By Gerry Finley-Day, Mike Western, with Jim Watson, Mike Dorey & various (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-78618-633-1 (HB) eISBN 978-1-78618-805-2 (Webshop Exclusive)
This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.
The European phase of World War II officially ended today in 1945 and I can’t tell you how glad I am that we got all that jingoism, racism, seductive superiority, addictive violence and nationalistic avarice out of our collective systems back then. And the fascism. All that vile opportunistic targeted intolerance employed as a path to power stuff is pretty much done & dusted now. Yay Us. It’s a much calmer, nicer world now, right?
For most of the industry’s history, British comics were renowned for the ability to tell a big story in satisfying small instalments. This, coupled with supremely gifted creators and the anthological nature of our publications, guaranteed dozens if not hundreds of memorable characters and series searing themselves into the little boy’s psyche lurking inside most adult males.
One of the last great weeklies was Battle: a combat-themed confection which began as Battle Picture Weekly on 8th March 1975. Through absorption, merger and re-branding – as Battle Picture Weekly & Valiant, Battle Action, Battle, Battle Action Force and Battle Storm Force – it reigned supreme in Blighty before itself being combined with Eagle on January 23rd 1988. Over 673 blood-soaked, testosterone-drenched issues, it carved its way into the bloodthirsty hearts of a generation, producing some of the best, most influential and just plain entertaining war stories ever.
Happily, many of the very best – like Charley’s War, Johnny Red, Hellman of Hammer Force and El Mestizo – have been preserved and revisited in resilient reprint collections, but there’s still loads of superb stuff to rediscover, as typified by recent releases from Rebellion Studios (stay alert for those in days to come, chums…!).
The Sarge is nothing like any of them…
This particular combat compendium re-presents possibly the most sublimely conventional series in the title’s eccentric history: one that ran in Battle from June 25th 1977 to 27th December 1980, with this initial compilation covering that debut through to 18th March 1978. It’s fully supported by an effusive introduction from Garth Ennis and reinforced by a cover gallery and photo feature on main illustrator Lance-Corporal-as-was Mike Western by his son Peter at the end.
In most ways the strip was all about the old order and the Right Thing Done. A veteran of WWI, Sergeant Jim Masters returns to action when the new war breaks out. We open in France during May 1940 as the pipe-smoking grizzled warrior teaches his raw men how to survive in the first of many episodic encounters that will span the whole British war effort.
Masters is “non-com” to a unit of untried troops of the British Expeditionary Force, and must save them during the debacle of Dunkirk, after which comes posting to North Africa in early 1941 as part of the British Eighth Army, battling Italians, Nazis, desert bandits/insurgents, the SS and Rommel’s Afrika Korps at key history points including Tobruk, Libya and El Alamein.
Comparisons to DC’s Sgt. Rock and Easy Company are impossible to avoid, but the tone is quite different here, even after co-creator/scripter Gerry Finlay-Day (Slaves of ‘War Orphan Farm’, Rat Pack, The Bootneck Boy, D-Day Dawson, Action Force, One-Eyed Jack, Dredger, Hellman of Hammer Force, Dan Dare, Judge Dredd, Blackhawk, Rogue Trooper, Fiends of the Eastern Front, The V.C.s, Harry 20 on the High Rock, Ant Wars and so much more) cautiously introduces a strong but always ultimately expendable supporting cast position such as Savage, Fletcher, Bates, Specky Spence and Big Sid Strong who would carry the saga forward. By this time the feature had become popular enough that it was granted the prestigious centre spot and the two full colour pages that commanded for the constant combat clashes and interpersonal conflicts the series revelled in.
The art is by stunningly talented Fleetway/IPC “Go-To Guy” Mike Western. He had been with the company in its various guises since the early 1950s, brilliantly illustrating adventure and humour with equal aplomb on series like Lucky Logan, Biggles, No Hiding Place, The Wild Wonders, The Leopard from Lime Street, Darkie’s Mob, HMS Nightshade and Roy of the Rovers as well as filling in for other artists on countless more. In this volume his own sterling efforts are occasionally aided by Jim Watson (Commando Picture Library, Colony Earth, Zero X, Action Force, The Heavy Mob) on pages18-25 and inked by Mike Dorey (Cadman, the Fighting Coward, Invasion, Ro-Busters, M.A.C.H. Zero, Victor Drago, Computer Warrior) on 133-135.
As weeks whizzed by, simple repeated confirmation that “experience is what counts” gave way to more complex extended story arcs such as when Masters’ lads are trapped on the ruins of a Roman fort and must channel their inner Horatios to overcome a German siege; enduring the Sarge’s brutal tactics to march them out of the deep desert despite having no water, or the bitter struggles to survive an encounter with Sarge’s German equivalent Sergeant Schwartz…
The darkest moments come when Masters takes hopeless outsider replacement Private Kidd under his wing. Teaching the weak lad proper soldiering and how to shoot seems like a good deed done, but when Kidd gets a taste for killing and mania for “souvenirs”, repercussions are appalling and change the nature of this now-tight-knit squad forever…
With history as the guide, the end of 1942 sees the US Army arrive and – after a fractious encounter and some mutual respect earning – the British Eighth depart for Italy. They land with the first liberators on Sicily and the debuts of most remarkable radio man “Beetle” Beattie and handsome smoothie “Lover Boy” Lovat, each adding a little light relief as the action intensifies during some of the hardest, dirtiest fighting of the entire war…
To Be Continued…
Telling stories that are painfully authentic but still find uplifting moments even during constant, intense struggle against some of the most terrifying deranged and psychopathic personalities ever assembled (theirs and ours!), these are British war stories at their very best: no flash, precious little dazzle and absolutely no supermen, just extraordinary mortals doing their utmost… almost like the real thing.
© 1977, 1978 & 2022 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.