Writer Andrew Knighton very kindly takes downthetubes readers on a journey through “Eagle-Eyed Cadman”, his latest Commando comics story, No. 4799, in newsagents and available digitally now!
SPOILER ALERT Don’t read further if you haven’t read “Eagle-Eyed Cadman” yet!
“Like all Andrew’s stories, ‘Eagle Eyed Cadman’ is very interesting,” says artist Mike Dorey of the adventure. “His scripts are a pleasure to illustrate (being fairly succinct), and he’s really got the character of both Cadman and Tom Smith and there’s plenty of action.
“This story features a church, which I based on our local one, which proved a little tricky but I think it works okay. I love drawing animals, so it was particularly pleasing to draw the dog (my own one) in this story.
“Cadman is such a great character to draw and there is usually some humour in the stories, so I think I was very lucky to have been given him to draw!”
• Check out all the latest Commando comics releases here on downthetubes
Wherever a hero is needed to lay down his life for the good of his fellow man, you’ll find Gerald Cadman pushing someone else into the firing line. But it’s hard work avoiding the Great War, and Cadman’s always looking for a new way out, so this time he’s off to sniper school. Will this be the adventure that finally teaches him heroism and compassion? I think we all know the answer, so let’s head out between the trenches with Eagle-Eyed Cadman…
Reviving an Old Anti-Hero
Gerald Cadman is a character who predates my writing career, and not just because he’s a First World War officer.
Cadman was originally created by the writing team at The Victor back in the 1970s, with art by Mike Dorey. Decades later, Commando got access to a selection of old characters, and I was given the chance to revive one of them. Of all the options, Cadman was the obvious choice. I grew up on the likes of Blackadder and Hellblazer, so I love a good antihero, and I leaped on the opportunity to revive the fighting coward. It’s a particular honour to have Mike on art duties, and to see my stories brought to life in his evocative style.
“Eagle-Eyed Cadman” is my third Cadman story. When I’m thinking about what to do with Cadman, I’m also thinking about interesting aspects of the First World War that I can explore to make each adventure distinctive. I’d already taken him through the outbreak of the war and an attempt to join the Royal Flying Corps (a fitting Blackadder moment), so this time I decided to explore the world of snipers.
As always, the cowardly and self-serving Cadman is accompanied by his batman, Tom Smith, a creation from the original run. Smith is really important to the stories because he provides a foil for Cadman – someone he can argue with and whose behaviour dramatically contrasts his own. He gives readers someone to root for, because none of us really wants Cadman to win.
Also returning from the previous two comics is Captain Gareth Marklew. The first time I wrote Cadman, I named incidental characters after people I knew. I didn’t think about the fact that some of them might come back, so I’ve accidentally immortalised an old university friend in a recurring role. At least Gareth gets to see his named attached to someone good – in the unlikely event that there’s a real Gerald Cadman out there, he must be really disappointed in his namesake.
Details…
If you’ve not read the comic yet, now’s the time to bookmark this page for later. I’m about to get into spoiler territory, as I explore some of the details.
Think of this as a commentary track, for a comic instead of a film. I’m not going to go into every page, but there are some details that might add to our appreciation of the story, and give some insight into the thinking behind one of these scripts…
(Mike Dorey has also kindly sent two pages from the story, complementing Andrew’s commentary, showing his pencils and inks side by side – Ed)
Page 3
A classic Cadman opening – he’s slacking off while Smith works. It’s a scene I’ve used more than once to show what these characters are like.
This story could have been set at many points in the war. I went for early 1915 so that the Cadman timeline doesn’t move forward too quickly, leaving plenty of space for more stories before the war’s end.
Page 5
Years ago, I picked up some comics writing advice from a book by X-men writer Peter David. He suggested trying to leave a hook before each turn of the page, something that makes the reader want to know what comes next, however small that something is. Here, it’s Marklew promising us significant news, leaving open the question of what that news is. If you look at the other odd numbered pages of this story, or any Commando I’ve written, you’ll find similar things going on.
Page 6
Half the joy of writing Cadman’s dialogue is running into the gap between what he wants to say and what he knows he has to say, finding ways for him to justify himself. “I wouldn’t want to steal your glory” indeed.
Page 7
While depictions of trench fighting on the Western Front focus on the big assaults, small trench raids were also common. They were a way of testing the enemy’s defences, gathering intelligence, and I suspect also of fending off despair – trench raiding let men feel like they could make a difference, even when that might not have been true.
Page 13
Given half a chance, Cadman would avoid any risk of violence, so part of my job as a writer is making it unavoidable for him. He’s not bad at fighting, he just doesn’t want to be there.
Page 17
This being an issue of Commando, I’ve kept the language clean, but there’s a version in my head where Smith uses stronger language than “nonsense” to describe Cadman’s behaviour. The fighting coward has earned it.
Page 18
There’s something melancholy about seeing peacetime buildings overtaken by war, like a school house turned into a sniper school, and describing the sniper HQ that way let me give it some character as well as a reminder of the costs of war.
Snipers using hunting guns was a real feature of the First World War. Planners weren’t ready for this aspect of the war, but the soldiers on the ground found ways of equipping themselves until the army produced its own sniper rifles.
You can see similar patterns of improvisation and adjustment elsewhere. For example, there was almost no planning for military intelligence and covert operations prior to World War Two, so some swift improvisation went into building those operations. Nicholas Rankin’s, book Churchill’s Wizards, discusses a lot of the ingenious things that went on in both wars, and has a whole chapter on sniping in World War One.
