Home › Comics › British Comics › Remembering “Charley’s War”, a comic story of the Great War

Remembering “Charley’s War”, a comic story of the Great War

By John Freeman on November 10, 2018

As we remember the fallen of all wars this weekend, you may be interested in finding out more about “Charley’s War”, the powerful story of the young Charley Bourne, caught up in the fervour of World War One, “the Great War”, and, subsequently, the horrors that came with it.

The long-running strip was originally created for the British weekly comic Battle by writer Pat Mills and artist Joe Colquhoun.

The horror of the war takes young Charley Bourne to the edge of insanity in this memorable sequence from the strip

Our “micro site” within downthetubes, originally the work of the late Neil Emery, who was instrumental in the drive to get “Charley’s War” back into print, includes background features, interviews with Pat and the only longform interview with Joe known to have been conducted.

The section also includes a full strip chronology and a number of articles on the real world background to some of the events in the highly acclaimed comic, now available as collections from Rebellion, for whom we are grateful for their continued support.

• Visit the “Charley’s War” micro site here on downthetubes

[amazon_link asins=’1781086192,1781086206,1781086214′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’downthetubes’ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’617b6a32-e4bd-11e8-8f3b-b7780ac08cc4′]

“Charley’s War” and Battle copyright Rebellion Publishing Ltd.

John Freeman

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.