The long and complicated guide to collecting Charley's War

In honour of Armistice Day & Remembrance Sunday, here's a copy of my guide to collecting Charley's War (initially printed in the current issue of Comic Scene)...which is available here

The recent publication by the Treasury of British Comics imprint of their 3 volume collection of the first world war masterpiece Charley’s War got me thinking about what there is out there for fans of this amazing series to collect.

The first world war series (I’m glossing over the second world war series here) originally ran for 293 episodes in Battle from 6^th Jan 1979 [issue 200] -26^th Jan 1985 (that’s a total of 316 weeks so not many weeks missed) and charted the hellish story of world war one from the perspective, not of an officer and a gentleman, but rather from the viewpoint of an underage working class lad who joined up to ‘do his bit’ for King and country. The story is rightly regarded as both an anti-war classic and a high-water mark in British comics.

Let’s start with the most recent reprints and go backwards from there...

Treasury of British comics imprint (published 2018)

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 1 – The Boy Soldier  - episodes 1-86

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 2 – Brothers in arms  - episodes 87-176

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 3 – Remembrance - episodes 177-293

Note that for each of these volumes there is also a limited edition ‘bookplate’ edition (of 150 copies) which contains a bookplate signed by Pat Mills.

Before this Titan Books published a series of hardback volumes collating Charley’s adventures...

1. Charley’s War – volume 1 (published November 2004); episodes 1-29

2. Charley’s War – 1 August 2016 – 17 October 1916; volume 2 (October 2005); episodes 30-59

3. Charley’s War – 17 October 1916 – 21 February 1917; volume 3 (October 2006); episodes 60-83

4. Charley’s War – Blue’s story; volume 4 (October 2007); episodes 84-109

5. Charley’s War – Return to the front; volume 5 (October 2008); episodes 110-136

6. Charley’s War – Underground and over the top; volume 6 (October 2009); episodes 137-166

Note that there are 30 episodes in this volume, not 29 episodes as the notes in the back say. The notes should summarise episodes 22-24, 25-26, 27-29 & 30 (rather than 22-23, 24-25, 26-28 & 29)

7. Charley’s War – The great mutiny; volume 7 (October 2010); episodes 167-195

8. Charley’s War – Hitler’s youth; volume 8 (October 2011); episodes 196-225

9. Charley’s War – Death from above; volume 9 (October 2012); episodes 226-260

10. Charley’s War – The end; volume 10 (October 2013); episodes 261-293

In addition two slipcased commemorative volumes (Charley’s War 1914-2014) were announced but never published.

And (in August 2014) one softback volume – A boy soldier in the great war – which reprinted episodes 1-86 of the series.

The Best of Battle (softback, Titan Books, October 2009) gives you nearly 300 pages of Battle strips including the first 4 episodes of Charley’s War.

Charley also had a run of reprints in the Judge Dredd Megazine, specifically

·         issue 211 (cover dated 21 October 2003) – issue 228 (cover dated 02 May 2006) reprinted episodes 1-76;

·         issues 234 (cover dated 26 July 2005) – 236 (cover dated 20 September 2005) reprinted episodes 77-88;

·         and then issues 238 (cover dated 15 November 2005) – 244 (cover dated 02 May 2006) reprinted episodes 89-109.

So, all in all that’s twenty-eight issues of the Megazine reprinting the first four volumes of material reprinted by Titan Books and I’d have to say the reproduction quality in the Megazine is better than in the Titan Books.

Meanwhile back over in Battle...After the World War One story had been completed (26/01/85) the story moved immediately (02/02/85) onto the World War Two story – this was completed on 04/10/86. 

Battle then moved into reprints of the World War One episodes and over the next 67 weeks (so up to 23/01/88) got the story up to episode 68. Week commencing 30/01/88 saw Battle merge with new Eagle and the reprints continued in new Eagle up until 21/01/90 – so a further 117 issues (episodes 69-84, 86-175, 178-184 & 272-275). 

