Broken Frontier

The latest quartet of Commandos are officially released tomorrow so here is the lowdown on them.

The Commando 50 Years Book is now beginning to reach people from Amazon and it seems to be going down very well. Four more of the mini collections are being worked on with the suggested titles of Desert Rats, Who Dares Wins, Bombs Away! and Dive! Dive! Dive! Bet you can’t guess which is the submarine title!

Commando 4439 Big Mike

Like mighty steel fists the long line of British tanks smashed through the German defences and kept on going, straight into Nazi Germany. Each dusty mile took them deeper into trouble and further away from help — but the column never faltered.
   Only the CO, big Mike Madden, a tough, tough hero knew where they were going…and the reason why they were all risking their necks on this top-secret mission. And every time he thought about it, the sweat broke out on his brow…

Introduction by Calum Laird, Commando Editor

Spoiler alert! One of the themes that has been done over and over in Commando is the tale of the secret weapon, the one that would win the war, any war, at a stroke. Just like here. But the trick for any writer is to make that only the background of the story, to concentrate on the characters and the tension between them. Just like here.
   Ably assisted by art from the two Kennedys, Cam and Ian, this Allan plot deftly manages to push the secret weapon and the special mission into second place behind the feuding characters.
   It was a pleasure to read again, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Big Mike, originally Commando No 3 (January 1971), re-issued as No 1507 (May 1981)

Story: A.C. Allen
Art: Cam Kennedy
Cover: Ian Kennedy

Commando 4440 VLR – VERY LONG RANGE

The backroom boffins seemed to be on to a real winner this time. They’d built some new rifles, high-powered ones which could strike at targets over three miles away!
   It was a bit different from a trusty Lee Enfield which could, with luck, propel a bullet just over a mile. So when Commando Captain Robert Terry saw these very long range weapons being tested he knew just how they could be used.
   He didn’t know what he was letting himself in for…

Introduction by George Low, former Commando Editor

Alan Hebden knows a thing or two about turning out a good yarn and this is one of his masterpieces. The script went to the incomparable Denis McLoughlin who put in all his usual effort and touch of genius. The cross hatching was done by hand at almost the same speed as it has taken me to write about it. A remarkable man and a remarkable artist.
The cover for this 1988 story which centred around a very special firearm was executed by Jeff Bevan, a DC Thomson staff artist whose main interest was in ships and all things naval. He could draw many other subjects convincingly, though, as you can see here.

VLR — VERY LONG RANGE, originally Commando No 2149 (January 1988), re-issued as No 3603 (March 2003)

Story: Alan Hebden
Art: Denis McLoughlin
Cover Art: Jeff Bevan

Commando 4441 The Stranger From The Sea

When the crew of a German Mk VII U-boat picked up a body floating in the icy North Sea they were amazed to find that somehow the man was still alive.
   When the stranger came round, though, the mystery man had no memory of who he was or how he’d got there. It seemed he could understand both German and English, but whose side was he on…?

Story: Mac MacDonald
Art: Keith Page
Cover Art: Keith Page

Commando No 4442 Hyperfire!

When the might of the German Blitzkrieg overwhelmed Poland at the beginning of World War II, Sergeant Adem Kozcki of the Polish Army found himself on the run with a survivor from the staff of a destroyed weapons development facility.
   They had reason to run, for a ruthless SS weapons expert was on their tails and would not stop until he found them.
  Why? Because he was after two highly-experimental machine guns rescued from the facility — one of which had a devastating firing rate of 500 rounds per second.
  This wasn’t rapid fire. This was

HYPERFIRE!

Story: Alan Hebden
Art: Rezzonico
Cover Art: Janek Matysiak