Steve Johnson thought his daughter, Ada, had died in a blizzard and he was responsible – so he abandoned his homestead and set off to join the great California Gold rush. But Ada was safe and with her pet grizzly bear, Lady Grey, she was on her way to California to try to find her father.
Adventures of Snip the fox. After being caught in a snare near Dingle Wood, Snip had luckily been rescued by Linda Dale, the farmer’s daughter.
Since her mother died, Helen Small and her dad found it hard to make ends meet. But than an unknown person started to help, allowing Helen to afford a school day trip to France.
Kathy Tilton wrote the first half of a short story about a robbery, setting it in her own school. She was horrified when the robbery actually took place the night after she had written it all down!
Alison MacDonald was horrified when her best friend, Meg Sinclair, started to date Brent Adams a new boy at school. Brent was very good looking and could be charming, but Alison knew of him previously from her old school. Underneath he was a nasty piece of work, however it was proving impossible to convince Meg of this.
Penny Lane, had the gift of second sight and was being used by her travelling show foster parents, the Hermanos, in their mind reading act. Penny had escaped from her nasty foster parents and was searching for a mysterious woman who appeared to her in a dream. But Ida and Harry Hermanos were on her trail as well.
Westfield Community Centre run a Summer Fête each year, but the Women’s Circle who usually organise it, feel that it’s only fair some other group take charge this year as all the groups benefit from the money raised for the facilities. While most people are reluctant, Anne from the youth group, spiritedly volunteers herself and her two friends (much to their dismay!). After Anne talks her friends, Sally and Julie, around they set off confidentially making a list of things to do and actually getting excited about the project, but things don’t go quite as smoothly as they would have liked!
First they contact Farmer Buckley for use of his field and he tells them they can use last years stall that are stored in the barn… though they may need a lick of paint. The girls find the stalls in poor condition needing more work then a paint job. When they can’t find anyone to help repair the stalls, they set about doing it themselves. This does not go well, but then Farmer Buckley’s son, Billy, comes across them and offers his woodwork skills. With the first problem sorted they go about trying to find someone to open the fete. Seeing a poster of pop star, Chris Rich, the girls think it would be great to get him to do the opening, even if it is most unlikely to get such a star. Being optimistic, even though it’s a slim chance they figure no harm in asking, and after getting no response from his agent, they go and try and see him at a show to ask in person. They get mistaken as contest winners and introduced to Chris, before they get a chance to ask him about the fête, the real contest winners burst in to expose them as frauds. Luckily when the girls explain why they are there, Chris takes it all in good humour, he even says if he is not too busy he’ll open the fête and his agent will be in contact.
Unfortunately after a few days they hear nothing from Chris’s agent, so are back to square one. They tell Mrs Lucas about this problem when she asks how preparations are going, she says she can get Bob Benning the local radio DJ to come. The girls accept, though privately Sally says she isn’t pleased to have an old boring guy with terrible jokes as their special guest, but they don’t have other options. More bad news for the girls when they go to barn and find the prizes have been stolen. With Billy’s help they find them dumped close by, some of the prize are broken, but they manage to salvage most of it . Their luck seems to turn for the good when Chris Rich shows up saying he can do the show, apparently his agent has been fired for mismanagement. The girls are so delighted until they realise now the have two openers! Then Bob Benning shows up! He tells the girls he appreciates being asked to open but he’d prefer to dress up walking around the fete entertaining people. The girls graciously accept, relieved the problem sorted itself. On the way out Bob makes a comment that he’s sure they could find some one else to open, like maybe the latest heart-throb, Chris Rich. The girls then realise he overheard their earlier conversation with Chris, they think he is great for doing that and they would never refer to him as boring again.
So just as things seem to be coming together, of course another obstacle presents itself. When they go to the field to start setting up everything, they find caravans there instead. Farmer Buckley tells the girls he didn’t realise they would need to set up so soon, he can’t ask the caravans to move, and that they will have to use the smaller field instead. Trying to make the best of things Sally decides to start moving things to field but slips and hits her head while moving a slide. She wakes up in a caravan, the owner Mary is a nurse and lucky Sally isn’t badly injured. Mary asks her what she was trying to do when she had the accident, and after hearing her story, Mary tells her she would be happy to get all the caravans to move to smaller field. Of course noting can ever go smoothly and soon after Mary notices her diamond ring missing and she blames Sally as she was in her caravan. The police are called, but it turns out two young boys had found it and took it not knowing it was valuable. Everyone is very apologetic to the girls after that, for the accusations.