After a break of about a year new Eagle then began reprinting Charley’s War AGAIN (from the issue dated 23/2/91 running all the way until the end of new Eagle, January 1994) – episodes 1-84 and 86-120 in total. So you may have noticed that episode 85 was not reprinted by new Eagle for a second time – this is an episode where you get a burning German falling from a zeppelin and Crimean war veteran Blind Bob run over by a lorry (and a zeppelin commander’s funeral is disrupted by a mob throwing eggs), and it was clearly deemed too much for new Eagle readers.

Before all these reprints there were the original 1980s reprints from Titan Books. The first of these slim volumes appeared in March 1983 and the cover shows a forlorn Charley looking at the graves he has dug for his fallen comrades. The first volume reprints the first 16 episodes of the saga. The second (and final) reprint volume wasn’t published until June 1986 but published a further 24 episodes in a volume with a particularly haunting cover. The cover for volume two was adapted from the opening frame of episode 25; whereas the cover for volume one seems more likely to have come from the harrowing start to episode 42 where Charley has literally scraped the remains of his best mate, Ginger, into a bag and is off to bury him.  

The final item that any Charley’s War collector should look out for is Lew Stringer’s (now rare and expensive) old fanzine, Fantasy Express, in particular issue 4 (Summer 1982) as this features the only interview Joe Colquhoun ever gave fandom. He also provides a Charley’s War cover. Fantasy Express is A5 sized and this issue is only 36 pages long (including covers) and the interview and associated features take up 13 pages in total (you also get an interview with Pat Mills and an interview with Kev O’Neill – it’s quite some issue). The wide ranging interview covers many facets of Joe’s life and career, but a couple of Charley moments stand out...

“...when I was first asked to take on Charley’s War after Johnny Red I said to the editor [Dave Hunt] “God Almighty, how are you going to make any subject matter out of such a static subject as trench warfare?” and he said “We’ve got a damn good author!”...” well Dave Hunt was certainly right about that.

Joe also remarks, with a large degree of under-statement, that “...I’ve tried very hard to bring out the realism in the trenches...that might lead to a certain amount of authenticity which is possibly lacking in the more blood and thunder, action-packed World War 2 stories [scripted, not by Pat Mills, but by M Scott Goodall].

So there you have it, the complete guide to Charley’s War reprints, here’s hoping that there’s something still for you to collect, and if not, long may you read about Charley Bourne.

And as a final treat here's Garen Ewing's depiction of Charley Bourne - this is taken from the British sketchbook volume 1 (edited by Darryl Cunningham) c.1996

The very first appearance of The Rainbow Orchid

I've looked recently (here to be precise) at the early small press appearance of Garen Ewing's The Rainbow Orchid. That post led to Mal Earl getting in touch and kindly sharing these scans from Imagineers magazine. This is volume 1, issue 3 (Winter/Spring 99) of the UK's #1 comic fanzine. I've not come across this before so my thanks to Mal for sharing this. 

This marked the first appearance anywhere of The Rainbow Orchid - just 3 pages (and pages 2 & 3 were printed in the wrong order!) but from little acorns and all that. Good luck tracking this down!

Pages 2 and 3 are in the wrong order in Imagineers so I've left them in the wrong order here!

Go here for Garen's complete guide to the publication history of The Rainbow Orchid

The Rainbow Orchid - early appearances

I've long been a fan of Garen Ewing's fantastic The Rainbow Orchid and have hankered after copies of its early small press appearances. Recently I acquired some of these so I thought I'd log what I do (not) have.

What you're looking for are issues 22-26 of BAM! Or Bulldog Adventure Magazine to give it its full title. I have issues 23 & 25 so I'm looking for issues 22, 24 & 26. Images are taken from this handy guide to collecting The Rainbow Orchid that Garen has uploaded to YouTube for posterity.

