Writer: Pat Mills
Artist: Joe Colquhoun
Publisher: Titan Books
Available now
Titan Books have managed in a short time to establish a tradition of quality that Fractal Matter heartily endorse. Once a year we get a new hardcover collection of the sublime Charley’s War.
This year the story of young Charley Bourne continues from where we left off in Volume 2 with the British trenches under attack from the Judgement Troopers. These troopers do present a definite villain for the series, but more than any other adversary in the series they appear to be a caricature. Whereas the series has never shied from showing the reality of the war, these adversaries showcase a collection of atrocities so that even Pat Mills, in the new commentary, says that their leader “seems a bit arch.” Nevertheless they afford Charley another opportunity to be heroic and for the more mundane horrors to appear such as the Battle Police shooting deserters even with slaughter going on on the frontlines.
With Charley injured though we see the series shift towards home. Now Charley’s War in the earlier volumes has had flashes of what home life during World War One was like, but this volume places a convalescing Charley in the middle of it. The effect of the Blitz during World War Two is much better known, but in a time before bomber planes this gets the evocative image of zeppelins over London.
Due to the nature of these reprints there are some flaws. Some of the first pages were originally in colour which leads to a slightly off reprint in this B&W book. We also have a year to wait for the next one. At least we know there’s more to come. It will be brilliant when all the volumes are available of this classic.
Mark Peyton – has a MA in History and Research from the University of Hull specialising in the Hundred Years War. In a complete departure from that he now runs communications and membership for a UK based Trade Union as well as being a part time writer/journalist.
He is a founding member of Millarworld acting as a moderator and as an editor for Fractal Matter.