Joe Colquhoun is our greatest British comic artist and – out of respect and as a tribute to him – there should be a special collection of his art, including the Second World War stories. Which makes it all the more important, Pat feels, that “Charley’s War” gains the same kind of attention here that it has in France. Despite a permanent display of art from the strip at the Tank Museum in Bovington, and an exhibition of Joe’s art during the World War One centenary in 2014 at the prestigious Abbot Hall Gallery in Kendal, “Charley’s War” seems to Pat to be deliberately overlooked as a potential educational resource. In 2008, Canadian journalist Arthur Kent sued the makers of the film, claiming that they had used material he produced in the 1980s without obtaining the proper authorization. [18] On September 19, 2008, Kent announced that he had reached a settlement with the film's producers and distributors, and that he was "very pleased" with the terms of the settlement, which remain confidential. [19] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Award Old Bill: Bourne – get your kit on and get on the bridge as part of the armed guard to make sure this rabble don’t break out and enter the town”

In Charley, at least, you will have the satisfaction of seeing the merchant of death cringing in his hellish factory, saying ‘I’ve got to get away. This place is a death trap!’ Smith 70 was a great eccentric character who was into all things ‘a bit technical’. His number two on his beloved machine gun was Young Albert who always wanted to ‘have a go’ but never had enough ‘experience’. How he got his name I don’t know (When I was a kid I used to think he was actually 70 years old and hence ‘young’ Albert!) but I think it’s simply that Smith is such a common name and therefore they had to be numbered. I can’t see Captain Snell or those officers who produced the Wipers Times enjoying ragtime, can you? It’s far too cool. Yet Charley Bourne and his mates proudly called themselves the Ragtime Infantry.

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Charley's War was the subject of a display dispersed around the Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux in France (from 16 October 2014 to 4 January 2015). [3] Plot summary [ edit ] It’s more complicated than this, of course. War comics were also one of the very few art forms to be explicitly aimed at working class boys. Their stories were about war and violence, but they were also about heroism and comradeship and, most of all, about people. January–October 1919. Charley and Bill Tozer head to Russia where they fight alongside the 'Whites' - pro-Monarchist Russians - against the Bolshevik Reds who are defending their Revolution, with Tozer serving as company sergeant major. Charley soon becomes disillusioned at the incompetence and cowardice amongst the Whites, some of whom change sides and join the Reds. Charley prevents rogue Bolshevik Colonel Spirodonov from capturing a White armoured train loaded with refugees and royal gold. Matthew: It sounds like it probably appeals to a wide variety of different audiences, from historians to those who grew up reading it, to other comic fans who are discovering it for the first time. But, at its heart, it is an adventure comic, isn’t it

Mills’ desire to expel the myths of war in general from the minds of its young readership and his want to do justice to the terrible legacy of the Great War can only be applauded. Crile, George (2003). Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History. New York City: Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 0-87113-854-9.Another of Mill’s play on words was Charley’s surname ‘a proper Charley born”(geddit?). All his family are here – his Mum, who worked in a munitions factory not far from their home in Silvertown in the east end of London, his Dad who was a special Policeman, his sister Dolly (who married Oliver), and troublesome younger brother Wilf.