You get 6 pages of B&W art in issues 22-25 and then 8 pages in issue 26 - a total of 32 pages. All of this material was then collected in The Rainbow Orchid part 1 (from King Rat Press) plus 2 additional pages and 6 pages of covers/additional material - giving a total of 40 pages for the 'part one' edition (published in 2003)

BAM! issue #22

BAM! issue #23, Spring 2003, £2

other contributors to this (40 page, B&W art, A4 sized) issue include PJ Holden, Ed Traquino, Paul Harrison, Kieran Macdonald and Russell Ferguson

BAM! issue #24, Summer 2003, £2.50

BAM! issue #25, Autumn 2003, £2.50

other contributors to this (40 page, B&W art, A4 sized) issue include Jason Cobley, Ed Traquino, Neill Cameron, Nigel Lowrey & more

BAM! issue #26

The material was then collated (in October 2003) in this 40 page reprint collection. Precise number of copies printed is unknown but is at least 100 as Garen mentions he sold 100 copies at the Winter 2003 comics festival in London. I went to that convention but wasn't into small press comics at the time so it's taken me 20+ years to get hold of a copy - more fool me! 

Garen has a very detailed look at the publication history of The Rainbow Orchid on his website here

The long and complicated guide to collecting Charley's War

In honour of Armistice Day & Remembrance Sunday, here's a copy of my guide to collecting Charley's War (initially printed in the current issue of Comic Scene)...which is available here

The recent publication by the Treasury of British Comics imprint of their 3 volume collection of the first world war masterpiece Charley’s War got me thinking about what there is out there for fans of this amazing series to collect.

The first world war series (I’m glossing over the second world war series here) originally ran for 293 episodes in Battle from 6^th Jan 1979 [issue 200] -26^th Jan 1985 (that’s a total of 316 weeks so not many weeks missed) and charted the hellish story of world war one from the perspective, not of an officer and a gentleman, but rather from the viewpoint of an underage working class lad who joined up to ‘do his bit’ for King and country. The story is rightly regarded as both an anti-war classic and a high-water mark in British comics.

Let’s start with the most recent reprints and go backwards from there...

Treasury of British comics imprint (published 2018)

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 1 – The Boy Soldier  - episodes 1-86

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 2 – Brothers in arms  - episodes 87-176

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 3 – Remembrance - episodes 177-293

Note that for each of these volumes there is also a limited edition ‘bookplate’ edition (of 150 copies) which contains a bookplate signed by Pat Mills.

Before this Titan Books published a series of hardback volumes collating Charley’s adventures...

1. Charley’s War – volume 1 (published November 2004); episodes 1-29

2. Charley’s War – 1 August 2016 – 17 October 1916; volume 2 (October 2005); episodes 30-59

3. Charley’s War – 17 October 1916 – 21 February 1917; volume 3 (October 2006); episodes 60-83

4. Charley’s War – Blue’s story; volume 4 (October 2007); episodes 84-109

5. Charley’s War – Return to the front; volume 5 (October 2008); episodes 110-136

6. Charley’s War – Underground and over the top; volume 6 (October 2009); episodes 137-166

Note that there are 30 episodes in this volume, not 29 episodes as the notes in the back say. The notes should summarise episodes 22-24, 25-26, 27-29 & 30 (rather than 22-23, 24-25, 26-28 & 29)

7. Charley’s War – The great mutiny; volume 7 (October 2010); episodes 167-195

8. Charley’s War – Hitler’s youth; volume 8 (October 2011); episodes 196-225

9. Charley’s War – Death from above; volume 9 (October 2012); episodes 226-260

10. Charley’s War – The end; volume 10 (October 2013); episodes 261-293

In addition two slipcased commemorative volumes (Charley’s War 1914-2014) were announced but never published.

And (in August 2014) one softback volume – A boy soldier in the great war – which reprinted episodes 1-86 of the series.

The Best of Battle (softback, Titan Books, October 2009) gives you nearly 300 pages of Battle strips including the first 4 episodes of Charley’s War.

Charley also had a run of reprints in the Judge Dredd Megazine, specifically

·         issue 211 (cover dated 21 October 2003) – issue 228 (cover dated 02 May 2006) reprinted episodes 1-76;

·         issues 234 (cover dated 26 July 2005) – 236 (cover dated 20 September 2005) reprinted episodes 77-88;

·         and then issues 238 (cover dated 15 November 2005) – 244 (cover dated 02 May 2006) reprinted episodes 89-109.

