New Year, New Commandos! Quick, march to your newsagent

Here's the first batch of DC Thomson's Commando comics for 2013 - and there's a fine selection on offer...

Commando No 4567 - Collision Course
Story: Alan Hebden Art: Keith Page Cover: Keith Page

So how did Flight Lieutenant Kerrie Matheson, in his unarmed DH 86 transport, end up hurtling straight towards an enemy Bloch 220 Auvergne aircraft?

Well, it had all started off as a routine secondment from his posting at Coastal Command. He became part of a mission to build a long distance air bridge, ferrying Allied planes from French-held Africa to Egypt.

Then his routine flying duties took a deadly turn - with mystery, espionage and murder setting him on a... Collision Course.

Commando No 4568 - Eighty-Eight!
Story: Alan Hebden Art: Jaume Forns Cover: Ian Kennedy

It's not every day you see a German 88mm gun being operated by a group of “Fighting Kiwis” - New Zealanders from a British and Commonwealth Expeditionary Force battling in Greece, determined to hold back the German onslaught.

But this was not an everyday story.

Thanks to a bungling SS officer, the Kiwis were able to help themselves to the enemy artillery's pride and joy. Having been relentlessly pounded by the very same guns, they decided to give the Jerries a taste of their own medicine!

Commando No 4569 - Beach-Head!
Originally Commando No 54 (January 1963)
Story: Parsons Art: Gordon Livingstone Cover: Ken Barr

Johnny Malloy was a little guy - five foot zero or thereabouts, but he wore the coveted Commando flash on his shoulders.

He seemed lazy, good-for-nothing, a coward - yet every man in his platoon was ready to die for him when it came to the bit.

Who was he then - this odd little Commando? Just about the most important guy in the British army, that's all!

"All the ingredients for a classic Commando story are here," enthuses Calum Laird, editor. "a dicey but vital mission, a group of soldiers who don't trust a comrade…and Gordon Livingstone's inimitable artwork. I say inimitable with confidence as many have tried and none has succeeded.

"Flipping open the Ken Barr cover in 1963, you'd be met with a script and art which neatly capture all the fine details of service life, thanks to a generation that lived through a world war and National Service. There's a priceless authenticity about this. And you can have it for only £1.50. What a bargain"

Commando 4570 - Arctic Victory
Originally Commando No 2177 (April 1988)
Story: David Heptonstall Art: Terry Patrick Cover: Ian Kennedy

After a few weeks in a certain squadron of the RAF Regiment, Phil Adamson was beginning to wonder if this unit really was just for the defence of airfields. What with unarmed combat instruction, learning about explosives and a mock-raid on a local flying school, it was more like training for a crack Commando squad.

He didn't know how right he was!

"Although it first appeared in the Spring of 1988, it somehow seems fitting to republish author David Heptonstall's icy tale in mid-January," says Deputy Editor Scott Montomery, "when the chill of winter still in the air.

"Artist Terry Patrick's rendering of Arctic Scandinavia - especially on pages 26 and 27 - is very effective and, as always, cover legend Ian Kennedy does Commando proud.

"The story seemingly starts as an air yarn but then changes gear, morphing into a 'men-on-a-mission' adventure with a hint of espionage. It's a little bit different."

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In Memoriam: Charles Chilton (1917–2013)

An obituary by Steve Winders

Charles Chilton, who died on January 2nd, was one of British radio’s most innovative and successful contributors. Born in London during the First World War, Charles’ father died in action, without ever meeting his son and his mother died suddenly when he was just six years old. Charles was brought up by his paternal grandmother as a member of a large extended family of eight people sharing just three rooms – one of which was condemned as uninhabitable! On leaving school, he briefly worked as an apprentice, making electric signs, before being taken on by the BBC, where he first worked as a messenger boy and then as an assistant in the Gramophone Library. Later he became a gramophone programme compiler and producer and along with Leslie Perowne, he promoted jazz in Britain through programmes in the late thirties such as ‘Swingtime’ and ‘Kings of Jazz’. Although he began to present programmes himself, he was temporarily stopped because of his London accent!

