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'''''Charley's War''''' is a British [[comic strip]] written by [[Pat Mills]] and drawn by [[Joe Colquhoun]]. It was originally published in ''[[Battle Picture Weekly]]'' from January 1979 to October 1985
'''''Charley's War''''' is a British [[comic strip]] written by [[Pat Mills]] and drawn by [[Joe Colquhoun]]. It was originally published in ''[[Battle Picture Weekly]]'' from January 1979 to October 1985
==Publishing history==
==Publishing history==
Described by [[Andrew Harrison]] as "the greatest British comic strip ever created", ''Charley's War'' tells the story of an underage British soldier called Charley Bourne. Charley joins the British Army during [[World War I]] at the age of just 14 (having lied about his age; the recruiting officers conveniently overlook the fact that Charley gives his date of birth on his application form as 1900), and is quickly thrust into the [[Battle of the Somme]].
Described by [[Andrew Harrison]] as "the greatest British comic strip ever created", ''Charley's War'' tells the story of an underage British soldier called Charley Bourne. Charley joins the British Army during [[World War I]] at the age of just 16 (having lied about his age; the recruiting officers conveniently overlook the fact that Charley gives his date of birth on his application form as 1900), and is quickly thrust into the [[Battle of the Somme]].


The strip follows Charley's life in the trenches and his experiences during the war. Colquhoun put a meticulous level of research in to the already well-researched scripts which Mills provided. The strip rarely flinched from providing an extremely frank portrayal of the horrors of war, so much so that in some later reprintings some of the artwork was censored. Mills added a political slant in the strip not seen in British war comics and avoided the standard heroics common in war comics generally.
The strip follows Charley's life in the trenches and his experiences during the war. Colquhoun put a meticulous level of research in to the already well-researched scripts which Mills provided. The strip rarely flinched from providing an extremely frank portrayal of the horrors of war, so much so that in some later reprintings some of the artwork was censored. Mills added a political slant in the strip not seen in British war comics and avoided the standard heroics common in war comics generally.
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Mills was replaced by [[Scott Goodall]] and the story was moved to the [[Second World War]] and became a more conventional war adventure strip. The strip eventually ended in October 1985.
Mills was replaced by [[Scott Goodall]] and the story was moved to the [[Second World War]] and became a more conventional war adventure strip. The strip eventually ended in October 1985.

==References==
==References==



Revision as of 23:01, 20 April 2006

File:Charleyswar.jpg
Joe Colquhoun's cover to the original Titan Books collected edition.

Charley's War is a British comic strip written by Pat Mills and drawn by Joe Colquhoun. It was originally published in Battle Picture Weekly from January 1979 to October 1985

Publishing history

Described by Andrew Harrison as "the greatest British comic strip ever created", Charley's War tells the story of an underage British soldier called Charley Bourne. Charley joins the British Army during World War I at the age of just 16 (having lied about his age; the recruiting officers conveniently overlook the fact that Charley gives his date of birth on his application form as 1900), and is quickly thrust into the Battle of the Somme.

The strip follows Charley's life in the trenches and his experiences during the war. Colquhoun put a meticulous level of research in to the already well-researched scripts which Mills provided. The strip rarely flinched from providing an extremely frank portrayal of the horrors of war, so much so that in some later reprintings some of the artwork was censored. Mills added a political slant in the strip not seen in British war comics and avoided the standard heroics common in war comics generally.

The strip followed Charley through to the end of the war and through into the invasion of Russia in 1919.However in January 1985, Mills quit the strip before being able to complete the story(he intended the story to end in 1933, with Charley on the dole as Hitler is made Chancellor of Germany) due to a dispute over his research budget.

Mills was replaced by Scott Goodall and the story was moved to the Second World War and became a more conventional war adventure strip. The strip eventually ended in October 1985.

References

"Charley's War" has been republished in two anthologies, Charley's War: 2 June-1 August 1916 (ISBN 1840236272) and Charley's War: 1 August-17 October 1916 (ISBN 1840239298).

See also