So, all in all that’s twenty-eight issues of the Megazine reprinting the first four volumes of material reprinted by Titan Books and I’d have to say the reproduction quality in the Megazine is better than in the Titan Books.

Meanwhile back over in Battle...After the World War One story had been completed (26/01/85) the story moved immediately (02/02/85) onto the World War Two story – this was completed on 04/10/86. 

Battle then moved into reprints of the World War One episodes and over the next 67 weeks (so up to 23/01/88) got the story up to episode 68. Week commencing 30/01/88 saw Battle merge with new Eagle and the reprints continued in new Eagle up until 21/01/90 – so a further 117 issues (episodes 69-84, 86-175, 178-184 & 272-275). 

After a break of about a year new Eagle then began reprinting Charley’s War AGAIN (from the issue dated 23/2/91 running all the way until the end of new Eagle, January 1994) – episodes 1-84 and 86-120 in total. So you may have noticed that episode 85 was not reprinted by new Eagle for a second time – this is an episode where you get a burning German falling from a zeppelin and Crimean war veteran Blind Bob run over by a lorry (and a zeppelin commander’s funeral is disrupted by a mob throwing eggs), and it was clearly deemed too much for new Eagle readers.

Before all these reprints there were the original 1980s reprints from Titan Books. The first of these slim volumes appeared in March 1983 and the cover shows a forlorn Charley looking at the graves he has dug for his fallen comrades. The first volume reprints the first 16 episodes of the saga. The second (and final) reprint volume wasn’t published until June 1986 but published a further 24 episodes in a volume with a particularly haunting cover. The cover for volume two was adapted from the opening frame of episode 25; whereas the cover for volume one seems more likely to have come from the harrowing start to episode 42 where Charley has literally scraped the remains of his best mate, Ginger, into a bag and is off to bury him.  

The final item that any Charley’s War collector should look out for is Lew Stringer’s (now rare and expensive) old fanzine, Fantasy Express, in particular issue 4 (Summer 1982) as this features the only interview Joe Colquhoun ever gave fandom. He also provides a Charley’s War cover. Fantasy Express is A5 sized and this issue is only 36 pages long (including covers) and the interview and associated features take up 13 pages in total (you also get an interview with Pat Mills and an interview with Kev O’Neill – it’s quite some issue). The wide ranging interview covers many facets of Joe’s life and career, but a couple of Charley moments stand out...

“...when I was first asked to take on Charley’s War after Johnny Red I said to the editor [Dave Hunt] “God Almighty, how are you going to make any subject matter out of such a static subject as trench warfare?” and he said “We’ve got a damn good author!”...” well Dave Hunt was certainly right about that.

Joe also remarks, with a large degree of under-statement, that “...I’ve tried very hard to bring out the realism in the trenches...that might lead to a certain amount of authenticity which is possibly lacking in the more blood and thunder, action-packed World War 2 stories [scripted, not by Pat Mills, but by M Scott Goodall].

So there you have it, the complete guide to Charley’s War reprints, here’s hoping that there’s something still for you to collect, and if not, long may you read about Charley Bourne.

And as a final treat here's Garen Ewing's depiction of Charley Bourne - this is taken from the British sketchbook volume 1 (edited by Darryl Cunningham) c.1996

Monsters - Accent UK

Here are just some of the reasons to rummage in those back issue bins for this 2006 from Accent UK - yes, contributions come from Shane Oakley, Leah Moore, John Reppion, David Hitchcock, Dave West, Garen Ewing, Graeme Neil Reid and plenty more!

Cover by Shane Oakley

Interior art by David Hitchcock, from a story by Leah Moore & John Reppion

little bugs on left hand side by Barry Renshaw

Interior art by Andy Bloor

Back cover art by Garen Ewing

The long and complicated guide to collecting Charley's War

In honour of Armistice Day & Remembrance Sunday, here's a copy of my guide to collecting Charley's War (initially printed in the current issue of Comic Scene)...which is available here

The recent publication by the Treasury of British Comics imprint of their 3 volume collection of the first world war masterpiece Charley’s War got me thinking about what there is out there for fans of this amazing series to collect.

