Fleetway and DC Thomson at War!

[philcom55]

It's interesting to note that British comics featured very few strips about World War Two in the ten years after that conflict ended; presumably it was all a bit too recent for a war-weary public and most people preferred looking forward to the sunny uplands of a world at peace instead. Even the outbreak of war in Korea made little impact, with the newly-launched Eagle concentrating on Dan Dare's colourful adventures in outer space instead (though Frank Hampson later admitted that the evil Treens of Venus were largely inspired by Nazi Germany).

It wasn't until the later 1950s that WW2 began to feature in major strips like Battler Britton in Sun, Paddy Payne in Lion, and Frank Bellamy's classic life of Winston Churchill 'The Happy Warrior' which appeared on Eagle's back page in 1957/8. Then the floodgates well and truly burst in September 1958 when the Amalgamated Press (soon to become Fleetway) launched War Picture Library in their popular digest format, featuring six (later to become ten) new 'picture novels' every month. Before long the runaway success of this series spawned three companion titles: Air Ace, Battle, and the relatively short-lived War at Sea. Meanwhile, North of the border, DC Thomson took note of this new trend and launched Victor - a new weekly comic heavily weighted towards war stories - in early 1961, closely followed by their own digest-sized war comic Commando.

At the time I must admit that I wasn't a big fan of war comics, preferring stories with an SF/Fantasy slant like the Steel Claw and Kelly's Eye in Valiant, but on those occasions when one of these new picture libraries came my way I was often impressed by the quality of the art and storytelling. However, it wasn't until years later that I began to take an interest in actually collecting them - and as I had always been more of a Fleetway fan I tended to concentrate on their titles rather than Thomson's (particularly Air Ace, which seemed a cut above all the others).

Now, of course, War, Battle, Air Ace and War At Sea are all long gone, while Commando continues to defy the odds by putting out new issues every month - as a result of which it has become easily the most collectible war comic in this format, with early numbers currently selling for eye-watering prices. By contrast, early issues of War Picture Library can still be acquired quite cheaply.

And yet I'd still argue that the Fleetway titles were the first and the best. Does anybody else agree with me, or am I just a lone voice in the wilderness - I'd be very interested in hearing what other people think.

[Kashgar]

Interesting topic Phil. I was always a big fan of Victor as a kid. As Thomson's stuck to their story paper guns throughout the 1950's you could say that they kind of missed the boat when it came to publishing war stories in pictures but then the 'Big Four' did publish a great many war stories in the text format that would eventually be transformed into very effective picture strips in the 1960's in titles like Victor including, to my mind at least, the exploits of the greatest war-time character that any juvenile title produced, the Rover and then subsequently the Victor's Matt Braddock VC.

[philcom55]

No arguing about the excellence of Braddock's stories in both text and picture story form Kashgar. I don't know why but I always preferred comic strips about air aces (which would arguably include William Wilson as well).

[tony ingram]

If you're talking air aces, then nobody beats Battle's own Johnny Red, currently back in action courtesy of Titan Comics.

[philcom55]

Of course, Fleetway also produced 26 issues of their 132-page 'Front Line' series featuring Maddock's Marauders and Sgt. Ironside.

[Phoenix]

the greatest war-time character that any juvenile title produced, the Rover and then subsequently the Victor's Matt Braddock VC.

Don't overlook Flight-Lieutenant Rockfist Rogan in The Champion, Ray.

[colcool007]

As I grew up in DCT country, I was always going to be a major DCT fan. But that has not precluded me from sampling the work of Fleetway. In fact, Paw Broon has got me interested in Micron, FamePress, World Distributors, MV Features, FTM GMB and Top Sellers despite myself.

And while there are a fair amount of ropy pocket libraries, I think that there are more than plenty good ones to make up for it.

When I look at why did Commando survive and the rest fall by the wayside, then there has got to be a range of reasons, but I did notice that in 1981 the Fleetway Picture libraries were significantly more expensive than their D C Thomson counterparts with the War Picture Library being 20 pence an issue, whereas a Commando was still only 14 pence an issue.

As to the greatest World War II character, then you have such a great choice, but mine would have to be the ensemble cast of Kampfgruppe Falken, but if I am only allowed one character, then it would be a toss up between Big Willi Kastner, Kurt Stahlmann, Major Eazy or Johnny Red.

