BRITISH PICTURE LIBRARIES
Updated: 25th August 2008
Pocket
Libraries have been published since the 19th Century.
They were generally condensed editions
of weekly story papers.
This site deals with British Picture
Libraries since the late 1950's.
British Picture Libraries: (and there
were many publications), were around 7 inches in height and around 5 inches in
width and contained around 60 plus pages.
They
were created for the older reader with such titles as:
Air Ace
Picture Library, Battle Picture Library, Combat Picture Library, Cowboy Picture
Library, Eagle Picture Library, Lion Picture Library, Secret Agent Picture
Library, Space Picture Library, Starblazer, Super Detective Picture Library,
Thriller Picture Library, Valiant Picture Library, War Picture Library, War at
Sea Picture Library, Wild West Picture Library etc…
To see some of the various titles Click
here.
COMMANDO
COMIC has now been in publication for over 40
years and since 1971 there have been 8 issues per month.
If you would like to start a subscription
with Commando the address is:
D.C.
Thomson & Co Ltd,
The
Subscribers Department,
Commando
Library,
80
Kingsway East,
DD4 8SL.
OR
FREEPHONE (
This way by the end of your first year’s
subscription you will have 96 issues.
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LATEST COMMANDO TITLES |
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4127 (2519) OPERATION SHADOW August 2008 |
4128 (2502) FINGER ON THE TRIGGER August 2008 |
4129 JIMMY’S
PRIVATE AIR FORCE August 2008 |
4130 THE SQUARE PEGS August 2008 |
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It was an important mission, no doubt about that, but special
investigator Anton Brunner still couldn’t figure out why anyone would
actually try to kill him to stop his enquiries. Yet that’s exactly what was
happening. In fact, there had already been four unsuccessful attempts on
his life – and this time there was no way out! |
As gunfire rent the air, Jimmy Milligan realised too late that
these American MPs were actually SS infiltrators in disguise. His men were
dead before they hit the ground, and Jimmy himself was struck in the legs. Then, with grim intent the German officer moved towards him,
raising his gun slowly, murder in his eyes… |
Squadron
Leader Jimmy Newman flew his Westland Lysander on very dicey special ops,
landing Secret Service agents in enemy territory. Then he got shot down over
occupied But they
couldn’t do it on their own, they had to get word
back to Jimmy’s
Private Air Force. |
The old
saying goes, “You can’t fit a square peg in a round hole.” Early in the
Second World War, though, the British Army tried to do it. And guess
what? They found that the old saying was right all along. |
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Author: Alan
Hebden |
Author: Ian
Clark |
Author: Bill
Styles |
Author: Mike
Knowles |
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Cover Art: Janek
Matysiak |
Cover Art: Phil
Gascoine |
Cover Art: Ian
Kennedy |
Cover Art: Ian
Kennedy |
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Interior Art: Janek
Matysiak |
Interior Art: Ibanez |
Interior Art: Garijo |
Interior Art: |
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NEXT FOUR ISSUES |
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THE FIGHTING STORKS |
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OUTCAST! |
FRONT LINE FIXER |
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Commando Titles |
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TITLE LIST 1 -
1000 |
TITLE LIST 1001
- 2000 |
TITLE LIST 2001
- 3000 |
TITLE LIST 3001
- 4000 |
The run to date is as follows:
2 issues per month (1 - 24) June 1961 -
May 1962
3 issues per month (25 - 30) June 1962 -
July 1962
4 issues per month (31 - 262) August
1962 - May 1967
6 issues per month (263 - 538) June 1967
- March 1971
8 issues per month (539 - present day)
April 1971 - present day
Commando
Comics are still issued, if the current run continues, then issue 4500 should
be released around July 2012.
Commando First 10
issues with reprints.
Latest Issues (Updated Fortnightly)
I started collecting Commando Comics in
1997, buying most of them at car boot sales & charity shops.
All the
titles were original up to issue 538, as issue 539 'Sniper's Island' was a
reprint of issue 72.
This
started a new trend with previously published titles being reprinted. To date
there have been over 800 reprinted titles.
Personally I thought that the overall
impact of the covers were spoiled when they started to display the price bar
code on the front covers, this practice was started with issue 2339 (January
1990) and ended with issue 3186 (October 1998), when the bar codes were placed
on the back cover.
Commando Interior Story Artists
There
have been many Commando artists, whom many of you will recognise, such as: C.T.
Rigby, Keith Shone, Tacconi, Patrick Wright, Carlos Pino, Fleming, Aguilar,
Carrion, Ibanez, Mira, Saichan, Vila etc…
But my favourite story artist for Commando was Gordon
Livingstone who retired in 1999.
I also
admire the work of Jose
Maria Jorge John Ridgway the late Denis
McLoughlin and one of the
more recent artists Keith
Page.
