COMMANDO EARLY TITLES
Created
Updated 21st August 2021
Commando
war stories in pictures published by D.C. Thomson & Co Ltd, were first released
June 1961 with issue 1: 'Walk - or Die' this title was later released as issue
2523.
Below are
the first ten titles with their respected reprints inc: the story outline,
author, cover artist and story artist.
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1 WALK - OR DIE! June 1961 |
2523 Reprint
of Issue 1 December 1991 |
2 THEY CALLED HIM COWARD! June 1961 |
2531 Reprint
of Issue 2 January 1992 |
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See also issues: 4453 December 8th 2011 & 5444 June 10th 2021 |
See also issue: 4445 November 10th 2011 |
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The Story… Corporal Tom Gerrard of the Royal Armoured Corps
was just an ordinary bloke, easy going and cheerful. Colonel Karl Oberth,
tank commander, was a brutal, merciless Nazi officer. And somewhere out in
the scorching inferno of the Western Desert their tank tracks crossed. Here then is the story of the epic fight put up
by Tom and his crew against the might and power of the panzers and their
swaggering colonel who thought he could sweep the British off the face of the
desert. |
The Story… The victorious Japanese Army was island-hopping
its ruthless way towards Australia, and many a brave Aussie soldier standing
his ground on the jungle-covered islands was bulldozed aside by the sheer
power of the enemy. One Englishman caught up in this desperate
battle had been christened Bob Palmer. COWARD was the name the Aussies had
branded him with, though, and that made him the loneliest soldier in the
company… for nobody speaks to a coward. But Bob was as brave as any man, and
he was out to prove that - with a vengeance! |
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Author: Eric Castle |
Author: Bernard Castle |
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Art: Amador Garcia |
Art: Armando Bonato |
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Cover: Ken Barr |
Cover: Ken
Barr |
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3 A
GUY NEEDS GUTS July 1961 |
2539 Reprint
of Issue 3 February 1992 |
4 MERCY
FOR NONE! July 1961 |
2547 Reprint
of Issue 4 March 1992 |
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See also issue: 4437
October 13th 2011 |
See also issue: 4423 September 1st 2011 |
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The Story… North Africa, 1942.
In the Western Desert, a vast cauldron of scorching heat and flaming lead,
were forged some of the toughest fighting men ever known - the soldiers they
called the Desert Rats. And yet even they
yielded pride of place to a unit of their truck drivers, dare-devil fighting fools
who - to keep the vital supply lines open - blazed a trail of blood and glory
across the desert sands. |
The Story… Sitting tensely
together in the Dakota on their way to the night drop into Occupied Europe,
ten hand-picked paratroopers jokingly nicknamed themselves the ten little
soldier boys. Fate must have smiled, for it turned out to be a grim and deadly
jest. One by one, at the
hands of the Nazis, they were picked off. One by one, they died the death of
heroes… |
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Author: Eric (Noel) Hebden |
Author: Bernard Castle |
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Art: Cecil T. Rigby |
Art: Gordon Checkley Livingstone |
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Cover: Ken Barr |
Cover: Ken
Barr |
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5 HELLFIRE
LANDING August
1961 |
2555 Reprint
of Issue 5 April
1992 |
6 THEY
CAME BY NIGHT August
1961 |
2563 Reprint
of Issue 6 May
1992 |
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See also issue: 4415
August 4th 2011 |
See also issue: 4407 July 7th 2011 |
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The Story… Street by street
through a small coastal town in Occupied France, a Commando group was
fighting desperately towards its target. Down a lane they were suddenly faced
with a blank wall. They turned back, only to find that Nazi storm-troopers
had sealed the entrance with murderous machine-gun fire. But on this mission
there could be no giving up. They had to fight their way onward - for they had
been entrusted with the almost impossible task of seeking out Germany's
latest and most ghastly secret weapon. |
The Story… Without warning the
U-boat periscope broke the surface to focus on the Locksea Lighthouse. Then
slowly the glistening, black hull came up from the depths. No one could deny
the courage and cool cheek of this German captain who was out to capture this
vital link in the guiding of Allied convoys in the Atlantic. Then, into what was to
become one of the most fantastic adventures of the war, sailed skipper Jimmy
Cleeves and his R.A.F. rescue launch… |
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Author: Bernard Castle |
Author: Coughlin |
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Art: Leopoldo Ortiz |
Art: Ros |
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Cover: Ken Barr |
Cover: Ken
Barr |
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7 THE
SHIP THEY COULDN'T SINK July
1961 |
2571 Reprint
of Issue 7 June
1992 |
8 RED
RUNS THE RIVER July
1961 |
2579 Reprint
of Issue 8 July
1992 |
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See also issue: 4399
June 9th 2011 |
See also issue: 4389 April 28th 2011 |
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The Story… The mighty German battleship
lay silent in the Atlantic fog, waiting, her guns loaded and ready. And
straight into this trap a convoy of heavily laden Allied merchant ships was
sailing. On the radar screen
the German captain watched its progress with a grim smile. He was master of
their fate and would not spare a single ship. But there was still a gleam of
hope for the convoy - a destroyer of the Royal Navy which made up with the
courage of its crew what it lacked in size and fire-power. |
The Story… Many and fearsome are
the perils on a swift-flowing jungle river after dark. The men of the Japanese
river patrols knew all these dangers but armed to the teeth, they feared none
of them. Then, one black
night, there glided into that swirling river a new menace that was to strike
terror into every Jap…a British soldier with hatred in his heart and a
Commando knife clamped between his teeth. |
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Author: Gray |
Author: Eric (Noel) Hebden |
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Art: Ros |
Art: Raphael Auraleon |
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Cover: Ken Barr |
Cover: Ken
Barr |
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9 JUNGLE
FURY! October
1961 |
2587 Reprint
of Issue 9 August
1992 |
10 HUN
BAIT October
1961 |
2595 Reprint
of Issue 10 September
1992 |
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See also issue: 4381
March 31st 2011 |
See also issue: 4373 March 3rd 2011 |
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The Story… In the dense Burmese
jungles, a soldier had a thousand enemies - the wild animals, the snakes and
poisonous insects, the deadly fevers. But for the retreating British there
was an even deadlier enemy…the elusive Japs who struck suddenly then melted
back into cover like ghosts. Sergeant Tom Flynn
and a handful of men had the tough task of fighting their way through against
such an enemy. And with them they brought a vital prize - a massive fortune
in solid gold! |
The Story… They were keeping him
away from the front-line - a man like Sergeant John Kelly. This big Aussie
had such a deep hatred that it turned him into a fighting fury, a battling,
raging first class soldier. But John Kelly was
not a quitter and exciting was the path he trod to defy authority and get his
hands on the enemy! |
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Author: Coughlin |
Author: Bernard Castle |
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Art: Cecil T. Rigby |
Art: Gordon Checkley Livingstone |
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Cover: Ken Barr |
Cover: Ken
Barr |
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© D. C. Thomson
& Co Ltd. |
Vic Whittle 2001 |
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