Commando Webbing

A new interview with Commando and Dan Dare artist Keith Page has been posted on the official Commando website. In the interview Keith, who is currently working on his 144th Commando issue answers questions posed by Commando readers on his background, his work for the DC Thomson title and offers advice for aspiring artists.

Keith lists his artistic influences as Dan Dare's Frank Hampson, unsurprising for anyone who reads his Dan Dare prequel Rocket Pilot published in Spaceship Away, as well as Joe Colquhoun and Geoff Campion, perhaps best known for their war strips Charley's War and Battler Britton.

As a bonus, at the end of the interview is a breakdown of how Keith creates a Commando cover with the cover to Cold War!, issue 3669, shown as a pencil sketch, the finished artwork and the printed version, as well as being available for download as a PC wallpaper.

October is the traditional time for Commando to put their cover price up and this year the increase is only 5p bringing the cover price to £1.30. The increases in the price of Commando over its long history were covered this time last year on Bear Alley.

If the credit crunch is biting a little too deep for you to be able to afford a copy then the current of the free online e-Commando stories has just been completed on the Commando Mag website. They Flew By Night was originally published as issue 516 in December 1970 and with art by DC Thomson stalwart Gordon Livingstone. While you may not recognise the name, if you read any DC Thomson boy's comic during the 1960s and 1970s you will recognise his style of artwork.

e-Commando They Flew By Night begins here.

The Commando interview with Keith Page is here.