The first world war series (I’m glossing over the second world war series here) originally ran for 293 episodes in Battle from 6^th Jan 1979 [issue 200] -26^th Jan 1985 (that’s a total of 316 weeks so not many weeks missed) and charted the hellish story of world war one from the perspective, not of an officer and a gentleman, but rather from the viewpoint of an underage working class lad who joined up to ‘do his bit’ for King and country. The story is rightly regarded as both an anti-war classic and a high-water mark in British comics.

Let’s start with the most recent reprints and go backwards from there...

Treasury of British comics imprint (published 2018)

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 1 – The Boy Soldier  - episodes 1-86

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 2 – Brothers in arms  - episodes 87-176

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 3 – Remembrance - episodes 177-293

Note that for each of these volumes there is also a limited edition ‘bookplate’ edition (of 150 copies) which contains a bookplate signed by Pat Mills.

Before this Titan Books published a series of hardback volumes collating Charley’s adventures...

1. Charley’s War – volume 1 (published November 2004); episodes 1-29

2. Charley’s War – 1 August 2016 – 17 October 1916; volume 2 (October 2005); episodes 30-59

3. Charley’s War – 17 October 1916 – 21 February 1917; volume 3 (October 2006); episodes 60-83

4. Charley’s War – Blue’s story; volume 4 (October 2007); episodes 84-109

5. Charley’s War – Return to the front; volume 5 (October 2008); episodes 110-136

6. Charley’s War – Underground and over the top; volume 6 (October 2009); episodes 137-166

Note that there are 30 episodes in this volume, not 29 episodes as the notes in the back say. The notes should summarise episodes 22-24, 25-26, 27-29 & 30 (rather than 22-23, 24-25, 26-28 & 29)

7. Charley’s War – The great mutiny; volume 7 (October 2010); episodes 167-195

8. Charley’s War – Hitler’s youth; volume 8 (October 2011); episodes 196-225

9. Charley’s War – Death from above; volume 9 (October 2012); episodes 226-260

10. Charley’s War – The end; volume 10 (October 2013); episodes 261-293

In addition two slipcased commemorative volumes (Charley’s War 1914-2014) were announced but never published.

And (in August 2014) one softback volume – A boy soldier in the great war – which reprinted episodes 1-86 of the series.

The Best of Battle (softback, Titan Books, October 2009) gives you nearly 300 pages of Battle strips including the first 4 episodes of Charley’s War.

Charley also had a run of reprints in the Judge Dredd Megazine, specifically

·         issue 211 (cover dated 21 October 2003) – issue 228 (cover dated 02 May 2006) reprinted episodes 1-76;

·         issues 234 (cover dated 26 July 2005) – 236 (cover dated 20 September 2005) reprinted episodes 77-88;

·         and then issues 238 (cover dated 15 November 2005) – 244 (cover dated 02 May 2006) reprinted episodes 89-109.

So, all in all that’s twenty-eight issues of the Megazine reprinting the first four volumes of material reprinted by Titan Books and I’d have to say the reproduction quality in the Megazine is better than in the Titan Books.

Meanwhile back over in Battle...After the World War One story had been completed (26/01/85) the story moved immediately (02/02/85) onto the World War Two story – this was completed on 04/10/86. 

Battle then moved into reprints of the World War One episodes and over the next 67 weeks (so up to 23/01/88) got the story up to episode 68. Week commencing 30/01/88 saw Battle merge with new Eagle and the reprints continued in new Eagle up until 21/01/90 – so a further 117 issues (episodes 69-84, 86-175, 178-184 & 272-275). 

