Commando comics go globetrotting for latest war stories!

Brand new Commando comics – Issues 5471-5474 – are out from DC Thomson Media this week, both in newsagents and via digital platforms. With two issues spanning the World Wars, from the Siege of Tsingtao, aerial dogfights over Europe, to the sweltering heat of the Burmese jungle, flooded fields of Holland and even the frosty fjords of Norway — this is one globetrotting set of Commando comics not to be missed!

This set also sees the return of veteran Argentinian artist Alberto Saichann to Commando, drawing an all-new story, “Divergent Empires”. Affiliated with the Duendes Del Sur studios since the early 1990s and represented in the UK by Beehive Illustration, he’s perhaps better known for his work on another DC Thomson title, Starblazer. As well as a few previous issues of Commando, his many credits also include work for US publishers such as Continuity in the 1990s, Archie Publications’ Hanna-Barbera titles, and pencils for Marvel’s The ‘Nam and Gargoyles. He’s an artist who’s clearly able to draw both action and humour, as his Instagram reveals.

Script writer Dominic Teague delivers a great story, too, along the way pondering the might have beens of Britain continuing its World War One alliance with Japan, which might have seen Japan as an ally, rather than a growing threat, and on the same side in World War Two.

Commando 5471: Home of Heroes – Churchill’s Commandos: Alt For Norge!
Story: Heath Ackley Art: Khato Cover: Neil Roberts
Buy the digital edition from Amazon UK (Affiliate Link)

Commando 5471: Home of Heroes - Churchill’s Commandos: Alt For Norge! - cover by Neil Roberts

They’re back! Commandos James McKay and Jack Ambrose were ice‑cold under pressure, almost nothing could crack their cool determination and highly‑trained nerves. But they never expected a frosty reception from none other than the Norwegian Resistance! All is not what it seems, however, as the pair make a discovery that could shatter even the thickest of glaciers. Can they keep their tempers— or will they be put on ice?

A follow up Commando focusing on the comic’s namesake, this time our heroes are taking on a U-boat base in Heath Ackley’s fraternal romp, with charming art from Khato and a chilling cover from Neil Roberts.

Commando 5472: Gold Collection – One Man Mission
Story: Allan Art and Cover: Gordon C Livingstone
Originally Commando No. 425 (1969)
Buy the digital edition from Amazon UK (Affiliate Link)

Commando 5472: Gold Collection - One Man Mission - cover by Gordon C Livingstone

Corporal Matt Brady was sent out alone. All around him were icy floods and German patrols who would show him no mercy. Yet he was the only man who could save his battalion. He had to get through… Then he found an ally, a strange ally — a German soldier!

A tight, tense tale from Allan with nothing less than masterful art by Gordon C Livingstone — from the blue and orange contrast of the cover to the inky depths of the interiors, Livingstone proves why he is so beloved with this issue.

Commando 5473: Action and Adventure – Divergent Empires
Story: Dominic Teague Art: Alberto Saichann Cover: Neil Roberts
Buy the digital edition from Amazon UK (Affiliate Link)

A friendship forged in battle, Corporals Christopher Green and Ryu Fujiwara met through the haze of bullets and smoke as both their nations faced the Germans during the Siege of Tsingtao. Theirs was a kinship that lasted the rest of the war and well into the decades to come. For Green and Fujiwara, Japan and Britain were not so different.

That is until the Anglo-Japanese alliance ended and the world was thrown into a another war in which these nations and men found themselves no longer as allies — but enemies!

Veteran Commando artist Alberto Saichann brings life to Dominic Teague’s sombre tale of friends forced on opposite sides of war, offering detailed spreads and expressionistic art that’s perfect for this story.

Commando 5474: Silver Collection – The Warbirds
Story: CG Walker | Art: Gordon C Livingstone | Cover: Ian Kennedy
Originally Commando No. 1728 (1983)
Buy the digital edition from Amazon UK (Affiliate Link)

A quiet Burmese village, remote from the savages of battles of the First World War… yet on the wall in one of the huts hung a collection of photographs showing the men and machines which had fought in the skies over Europe during that wasteful war. Out of place though they might have seemed, they were also to be a grim prophecy of greater changes which lay in the unsettled future.

A striking cover by Ian kennedy, the juxtaposition of the yellow on blue Sopwith camel from World War One above the blue-green on yellow of a World War Two Hurricane perfectly sets up the reader for the duality versus similarities of war within!

• Commando Comics is online at www.commandocomics.com | DC Thomson – Subscriptions | Facebook | Twitter | Commando Comics on AmazonUK

Commando Comics 2022 Calendar - cover by Ian Kennedy

• 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 5471 – 5474 – Full Cover Gallery

  • Commando 5471: Home of Heroes - Churchill’s Commandos: Alt For Norge! FULL
  • Commando 5472: Gold Collection - One Man Mission FULL
  • Commando 5473: Action and Adventure - Divergent Empires FULL
  • Commando 5474: Silver Collection - The Warbirds FULL

• Commando Comics is online at www.commandocomics.com | DC Thomson – Subscriptions | Facebook | Twitter | Commando Comics on AmazonUK



Categories: British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Discover more from downthetubes.net

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

Continue reading