My father was recently clearing out his loft and turned up at my house with a battered cardboard box filled to the brim with Commando comics, War and Battle picture libraries and a smattering of Air Ace holiday specials that I had stored up there when I 'outgrew' such things. I have just spent a happy few days reliving my youth through stories of plucky Brits and dastardly huns in a world where Germans always died with a gutteral "Arrrrrgh!", cowardly officers got their come-uppance in the last two pages, Japanese soldiers screamed "Banzai!" at every opportunity and stiff upper lips were de rigeur.

I have even just been to the newsagent and picked up a couple of the latest issues to see if anything has changed (much to the mirth and amusement of my colleagues who spotted me reading them over lunch). It hasn't, Jerries are still dastardly and Tommy Atkins rules supreme, it's as if Empire never ended :) The only difference is that it seems they have added extra conflicts to the range.

So, anyone else on here who used to read Commando ? Or were you a 'Battler Britton' chap ? Was it Fleetways 'War Picture Library' that consumed your pocket money and did reading such tales make you and your mates run around yelling 'Die Englander Schweinhund!" and "Arrrgh!" (*). Go on, tell us your tales.

(*) We terrorised the local vicar by using the churchyard as one of our places to stage imaginary battles. He got fed up with finding hordes of ten year olds laying siege to the entrance to the crypt whilst an equally large horde tried to see them off with spud guns and water pistols as we pretended it was an enemy bunker.

Ok, I admit it, I did read a few issues of Commando, and Victor too :)

I'm quite a big fan of the parodies that they keep putting in Viz too ;) :lol:

Yep! I read commando too!

Had stacks of them - but they were binned by my parents about 6 years ago - along with EVERY issue of Zzap!64 and about 5 years worth of Commodore user and every issue of The One!

Still cant believe they did that! They thought they were just rubbish!!!!!!!!

Luckily my parents used to have a sneaky peek at my comics after I had gone to bed so my father knew that getting rid of them was probably a bad idea (hence him nearly doing his back in bringing them over). I'm glad he did as last night I dug the whole lot out and down at the bottom of the box were about two dozen 'Battle' comics as well. Wahey! Commando comics and Johnny Red and Major Eazy to boot. My missus is getting fed up with me emerging from the den uttering "Achtung Spitfeuer!" and "Take that Fritzy!" to the cats.

I read the beano, and zoids, that was about it

I wonder if that bullet has reached D-Day Dawson's heart yet?

Used to have loads of Commandos, also Battle in various forms (loved the Computer Warrior comic strip, although the US Gold connection did make some of the strips little more than an advert!)

If I remember correctly it did. It's a bit hazy but I remember him snuffing it after helping his platoon to Berlin or something.

:o
Poor old sarge. :(
Did The Rat Pack win their freedom though?

Incidentally, the germans usually died with the phrases "Gott In Himmel!" or "Donner Und Blitzen!". Occasionally there was a "Mein Gott!". I recall more than a few Ach himmels knocking around too.

The Japanese attacked Union Jack Jackson with a cry of "Aieeeee!" more often than not, as well as the usual "Banzai!".

Funnily enough, the japs also died with a scream of "Aieeee!" quite a bit too.

Lord Peter Flint was not a coward: Fact. :D

Ah the differences between comics. You are quite right, Germans featuring in Battle, Warlord and their ilk did indeed usually shuffle off this mortal coil yelling "Gott in Himmel" etc. "Mein Gott!" was usually reserved for the moment the heros grenade sailed through the carelessly opened hatch of their Tiger tank or bunker. In Commando comics the moment of expiry was accompanied by a harsh "Arrrrrrrrrrggggh!". You would usually get at least one every four pages, sometimes two to a page if the hero had a plentiful supply of ammunition or there were lots of dastardly huns to be dealt with.

The Japanese did have a combined battle cry and dying scream of "Aiiiieeeee!". It saved time and the need for the writer to come up with anything more pithy.

What always amused me was that 99% of Commando comics dispensed with the usual 'BLAAAAMM' type words to denote explosions as if D.C Thompson had a rule that said 'Thou shalt not add 'BLAAAMMs to thine artwork'. However, one particular artist always managed to sneak a 'THOOOOM' or 'KRRRAAANG' in somewhere in the strip.

Oh and having had a look through some of the old Commando books it's amazing to see how a few current Marvel/DC/2000AD artists started out. I've recognized art by Cam Kennedy, John Ridgeway, Carlos Pino and Ian Kennedy in them.

I think it was 2000AD that pioneered the "BuddaBuddaBudda" machine gun stylee sounds.
One of the comics dived in with a "THWOCK!" now and again but I can't recall which one. Wasn't a superhero comic either.

When I was a kid I got an excellent pressie of an aunt. It was a bumper pack of four comic annuals. The first three were softback - Lion, Tiger and Scorcher - three comics I'd never even heard of. The fourth was a hardback Hotspur annual featuring Nick Jolly - 21st Century Highwayman (or something). Way cool. Wish I hadn't given it away.

I absolutely totally rate the old comics. I used to get Battle and Warlord and occasionally Victor. I also loved 2000AD and Starlord. I bought a lot of the little Commando books but stupidly saw them as disposable entertainment. I was the same with the small format Amazing Tales, Time Twisters, Fantastic Stories etc etc.

