Commando 5435-5438

Commando issues 5435-5438 are out today! With two issues commemorating 80 years since the Battle of Crete, using ANZAC, British and local Resistance perspectives, as well as Catalina bombers defending downed airmen, and a very suspect situation in Operation Husky…

5435: A Soldier’s Honour

Many of those who fought on the shores of Greece were evacuated to Crete when the mainland fell to the Nazis. It was a bitter loss and one that would be echoed on the island too. And so, it became another race to escape the deadly fallschirmjägers as the Nazis took Crete in their iron grasp. But with escape, you are always leaving someone behind.

Honouring 80 years since the Battle of Crete, Brent Towns’ follow up to #5423 ‘Tassie Devil’ focuses on bitter corporal Ted Olsen, who’s just as stubborn as the Tasmanian sergeant before him. Will they all make it out of Crete or is something else more important?

Story | Brent Towns
Art | Morhain & DeFeo
Cover | Ian Kennedy

5436: Death Patrol

The night sky over the central Mediterranean erupted into flaming death. The Allied invasion of Sicily, codename “Operation Husky”, had begun. But for Lieutenant Bob Hanson and Brigadier Mullen, the airborne attack was to pose a terrifying problem. They didn’t know it yet, but soon they were to meet up with the death patrol!

Allan’s high-tension tale twists through Cortes’s detailed depictions of the Sicilian countryside, which is anything but serene when you cannot trust the men around you but need them to survive!

Story | Allan
Art | Cortes
Cover | Lopez Espi
Originally Commando No. 404 (1969).

5437: The Amazons of Crete

Inspired by the Amazon legends her grandmother tells her, when the Germans come to claim her island, Cretan Demi Karas is ready for the fight. She is strong, she is brave, and her aim is true, ready to send an arrow into the heart of any Nazi!

Ferg Handley’s story offers a refreshing perspective on the action in Crete and Carlos Pino’s stunning interior and cover art is as fluid and expressive as always.

Story | Ferg Handley
Art | Carlos Pino
Cover | Carlos Pino

5438: Hunters of the Night

After the flak and searchlights of Nazi-occupied Europe, the North Sea was the one remaining obstacle for the returning crews of bomber command — and a grim obstacle at that. They seldom relaxed until they sighted the English coast, for they knew that there was little hope of survival if they ditched into the icy water… Their only solace was that RAF Coastal Command’s flying Catalinas were ready to defend and rescue any ally in those deadly waters.  

Millar’s stunning cover teases the grey-painted wing of the  Catalina, like the fin of a shark — a sight that struck fear in the heart of any prowling Nazi vessel as the aircraft swooped out of the night sky to rain destruction!

Story | RA Montague
Art | Carmona
Cover | Millar
Originally Commando No. 1679 (1983).