Again things are finally running smoothly they’ve even come up with a contingency plan if it rains. Of course there is one final obstacle to overcome, when Mrs Lucas enquires about the food for VIPs like the opener and Mayor, the girls had not thought of that or even to invite the mayor. Luckily a quick phone call and persuading Mrs Lucas that the Mayor asked for her food specifically solves that. The day of the fete arrives and it is a sunny day, everything goes well, even Mrs Lucas says it may be the best one yet. Anne tells Mrs Lucas was thinking about the Christmas fair but Sally and Julie quickly shut that idea down!
A Summer story for Summer! A campaign/project can be a fun setting for a story. While often these type of stories have a saboteur working against the protagonist (like in Follow-My- Leader-Lil or “Hands Off Our Club!”), sometimes its just a a series of events to make an ordinary task more exciting. Organising a fete is no easy project on its own, and the girls of course get even more drama thrown their way with trying to track down a pop-star, having prizes stolen and even being accused of thievery themselves! The story keeps things interesting by giving the girls all these obstacles to overcome, while never letting things get too frustrating for them.
It also has some good humour, especially with Sally and Julie being the long suffering friends of Anne’s ideas. Although they soon come around to helping out and are proud of achievements at the end of the day, they are not ready to take on such another project again, unlike Anne! The girls are quick thinking, pretending to Mayor that his invitation got lost and taking the opportunity to meet Chris Rich in a case of lucky mistaken identity. They do get some help along the way, Mrs Lucas despite not wanting to run things does check up on the girls reminding them of things and even getting convinced to provide food, Billy Buckley and his friends despite the girls initial misgivings about the boys do offer a helping hand when needed and are the only ones to stand by them when they are accused of theft. Even both celebrities Chris Rich and Bob Benning come to the girls rescue in different ways.
It’s also another good example of Jesus Redondo art, whose style seems to suit the restrictions of the smaller picture story library format. As always with these PSLs it can be a challenge to present an interesting story with satisfying conclusion in a short format, but this works well, ending on success of fete and Anne getting grand ideas on the next fair.
Published: Commando #2583
Artist: Janek Matysiak
Writer: Unknown
I have come into another Commando drawn by Janek Matysiak, the son of popular DCT artist David Matysiak. It comes with both a gorgeous Matysiak Jnr cover and interior Matysiak Jnr artwork, which seems to be rare thing for Matysiak Jnr in Commando, who most often drew just Commando covers. So we get the best of both worlds here. Strangely, the issue is another omission from the wiki entry that is supposed to list all Commandos with Janek Matysiak as creator.
Plot
By World War II, most British cavalry regiments have gone over from horse power to machine power, but not everyone is happy with such newfangled developments. Among them is Major “Galloping Jack” Faraday, who would have a horse over a tank any day and still wears spurs with his uniform. Faraday’s constant companion is Trooper Tom Tuttle, although he does not share Faraday’s enthusiasm for horses. He’s a mechanics man, and his idea of riding is motorbikes. They are an odd couple for sure.
The Depot Commander doesn’t like Faraday and is always coming up with ways to get rid of him. Anything with a horse in it is guaranteed to do the trick, but right now the only thing available is an assignment to deliver old A-Nine tanks to Russia. Faraday accepts it all the same, as he can speak some Russian. He takes Tom along because his mechanics expertise will help with the tanks.
In Russia, the A-9s are loaded onto a train at Murmansk for delivery. But in transit, they have to be offloaded prematurely because the Russians require them for immediate action at a newly opened front. While Faraday and Tom are waiting for their return train, a freight train pulls up with a Cossack regiment aboard, who are bound for the front. Five of their horses have fallen ill and the Cossacks are all set to euthanise them, but horse-loving Faraday intervenes. He diagnoses their condition as colic, which is treatable. He waives the return train in order to take care of the sick horses, using the waiting room at the train station as their stall, and using all manner of bribery and bullying to get everything needed to treat them. The Cossacks head to the front on their remaining horses.
Once the horses have recovered, Tom and Faraday start their journey to return them to the front. It’s Tom’s first time in the saddle, and he struggles with it at first, but he begins to learn the basics of old-fashioned cavalry riding from Faraday. Their old A-9s and then horse carts give them tracks to follow to the front, but it’s a hard journey, and there is the problem of how to get back home once they deliver the horses. Faraday discovers the horses are “gun shy” i.e. they take fright at the sound of gunfire, something they must get used to in combat. He starts giving them training to cure them of that.
