In Review: Commando 4443 - Killer In No-Man's-Land

The batch of Commandos that are in the shops now, as well as including the reprint of the original Issue 2 from 50 years ago, also has two brand new stories set during the First World War. On the eleventh day of the eleventh month it therefore seems appropriate to review one of those Great War Commando stories, issue 4443 Killer In No-Man's-Land.

It is 1916 and Private Alan Roux is a runner for a British Infantry regiment on the front line in France. Carrying messages from his unit to other units on the front line and to headquarters in the rear lines, his job exposes him to dangers that the other men in the regiment do not have to face. While popular with the majority of his colleagues he falls foul of the unit's bully, Lance-Corporal Paul Ryder, who tries his best to avoid battle. After a German raid on their trench, Ryder lies to his superiors to both cover up his own cowardice and to put Roux in front of a firing squad.

Written by Mac MacDonald, with internal art by Vila and a painted cover by Ian Kennedy, Killer In No-Man's-Land brings to life a remarkable array of characters in the issue's 135 panels from the quietly heroic Roux and his friends in the trench, his sympathetic Sergeant and Lieutenant, British snipers that he helps out, the bullying Ryder and his henchman, several French soldiers and even a captured German who gets to say rather more than "Kameraden!" Beginning with a condemned man's view of a firing squad, and knowing that Commando's 'standard operating procedure' is one-off stories, you simply do not know who amongst these many characters will live and who will die.

Vila's black and white line art is impressive with rarely a panel going by without multiple characters and background detail while Ian Kennedy's moodily coloured cover leaves the prospective reader deliberately unsure just what the British soldiers are going to be up against in no-man's land.

Commando 4443 - Killer In No-Man's-Land with its tightly plotted story, excellent array of characters, detailed internal art and a lovely atmospheric cover shows just why Commando has lasted for half a century.

Commando 4443 - Killer In No-Man's-Land is available now from WH Smiths, Easons and other newsagents for £1.50.

You can read an 8 page preview of the issue at the official Commando website.

Panel Borders: The Last Ride of the Western Heroes

Continuing the Panel Borders comic radio show's month of programming about genre in comics, Alex Fitch talks to creators of small press and mainstream cowboy comics.

In the 300th radio show that Alex Fitch has made for Resonance FM, he talks to veteran comics writer John Ostrander about his classic serialised graphic novel The Kents featuring the history of Superman's great grandparents in 19th century Kansas and their encounters with the Luthors of the time, which is being re-released in three '100 page giants' this winter.

Alex and John also talk about Blaze of Glory: The Last Ride of the Western Heroes, Grimjack and his unrealized Doctor Who audio western.

Plus, in an interview recorded at this year's Bristol Small Press Expo, Tim Keable and Andrew Cheverton talk about their ongoing comic West, which has recently included horror tropes and guest artists plus their future plans for the title and its graphic novel collections.

• Panel Borders: The Last Ride of the Western Heroes airs at 8.00pm, Sunday 13th November, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / extended podcast after broadcast at www.panelborders.wordpress.com

Sale, Starkings, Hughes among Thought Bubble guest signings at Travelling Man

Hulk by Tim Sale

The Travelling Man comic shops and Thought Bubble festival have just announced their line up of international comic superstars signing with at the store next week, as follows:

Tim Sale, Richard Starkings and Gail Simone
Travelling Man Newcastle - Wednesday 16th November 5.00pm

• Tim Sale is an Eisner Award-winning comic book artist, perhaps best known for his comic work with collaborator Jeph Loeb. The duo produced popular work such as Batman: The Long Halloween, and Batman Dark Victory for DC, and comics starring characters such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Hulk for Marvel.
Tim's artwork has also appeared on the television programme Heroes, primarily in the form of the fictional comic book 9th Wonders.
• Web: www.timsale1.com

• An Eisner Award-winning comic creator and founder of the Comicraft design and lettering studio, Richard Starkings is the creator of Hip Flask, The Elephantmen and his semi-autobiographical comic strip, Hedge Backwards. Born and raised in England, Starkings worked for five years at Marvel UK's London office as an editor, designer and occasional writer on Zoids, The Real Ghostbusters, Transformers and the Doctor Who comic strip.
Today he is perhaps best known for his work with the award-winning (and revolutionary) Comicraft, which he founded in 1992 with John 'JG' Roshell. Starkings & Roshell also co-authored the best-selling books Comic Book Lettering, The Comicraft Way and Tim Sale: Black and White.
• Web: www.activeimages.com

• An American comic book writer, perhaps best known for penning DC's Birds of Prey, Gail Simone's other notable works include Secret Six, The All New Atom and Deadpool. In 2011 she became the writer for Batgirl as well as co-writer for The Fury of Firestorm.
Simone first came to fan attention with her website, Women in Refrigerators, listing many instances in which female comic book characters were the victims of violent attacks because of their gender, or whose attacks were used as plot device for a male character.
In 2009, Gail received the Friends of Lulu - Hall of Fame Award, and is a several-time nominee for the GLAAD award for portrayals of LGBT characters.

