Brand new Commando issues 5027-5030 are incoming, ready for all Commando fans to take home!
Size doesn’t matter in this Commando bundle, as our heroes range from the mighty John Littlejohn, a big Commando with an even bigger attitude, to weedy West Virginian combat medic Jimmy Hopper. But in Commando it’s about bravery, not bulk, and our heroes have it in stacks!
The third instalment of Lieutenant Tom Dell and his S.A.S. squad’s adventures doesn’t disappoint as our boys prove they are still just as adept at landing themselves in trouble as they are at shooting their way out of it. But when their Yankee friend, Major Jake Ryan, rescues a reluctant German scientist, he is quickly dashed away to a secret soviet bunker, used as a hostage to negotiate the release of the scientist, for whom the Russians have their own nefarious plans….
All this is wrapped up in Ian Kennedy’s stunning pastel cover, in which we see soviet soldiers’ silhouettes shooting from the mist, an eerie fairground and Commando first, glowing in the background. Meanwhile, a departure from Muller’s stylistic interior artwork in ‘Hunt and Harass’ (Commando No 5015), Vila and Morhain’s character designs still match their previous iterations, but with their own flair, opting for a more classic Commando look.
Story: George Low
Art: Vila & Morhain
Cover: Ian Kennedy
Powell’s massive Commando John Littlejohn domineers the pages of R. Fuente’s illustrations, filling panels from head to toe! There’s an especially thrilling scene, justly captured in Jamieson’s cover in which a Yugoslavian partisan clings to a snapped rope, hanging perilously over a ravine, while the mighty Littlejohn bridges the frayed ends with only his muscles.
But big as he may be, Littlejohn also manages to find himself in trouble. And hot-tempered, he was no stranger to a fight, be that with Italians, Nazis, the Yugoslavians he’s trying to help or even his fellow Commandos…
Story: Powell
Art: R. Fuente
Cover: Jamieson
Originally Commando No 349 (August 1968)
Jimmy Hopper’s cousin Rick always bullied him. Jimmy was an average kid, he never made the effort. But Rick was different, he joined the army the day he turned eighteen, never shying away from anything, so maybe he was right to judge him. But when Jimmy was drafted in 1968, he wasn’t ready to fight. He wasn’t happy with killing. That was when he decided to become a medic – saving lives instead of taking them. But when Rick is reunited with Jimmy amidst the violence of Vietnam, he sees him as only a coward, the bad blood still running between them…
Using this unusual perspective for a Commando issue, Janek’s cover, while dramatic, with windswept jungle, a smoking flare and medics hurriedly loading a wounded soldier onto the helicopter, attention is instantly drawn to the medical red cross, a stand out theme in the issue.
Also, like his work in ‘A Game of Hostages’, Morhain’s thick black lines take inspiration from Commando artists from the Golden era of pocket libraries, giving Commando its instantly recognisable artwork. But adding his own style, his illustrations use of white space during lulls in the fighting works as an excellent contrast to the use of dark, heavy blacks during the action, perfectly encapsulating the confusion and horror of battle.
Story: Ferg Handley
Art: Morhain
Cover: Janek Matysiak:
Trust is the key theme in Costello’s Silver Age story from the 1990s. After Colin Copper falls off an icy slope and is left behind in a blizzard during the British retreat in Norway he is saved from death by a Norwegian villager. But, as the Nazis tighten their grip on Norway, Colin has to get out. Shown the way by the Norwegian’s son, Leif, Colin is soon captured by Nazis. Was is Leif? Has Colin been betrayed by the son of his saviour? Find out in this issue!
With a setting like Norway, it’s easy to show flat barren snows capes, but Rigby simply does not allow this, dotting the panels with tall, thick pines and carefully shaded slopes. As a result, this dramatic setting is not lost in Phil Gascoine’s dark and moody cover, with Colin, caught in fear and surprise as two German soldiers take aim at him, framing the cover and barring all escape.
Story: Costello
Art: C. T. Rigby
Cover: Phil Gascoine
Originally Commando No 2613 (November 1992)
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