Last Charge

Now is not the time to get picky about Light Horse and Matildas. Even though it wouldn't be too hard to draw some ill thought conclusions. Having said that the cover for Last Charge could pass muster as a recruiting poster with a minimum of editing.

It's a horse of course...

What a pretty horse! Even though thousands and thousands of the poor things didn't make it through the big one they seldom make an appearance in pocket war comics. I get the impression the artist enjoyed drawing this horse. It must have been a pleasant change from drawing  tanks, explosions, and blokes going 'Aaarghh!' Also having this beauty breaking the fourth wall makes it more captivating.

Fatal mistakes and how to make them.

This would appear, at first, easy to do...as a pilot (or even a non-pilot) start by believing in the myth that gravity is your friend. Next you could take up the challenge that guns don't kill people only people with guns kill people (or whatever it is). Or you could even test if low alcohol beer in small glasses is any better than full strength beer in large doses.
These actions all carry consequences and most of them fatal. Destiny can be a tricky thing but why tempt the ill fates when a quiet beer should suffice?

The uncouth language of the Outback

Though somewhat harsh the description of the banter between the two shirtless ruffians is also inaccurate. Far from being inappropriate the cheerful fellows appear to be speaking in some kind of code, unintelligible to others but far from offensive. Perhaps of more of a concern is for everyone at the centre of attention to go shirts off at the slightest provocation. Look... bare chests, there be Australian there.

The wrong or right choice.

He has this wrong hasn't he? Shouldn't it be, "you wanted a fight..you've picked the wrong bloke!"?

So what else are we saying, that as time travellers, would catch ourselves out in only 50 years or so? A mere slip of a turn of phrase and you could find yourself in a whole world of bother. With so much that can go wrong why tempt the fates?

Any excuse to get your gear off.

Some men can't wait to get their shirts off. You would think fighting a fire might call for more protection not less. Workplace health and safety would not be happy. Sure sometimes expediency wins over prudence. Even though it might attract glances from some of the other chaps, some fellows will take any excuse to go shirtless .  Not that there's anything wrong with that.. Odds are however in pocket war comic lore if there is a shirt to be cast aside it will be probably be done by an Australian.

Miserable...accursed Australians...

...a more apt description of Australians I have never heard before. Particularly now we're in the thick of the international rugby season and that the cricket isn't all that far away.

Finally concerning the animated individuals highlighted here. Wouldn't you be doing better service to your emperor by living for him? Just sayin'.

Moustache Monday!

When men get together and point a stick at the ground you know things are about to get serious. Also the attitude of the shirt sleeves - either rolled to full or to quarter with the mixture of stern and jovial faces can be confusing to the casual observer.

But what if we were to move this scene from somewhere in the middle of a jungle to the middle of suburbia? How much changes if these fellows were learning over a BBQ instead of a battle map? What is clear is the man in charge - the one holding the tongs - is the man in authority. The other chaps look to him and he knows how to provide - whether pushing the pawns of war or the prawns on a Sunday afternoon there is one thing for certain. The one who knows, knows! He displays that quality proudly and the others look to him

War Picture Library 135 The Big Arena

Shirts off and Australians. Why do the two always go together? Without fail Australian war picture comic troops are always keen to throw off their kit and show off their chests. The other typical traits of Australians in these stories are their disregard for authority and their fearless fighting ability and spirit.

War Picture Library 135 The Big Arena follows a pair of battle hardened and battle weary Aussie blokes who decide they need a rest from fighting and decide to go absent without leave. Even the officers understand and allow them to skip off for a short break. However  the spit and polish by the book just out from Australia provost sergeant major doesn't understand how things really work in the shooting war and he is determined to bring the two battle weary malingerers into line even if has to cross enemy lines to do it.

Naturally, through a series of adventures, the sergeant comes to fully understand the two heroes and it is only a matter of time before he is brought under the spell of the bromance. Finally he learns how things work in a shooting army.

Australians in pocket war comics never fail to impress. They're always smiling, always shooting and willing to give it a go. They also tend to be larger than mortal men and this is certainly true in The Big Arena where two of the main characters are easily breaking 6'6'' if not bigger.

This is a big story of men from a big country in another big country during a big war.

You're about to eat my cold steal you accursed Australier! And don't laugh at my skinny legs.

When most Spandau teams go out of business they usually have a sale first.

Ginger Meggs grows up and goes to war.

This is a great plan. I can see how this is going to work.

This tank crew looks like the right age for tank crew - a bunch of young punks.

You know you're a part of the Commonwealth because everybody has got different hats.











You don't see a lot of blokes from India in these things - but it's good to see two of them relaxing.

This sergeant is big enough to play lock for the Wallabies.

Passes? Passes? We don't need no stinkin' passes.

Oh the desperation.

Good degree of concern, dread and anticipation in this panel.

