R. A. Montague

One of the latest releases from Commando Library was a reprint of a tale by R. A. Montague, a long-time contributor to the series. He receives a mention in George Low's history of the pocket library who mentions him as "a prolific contributor to Commando, working from his base in Diss, Norfolk. He had experience of being in the R.A.F. during the war and then serving with the colonial police after the hostilities. That gave him plenty of experience to call on, and he used it well with a fine spread of air, sea and ground stories. He was certainly a force to be reckoned with."

Montague was the writer of two rather odd issues of Commando. "Fly to Glory" (768) and "The Pharaoh" (781) were written and drawn in Spain by Castello Lucas and offered complete to D. C. Thomson editor Chick Checkley, who had Montague rescript the two stories for British publication.

His earliest script appeared in 1968: Lieutenant Trouble (370, Nov 1968) was drawn by Sanchis Cortes. He continued to draw issues drawn by Victor de la Fuente, Segrelles, Martin Salvador, Amador Garcia, Cam Kennedy, Gordon Livingstone, Jose Maria Jorge and many others.

Montague also contributed 8-page filler stories to Battle Picture Library reprints 1970-71 and at least one full-length story (Honour Bound, BPL 721, June 1973), but his main output was for Commando where he was penning two stories a month by the mid-1970s through to the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s his output had halved but he continued to be a regular, steady contributor until his last appearance with At Ground Level, issue 2456, published in March 1991.

Montague lived at Lakes Farmhouse, Langmere, Dickleborough, Norfolk, from at least 1964 onwards.