The Commando team are taking a break from the sun with the latest set of pocket war comics round to treat you to a couple of dark new stories. After all, you always appreciate the sunshine a bit more after some time in the shade… and you may want to be in the sunlight after reading “The Mud“, a chilling World War One story by new Commando Nathan Breakenridge.
Commando Issues 5863 – 5866 are on sale from Thursday 19th June 2025, in all good newsagents, and from various digital platforms.
This set includes “The Mud”, a creepy trip into the dark trenches of World War One from newcomer writer Nathan Breakenridge, leant a chilling atmosphere by absolutely stunning art from Marc Viure, complemented by an atmospheric cover from Marco Bianchini.
Drawing in his work elsewhere as a writer of visually evocative storytelling, Nathan has crafted one of the best stories yet in recent Commando history – and if you aren’t reading this title, you should be, because there have some belters of stories of late, in terms of both script and art. It’s a rare thing for a war comic to have the hairs go up on the back of your neck, but “The Mud” may come close, touching on themes of relationship, without labouring them, that I don’t think have ever been part of a Commando story before. This is a first, on many fronts, and I’d urge you to track down a copy.
Nathan Breakenridge is an Edinburgh-based creator with with both a 1st Class Honours degree in English Literature from The University of Dundee and an MLitt in Creative Writing from The University of Stirling.
A writer who likes things a bit creepy or weird, in addition to his comics writing he’s a longtime published poet, his work appearing in literary magazines such as The Selkie.
Above – a slideshow of Marco Bianchini’s cover roughs for Commando 5863 (Home of Heroes): The Mud Story
Also new this set is “Wolfsangel” from Rossa McPhillips art with Alberto Saichann, drawing on the accounts of Werwolf, a Nazi plan which began development in 1944, to create a resistance force which would operate behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced through Germany in parallel with the Wehrmacht fighting in front of the lines. Rossa’s tale offers a take on how a second attempt to slow the Allies invasion, instigated by Josef Goebbels, plays out, as a determined American intelligence officer tries to bring an end to a reign of terror orchestrated by a brutal SS officer.
As ever, Rossa mixes the factual with the fiction with ease in his script, and Alberto Saichann proves the perfect choice to bring the story to life, rounded off with another smashing cover from Simon Pritchard.
If you’re curious about the real Werwolf operation, which was not successful, thankfully, as its instigators hoped it would be., then check out this article for The Smithsonian by Lorraine Boissoneault, or this chilling call to arms from the German Propaganda Archive, issued by Werner Naumann, Goebbels’s top aide at the end of the war, in early April 1945. It calls on the remaining propagandists throughout Germany to devote their full efforts to building an underground resistance movement that would make Allied occupation unbearably costly.
This Week’s Commando Titles
Commando 5863 (Home of Heroes): The Mud
Story: Nathan Breakenridge | Art: Marc Viure | Cover: Marco Bianchini
France, 1916. Private Andrew MacIntosh had been proud to join the Royal Scots Fusiliers, like his grandfather before him. But as he quickly learned, there was no glory to be had on the Western Front. He found solace as he always had – in his books. With the arrival of reinforcements, however, came a stark reminder that the past has a way of catching up with us. A past that would drive MacIntosh to do something terrible. Something that would haunt him.
Commando 5864 (Gold): Bill the Bowman
Story: Allan | Art: Galindo | Cover: Ian Kennedy
First published 1972 as No. 660
The German sentry peered out from the top of the battlements. Had something moved out there in the darkness?
Cautiously, he leaned out farther. It was the last move he ever made, as the first of the silent steel shafts struck home. That night was to be a busy one for the special bow and its special arrows…
An absolute bullseye of an issue, this one!
Commando 5865 (For Action and Adventure): Wolfsangel
Story: Rossa McPhillips | Art: Alberto Saichann | Cover: Simon Pritchard
Germany, 1945. The end of the war is near and the Americans have taken over the small town of Hof. But that’s when the murders, bombings and ambushes began. At the scene of the crimes, there is a mysterious symbol left by the perpetrators – the Wolfsangel, marking the work of the Werwolf terrorist cell.
It now falls to US intelligence officer, Lieutenant Chuck Powell, to stop them – before it’s too late!
Yet another rip-roaringly good script from Rossa McPhillips to sink your teeth into, with awesome interior art from Alberto Saichann and a stellar cover by Simon Pritchard.
Commando 5866 (Silver): All Guns Firing
Story: McDevitt | Art: Jose Maria Jorge | Cover: Jeff Bevan
First published 1984 as No. 1776
Another classic nautical Commando adventure represented! Lieutenants Jack Randal and Tony Johnston were both superb Motor Gun Boat skippers. But a rivalry existed between these two men, a rivalry so fierce they spent almost as much time fighting each other as they did fighting the Germans!
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• If there’s a past Commando comic you would like to see reprinted, contact the team via generalenquiries@commandomag.com
Commando Issues 5863 – 5866 Cover Gallery
• Commando Comics is online at commandocomics.com | DC Thomson – Subscriptions | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Commando Comics on AmazonUK | Commando Comics on Magzter
New Warlord Collection Out Next Month
Don’t miss out on a new collection featuring stories of Britain’s best World War Two. Lord Peter Flint is back in Codename: Warlord Volume 2.
Flint’s tales of derring-do along with his identity card and codebook thrilled readers of Warlord for over 600 issues before it ceased publication in 1984.
In 2019, as regular downthetubes readers know, Flint returned to the comic world once again with his reboot in Commando, proving that you just can’t keep a man like Flint down! Codename: Warlord returned to Commando in 2024 and again earlier this year, and both rip‑roaring issues have been collected, alongside continuing adventures from the original 1974 comic run.
Heres a slideshow teaser…
DC Thomson’s Heritage Comics and Commando present… Codename: Warlord Volume 2, out 23rd July 2025, is available for preorder now direct from DC Thomson or your favourite bookshop (AmazonUK Affiliate Link), ISBN 978-1917436120
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comic Previews, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Reviews
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