They are spotted by a Russian unit, led by Sergeant Afonka, who are hauling machine guns on horse carts to Major Taras Grischuk’s squadron at the front. Afonka, who is unfamiliar with British uniforms (and apparently, German ones too), mistakes them for Germans and opens fire. This spooks the horses as they are still gun-shy. Fortunately, the misunderstanding is quickly cleared up.
Afonka has lost one of his cart horses, so Faraday lends him one of their horses for the job, and the two parties combine forces. But when they meet up with Grischuk, he suspects the British soldiers are German spies. Then they are all attacked by German planes. Tom saves the day with his mechanics expertise, which enables him to wield one of the machine guns at the planes. After that they are welcome in Grischuk’s Cossack unit, and Grischuk insists Faraday call him by his friendly title of Taras Ivanovich.
The Cossacks move on next day and come across an enemy advance of foot soldiers. They charge, with Faraday far more experienced than Tom in horse cavalry charges. Tom is still not the best of cavalry horsemen and falls off his horse, but carries on in the fight with his gun. Meanwhile, Taras is impressed at Faraday’s prowess in the saddle. Their attack is a success and they capture a lot of arms and equipment that will prove useful later on.
Taras has been wounded and stubbornly carrying on without seeking medical assistance. Worse, another enemy advance is coming, and this time it is more than a match for the Cossacks because it is a tank unit. Taras sacrifices himself to buy time for his troops to get away by setting himself up as a decoy for the tank units.
The Cossacks are all for a revenge charge, but Faraday has a better idea. Using his mechanics expertise, Tom uses the mines they took from the first enemy column and then deploy their machine guns to attract the Germans’ attention and lure them into a trap – a minefield all set for them. After the trap is sprung and proves another success, they clean things up, including the unexploded mines.
Afterwards they go back for Taras’ body. Surprisingly, Taras is still alive – just – and with his dying breath he adopts Faraday into his family. For this reason the Cossacks choose Faraday as Taras’ successor to lead them and give him Taras’ sabre. Faraday is stunned at such an honour, which must make him a “King’s Cossack”.
Faraday sets his squadron to work in harassing enemy supply lines, with the captured explosives and Tom’s expertise, which are followed by Cossack horse charges. They carry out many such attacks and capture a lot of vital supplies, including feed for the horses. Fortunately for them, Blitzkrieg was not mechanised at the rear end, which still deployed horses and infantry, making it the most vulnerable point in Blitzkrieg for counterattack. The Germans turn the tide a little with occasional Luftwaffe strikes and, when winter comes, German ski patrols. The machine guns bring down those patrols.
But Faraday is still clad in British uniform, which looks a bit odd in a Cossack unit and makes him conspicuous. There are going to be questions when the Brigadier pays a visit to the unit. The Cossacks hastily disguise Faraday as a Cossack, but he insists on retaining his monocle (Cossacks don’t wear them, surely?) and still has a British accent. The Brigadier is told that Faraday is Taras’ brother and his accent is due to a broken jaw from childhood, but they’re left feeling the Brigadier is suspicious. Besides, the Brigadier said he received reports about the successes of the Cossack unit, but surely the reports also mentioned that the leader was in British uniform?
The Brigadier informs them that the Germans are rushing headlong to reach the railway, and they are detailed to support a tank regiment in bringing down those Germans. Along the way they come across the last of the old A-9s and bring it along for its last fight. Faraday suggests a strategy his unit knows very well: set up a trap of explosives, in this case a frozen lake, and use themselves as bait to lure the Germans into it and send them to a freezing death beneath the ice. The plan works, though Faraday has taken a bullet in the arm from it.
The Brigadier presents Faraday with the Order of the Red Banner and has a message for the “English Major”. Yes, he saw through it, and Faraday has lost his fake Cossack moustache anyway. Also, the British are asking about their two missing men. So Faraday and Tom are under marching orders – or rather, flying orders – to go home, and their plane is waiting. They leave with great respect from the Brigadier and cheers for “Galloping Jack” from the Cossacks.
