Four years after James Bacon went to his first Commando Swop Meet in Watford, he’s come to really enjoy and treasure these events – and the latest, held in Colchester on Saturday 14th October 2023, was no exception…
The Commando Swap Meets, which take place on s semi-regular basis around Britain, are terrific meeting points for British comic fans, and the latest, in Colchester last weekend proved a terrific gathering.
The historic roman town of Colchester seemed very apt, bringing to mind the work of Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. Who doesn’t love Asterix, Obelix and Cacofonix? The venue was situated in the town centre, so easy to find – and it was a beautiful autumn crisp and bright day, too.
This was the 14th Commando Swop Meet, but the first here, as fellow fan Karl Kennedy had simply said to previous organisers Bruce Scott, Andy Yates and Stephen Hume that he would like to run one!
A support mechanism activated, and while Karl worked hard negotiating, planning, laying out the space, many others helped, and the existing materials were produced, demonstrating that the concept of running a swop meet in ones own town or city is totally viable.
Following a well-worked strategy, a venue was found, and the event was organised in support of, and with the support of the 12th Colchester Sea Scout group, in the Colchester Baptist Church hall. This was an airy and bright venue, brim-full of comics and art, and the Scouts provided tea, coffee, bacon sandwiches – and a delightful array of cakes. It was a very nice venue and the Scouts were welcoming and fun, selling donated comics very cheaply, and keeping the free comic table well stocked.
The eclectic mix of dealers was great. Local comic shop ACE Comics (who have stores in Colchester and Southend-on-Sea) had a stand, as did local fans who were clearing out their collections, and dealers had worked hard to bring comics to the show. There were thousands, and a request elicited more from below and behind tables, and so there was a fabulous mix of items for sale, I was surprised to find copies of JAG, and missing Battle Specials, but also found books about comics.
A number of people had brought artwork for display, and this was really nice, co-ordinated by Stuart Steele and Edward Walker. There was a huge selection on display, a fabulous pop-up gallery that flat packs for easy transfer – a work of ingenuity! I was stunned by a painting created for Where Eagles Dare, while Stuart and Ed had worked hard to group works together, so that pictures featuring staff cars were grouped, as were four featuring machine guns, and so on.
Original comics were on display close by, too, allowing the viewer to consider the process, what is hidden by the titles, or other necessary information that goes over the art, and also to see where changes were made, but the size of the original work is incredible and so lovely to see.
I was very pleased to see black and white work by David Lloyd, Keith Burns and Chris Weston, as well as painted work by Kevin O’Neill, which surprised me. Also on display was a Battle cover featuring “Charley’s War”, drawn by Joe Colquhoun, and some beautiful “Paddy Payne” pages, drawn for Lion, which are huge, the work of Joe and Graham Coton. Coton would paint the first panel, in black and white and grey, and then move to pencils and inks, to great effect. You can see a distinct similarity between the characters, Paddy Payne and Charley Bourne, in Colquhoun’s work. Stuart and Ed had folders of information available, and I was grateful that there were so many willing to have their work displayed.
Studying the Paddy Payne pages, a question arose. What was Paddy’s back story?
Time to take a look through amazing run of Lion comics that was on sale, possibly 200, but, unfortunately, only going as far back as 1959, so first issue was not to hand. I drew others into the discussion. Guest Steve Holland, who has indexed Lion, and has published a fantastic book through Bear Alley Press about the title, is considered an expert, but was unsure.
However, fellow guest Stephen Walsh, who is well known to Irish fans, for works such as Hancock: The Lad Himself and The Iron Moon, both created with Keith Page, as well as writing dozens of Commando comics, suggested that surely there was a real-life inspiration for Paddy Payne, and wondered whether there was Fighter Ace with the name Paddy – and indeed Wing Commander Paddy Finucane was suggested.
Born in Dublin Brendan Eamonn Fergus Finucane, DSO, DFC & Two Bars, known as Paddy, joined the RAF in 1938, and flew Spitfires in the Battle of Britain. He was the youngest Wing Commander in the RAF at the time of his death, in July 1942. He was an Ace with 28 confirmed kills.
Demonstrating how real stories can be as fascinating as the comic fiction we appreciate, it is of note that Paddy’s father Thomas had approved of him to join the RAF, the family then living in London, even though Thomas had fought in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin with the the Irish Volunteers, under Eamon de Valera and Paddy’s grandfather, also Irish was with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers in the North-West Frontier Province.
Could he have been an inspiration? More research required.
Stephen Walsh, Stephen Hume and James Swallow were busy chatting about comic writing, in between signing comics, talking about the craft, but also welcoming discussion from nearby comic experts Vic Whittle and Steve Holland. Steve had brought some wonderful Bear Alley Press publications, including the complete Eagles over the Western Front, created by Mike Butterworth and Bill Lacey, which originally appeared in Look and Learn, and some copies of the out of print Frontline, which originally appeared in Bullet, the work of William Cordoroy, with artwork by Ian Kennedy and Clemente Rezzonico, a real find.
Bargains were to be had. One fan, who had reconnected with his love of Battle, bought approximately 250 issues for under £100, delighted to find so many available and pleased with this fabulous value. And it is, when we consider a new comic can be £4, so getting one for 50p or less is a phenomenal bargain! But that is the nature of these swop meets: bulk buys get a discount, meanwhile rarities, such as an issue of the fanzine, Achtung Commando, edited by comics artist and historian Peter Richardson, and very early Commandos were snapped up.
It was a terrific day. It was brilliant to see so many, very pleased with their purchases, pleased to have filled in gaps in their collections, happy to discuss and talk about comics, and enjoy the art, the process, meet writers, Stephen, Stephen, Steve and James were all great, and it was a pleasure to make new acquaintances, while also meeting pals.
Hopefully more people will step forward, willing to undertake the effort and work that Karl did and we will see more Swop Meets next year.
James Bacon
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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Thanks a brilliant write up of the day.