Commando Cover Artists
Since
dedicating pages to the above artists, I have had many emails requesting
information about the cover artists; again there have been many artists, such
as:
But I
think that it is fair to say that the two main cover artists are: Ken Barr who created the earlier covers and Ian Kennedy taking over the mantle from Ken, Ian has now
clocked up more than 1000 covers.
J. Bevan was another artist who has created many covers.
The
pages above have been created to assist with your recognition of the various
artists.
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AT LEAST TEN COMMANDO TITLES HAVE BEEN USED TWICE
WITH DIFFERENT STORIES. |
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68 SPEARHEAD! May 1963 |
1377 SPEARHEAD December 1979 |
221 WALL OF DEATH July 1966 |
684 WALL OF DEATH October 1972 |
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391 WINGS OF WAR March 1969 |
2855 WINGS OF WAR May 1995 |
434 JUNGLE HUNT October 1969 |
3919 JUNGLE HUNT June 2006 |
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829 ENEMIES NO MORE April 1974 |
1309 ENEMIES NO MORE April 1979 |
1241 A SOLDIER’S DEBT July 1978 |
2733 A SOLDIER’S DEBT February 1994 |
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2095 HIT-MAN June 1987 |
3143 HIT-MAN May 1998 |
2336 TRUST NOBODY! December 1989 |
3208 TRUST NOBODY! January 1999 |
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2342 KNOW YOUR ENEMY January 1990 |
3873 KNOW YOUR ENEMY? December 2005 |
3843 ACE VERSUS ACE September 2005 |
4091 ACE VERSUS ACE April 2008 |
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COMMANDO TITLE CHANGE 1993 |
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2690 PASSWORD TO FREEDOM The last with the
heading COMMANDO WAR STORIES IN
PICTURES August 1993 |
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2691 A RACE AGAINST TIME The first with the
heading COMMANDO FOR ACTION AND
ADVENTURE September 1993 |
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THE COMMANDO ANNUALS 1989
& 1990 |
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THE SEVEN STORIES THE YOUNG ‘UN! NO SURRENDER DUEL IN THE SUN KILLED IN ACTION BIG BIRD, LITTLE FRIEND THE GOOD SOLDIER THE THREE MUSKETEERS |
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THE SEVEN STORIES A FISTFUL OF LIGHTNING DEBT OF HONOUR THE COWARD FIGHTERS NORTH RELUCTANT HERO DEATH MARCH TO KOHIMA SHIP OF SHAME |
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I
have had many e: mails regarding the Commando annuals. There were two
produced: 1989 & 1990 (as illustrated).
Each annual contained 7 brand new stories, but the production was
poor. I feel that they were mainly produced to capitalise on the Commando brand,
the artwork was colour and in the style of the picture story papers of the
time and not the usual Commando standard. |
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COMMANDO BOOKS FROM D.C.
THOMSON |
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The twelve stories are: INLAND NAVY Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Arthur Fleming RILEY’S RIFLE Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Galindo ACES WILD Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Jose Maria Jorge TROUBLE SPOT Cover: Eustaguio Segrelles Story Art: Eustaguio Segrelles MUSTANG PATROL Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: John Ridgway DEATH PATROL Cover: Lopez Espi Story Art: Sanches Cortes |
THE SHIP BUSTERS Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Jose Maria Jorge Cover: Lopez Espi Story Art: Matias Alonso THREE…TWO…ONE…ZERO! Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Gordon Livingstone MARCH OF THE MONSTERS Cover: K.C.G. Walker Story Art: Gordon Livingstone MAN OF IRON Cover: Ken Barr Story Art: Eustaguio Segrelles GLIDER ACE Cover: Ken Barr Story Art: Gordon Livingstone |
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There are two cover versions. |
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Carlton Publishing Group. |
Seven Oaks. |
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The twelve stories are: GUNS ON THE PEAK Cover: Manuel Benet Story Art: Manuel Benet THE FIGHTING FEW Cover: Gordon Livingstone Story Art: Gordon Livingstone BRIGHT BLADE OF COURAGE Cover: Gordon Livingstone Story Art: Gordon Livingstone THE HAUNTED JUNGLE Cover: Jordi Penalva Story Art: Collado TIGER IN THE TAIL Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Amador THE SPECIALISTS Cover: Ron Brown Story Art: Ibanez |
MIGHTY MIDGET Cover: Jeff Bevan Story Art: Carlos Pino Cover: Jeff Bevan Story Art: Denis McLoughlin FLAK FEVER Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Gordon Livingstone FIGHT OR DIE! Cover: Cox Story Art: Arthur Fleming FEARLESS FREDDY Cover: Gordon Livingstone Story Art: Gordon Livingstone ANOTHER TIGHT SPOT… Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Garijo |
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The twelve stories are: FIRE OVER Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Jose Maria Jorge DESERT FOX Cover: Ian Kennedy Story Art: Galindo DANGER IN THE DEEP Cover: Jordi Penalva Story Art: Jose Maria Jorge THE | ||||||||||||||||
