Review by James Bacon

Edited and published by Justin Marriott 

The Book: The latest issue of a fanzine dedicated to British war comics, offering articles, reviews and features on comics such as Commando, still published, and vintage comics such as Battle Picture Weekly, War Picture Library, including items on strips such as “Black Max”, “Dredger”, “Maddock’s Marauders”, “Kommando King” and more

The Review: Battling Britons #6 brings comic fans a fabulous selection of articles, reviews, columns and “quick hits” to readers interested in war comics. 

With 22 separate pieces across 110 pages, there is a wonderful selection to choose from, and like comics of my youth, I go first to items that capture my imagination. Commando editor emeritus Calum Laird‘s article on artist Gordon Livingstone proves delightful in its personal remembrances and detail. It’s a lovely article about a brilliant artist, and I thoroughly enjoyed it – and it was a good start to the issue for me. 

Editor and publisher Justin Marriott often writes about subjects that are close to my heart, and this issue he looks at Commando comics that feature trains. He starts this with a fabulous laugh out loud list of the ten things he has learned from reading comics which featured trains. It’s a light hearted and humorous approach, and then lists some 30 Commando stories, and discusses them briefly. 

Jim O’Brien looks at two fantastic artists, Alfonso Font and Enric Sió i Guardiola, both from Spain, who had some seriously beautiful work published in British comics. I always find the Spanish and British connection fascinating to read about, and his two articles go into detail about the artists and their work.

Amongst the many articles and reviews, we also have Paul Trimble chatting to Garth Ennis about this year’s Battle offering from Rebellion. Garth confirmed for readers that there will be ten (yes, ten) monthly issues of Battle, with two stories in each. One story will be a stand alone featuring characters from both Action and Battle, and the other will be a multi-part “Johnny Red” story with artist Keith Burns, with the last issue being all Johnny Red, which sounds exceedingly exciting. 

This issue has a clear direction to it, and I caught up with Justin Marriott, and asked him, where he was taking Battling Britons.

“After recent themed issues, which saw the zine explore British comics which were not restricted to the war genre, such as ‘Future War’ in Issue 4 and ‘Spies’ in issue 5, I made a conscious with Issue 6 to drop themes and return to a core subject of war comics,” says Justin.

“The launch of companion title, Comics Rule OK, which covers all British comics, allows me and the team to scratch that particular itch, so Battling Britons can retain the focus on vintage British war comics that landed so well with readers.

“I am delighted with the contributions from the team for Issue 6 and it is the most diverse issue yet, with a nice balance of humour and insight, showcasing the breadth of variety to be found in war comics, from the World War One bi-planes versus giant bats insanity of ‘Black Max‘, through to how to learn to drive a train by reading Commando pocket books. I urge any reader of comics to check it out, and put to one side all of the ‘Banzai’ and ‘Donner Un Blitzen’ style preconceptions you may hold about war comics of the 1960s and 70s, as I think you might be surprised at the quality and entertainment vintage war comics hold. I intentionally price the zine at the lowest point I can, so hopefully it is accessible to all.”

There is no denying the good value, at a fiver on Amazon, it is hard to find better value. 

With so many articles covering a vast area of War Comics, Seaplanes in pocket books, Bats over the Western Front, short comic stories in Battle, and a superb article about Lone Wolves, tough guys and spies, amongst so many others, it really is a great read, and importantly, shares comics that readers may not even be aware of. 

James Bacon

• Battling Britons No. 6 is available here from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

James Bacon also wrote a couple of articles for Battling Britons #6

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.

Categories: British Comics, Comics, Features, Magazines, Other Worlds, Reviews

Tags: Alfonso Font, Battle Action, Battling Britons, Black Max, Calum Laird, Commando, Enric Sió i Guardiola, Garth Ennis, Gordon Livingstone, James Bacon, Jim O’Brien, Johnny Red, Justin Marriott, Keith Burns, Paul Trimble