion, the unexpected turned up, and a number of fans had comics to “Swap”: indeed one heavy bag opened like a Pandora’s Box, and all types of comics were inside, including issues of the 1970s anthology title, Vulcan.
Jim Alexander was on hand selling his books, one of those writers who has quite a large amount of work to his name, from 2000AD to Warhammer Monthly, but he also wrote for Panini’s Marvel Rampage, an interesting title that included work by Dylan Teague, John Higgins, David Roach and Paul Marshall, which was intriguing to a number of us who had not realised.
Colin MacNeil was in great form: guests at these sort of smaller events can create such a warm and welcoming atmosphere, and he’s one of those great artists who seems to really enjoy the pleasure fans get from his work. He never tires of signing comics and welcoming fans. That connection is important; on this occasion, I observed as others got their comics signed. It was like they wanted to say “Thank you” to a writer or artist as only the fan can, demonstrating their loyalty, commitment and preparedness to buy and enjoy the comic and it was amazing to watch Colin welcome it.
Representing Commando, Gordon Tait was on hand, in great humour, and Georgia Standen Battle delighted fans visiting and was happy to sign the superb battle comics that she has written. Her credits include stories featuring Union Jack Jackson, the Commando’s Vs Zombies series and two of my favourites, “The Girls on the Guns” and “Night Witch”, looking at war on the Eastern front.
Commando editor Emeritus, Calum Laird, was also enjoying tea and cake, and his table was never empty; indeed, he is quite the source of knowledge and great to chat to, and wonderful to gain an understanding of techniques used by Commando writers and editors.
Artists Gary Welsh and Phillip Vaughan were present, and of course the recently-funded Ragtime Soldier project, a successor to Battle‘s “Charley’s War”, was talk of the town, all fans wondering if Pat Mills will make a UK appearance at some stage, and excited that the comic has been fully funded.
Keith Burns broke out the gouache and in between signing a continuous number of Battle-Action comics, he was busy doing “sketches”, if that is the right word for incredible pieces of art that he seems to relish painting, welcoming a challenge to paint a new TIE Avenger from the forthcoming Andor TV series, which he did to an incredible standard!
Keith was of course also very happy to draw and paint the fan favourite character that he is also working on, Johnny Red. “A Couple of Heroes”, the ongoing story running in the latest Battle-Action maxi-series from Rebellion, written by Garth Ennis, is just at its eight part. Images of Torunn Grønbekk’s cover for Battle-Action #8 has caused quite the stir, featuring a portrait of Nina Petrova. It’s a stunning piece of art and everyone was talking about it, now “The Lucky Ones” is out, included in this week’s release, with art by Patrick Goddard. It is a totally unexpected yet beautiful portrait, and the sentiment, the eyes, the strength, is amazingly well captured.
Katy Stone had a superb selection of prints for sale, as well as a colouring book which featured the most delightful rendition of dragons, but the cute style belies a depth of ability that was quite extraordinary, as one considered the variety of art that Katy was presenting. Katy had some Fine Dot Art, and showed a piece, “Glencoe”, which was incredible to see in person, the detail, craft and just work involved, was stunning, and on her website you can see Glencoe Castle and Portrait, which are just phenomenal pieces of work. It was great to see such an array and level of dynamic artistic ability from one person, and a pleasure to meet her at the Commando Comic Swap meet, an unusual yet utterly enriching encounter with stupendous art.
Continuing the pleasure of viewing, enjoying, discussing and thinking about incredible art, Stuart Steele and Joe Lang had set up a Pop Up Gallery with dozens of pieces of art including a superb painted piece by Colin MacNeil, and some incredible work by the likes of Graham Coton. It was really nice to see Keith Burns Stingray art painted only in the last while as well as a classic, Stingray art from over 40 years ago in the same venue.
Here’s a slideshow of other art on display, photos largely by Stuart Steele…
The wide selection of art from war, boys, girls, romance, TV and film comics was impressive, but also the knowledge available. Stuart and Joe were happy to talk in detail about any single piece that fans were delighted by, knowing the history, the artists, and the stories that relate to them; and happy to pass on knowledge about the art, and of course share in the enjoyment of it all. Stuart Steele kindly sent on some photos, as we recognise that the images speak for themselves.
One of the surprises of the weekend was the Forbidden Planet International table at the swap meet. To many fans now in the know, the Glasgow branch of Forbidden Planet has been expanding its back issue stock over a period of time, since it moved to Sauchiehall Street. First it had a run of back issues near the rear of the first floor, then there was a larger space at the front, and now this seems to have been expanded, impressively, and there is also a huge glass cabinet displaying Silver Age and Modern age issues on the ground floor, with gems including Daredevil #3 to Ultimate Fallout #4. Forbidden Planet Belfast and Worlds Apart in Birmingham also have impressive back issue sections, but right now, Glasgow has a considerable amount and they are feeding it with continuous buy ins.
Fans were surprised as Pete and Dave from the Glasgow Branch of FP showed up with hundreds of Commando comics, issues of Thriller Picture Library, Valiant and Lion, and a wide selection of Marvel UK comics – and it was a very impressive and well presented table. The friendliness and engagement was brilliant and it was great to see fans finding comics that they were after.
This was true of all the dealers; there were personal grails and gems to be found, such as copies of the short-lived 1970s weekly, Thunder, for instance, while I saw unusual items such as a 2000AD signed by a number of people, including Alan Moore, pass hands at a very reasonable £15. Deals and bargains were to be had; if you wanted back issues of Victor, Hornet, Hotspur or Warlord, they were going at very affordable prices.
Kindness and generosity was to be seen, as younger readers were literally given comics they showed interest in. I picked up a Colin Maxwell-scribed Commando, “Tomasz and the Tank Engine” which he gladly signed, always a pleasure to chat to, and he was happy to sign it to my nephew. I also picked up Katy Stone’s Colouring Book of Amazing illustrations and sent it to my niece, although I admit that I was reluctant, but we all want to share the love of comics.
We are living in very unique and special times. We are lucky that fans want to organise and plan this type of event, or Lawless, or Enniskillen Comic Fest, where the artists and writers are happy to attend and meet fans, it is truly wonderful that the comic creatives are accessible, and happy to chat over a coffee and bacon roll. A lot of work goes into making these smaller events a success, but they are largely that; they build community and share appreciation and enthusiasm for comics, and welcome readers to the discussion and viewing of art. Fans travel some distances to get here, Hastings on the south coast being one example. Much gratitude was due to Stephen Hume, who organised the event, but also Connie Hume, who presented fans with an incredible selection of cakes and delicacies.
The day finished off with a raffle, and as ever, funds were raised for the Scout group who was so kindly hosting us.
James Bacon
• The Commando Swap Meets have two further events coming up this year, on 21st June in Stoke-on-Trent, Wolstanton, and in Colchester in September or October, with a date pending. Check out Commando and British Comics Facebook Group for further information
Thanks to Stephen Hume, Andy Yates, Karl Kennedy, Stuart Steele, Joe Lang, and Connie Hume and the 29th Scouts for a terrific day. Photos with thanks by Stuart Steele, Stephen Hume, Andy Yates, Karl Kennedy and James Bacon
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James Bacon (he/him) is an Irish fan, a train driver living in London. A Hugo Award-winning editor of the fanzine “Journey Planet”, he is a comic fan and enjoys comic art, war Comics, Star Wars, Irish aspects to comics and railways in comics or otherwise. He has been writing about comics for over thirty years.
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