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by geoff42
14 Jul 2018, 01:06
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: How many issues of Charley's War are there?
Replies: 19
Views: 17437

Re: How many issues of Charley's War are there?

Hi, Adam, the Charley's War World War Two series with Scott Goodall's scripts start with Battle's cover-dated issues February 2nd 1985 through to October 4th 1986. Thereafter, with October 11th issue, the reprints from Charley's First World War started which followed on with Battle's merger with Eag...
by geoff42
13 Jul 2018, 01:20
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

A new year and decade dawned on Battle's January 5th 1980 cover-dated issue. After nearly five years of service and, despite the recent loss of its flagship editor (Dave Hunt), Battle was still relatively in good shape with regard to its content and financial viability. During Battle's early-mid thr...
by geoff42
02 Jul 2018, 00:29
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

Upon its 48th and final episode, Nightshade ground to an abrupt and unsatisfying end. With Darkie's Mob, John Wagner systematically killed off cast members one by one and an inevitable climax was all but signposted but, nevertheless, the end was appreciative. Conversely, Wagner treated Nightshade's ...
by geoff42
28 Jun 2018, 00:30
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

Between Battle's cover-dated issues of October 27th & November 17th 1979, John Wagner (writer) decided to give Nightshade and her crew a deserved break for four episodes on the coast of South Africa, Freetown. While engaging with patrol duties, the crew indulged in a couple of off-the-wall leisurely...
by geoff42
14 Jun 2018, 11:49
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

Hi, Tammyfan, I'm afraid my Battle collection only leads up to the end of 1981 but, from memory, I'm pretty certain that Adam Eterno has a complete collection... so, if you're out there, Adam...
by geoff42
12 Jun 2018, 23:47
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

Whatever happened to The Sarge? After its initial Gerry Finley Day/Mike Western arc (75 episodes), The Sarge lost its co-creators in one swoop: Western joined John Wagner's Atlantic front with HMS Nightshade while Gerry went AWOL with Gory Rider. But The Sarge was too popular to drop and forged ahea...
by geoff42
18 May 2018, 15:27
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

Hi, Adam, 100 issues, you say? If my memory serves me well, it's around then when Johnny Red burst on to the scene along with the quirky team-up of Major Eazy v Rat Pack, and then there was Joe Two Beans to accompany John Wagner's brooding Darkie's Mob. Former Valiant personnel (Joe Colquhoun, Eric ...
by geoff42
15 May 2018, 22:29
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

I'm back treading a little here as I've just discovered something I wrote quite a while ago but simply misplaced and forgotten. This piece concerns Parsons, the trouble maker of HMS Nightshade: The trouble with Parsons... Parsons was a trouble maker and bully over whom Geordie Dunn had previously st...
by geoff42
27 Apr 2018, 23:19
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

The Gladiators, protagonists of The Spinball Wars, finally hung up their sling sticks within Battle's cover-dated issue of October 6th 1979 and embraced liberty. Naturally, many Battle readers would have cheered in jubilation at the prospect of their comic reverting to an all-war format. For the Act...
by geoff42
20 Mar 2018, 08:22
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

Hi, Tammyfan, "The Nightmare" began in the January 19th 1985 issue and ended in October 11th 1986. Very few Battle issues were actually numbered, so the above dates is your only available reference for the series. Hope this helps.
by geoff42
07 Feb 2018, 00:21
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

Charley and Ginger were brought back to the trenches after a deserved rest from the Somme. Poor old Weeper was left blinded and bound for the medic base on a truck, bidding his colleagues a bitter-sweet farewell. Charley and Ginger went on to meet an old friend "Smith 70" who inadvertently drove one...
by geoff42
21 Jan 2018, 02:43
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

The intricacies of Charley's War pivoted a narrative on comics that was all but an alien process back in 1979. Not even 2000 AD, at this juncture, had yielded such a complex, ongoing series. After a long stint during the Battle of the Somme, Charley and the rest of his unit retired from the front fo...
by geoff42
12 Jan 2018, 01:19
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

After eight months, Carver was the first new series to emerge in 1979. However, it was a low key affair that lasted only six episodes. The premise was intriguing where a major of the special investigation branch, Carver, was assigned the task of investigating the death of Captain Walsh in the Middle...
by geoff42
22 Dec 2017, 01:46
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

After a solid 36 issues wherein 7 strips (bar an occasional complete story) held a uniformed run (a run that Battle that would never emulate), Battle eventually ushered in a new "launch" issue in its cover-dated September 15th 1976 publication. However, only two strips were displaced: Crazy Keller a...
by geoff42
22 Dec 2017, 01:03
Forum: Retired IPC/Odhams/Fleetway titles
Topic: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain
Replies: 245
Views: 156548

Re: Battle picture weekly - Terror Behind the Bamboo curtain

Hi, CharleyBourne, it's nice to have fellow Battle enthusiasts to chip in with their comments and opinions on this thread. I started with buying individual issues of Battle before I found it too taxing and expensive to accommodate. Recently, I've bought the full years of 1980 & 1981 for a few bob, b...