Commando merchandise

Pocket-sized war 'comic' that has been around since 1961 and is still going strong.

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Sergeant Jock
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Commando merchandise

Post by Sergeant Jock »

I'd been following your long-running (and lively) discussion about The Dandy as a spectator and decided I should really get involved in the forum, not just sit on the sidelines.

So here's my fourpence-worth.

Not about the Dandy, by the way.

I just picked up my first Commando after, em, quite a long time! And discovered it hadn't changed a whole lot. Which was good.

They didn't have a website before so I had a look at it and found they're selling merchandise. I know some of the comics do this, but is this a first for any of the War/Action/Boys titles?

The other thing was that the website was http://www.commandomag.com. When I was buying them back then we always called them Commando BOOKS, not Commando MAGS. What did you call them?

Thanks for listening.

felneymike
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Commando merchandise

Post by felneymike »

As they are the only war/action/boys comic left, they are the only ones you can buy (official) merchandise for XD

Also i always tend to call them Commando comics

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philcom55
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Commando merchandise

Post by philcom55 »

I think they've been around so long now that, like a Biro or a Hoover, people have started to refer to the format itself as 'a Commando'. In fact I've noticed a number of second-hand dealers who regularly sell a mixture of Thomson and Fleetway titles from boxes labelled "Commandos" (which is really rather unfair as Fleetway were the ones who invented the format in the first place!). Come to think of it I guess this adds a whole new meaning to the term 'commando-style'! :wink:

- Phil R.

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Peter Gray
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Commando merchandise

Post by Peter Gray »

XD just found out what this means///been bugging me for ages...quick google a laughing face......not ex-dividends whiich it can also mean..... :)

I call it Commando comic libraries.....or Commando comic books...

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colcool007
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Commando merchandise

Post by colcool007 »

Always called them Commandos myself. Never added anything, as in our house, the term was considered to be self-evident.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!

Kashgar
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Commando merchandise

Post by Kashgar »

The first Commando-style book that Thomsons produced for kids, under the imprint of their associate publisher John Leng, was 'Fairyland Tales' which had a healthy run of over 900 issues in the 1920's and 1930's.
OK they didn't contain one long continuous strip but in terms of format they were pretty similar.

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Sergeant Jock
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Commando merchandise

Post by Sergeant Jock »

Didn't know about Fairyland tales. Doesn't sound very military...

I knew that Commando is the last survivor of the breed but I wondered if any of the others had done merchandise in the past. Let's be honest, DC Thomson never were very quick on the uptake when it came to spin-offs. (With the possible exception of Dennis the Menace and even that was late in the day.)

Commando has been going since 1961 and the Carlton Big Books only started to be produced in 2005 (it says on Wikipedia).

Must say I don't remember any genuine Battle or War Picture Library stuff.

Kashgar
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Commando merchandise

Post by Kashgar »

Thomsons did publish two Commando annuals in a larger format in the early 1990's. A slight but failed attempt on their part to expand the Commando franchise.

felneymike
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Commando merchandise

Post by felneymike »

the website at http://britishcomics.20m.com/ says the Commando annuals where not very well recieved, though they where all-colour. It sounds like they where in the style of the days-already-numbered Victor, Hotspur etc, but i haven't seen either of them.

Either way a new Commando Annual with maybe one or two stories in the normal Commando style (but with maybe 3 wider panels down a page), in colour and with a few articles, both about the history of the comic and of picture libraries (even the football, detective and romantic ones) and war comics in general. Plus things about the battles of world war 2 and the like, might be good.

Kashgar
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Re: Commando merchandise

Post by Kashgar »

felneymike wrote:the website at http://britishcomics.20m.com/ says the Commando annuals where not very well recieved, though they where all-colour. It sounds like they where in the style of the days-already-numbered Victor, Hotspur etc, but i haven't seen either of them.

Either way a new Commando Annual with maybe one or two stories in the normal Commando style (but with maybe 3 wider panels down a page), in colour and with a few articles, both about the history of the comic and of picture libraries (even the football, detective and romantic ones) and war comics in general. Plus things about the battles of world war 2 and the like, might be good.
The Commando annuals were soft cover affairs with a nearly square page format.

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