CHARLEY' S WAR: An appreciation

Charley Bourne was only sixteen years old when he lied about his age and signed up for military service in 1916. After the most basic of basic training he was sent to the trenches of the Western Front and the tragedy of the Somme where 500,000 British troops were killed.

And so begins one of the most remarkable comic strips ever published in a British comic. An anti war strip in a boy's action comic. And not only that but a strip concentrating on the first world war when, at that time, most boy's war stories were set in the second world war.

Charley's War, written by Pat Mills was different from the start and most of the action would take place in the trenches which were vividly realised by artist, Joe Colquhoun.

The strip was rocking right from the first frame - Pat Mills did some heavy research into the period and was determined to show war as it really was - bloody, messy, terrifying and, unusually for an action comic the strip would often pull back from the action and concentrate on the smaller aspects of life in the trenches. The day to day tasks that the Tommy had to carry out are well detailed and sometimes the comic strip makes for harrowing reading.

Titan Books are currently issuing the entire series in handsome hardback editions - the fifth volume is due later this month and I'll be first in the line to get it. The previous books take pride of place on my graphic novels shelf and the importance of this strip can not be underestimated - part The Sgt. Rock and part Wilfred Owen the comic strip is so well regarded that even the BBC History Magazine reviewed it and called it - an interesting and realistic take on World War One.

The strip not only featured breathtaking battle scenes but also showed characters suffering from illnesses caused by the hellish existence in the trenches. It also depicted some characters trying to deliberately get a Blighty (a wound which was serious enough to get them sent home) and even touched upon desertion and the foolish actions of the generals which were responsible for many needless deaths on both sides. For once the enemy were also shown as being mostly normal men caught up in the madness that was the first world war and not inhuman Teutonic brutes who kept yelling, "Die Englander Die" every other frame.


As well as the storytelling Charley's War stood out in the artwork - gone were the clean uncluttered frames and the art was deliberately messy and gritty in order to full realise the chaos of the trenches.

Take a look at some of the pages here and you will see that there is so much happening in each and every frame.

Compare the illustration (below) to the actual photograph of the time to appreciate just how brilliantly realistic the strip was.











There were other strips in the long running comic that deserve classic status - The Sarge, Hellman, Johnny Red, Darkie's Mob but there is only one Charley's War.

As well as an all action strip it is an intelligent and fully encompassing record of a terrible period in history. A strange beast - a comic book that has been reviewed and analysed by the serious press, a strip written for a boy's war comic that is well regarded by world war one historians.

In his introduction to Titan Book's first volume in the series, covering June 1916 - Aug 1916, writer Pat Mills gives an interesting talk about the strip's creation and ultimate influence on war comics and comics in general.


Long before the For Mature Readers tag was ever applied to a comic book, Charley's War was true epic, adult storytelling in a comic book form.