Titan Books has released the first volume Johnny Red featuring art by Charley’s War co-creator Joe Colquhoun.
Johnny Red is just the latest British comics collection from Titan Books, whose other reprints include Charley’s War of course, James Bond, Modesty Blaise and Dan Dare, with more character-focused projects in the works. These include the release of an uncensored collection of John Wagner and Mike Western’s classic but perhaps controversial Darkie’s Mob from Battle Picture Weekly, on sale in late March.
Johnny Red is surely one of the best-loved aerial combat comics ever, plucked from the pages of Battle. When pilot Johnny Redburn is discharged from the RAF for striking an officer, he is forced to join the Merchant Navy. But a German sneak attack forces Redburn back into the air – in a stolen Hurricane. Redburn aims for Russia, planning to save his plane and career, but on landing, meets the ‘Falcon Squadron’ of the 5th Soviet Air Brigade, who are under German attack! Redburn takes to the skies once more – to fight for Russia.
This first collection of the classic strip by Tom Tully (whose credits include Roy of the Rovers) and, features the first strips which were all drawn by Joe Colquhoun (Charley’s War) and includes a new introduction by Garth Ennis and a feature on real-world origins of the strip by Jeremy Briggs.
Collections of other strips from Battle are in development from Titan, although one major issue is finding good quality copies of the original comics. To date, they’ve published seven volumes of Charley’s War, with Volume 8 in pre-production – a volume that will include hero Charley Bourne’s dangerous encounter with a young Adolf Hitler.
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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.
Categories: British Comics - Current British Publishers, downthetubes Comics News