Called up for military service in the Second World War, Charles trained as a wireless operator and spent much of the war training other wireless operators. In 1945, his previous experience and talents were better utilised when he returned to radio, working for Radio S.E.A.C. (South East Asia Command) in Ceylon. Here he worked alongside David Jacobs, who would later become a member of the cast of his most successful radio programme, Journey into Space. With the end of the War, Charles returned to the BBC and in 1947, married Penny, a secretary at the BBC, whom he had courted since 1940. Their marriage would last 65 years and Penny would make a significant contribution to his successful career, by carrying out research for his programmes.

After producing a number of music based programmes, Charles created a new series in 1949 which combined music and drama. This was the acclaimed western serial Riders of the Range, based on actual events in the history of the American west, and which Charles both wrote and produced. It ran to six stories over five years and led to Charles being asked to write a strip version of the programme for the popular boys’ weekly, Eagle. The strip was a great success and outlived the radio version by nine years. Charles set up a long partnership with the artist Frank Humphris and they produced many memorable stories, maintaining the highest standards right to the end.

He also wrote several historical books about the American west. Most notable of these was his 1961 work, The Book of the West. This won him The Western Heritage Award for Juvenile Books, in 1963, after it was published in the United States.

On the radio, Riders of the Range was followed by Journey into Space, a science fiction drama, which proved a massive ratings winner, famously being the last radio programme to beat the television audience. Three serials, broadcast between 1953 and 1956, told the exciting stories of Captain Jet Morgan’s expeditions to the Moon and Mars. Charles adapted the serials into novels and this series too, found its way into a comic strip, in TV Express.

He also produced three episodes of the third series of the famous Goon Show in 1952, returning to produce 15 episodes of the eighth series in 1958-59 and eight episodes of the Vintage Goons series, but in his later career he is best remembered for his musical documentaries, in which he explored historical events through the music of the time. Among these are The Blue and the Gray, about the American Civil War, Marching to Glory, about the Salvation Army, How the West was Won and The Long, Long Road, about the First World War. The Long, Long Road was adapted into the stage musical Oh What a Lovely War! in 1963 as a result of Charles’ collaboration with Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop. It was made into a film in 1969 and is regularly revived on the stage.

Charles was awarded the M.B.E. for services to broadcasting in 1976 and retired from the BBC staff the following year, but he continued to work as a writer, with his play The Return from Mars, broadcast on radio in 1981, revisiting Jet Morgan and his Journey into Space crew. In 1984 he wrote a six part radio science fiction serial called Space Force, which had originally been intended to be a new Journey into Space serial, but was changed late in its development to be about a new crew. A second Space Force serial followed in 1985.

After recordings of Journey into Space were found in BBC archives in 1986, the serials were repeated on BBC Radio Two and gained a new audience. They have been regularly repeated since.

In 2008, at the age of 91, Charles wrote another new Journey into Space play in collaboration with his son David, and he was involved in a further play about Jet Morgan and his team in 2009, although this play was written by Julian Simpson. In a busy retirement, Charles acted as a guide on London Walks for many years.

I first met him in 1980 at a convention in London to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Eagle. Here he formed a double act with Frank Humphris and they performed an extract from their Riders of the Range story The Arizona Kid. He was a natural storyteller and communicator. In 2010, he finally produced an autobiography Auntie’s Charlie, published by Fantom Films, an informative, amusing and sometimes poignant account of his life and work.

I wrote to Charles on several occasions over the years and always received friendly and detailed replies. My last communication was just a few months ago, regarding an article I was writing about Paul Carpenter, the actor who played Jeff Arnold in Riders of the Range on the radio. Charles was most helpful and even checked my piece for accuracy when I had completed it.