Tim Sale, Richard Starkings, Esad Ribic and Adam Hughes
Travelling Man Manchester - Thursday 17th November 5.00pm

• Esad Ribic is a Croatian artist born in 1972. Working in comics since the early 1990s, he's spent most of his time on Marvel titles. His credits include Loki, Silver Surfer: Requiem and Sub-Mariner: Depths.
Web: www.eribic.net

• Probably best known for the striking cover artwork he provides for the comic book industry, over the course of his 20+ plus years working as a professional artist, Adam Hughes's art has graced the covers of such well-known titles as Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Tomb Raider, as well as the interiors of books like Justice League of America, Legion of Superheroes, Maze Agency and Ghost, to name a few.
Adam's ability to render characters both naturalistically and with style and humor, have made him a one-of-a-kind in the industry. His illustrations have been featured as statues and graced with awards, both Harvey and Eisner. You can see a retrospective of Adam's DC Comics career in the recently published coffee table book, Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes.
• Web: www.justsayah.com

Tim Sale, Gail Simone and Jeff Lemire
Travelling Man York - Friday 18th November 4.00pm


Jeff Lemire is a Canadian comic artist and writer whose work has been nominated for an Ignatz, a Harvey, and two Eisner Awards.
After self-publishing the Xeric Award-winning comic book Lost Dogs in 2005 via his Ashtray Press imprint, he produced the Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated Essex County for Top Shelf in 2008–2009.
In 2009 DC/Vertigo published Jeff's The Nobody, a two-colour tale of identity, fear and paranoia in a small community.
Lemire is currently writing and drawing the acclaimed post-apocalyptic DC/Vertigo series Sweet Tooth, and, following his relaunch of the Superboy series, is now writing the ongoing series Animal Man and Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.
• Blog: http://jefflemire.blogspot.com

• The full Thought Bubble Fesitival Programme is available at www.thoughtbubblefestival.com/events/full-programme/ and the Thought Bubble Festival Guide is available for free in all Travelling Man shops

That Funny Little Man... Roy Newby exhibition announced

(with thanks to David Roach and Tim Pilcher) An exhibition by little-known artist Roy Newby, whose work over many decades included numerous comics, will go on show at Phoenix Place in Lewes, East Sussex, later this month.

Roy's work displays an astonishing variety of style and skill, from comic book illustration, recently seen at the Vintage Festival, to fine oils and watercolours.

Described as "a creative inspiration", he was a versatile artist who made a quiet living illustrating comics and magazines for children, teens and twenties, making technical catalogues, painting advertising posters, designing fashion-plates, even political banners, in fact, drawing anything you cared to name. For he was a 'commercial artist', working from the age of 15 in the 1920s until, in his late eighties, he finally stopped attending his weekly life drawing class.

Robbie of Red Hall

David Roach tells us Roy, who died earlier this year aged 96, drew comics in the UK for almost 30 years, appearing in titles such as Girl, Tammy, Poppet, Judy and Valentine.

"He came from a time when you had to be able to draw just about anything, which he certainly could," David says. "While not drawing comics he painted, sketched, doodled and experimented with different styles and while his comic art was highly accomplished, it was never exactly experimental, unlike his paintings... [which] are absolutely stunning, classic examples of post-war realism, [showing] all sorts of influences - Cezanne, Picasso, Modigliani etc.

"Tragically, Roy died very recently before I or any comic historians could speak to him. If only I’d known it would have been fascinating to chat with someone from the golden age of British comics. He apparently never spoke to any comics fans about his career so it’s such a missed opportunity."

• The Funnty Little Man at Phoenix Place, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2PQ. Tel: 01273 813016

The exhibition runs on November 25th 5-9.00pm, November 26th 2-7.00 pm, 27th 11.00am - 4.00pm.

• Roy Newby web site: www.thefunnylittleman.co.uk

• Obituary: The Guardian, Thursday 1st September 2011