Australians will always create an opportunity to take off their shirts.

You think? I thought it was a lost tribe of Mongolians on their final stretch home. Boy did I get that one wrong.

The desert is a big place.

When things go bad...

...they go really bad.

Under the Southern Cross I stand. A sprig of wattle in my hand. 'Stralya! You Bloody Beauty!

War Picture Library 107 Death Took No Side

Quality! Quality from cover to cover. Quality story, quality artwork - everything about Death Took No Side is superb. Let's start with the main character Private Frank Kendrick. He is the supreme loner. He comes from a broken home and cares for nobody but himself. Even the very mention of family sends him either into a rage or into fits of derision. Until of course he befriends Corporal Jock. Jock also comes broken home except of course he is different - he doesn't hate the world. Just as Frank is starting to feel good about himself, despite being bombed and shot at - Jock is killed in a counterattack intended to make time for the besieged garrison at Tobruk. The attack and Jock's death become pointless as Tobruk had already fallen by the time the counterattack was ordered. Frank then deserts with the intention of either dying alone or not giving up his life for anybody or any cause.

Frank stumbles across an Australian lost in the desert and together they are forced into some harsh choices in order to survive. Frank falls ill and is nursed back to health by his new antipodean friend. Frank isn't very good at keeping friendships (the Australian is killed in vicious hand to hand combat) and he finds himself alone again.

Circumstance then presents Frank with a choice. He can run away again or face a very uncertain future (or that should that be almost certain future) and try and stop the enemy - by manning an anti-tank gun by himself. And that's the last we see of him watching a German tank getting closer. I am a fan of any pocket war comic brave enough to finish a story without a neatly resolved ending.

This is a great story that could have been ruined in so many places. Surely there was an editor somewhere begging for a pair of smiling ghosts looking over Frank as he prepares to take on the enemy single handily. But there isn't and that's what makes this story so fantastic. Also the quality of the artwork is pretty darn good displaying a wonderful and masterful mix of shading, clean lines, white space, detail, animation and composition. The artist even manages to insert a small moment of whimsy among the military clutter and human wreckage in the shape of a small lizard sunning before a destroyed allied tank.

This is a terrific War Picture Library to look out for as it delivers from cover to end.

Yaaah! is like Aaagh! except it's the sound you make when you're stickin' it to the other guy.

What a great bit of ink work! I love it!! There's so much going on in this one panel.

I don't understand. All the good guys are heroes aren't they?

I've had it so tough that getting shot at by Nazis and shouted at by NCO's is a paradise.

What work!

Never has a destroyed Grant (or should that be a Lee) been so lovingly drawn.
















This is desperate stuff.

Bloody Australians and their disregard for class.

Time to man up Frank and drink that cup of cement.

Never too late to sing "I did it my way..."

Battle Picture Library 73 The Digger Breed

Australians! A pretty good story even though the artwork is a bit bumpy at times.
Take our friend to the left here. Despite the fact that he doesn't appear in the story and he's the only shirtless Australian to be found in The Digger Breed - look at his slouch hat! What the hell is going on there? That hat is an abomination. Now that I've got that off my chest - here's the plot.

The Digger Breed starts off with Australia's baptism of fire at Gallipoli. A young soldier (who we only get to know as "Rusty") is facing battle for the first time doubts his own courage. He survives his first encounter with the enemy and through the guiding hands of his comrades he manages to find his place. However he panics while out on patrol causing all his comrades to be killed.

Fast forward to World War Two. Three Australian veterans are disembarking in North Africa. One of them is "Rusty" - but which one? Is it Lieutenant-Colonel Bradbury or Sergeant Shaw or Private "Croc" Wheeler? There's a hint given early in the story and then followed up with a red herring or two.  I found myself saying "of course!" when his identity is revealed. But that is only my ego compensating for the fact that I didn't figure it out for myself. 

The Italians in North Africa receive a favourable treatment from the author. But the Australian slouch hats don't deserve the treatment they receive from the illustrator. They are just awful. There are also some very odd looking German tanks. Some of the panels appear incomplete and the composition at times is messy. However at the same time there is also some truly outstanding artwork. The illustrator obviously feels really comfortable when he (sorry for the assumption) gets to leave the ink in the well and sets out to convey the action in as few lines as possible.

The Digger Breed is a well written story and shows that a good drama can be achieved in 64 pages.

My oath sergeant what is wrong with that man's hat?

Why are those boots in the air?

A bad hat again. That really makes me mad!

Now this is a great panel. Feel the white space.

An unusual panel for a pocket war library comic. Having said that it looks unfinished.

This is a good one. Gives you an appreciation for the vastness of the desert.

Now that's an AAAGH!

Here's one for the good guys handbook. If you're out on patrol with a guy called Jimmy odds are you'll be coming back alone.

Feel the fear.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! How wrong are those slouch hats?