Charles’ work has entertained and educated millions of readers and listeners over the years. With Penny’s help, he always fully researched his documentary programmes to ensure accuracy and this meticulous desire for truth extended to his fictional work, enhancing both Riders of the Range and Journey into Space. He will be sadly missed.

• Charles Chilton, born 15th June 1917, died Wednesday 2nd January 2013, survived by wife Penny, children Anthony, Mary and David and 10 grandchildren.

Further Obituaries

• Bear Alley

• British Interplanetary Society

• Camden New Journal

• The Daily Telegraph

• Eagle Times

• The Guardian

• The Independent

• Starburst

• The Times (subscription required)

• The Washington Post

Web Links

• More about Auntie's Charlie on the Fantom Films web site, including a preview of Chapter 1

• Ham & High: Radio legend Charles Chilton dies, aged 95

• Roger Howe's interview with Charles Chilton, conducted when he was 92

• Charles Chilton deposited his personal tape archive at the British Library in 2005, where it remains a jewel of the radio collections. Article here on the Sound Recordings blog

It's Tank Girl versus Tank Girl for new Titan mini series

Titan Comics has announced announce the launch of Solid State Tank Girl, a brand-new four-part series by creator Alan Martin and stellar new artist, Warwick Johnson Cadwell.

Originally created by Martin and one half of the critically-acclaimed virtual band Gorillaz, Jamie Hewlett, Tank Girl remains one of the greatest counter-culture comics anti-heroines, driving her attitude-laden tank straight into the face of bland, spandex-wearing simpletons!

Hitting stores on 15th May 2013, Solid State Tank Girl sees the post-modern princess of punk return to face her nastiest nemesis: ANTI-TANK GIRL!

Tank Girl, Jet Girl, Booga and Barney are back and on a mission to save their favourite little radio store. Things are going according to plan, too, but somewhere along the line Booga manages to electronically summon the gang’s evil counterparts, fronted by the darkest bitch on the planet – ANTI-TANK GIRL! The fight is to the death, as each gang member draws on their deepest, most screwed-up powers to eliminate their own personal nemesis. Things are about to get very dark, very bloody… and very stupid!

The new series has Martin teaming up with Warwick Johnson Cadwell, whose previous credits include Birdsong, New British Comics, Solipsistic Pop and West comic anthologies.

We're told Cadwell was forced to hand-wash 86 pairs of Tank Girl's soiled underpants, scour Jet-Girl's air-intake and lick Booga's salty bollocks while dressed as a Glaswegian nun before he was even allowed to submit his art samples. Imagine what he had to do in order to gain Alan Martin's approval and become the new official Tank Girl artist! (We'll give you a hint: it involved a plunger, an oxygen tank, seven mini-tubs of quick-drying hair-gel, the cogs of an antique watch, the spleen of a goat, and four kilos of body-chocolate).

“The new Titan Comics imprint is all about taking a chance on new creators and new talent," says Steve White, Senior Comics Editor, "and pairing Warwick’s street-art energy to Alan’s potty-mouthed imagination has refreshed Tank Girl once again. The results are blindingly good!”

• Solid State Tank Girl #1 hits comic stores on 15th May 2013. The series will also be available to read day and date on the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comiXology.com. Retailers can order Solid State Tank Girl #1 from the February 2013 edition of Diamond PREVIEWS.

• Titan Comics web site: www.titan-comics.com

New British comic fanzine, Atomic Comic, launches

The first issue of a new fanzine about British comics, Atomic Comic, has been launched, and is available now for free as a digital download.

The 36 page issue, the work of Harry Rickard and George Shiers, includes an interview with creators Andy Fanton
and Will Dawbarn, part one of a brief history of comics, a look at the
first appearance of Dennis the Menace's first regular pet, Gnasher and a whole lot more!

• You can read the fanzine here on the Issu portal, without spending a single penny!
• Atomic Comic blog: http://theatomiccomic.wordpress.com
• Atomic Comic on Facebook
• Atomic Comic on Twitter