[paw broon]

As Colin notes, there were many smaller publishers pushing out war pocket libraries. Much of the content included Spanish and Italian reprint material and some of it was of rather mediocre quality. As you'll all know, American publishers, Charlton, DC, Marvel, EC etc., produced prodigious amounts of war comics but, perhaps, less well known was that in Spain (and reprinted in France) there were a number of series of war comics, almost all in the landscape format. Prime amongst them being Hazanas Belicas which featured very good art and stories. A wee bit on him at Lambiek:-
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/boixcar.htm

[bigpete]

I think Phil has the right idea. If you look at the small booklets that DCT produced during the war years updating staff on the home front what those in the trenches were up to, quite a lot of the editorial and art staff joined up. As I don't think proffering the line that drawing or writing comics was a "reserved occupation" would have gone down well with the recruiting office to be honest Consequently I think those that returned after the war possibly didn't want to regurgitate those memories. Fifteen years later however a new crop of editors and artists were moving through the ranks and their memories of wartime while possibly vivid would most certainly have been completely different? I know as a young boy in the late 50's early 60's I loved those comics (Fleetway rather than DCT to be honest) and we played war games all the time, on the rubble of bombed houses that hadn't yet been demolished in Newcastle.

[Digifiend]

Trenches? Wrong war, that's World War One, the Great War. World War II was fought on beaches and in cities, at sea and in the air.

Oh, and for the record, Dudley Watkins did manage to pull the reserved occupation excuse not to fight. Apparently the authorities knew it would devastate DCT's comics line and kept him out to keep up morale.

[Raven]

"In the trenches" doesn't necessarily mean literally in trenches. As an expression (and WWI analogy), it means "in the field of battle" or in the thick of gruelling business, or words to that effect.

[philcom55]

Actually my dad served in an armoured unit, but even he got involved in trench warfare at times during the Italian campaign.

Those wartime booklets sound fascinating Pete. On the subject of the most memorable WW2 heroes to appear in British comics my own favorites would almost certainly be the redoubtable 'Hero' family whose story appeared in the centre pages of Beezer during 1961/2 in a series that covered all the major historical events of that war as seen through the eyes of a cast of fictional characters. In many ways it anticipated what Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun did for WW1 with Charley's War, and still stands up surprisingly well today. I seem to remember TV showing 'The Valiant Years' based on Sir Winston Churchill's memoirs round about the same time, suggesting that with the beginning of the new decade there was a new readiness to look back upon the war years and see them from a slightly more celebratory perspective.

[colcool007]

Trenches? Wrong war, that's World War One, the Great War. World War II was fought on beaches and in cities, at sea and in the air.

Oh, and for the record, Dudley Watkins did manage to pull the reserved occupation excuse not to fight. Apparently the authorities knew it would devastate DCT's comics line and kept him out to keep up morale.

There was a lot of trench warfare in World War II. While the great trenches of the First World War may not have been as big a part of the Second, you only need to look at the battlefields of World War II to see trench outlines.

If you ever visit the Falklands, you can still see the trenches of the Argentine positions on Two Sisters from the 1982 Falklands War and it makes you appreciate the bravery of the guys even more so.

[bigpete]

I think the answer to why war comics didn't really take off until the end of the 50's or early 1960's in DCT's case and perhaps Fleetway's also, may have been the staff. If you look at the wartime DC Thomson internal magazines which reveal the actions of those serving to those still at home, a lot of the editorial and art staff were in the armed forces. Some didn't come back but perhaps those that did just did not want to resurrect their wartime experiences. Even though as mentioned in the thread the boys story papers did carry war stories during this period. Fifteen years later however the editorial and art staff was going through changes and perhaps these younger staff members and the younger general public had a very different view of the war. Film screens were full of war films such as the one I watched last night "Sink the Bismark" and good old John Wayne was "kicking butt" all over the Pacific! So perhaps this heroic nostalgia in the films led to the rise of war comics? Who knows? Technically I suppose Battler Britton in the Thriller Picture Library in 1957 was the first pocket war comic, reinforced by Paddy Payne taking over from Captain Condor in that same year (see British Comics a Cultural History by James Chapman 2011). Perhaps their success led to the launch of Fleetway's War Picture Library in 1958? Whatever the true reasoning may be, clearly the time was right, and I remember as a kid swapping the war picture libraries feverishly in the playground with my mates whether it was Thomson or Fleetway or Pearson's it didn't matter and then running off to play war!

[philcom55]

Funny you should mention 'Sink The Bismark' as I just acquired this episode of 'Heroes' in which the mighty HMS Hood - proud flagship of the British fleet - is shown majestically sailing from Scapa Flow in October 1939. Britain was justly proud of its Navy so it came as a huge shock when the battleship Royal Oak was sunk the very next day - and the subsequent loss of the Hood itself within minutes of engaging the Bismark was an even more crushing blow! Beezer's oversize pages enabled Ron Smith to capture the full might of these armored giants.

It gives some indication of the raw memories such events must have still carried for the British public in the immediate aftermath of the War that one of the sailors lost on the Royal Oak grew up on the same street as my own mother and had been one of her earliest childhood friends!