Commando comics issues 5455 – 5458 are out out this week and on sale from all good newsagents and via various digital platforms – and this set marks a rare debut for a writer-artist on the title. With a special anniversary issue for the SAS, sweat-drenched desert truces, Nazi super-weapons, and an unlikely hero called ‘Ratso’… well, get your copies soon!
This set includes the debut of Canadian artist Dan “Danny” Barnfield, who lives in Scotland and who has also worked as a graphic designer on BEANO. His humour strip, “Mòr and Beag” has previously featured on the VAM Dundee web site, and he teased his plans to pitch his story, “Die Glocke” to Commando at the beginning of last year over on Instagram, where you’ll also find some great portraits of “Ramsey’s Raiders”.
There’s another treat for Commando fans this week, too – the official 2022 Commando Calendar is available to pre-order direct from the DC Thomson Media web shop, featuring a a cover by Ian Kennedy.
Commando 5455 – Home of Heroes: Dare to Die
Story: Andrew Knighton | Art: Paolo Ongaro | Cover: Mark Harris
• Buy the digital edition from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
Commemorating 80 years of the SAS, ‘Dare to Die’ lives up to the motto of ‘Who Dares Wins’ as red-blooded heroes Paul Milton and Derek Connor are as daring as they come. Highly skilled and expertly-trained, they had guts to spare!
Especially when an SAS raid on a lonely airstrip in the middle of the desert goes terribly wrong and they’re left behind. With only their wits to rely on, they do the last thing the Nazis expect — go back and ransack the place they just raided!
Mark Harris’s second cover for Commando is just as action-packed as his first, with an Indiana Jones style fist-fight on a racing armoured car in the desert! What’s not to like?
Commando 5456 – Gold Collection: Desert Fighter
Story: Spence | Art: Buylla | Cover: Ken Barr
Originally Commando No. 189 (1965)
• Buy the digital edition from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
The Germans had heard plenty about the Eighth Army. They’d heard plenty about the French Foreign Legion too, those tough, devil-may-care adventurers of the desert. Then Captain Dick Bryson of the Eighth Army and Colonel Duclos of the Foreign Legion shook hands in a desert fort in the middle of nowhere and decided to join forces.
Wham! The Nazis were soon wondering what had hit them!
This Commando has grit aplenty with ruthless Nazis, subterfuge and betrayal, all under the scorching desert sun!
Commando 5457 – Action and Adventure: Die Glocke
Story and Art: Dan Barnfield | Cover: Neil Roberts
• Buy the digital edition from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
Late 1944 — the end of the war is on the horizon and two best friends, Paul Dunne and Thomas Holt, must work together on what will be their last top-secret mission. With years of fighting experience under their belts, the operation was supposed to be simple: parachute into Poland and beat the Russians in an attempt to acquire Wunderwaffe — top-secret German weapon technology.
But things go awry, and the duo must play a bigger part in history than they ever imagined as they come face-to-face with Die Glocke!
A rare Commando written and drawn by the same contributor, Dan Barnfield’s first issue is meticulously detailed and engagingly written, making him someone to watch out for in future issues.
Commando 5458: Silver Collection: Ratso and the Sergeant
Story: Roger Sanderson | Art: Carmona | Cover: Jeff Bevan
Originally Commando No. 1697 (1983)
• Buy the digital edition from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
Ratso and the Sergeant… sounds almost like a music hall comedy turn, doesn’t it? But the Germans definitely weren’t laughing at this duo’s act when they really got down to business, trying to make sure their tank unit came to no harm while attempting to halt the German advance!
With a title like that, who needs more incentive to read on? But there’s so much more to Ratso and the Sergeant than their names suggest as the polar opposites have to learn to work together if they’re going to survive and stop the enemy in this delightful Roger Sanderson romp.
• Commando Comics is online at www.commandocomics.com | DC Thomson – Subscriptions | Facebook| Twitter | Commando Comics on AmazonUK
• The official 2022 Commando Calendar is available to pre-order direct from the DC Thomson Media web shop, featuring the cover of Commando 5293 by Ian Kennedy
• The Art of Ian Kennedy is available to order here on Amazon (Using this Affiliate Link helps support downthetubes, thank you)
The book showcases Ian’s fantastic array of work for not only DC Thomson Media but also his own personal collection. The high spec 160-page art book includes both never before seen and classic covers, as well as illustrations from the DC Thomson archives, featuring titles as diverse as Lucky Charm and Buddy.
Set out chronologically, the book showcases Ian’s career at the famous Scottish publishing house, from his early days working on ‘Red-Skull Branson’ and ‘Commando Jim’ to his most recent covers and commissions for Commando
• The Art of Ian Kennedy is also available to order from DC Thomson direct
Commando issues 5455 – 5458 – Full Cover Gallery
• Commando Comics is online at www.commandocomics.com | DC Thomson – Subscriptions | Facebook| Twitter | Commando Comics on AmazonUK
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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