After a break of about a year new Eagle then began reprinting Charley’s War AGAIN (from the issue dated 23/2/91 running all the way until the end of new Eagle, January 1994) – episodes 1-84 and 86-120 in total. So you may have noticed that episode 85 was not reprinted by new Eagle for a second time – this is an episode where you get a burning German falling from a zeppelin and Crimean war veteran Blind Bob run over by a lorry (and a zeppelin commander’s funeral is disrupted by a mob throwing eggs), and it was clearly deemed too much for new Eagle readers.

Before all these reprints there were the original 1980s reprints from Titan Books. The first of these slim volumes appeared in March 1983 and the cover shows a forlorn Charley looking at the graves he has dug for his fallen comrades. The first volume reprints the first 16 episodes of the saga. The second (and final) reprint volume wasn’t published until June 1986 but published a further 24 episodes in a volume with a particularly haunting cover. The cover for volume two was adapted from the opening frame of episode 25; whereas the cover for volume one seems more likely to have come from the harrowing start to episode 42 where Charley has literally scraped the remains of his best mate, Ginger, into a bag and is off to bury him.  

The final item that any Charley’s War collector should look out for is Lew Stringer’s (now rare and expensive) old fanzine, Fantasy Express, in particular issue 4 (Summer 1982) as this features the only interview Joe Colquhoun ever gave fandom. He also provides a Charley’s War cover. Fantasy Express is A5 sized and this issue is only 36 pages long (including covers) and the interview and associated features take up 13 pages in total (you also get an interview with Pat Mills and an interview with Kev O’Neill – it’s quite some issue). The wide ranging interview covers many facets of Joe’s life and career, but a couple of Charley moments stand out...

“...when I was first asked to take on Charley’s War after Johnny Red I said to the editor [Dave Hunt] “God Almighty, how are you going to make any subject matter out of such a static subject as trench warfare?” and he said “We’ve got a damn good author!”...” well Dave Hunt was certainly right about that.

Joe also remarks, with a large degree of under-statement, that “...I’ve tried very hard to bring out the realism in the trenches...that might lead to a certain amount of authenticity which is possibly lacking in the more blood and thunder, action-packed World War 2 stories [scripted, not by Pat Mills, but by M Scott Goodall].

So there you have it, the complete guide to Charley’s War reprints, here’s hoping that there’s something still for you to collect, and if not, long may you read about Charley Bourne.

And as a final treat here's Garen Ewing's depiction of Charley Bourne - this is taken from the British sketchbook volume 1 (edited by Darryl Cunningham) c.1996

The long and complicated guide to collecting Charley's War

In honour of Remembrance Sunday, here's a copy of my guide to collecting Charley's War (initially printed in the current issue of Comic Scene)...which is available here

The recent publication by the Treasury of British Comics imprint of their 3 volume collection of the first world war masterpiece Charley’s War got me thinking about what there is out there for fans of this amazing series to collect.

The first world war series (I’m glossing over the second world war series here) originally ran for 292 episodes in Battle from 6^th Jan 1979 [issue 200] -26^th Jan 1985 (that’s a total of 316 weeks so not many weeks missed) and charted the hellish story of world war one from the perspective, not of an officer and a gentleman, but rather from the viewpoint of an underage working class lad who joined up to ‘do his bit’ for King and country. The story is rightly regarded as both an anti-war classic and a high-water mark in British comics.

Let’s start with the most recent reprints and go backwards from there...

Treasury of British comics imprint (published 2018)

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 1 – The Boy Soldier  - episodes 1-86

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 2 – Brothers in arms  - episodes 87-176

Charley’s War the definitive collection volume 3 – Remembrance - episodes 177-293

Note that for each of these volumes there is also a limited edition ‘bookplate’ edition (of 150 copies) which contains a bookplate signed by Pat Mills.

Before this Titan Books published a series of hardback volumes collating Charley’s adventures...