But Faraday and Tom are not home for long, as the Depot Commander is always eager to get rid of Faraday. When Faraday recovers from his bullet wound, he assigns him to a horse-and-mule transport unit in Burma. Faraday volunteers Tom as one of his team. “Here we go again…” thinks Tom. Those assignments never give poor Tom the chance for well-deserved disembarkation.
Thoughts
This Commando came out the year after another Matysiak Jnr Commando, “Traitor’s War”, and one can see how his artwork has advanced between the two issues. The linework is cleaner, sharper and neater, and there is more attention to fine details, while in “Traitor’s War” some details look like they could have been handled with more care.
Horse stories are always popular with girls comics readers, so the story should give girls comics readers some appeal as well as boys. It gives the reader a taste of the world of the war horse, which makes a change from stories about ponies and show-jumping. And the glimpse we see informs us that the world of the war horse can be a tough one.
For one thing, there are the conditions the war horses face, which in warfare can be hellish, such as trekking across harsh terrain, being at the mercy of the weather, and there is the worry of running out of horse fodder, which may not always be easy to resupply in wartime. Not to mention the horrors and terrors of battle itself. By instinct they rear and bolt at the sound of gunfire, yet have to “stand like a rock” when a gun goes off right at their ears. “I’m blooming sure I wouldn’t!” thinks Tom, who must have felt great pangs of sympathy for the horses he has to help cure of gun-shyness. They are also at the mercy of their masters, and not all masters would be like “Galloping Jack”. This is illustrated in the scene where the Cossacks, out of ignorance and probably haste to get to the front, decide to shoot the sick horses, and they would have been if Faraday had not been there. Thank goodness there were no scenes of outright cruelty to the horses, which must have been an occupational hazard of the war horse as well.
The story makes a change from the more usual Commando formula of hero vs villain, which climaxes in a final confrontation where the villain gets killed off (blown up, shot, nasty accident or whatever) or captured. Instead, it’s more of a character development story, plus it features the journey story (always popular in girls comics) and action and adventure for the boys. Using the odd couple scenario also adds humour to the story. Tom and Faraday are an odd couple over machines and old-fashioned horses, but events prove that together they make quite a team, with their opposing intererests complementing each other and both proving invaluable to the cossack unit.
Faraday is somewhat pompous and obtuse – for example, he seems totally oblivious to the fact that his depot commander, “an old enemy”, dislikes him. And he refuses to remove his monocle when he dons Cossack disguise although wearing it could mar his disguise: “Certainly not. A chap has to keep up certain standards.” And his love of horses goes a bit overboard sometimes. But for the same reasons he’s also a funny character and gets many of the best lines that make the reader laugh.
Tom is more the sympathetic character of the odd couple. Although he’s Faraday’s constant companion, he seems to be a long-suffering one and never gets the chance for disembarkation because he always gets roped into those damn assignments with Faraday. He suffers even more in learning to ride a horse and the ins and outs of cavalry, and by the time it’s time for the cavalry charge, he hasn’t fully mastered it. He finds operating something mechanical, such as the machine guns or setting mines, a welcome relief from riding a horse. It’s not clear just how experienced he has become as a horseman or whether horses have grown on him by the time he leaves the Cossacks, but he must have emerged appreciating horses a lot more.
Both their interests prove invaluable in making the traditionalist and somewhat backward Cossack unit a more formidable fighting force than it would have been otherwise, what with Tom’s expertise in mechanics, explosives and modern warfare technology and Faraday’s experience with German forces as well as horses. The Cossacks start off not knowing a thing about German uniforms and call tanks “iron carts”, and emerge much more strategic and clued-up about how modern warfare works. Let us hope that they can now get along fine without Faraday and Tom. It must have been quite a wrench for them to leave the Cossacks. They were well settled in by the time they were discovered, and readers must have been hoping and wondering if they would stay. Sadly, their orders were to go home, and orders were orders.
This book to give it it’s full title, A Very British Affair The Best of Classic Romance Comics has been out a number of months already, but it is a book that is a joy to take the time to go through each page. Beautiful art throughout makes you pause at panels to take everything in and as we go through 21 years of stories from 1957 to 1978 we can see the evolution of British culture of the time, making it a fascinating read.
David Roach has curated an excellent book, with an impressive 57 stories reproduced here and with original artwork used for the most part, making sure we’re seeing the best quality of printing. The stories come from a variety of romance comics that were so popular in their time, mainly; Mirabelle, Valentine, Serenade and Mates. To have so many creators credited is also a massive plus and we even get some short biographies for them at the back of the book. While the gorgeous artwork will rightly be a big draw, the stories crafted here have also more to say, than one may think.
