Justin Marriott [ed] - Battling Britons #4

[dem bones]

Just arrived (in fact, it was left on the doorstep overnight).

Justin Marriott [ed.] - Battling Britons #4 (Marriott Publications, Nov 2022)

UPDATES, CORRECTIONS AND APOLOGIES: More late additions to previous articles.
INCOMING! Two - feel the quality, not the number - letters to the BB in-box.
GERRY FINLEY-DAY ON TOUR: James Bacon on the classic writer's book signing.
ALAN GRANT (1943-2022): An obituary of the influential comics writer.
COMMANDO GOES NASTY: The Halloween specials from COMMANDO
STOKED IN STOKE ON TRENT: A report from the most recent Swap Meet.
GIBBONS BUSTING OUT! The famous artist and his early work for BUSTER.
FLIGHT OF THE CONDOR: A review of Hibernia's Captain Condor collection.
THE WIZARD OF ZARAGOZA: A review of The Art of Carlos Ezquerra.
SECRET WEAPONS IN COMMANDO: COMMANDOS with secret weapons as a plot-line.
OLIVER'S ARMY: Oliver Frey, an unsung hero of British war comics.
REVIEW OF BATTLE/ACTION: Alan Holloway reviews the BATTLE/ACTION annual.

REGULAR COLUMNS
FROM OUR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: French editions of WARLORD. Cue "Oh La La" comment. Sorry.
CROSS WORDS: Phil Cross on pocketbooks with a supernatural theme
IN DAYS OF YE OLDE: Justin Marriott on Spring Heeled Jackson.
INK JOBS: Jim O'Brien on Carlos Ezquerra, one of British comics most loved artists
MYALL HIGH CLUB: Steve Myall reviews pocketbooks featuring the Gloster Gladiator.
THE ECCENTRICS: Justin Marriott with a future war special of the weird and wonderful of British comics.
BOFFINS, BOTANISTS AND THE BATTY: James Bacon chats to Stephen Hume about his scripts for COMMANDO.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE: Richard Estep answers to the BB panel.

FUTURE WAR FEATURES
A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME: Strips from British comics which featured characters travelling back to the World Wars.
HELL DRIVERS AND NO-OPTION CONTRACTS: Jim O'Brien on the evolution of the look of Bill Savage, everyone's fave twinkle-toed truck driver.
BATTLE IN THE FUTURE: Paul Trimble opens his BATTLE files to look at strips from that comic with a future war theme.
THE WAR MACHINE KEEPS TURNING: James Bacon chats to Dave Gibbons about the creative process behind his Rogue Trooper reboot.
ROGUE VISIONS: James Bacon on the challenges of reboots
THERE'S YOUR ANSWER YOU YELLOW FIENDS! Jim O'Brien on the peculiar genre of British comics devoted to Britain invaded by the Far East.
THE BEETLES REMIXED: The Beetles of Doom infested Britain twice through the pages of HOTSPUR
ARGENTINA INVADED! Jim O'Brien on the politically charged Argentinean strips, The Eternaut and Perramus.
SAVAGE BY NAME, SAVAGE BY NATURE: Gary Martin Dobbs on the later strips dealing with Bill Savage and his resistance efforts.
IN SPACE, NO-ONE CAN HEAR YOUR VACUUM: Justin Marriott chats to Steve MacManus about 2000AD's future war strip, The VCs.
POCKET ROCKETS: Alan Holloway reviews classic, and not so classic, issues of STARBLAZER, DC Thomson's SF title.
ANACHRONISM NOW! Justin Marriott reviews the 'Nam in Space strip, The Light and Darkness War.
TIME AFTER TIME: Justin Marriott on COMMANDO's G-Tex series, with input from Calum Laird and Mike Knowles.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE COMMANDO KIND: A page of COMMANDO pocketbooks with a SF theme.