1. Charley’s War – volume 1 (published November 2004); episodes 1-29

2. Charley’s War – 1 August 2016 – 17 October 1916; volume 2 (October 2005); episodes 30-59

3. Charley’s War – 17 October 1916 – 21 February 1917; volume 3 (October 2006); episodes 60-83

4. Charley’s War – Blue’s story; volume 4 (October 2007); episodes 84-109

5. Charley’s War – Return to the front; volume 5 (October 2008); episodes 110-136

6. Charley’s War – Underground and over the top; volume 6 (October 2009); episodes 137-166

Note that there are 30 episodes in this volume, not 29 episodes as the notes in the back say. The notes should summarise episodes 22-24, 25-26, 27-29 & 30 (rather than 22-23, 24-25, 26-28 & 29)

7. Charley’s War – The great mutiny; volume 7 (October 2010); episodes 167-195

8. Charley’s War – Hitler’s youth; volume 8 (October 2011); episodes 196-225

9. Charley’s War – Death from above; volume 9 (October 2012); episodes 226-260

10. Charley’s War – The end; volume 10 (October 2013); episodes 261-293

In addition two slipcased commemorative volumes (Charley’s War 1914-2014) were announced but never published.

And (in August 2014) one softback volume – A boy soldier in the great war – which reprinted episodes 1-86 of the series.

The Best of Battle (softback, Titan Books, October 2009) gives you nearly 300 pages of Battle strips including the first 4 episodes of Charley’s War.

Charley also had a run of reprints in the Judge Dredd Megazine, specifically

·         issue 211 (cover dated 21 October 2003) – issue 228 (cover dated 02 May 2006) reprinted episodes 1-76;

·         issues 234 (cover dated 26 July 2005) – 236 (cover dated 20 September 2005) reprinted episodes 77-88;

·         and then issues 238 (cover dated 15 November 2005) – 244 (cover dated 02 May 2006) reprinted episodes 89-109.

So, all in all that’s twenty-eight issues of the Megazine reprinting the first four volumes of material reprinted by Titan Books and I’d have to say the reproduction quality in the Megazine is better than in the Titan Books.

Meanwhile back over in Battle...After the World War One story had been completed (26/01/85) the story moved immediately (02/02/85) onto the World War Two story – this was completed on 04/10/86. 

Battle then moved into reprints of the World War One episodes and over the next 67 weeks (so up to 23/01/88) got the story up to episode 68. Week commencing 30/01/88 saw Battle merge with new Eagle and the reprints continued in new Eagle up until 21/01/90 – so a further 117 issues (episodes 69-84, 86-175, 178-184 & 272-275). 

After a break of about a year new Eagle then began reprinting Charley’s War AGAIN (from the issue dated 23/2/91 running all the way until the end of new Eagle, January 1994) – episodes 1-84 and 86-120 in total. So you may have noticed that episode 85 was not reprinted by new Eagle for a second time – this is an episode where you get a burning German falling from a zeppelin and Crimean war veteran Blind Bob run over by a lorry (and a zeppelin commander’s funeral is disrupted by a mob throwing eggs), and it was clearly deemed too much for new Eagle readers.

Before all these reprints there were the original 1980s reprints from Titan Books. The first of these slim volumes appeared in March 1983 and the cover shows a forlorn Charley looking at the graves he has dug for his fallen comrades. The first volume reprints the first 16 episodes of the saga. The second (and final) reprint volume wasn’t published until June 1986 but published a further 24 episodes in a volume with a particularly haunting cover. The cover for volume two was adapted from the opening frame of episode 25; whereas the cover for volume one seems more likely to have come from the harrowing start to episode 42 where Charley has literally scraped the remains of his best mate, Ginger, into a bag and is off to bury him.  

The final item that any Charley’s War collector should look out for is Lew Stringer’s (now rare and expensive) old fanzine, Fantasy Express, in particular issue 4 (Summer 1982) as this features the only interview Joe Colquhoun ever gave fandom. He also provides a Charley’s War cover. Fantasy Express is A5 sized and this issue is only 36 pages long (including covers) and the interview and associated features take up 13 pages in total (you also get an interview with Pat Mills and an interview with Kev O’Neill – it’s quite some issue). The wide ranging interview covers many facets of Joe’s life and career, but a couple of Charley moments stand out...