Page 21
I rushed Cadman’s training to keep the story moving, but it’s also a nod to the Royal Flying Corps episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, where Blackadder doesn’t get the long months of training he hoped for. I suspect that Richard Curtis and Ben Elton were also focused on keeping the story moving, then saw a chance to get a punchline out of it.
Page 22
Turning Cadman’s target into an expert on defensive systems was a way of adding high stakes to this single assassination mission. It also reflects an important part of the war that doesn’t fit into an action story – the development of trench systems. Once it became clear that this wouldn’t be a war of movement, both sides quickly had to start learning how to build effective defences. The engineering and layout of these systems became a specialist skill, and the Germans were particularly good at it. The fictional General Schultze is a symbol of what was to come.
Page 24
Page 28
Part of what makes Smith and Cadman’s relationship work is that they have to work together in the face of the Germans, and they’re actually really good at it. These moments of danger don’t just add action, they hold the story together, preventing the characters from escaping each other.
Page 31
Page 32
There are a few reasons why I chose a church as the lone building standing in no man’s land. One is that old churches are sturdy buildings, so it makes sense that it would survive any destruction around it. Another is that it looks dramatic and adds visual variety.
Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco used a battered church in no man’s land during the first run of Arrowsmith, a comic set in a fantasy version of World War One. If you’ve ever wanted to read a mashup between Commando and Lord of the Rings, that’s Arrowsmith.
Page 37
Only Cadman would relish the chance to shoot other people in the back. When he does the right thing, it’s important to put in a reminder of who really is, just in case someone mistakes him for a hero.
Page 41
One more reason to put the characters in an old church – handy hiding places…
Page 44
I’m a cat person, as my editorial assistant Spooky can tell you. He gets paid in Dreamies and tuna.
Having a cat has made me more aware of how animals brighten up our lives, leading to things like the lucky rabbit in “Ride for Your Life” (Commando 5751) and now Scruff the dog. You can tell that Scruff’s a good boy, because he’s about to make Cadman’s life difficult.
Page 45
Yet again, Cadman sits around while Smith does the work. That first page really did set the tone.
Page 50
If cowardice was Cadman’s only flaw, he never would have gone to war in the first place, and he certainly wouldn’t get into as many adventures. Forcing him to choose between safety and ambition means that, as a writer, I can nudge him into doing more interesting things. The original writers did a great job of creating a character who’s his own worst enemy.
Page 51
Just in case anyone was starting to like Schultze, here he is being mean about the dog. Clearly a wrong ‘un, who will deserve whatever happens to him.
As a writer, I love getting to use phrases like “bally idiot”. Old-fashioned cursing and insults bring the culture of the past to life while avoiding the sort of language that I can’t use in Commando, but that I use waaaaay too often in real life. These scripts force me to be more varied and imaginative in my insults and exclamations, which is a fun challenge.
Maybe it’s time to bring “bally” back.
Page 57
And here’s Scruff the dog again, being an adorable liability. This sort of behaviour should be familiar to anyone who’s tried to type while their cat sprawls across the keyboard or the dog makes plaintive demands for a walk.
Page 64
If there was any justice in Cadman’s world, he’d face the consequences of his actions and we wouldn’t get any more stories about him. So he gets a win that will keep up his reputation and his career, and I get to write him again another day.
Of course they kept the dog in the end, because it gives me an excuse to include him in future adventures. Didn’t I say that I was a pet person?
Page 65
I usually end Commando stories on a note of happiness, hope or determination, something to leave the reader feeling good. And normally, that means leaving the characters in a positive mood. But what could be more satisfying for readers than seeing Cadman made miserable?
Until next time, at least…
Andrew Knighton is an author of short stories, comics, and novellas. His novel The Executioner’s Blade, a fantasy murder mystery set in a city under siege, is released on 28th November 2024, and available for preorder now.
As a freelance writer, he’s ghostwritten over forty novels in other people’s names, as well as articles, history books, and video scripts. He lives in Yorkshire with an academic and a cat, growing vegetables and dreaming about a brighter future.
• You can find more of his work and social media links at andrewknighton.com
• You can also find him on on Bluesky as @aknighton and on Mastodon as @gibbondemon
Mike Dorey is an artist and illustrator, who’s become something of a go to artist when it comes to breathing new life into classic British comic characters of late. Which should, perhaps, come as no surprise. Quite apart from being a brilliant artist, his breakout character Cadman, The Fighting Coward, created for DC Thomson, established a precedent for creating anti-heroes and anti-establishment figures.
Mike is well known for his work on the ground-breaking weekly Action comic, for which he co-created Hellman of Hammer Force, the first German military hero in the history of post- war British comics. He went on to draw the iconic Rogue Trooper for 2000AD.
Mike is noted for his dark, textured artwork, with an emphasis on line and form influenced by a study of Impressionist and Surrealist art. His strong draftsmanship is characterised by a bold and high-contrast style that makes his work instantaneously recognisable.
• Check out all the latest Commando comics releases here on downthetubes
Further Reading…
• Churchill’s Wizards: The British Genius for Deception 1914-1945
by Nicholas Rankin
The real story of how Winston Churchill and the British mastered deception to defeat the Nazis – by conning the Kaiser, hoaxing Hitler and using brains to outwit brawn.
• Sniping Rifles of World War One
By Martin Pegler, illustrated by Adam Hook and Alan Gilliland
While Germany and Austria-Hungary were well-equipped with sniping rifles in 1914, their Allied opponents were not. This highly illustrated volume tells the inside story of the rifles carried by snipers of all the major powers during World War I.
Our thanks to Georgia Battle at DC Thomson, Mike Dorey and Andrew Knighton for their contributions to this behind the scenes feature
Cadman and Commando comics © DC Thomson Media
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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.
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