Blurb:
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE COMMANDO KIND
Battling Britons launches into a brave new world with this special issue looking at future war in British comics.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME: a guide to strips from British comics which combine time travel and war
THERE'S YOUR ANSWER YOU YELLOW FIENDS! The peculiar genre of British comics devoted to Britain invaded by the Far East
THE BEETLES OF DOOM. Bug out at the Hotspur strip in which Britain is eaten by alien insects.
ARGENTINA INVADED. The tragic story of the Argentinian creator behind the politically charged Argentinian strip The Eternaut
PLUS ALL OF THE GREAT FEATURES YOU'VE COME TO EXPECT such as AIR ACE PICTURE LIBRARIES with a supernatural theme, strips with British folk legend Spring heeled Jack, eccentric comic strips with a future war theme, COMMANDO's with a science fiction theme, letters, readers' profiles, news and reviews.


Battling Britons #4, "a quality Marriott publication," available via

Am*z*n

Am**on.UK

[helrunar]

I had a close encounter of the commando kind last month whilst visiting my carpenter friend up in Ontario. I'll spare you the very tired jokes about how good he is at handling wood.

cheers, Hel.

[helrunar]

A more serious comment on the "Yellow Fiends" feature--it's good to see somebody as erudite as Justin covering this kind of material. I recently acquired the Indicator Blu Ray edition of the 1965 film The Face of Fu Manchu. It included as an extra a very interesting talk by Christopher Frayling, recorded in the Spring or Summer of 2020, on Sax Rohmer and the Fu Manchu novels, and the broader "Yellow Peril" scene in 20th century popular culture. Mr Frayling mentioned a recent incident where an Asian person was beaten up (on the Tube, I think) in what seemed to be a Covid panic related incident. He talked about the reappearance of hate lingo specifically targeting Asians and summed up that bit of his discussion with "if you think we've moved beyond Yellow Peril--think again."

H.

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" .... the fourth issue of BATTLING BRITONS ... is a 'Future War' special. This is a direction I would like to take the mag in, with each issue having a theme which might constitute 50% of the contents, with the rest devoted to the war comics coverage you might expect. Next issue will be a 'Secret Agent' special and the following one a 'Horror/Humour' special. -

My current dip in, dip out book-on-the-go. It's Paperback Fanatic/ Men of Violence veteran Jim O'Brien contributes the survey of British multiple post-war invasions by 'Yellow Fiends' (aka, inscrutable Japanese torturers and fellow 'warlike Eastern races') desperate to re-enact Lord Russell's The Knights of Bushido on English and/ or Welsh soil. Examples given include Victor's Will O' the Whistle, Hornet's The Last Warpath, Bullet's nasty looking (if sample panel is typical of the rest) Frontline UK, and Tammy's techo-take on the threat, Tomorrow Town. Justin Marriott follows with a companion piece on The Beetles of Doom, Hotspur's sci-'weird Oriental invasion' series which sees rocket pilot Kato and two henchmen unleash steel-eating insect death on the UK. Elsewhere, the 'Updates' column features stampeding elephants versus 'Japs', homicidal buglers and "stuff yer war effort, get 'orf my land!" farmers in Brit War comics; we've a report on the editor's adventures at the most recent comic swap meet in a Stoke-on-Trent church hall; the briefest look at the recent horror-themed Commando's — Night of the Gorgons & Co. — citing the influence of 60s/70s macabre movie posters and EC comics on the artwork; six pages on Spring-Heeled Jack-inspired strips in Hotspur, Hornet, and the girls' comic, Debbie, whose Spring-Heeled Jill Smith was "meek little typist" at London's Ravell Row police station by day (has own bonnet), fearless rooftop-bounding Victorian crime-fighter by foggy night.