I also used to snaffle copies of a comic my sister used to get for a while. Think it was called Misty. It was aimed at the girls but was all ghost stories and stuff.

The absolute best comic for ghost stories was Scream, just a shame it was so short lived :(

i used to read commando :)

I certainly used to get War Library"Die you Englischer Schweinhund",loved them
but they got chucked out a long time ago,dont think I ever had any commandos
but certainly destroyed many airfix and Britains soldiers,often with a Revel
Panther tank and flame thrower attachment..lighter fuel..whoops senior
moment there!!Then of course there was the fabulous Eagle comic....
cheers peter.

ooh,er,seems that an armistice is happening,Gott in Himmel,Banzai.
cheers peter.

Commando was excellent back then, saved me on many a boring car journey reading that in the back seat.

Glad to see it hasnt had to go all PC and still seems decent. I do love all the WW II stuff, World at War dvd box set is brilliant, Medal of Honor when that first came out i loved it on the PC.

As for comics i used to buy a lot of Commandos, must still have them somewhere, i tried the Eagle when they relaunched that but looking back that was pretty poor. Couldnt even sell issue 1 of the revamped Eagle on ebay either !

2000AD i loved for Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper and Judge Dredd, excellent comic.

Apologies for resurrecting this from the bottom of the pile but a lunchtime excursion to the shops turned up a treasure in a bargain book shop. If anyone on here has a 'Works' or 'Booksale' shop in their home town and loved Commando comics when they were a kid I suggest they go have a look. My local outlet here in Bristol is selling a weighty tome by the name of 'The Best 12 Commando Books Ever' for the paltry sum of £6.99.

Basically it's a set of 12 reprinted Commando books in larger format with an introduction by the current editor and of course an Ian Kennedy cover. Classic stuff which just skipping through in the shop had a lot of great memories surfacing from when I was a kid.

...and yes, I did buy one. Mrs Von isn't going to get much sense out of me tonight barring the occasional "Take that Fritz!", "Achtung Spitfeur!" and "Gott in Himmel!" :)

Gotta love those comics! I regularly had (at various points of my childhood) :

2000AD (Rogue Trooper, Strontium Dog, Nemesis, Dredd - great!)
Eagle in the early 80s (Doomlord was superb)
Scream (great kids' horror comic)
Commando

Still have almost all the Scream comics, but alas everything else has disappeared into that great big dustbin in the sky...

used to read all the old war comics, battle, war the Victor annuals but my main collection was of course the Commando Comic, at one time had almost 3000 different numbers in my collection.
But due to money and space decided to sell through ebid (shamless plug)
Have kept the numbers I accumalated pre 500 as they will hopefully be handed down to my lad when he is a few years older and realises that by the time he's in his thirties many of them will be a hundred years old.
Mind you he may not get my Victor annuals, those my dad has kept when I moved out and I may have to pry them away with a sneak attack, something the missus keeps on at me about room.

Interesting memory about "Budda budda budda".

On a school trip my best mate had brought the Sun (or was it the Mirror?) on the coach with him. It had a Judge Dredd comic in it.
It was the single most hilarious thing I had ever read.

It starts with some kids eating snacks, then they drop the wrappers on the ground. Budda-Budda-Budda!!! says the next frame.
The final panel has Judge Dredd holding his lawgiver and smiling: "Judge Dredd says never drop litter. Justice served."

I couldn't breathe for laughing at the sheer brutality of that.

As for Commando, yep used to read that. And Victor and Hotspur. My gran worked in a newsagent so I was never short of comics :D And if my mum was out the owner of the newsagent let me stay in the back of the shop and read everything more than a week old. Fantastic! Although I did read a worrying amount of girls comics like Mandy. Ahem. I was just a compulsive reader...

I particularly remember Morgyn the Mighty from Victor. T'was an odd world we kids inhabited back then.

It was a strange world indeed. Can you imagine trying to explain the comics we read as kids to kids of today...

"Well there was this commando who could rip the turrets of tanks with his bare hands and another bloke with a mysterious jewel who made him invincible, an escapologist, a space creature who could be as big as a house or as small as mouse. Oh and don't forget the character who was based on a notorious cat burglar, murderer and wife beater!". I have enough problems explaining to my daughter (and Mrs Von) why I find Jonah and Puss 'n' Boots so funny.

For the uninitiated, in order that's Captain Hurricane, Kellys eye, Janus Stark, Galactus and Charlie Peace all from the late 60s and 70s. All very odd indeed but to us back then they were perfectly normal along with stuff like the Steel Claw and 'One Eyed Jack'.

Not to mention the cyborg who secretly played for a major football team, or the small fat football player with a winning banana shot and a team mate built like a house who burst the net with regularity.

Or... how about the long distance runner who was always having to solve crimes or defeat his ememies before finally, still, winning the race? Oh, and his favourite food was fish&chips which he ate all the time.

Project 917, Hotshot Hamish & Mighty Mouse (Roy of the Rovers) and Tough of the Track (Rover/Victor).

Couple of links: British Comics Roy of the Rovers.

Littering is actually a crime in Mega City One....

Yup,all great comics/mags,bought them all regularly,no
didnt keep them(lacking foresight?)but favourite was/still
is the Eagle comic,death rays,evil green monsters what
more can a child want?cheers peter.