With such a large number of stories and such variety, it was hard to pick out a few strips to highlight, but here were some standouts for me:
To start with the first story from 1957 showcases Shirley Bellwood’s work in Dark Secret from Mirabelle, while the story of a blind woman not wanting to burden her sweetheart, and the trope of her blindness being cured by a bump to head, may not be the most revolutionary, it still is worthy of its place in this book, with its beautiful colour first page and as a representation of its time, it is interesting to see this era and how the stories evolve from this to the later ones presented in the book.
As we progress through the decades we get more interesting storylines. A New Kind of Lovin’ from Valentine, 1962, is a 3 part story with a sci-fi twist. In this case the the writer is also known, Jenny Butterworth, she was writer on many of the stories in this book and only one other writer is known to have written some of these stories; Philip Douglas. It seems a bit of an omission then, that she doesn’t get a few lines in the Biographies section at the back which only focuses on the artists. In this story a woman’s cottage is invaded by 3 strange men, who are here on a mission, there is an instant attraction with one of the men, but they are not from around here… The art by Victor De La Fuente gets to show off some countryside scenery as well as two would be lovers burgeoning relationship.
Dream Portrait also from 1962 but in Serenade, is where we get this hardbook’s vibrant cover with art by Angel Badia Camps. The story has a woman finding paintings of herself that came to an artist in his dreams but she has trouble living up to his dream expectations, but refreshingly she stands up to him making it clear she is not some dream and he has to accept her for herself.
While these stories were usually told by the women characters, some stories had fun playing around with different perspectives. In Love? Not for Me!, from Serenade 1963 with art by Jordi Lonaron, the story is told by Clive a man who isn’t a mug to be pushed into being engaged… at least not unless he’s crazy about the girl! Then in What Jenny Saw from Mirabelle, 1968, a young girl sees her sister Kate’s romance in jeopardy when her boyfriend has to move away, she doesn’t see the fuss but maybe one day she will. Art in this story by the talented Trini Tinture. In Did Somebody Mention Love? also from Mirabelle, 1970, Nancy and Chris both tell different versions of how they met. With art by Purita Campos showing off her thick lines and close up character work.
While there are a couple of multi part stories in the book, the rest are complete stories with The Getaway Girls from Mirabelle 1967 being an exception, so it is worth a mention for being the one serial presented here. It follows four models who come from very different backgrounds, that are brought together by Mr Warren to do shows around Britain. Over 10 episodes we follow the girls adventures written by Phillip Douglas and art by Antonio Bosch Penalva.
These stories weren’t afraid to touch on the supernatural as well with Strange Memory Mirabelle, 1968 with art by Luis Garcia Mozos and Ferry Me Away from Mates, 1975, with art by Jordi Franch. Both featuring broken-hearted women, Ferry Me Away ends on a more hopeful note, while Strange Memory has a more sadder ending.
Another unusual story Cave- Man Courtship, from Mates 1976, set in stone age, has a man Tuff, ahead of his time thinking of inventions like engines, Dawn is very in love with him but all his thinking is very worrisome for the rest of the cave people who think he needs a bash on the head to cure him! Quite a silly story, but fun and with Jordi Badia Romero striking art, it makes this a memorable one.
It doesn’t need to be supernatural or science fiction for stories of love and heartbreak to be found in unusual places. The Quiet Vandal from Mirabelle, 1971, with art by Luis Martinex Roca, has our protagonist, Jo meet Tim at a football match when a fight begins between some football hooligans. While Tim isn’t rowdy like those other men, Jo finds out he is a different kind of vandal. A really strongly written story as well the great art in the unusual setting. This story probably tops my favourites in the book.
That is just a small selection of what this book offers, it shows even within the one genre of romance, the diversity and creativity that can be achieved. It is clear the amount of work that has gone into choosing and reproducing these strips and captures a period in British history and comics that deserves to be remembered, along with the creators behind the stories. It is a beautiful book that is a must for any comic fan.
Tina Marshall’s parents were angry with her, when se spent her birthday money on a battered old teddy bear – one of a pair which she saw at a market stall. Tina had felt a sudden impulse to buy the teddy, it seemed to have a voice box that said “Ted Loves Tina”. Strange things continue to happen after this.