Graham Manley, Night of the Gorgons

More later - I hope. There really is so much to read/ feast your eyes upon in this one

[dem bones]

Justin Marriott [ed] - Battling Britons: Summer Special (July 2022)

NIPS, HUNS AND A STEAMING PILE OF HORSE-SHIT. Gary Martin Dobbs gets horticultural and agricultural. (Not a review of issue 3 left on Amazon!)
HIT THE BEACH! Justin Marriott provides some recommended beach reads.
THE SCUTTLEBUTT. Last of the Summer Whiners! The crew create their own fantasy comics.
MAKING THE SUMMER SPECIAL. Richard Keogh on childhood holidays and his reading material.
ICE COLD IN TENBY. Jim O'Brien unwraps the mystery connection between comics and lollies.
ICE, ICE BABY. Justin Marriott reviews an avalanche (well, five) cool pocketbooks.
WHEN SKINHEAD MET THE JACKBOOT GIRLS. Jim O'Brien goes full aggro on a cult author and his Pocket Libraries.
THE HEAT IS ON. Justin Marriott on the war comics of Ken Bulmer, co-creator of The Steel Claw.
I DON'T BELIEVE IT! Jim O'Brien warpaths with Native Americans in British war comics.
WILD ON THE WESTERN FRONT. Justin Marriott assembles a posse (well, five) of pocketbooks featuring cowboys.
SUPERHEROES OF WORLD WAR TWO. Richard Keogh on The Invaders, Janus Stark and Jack Staff.
FIGHT ON THE RUN. Jim O'Brien keeps up with Tom Tully, creator of Johnny Red.
MAJOR EAZY VS THE RAT PACK. Jim O'Brien reviews the coolest team-up in comics history.
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. COMMANDO script-writer Stephen Hume spills the beans.
POSTCARDS FROM ENNISKILLEN. Foreign correspondent James Bacon reports on the Enniskillen Comic Fest.
THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER. Justin Marriott hatches the curate's egg that was the 2000AD ACTION SPECIAL

Blurb:
THE BATTLING BRITONS SUMMER SPECIAL
THE HEAT IS ON: The fiery war comics written by Ken Bulmer, best known as co-creator of STEEL CLAW and as an SF author.
I DON'T BELIEVE IT: Battling Britons on the warpath with Native Americans in British war comics.
SUPERHEROES OF WORLD WAR TWO: The links between US superhero teams, classic British comic characters and a current title.
MAJOR EAZY VS THE RAT PACK; Battling Britons on the coolest team-up in comics history.
WHEN SKINHEAD MET THE JACKBOOT GIRLS: Battling Britons goes full aggro on a cult author and his contributions to war picture libraries.
MAKING THE SUMMER SPECIAL:
The Battling Britons on their favourite summer reads and creating line-ups for their own fantasy summer specials
ICE COLD IN TENBY: Unwrapping the mystery connection between ice lollies and comics. Brain freeze alert.
Also — reviews of pocket books, a collector profile, JOHNNY RED creator Tom Tully, and a report from the Enniskillen Comic Fest.


"Whatever the weather, these fifty action packed pages will make you sweat!" So how does a summer special differ from a regular Battling Britons? On the evidence of this year's offering, the two main differences are (a) it's in colour, and (b) there are far more "do you remember this iced lolly?" interludes than we're used to. From which you may have gathered that this special is quite the unashamed nostalgia wallow, the contributors sharing treasured childhood summer holiday memories of comics, caravan sites, Shell Island hospitality, Wibbly Wobbly Wonders, shovelling horse dung at 10p a pail for cash to blow on the latest Warlord in Ronnie Wray's newsagent, teenage Club Shandy casualties, etc. Of particular interest to our pulp hardcore (most of whom have wisely long fucked off), Justin on the "War ..." and "Battle Picture Library" writings of Brit SF great Ken Bulmer and notorious genre-hopping speed-novelist, Jim Moffatt, the Seagrams-fuelled man of a million pseudonyms. "So what can we say about Moffatt's [six] war digests as a group? For starters (as I am sure will be of absolutely no surprise to anyone), the sex and sadism aspects of the author's war-set novels are conspicuous by their absence." Probably safe to give them a miss, then. Far less easy to resist, the copies of such X-rated fumettos as Sukia and Wallestein the Monster Jim O'Brien takes such great delight in waving in our envious faces — at least, he would, had his parents only allowed him to buy them; there's a brief round-up of the maverick cowboys and lone injuns who threw in their lot with the allies versus the Nazi's.

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