“...when I was first asked to take on Charley’s War after Johnny Red I said to the editor [Dave Hunt] “God Almighty, how are you going to make any subject matter out of such a static subject as trench warfare?” and he said “We’ve got a damn good author!”...” well Dave Hunt was certainly right about that.

Joe also remarks, with a large degree of under-statement, that “...I’ve tried very hard to bring out the realism in the trenches...that might lead to a certain amount of authenticity which is possibly lacking in the more blood and thunder, action-packed World War 2 stories [scripted, not by Pat Mills, but by M Scott Goodall].

So there you have it, the complete guide to Charley’s War reprints, here’s hoping that there’s something still for you to collect, and if not, long may you read about Charley Bourne.

And as a final treat here's Garen Ewing's depiction of Charley Bourne - this is taken from the British sketchbook volume 1 (edited by Darryl Cunningham) c.1996

Battle 'fan' art by professional comic artists

I thought I'd just highlight some Battle 'fan' art by 2 comic creators who, as well as being professional comic creators, are clearly also fans of Battle.

First up is Graeme Neil Reid (his website is here) and he's worked for 2000AD, Commando and plenty more besides. Here's a US sized (28 pages) comic that he put together for a convention in 2010...

...and you'll see that he's included some classic Battle characters in it...

..and then there's this (from 1996)...

...and Garen 'The Rainbow orchid' Ewing contributes a drawing of Charley Bourne in the mud of the Somme  

UPDATED: 'The secret of the samurai' - a Julius Chancer adventure

Last week (here) I highlighted this intriguing image from (comics) illustrator Garen Ewing...

with the intriguing accompanying message...

I wasn't 100% sure this was happening, but a parcel just arrived from Brussels - 'Secret of the Samurai' in English, French, Dutch, German and Spanish

The strip was original published in 4 parts (with 5 pages a week) in The Phoenix comic back in 2013 so this will be a slim reprint volume but would still be a lovely addition to the shelf of any Rainbow Orchid fan (like myself).

Garen has now (here) provided some more details of this upcoming (yay!) project...let's see what he has to say...

Late last week I received a box from my Belgian/French publisher, BD Must, containing several copies of a new Julius Chancer album, plus a stack of bookplates and prints to sign. The Secret of the Samurai has a publication date of 27 August 2020 and will be available from the same publisher in English, French, German, Dutch and Spanish.

Is this a brand new story? No - this is the same story that was serialised in The Phoenix Comic back in 2013 (issues 75-78), though I have re-edited a bit of the text, and re-written and re-drawn large parts of two pages (pages 17 and 22 in the book).

Is this a full-length album? The actual Secret of the Samurai story is 20 pages long, but the album also contains two other short stories I wrote and drew (both of which have been published before): The Sword of Truth (2004, 6 pages) and The Girdle of Polly Hipple (2005, 4 pages). The album is 36 pages in total.

What is the book's availability? I'm not sure on this yet - as I write the album is not currently on the BD Must site. The French language edition is listed on Amazon. A crowdfunder for the French edition was successfully funded back in May on Ulule. I do know the print-run is not large, and that it's smaller for the English language edition. I will update this when I know more.

What's the story about? Briefly it's a mystery about the hunt for a missing set of samurai armour, and it takes place before The Rainbow Orchid. For more details and notes you can see some of the blog posts I wrote at the time it was serialised in The Phoenix Comic (note - some of the info in these posts is no longer accurate!): The Secret of the Samurai FAQ, blog post for part 1, blog post for part 2, blog post for part 3, and blog post for part 4.

I'll end off on the other question I get all the time (and no, I'm not tired of it, it's lovely), Will there ever be a new Julius Chancer adventure? The answer to this is yes, as long as I don't get knocked down by a bus (or whatever the modern-day equivalent is ... an Amazon delivery robot?). I'm still very busy at the moment working on The Curious Expedition 2, but I haven't forgotten Julius Chancer - the new story is all-plotted, semi-scripted, and drawing started (extract below). I fully intend for this new story to happen ... I just don't want to promise when!