Things that went over your head...

[JohnW]

I remember the coronation in Sláine the King causing a bit of a stir.
It would have been a much bigger sensation if Mills hadn't bowdlerised his source.

He who is to be inaugurated, not as a chief, but as a beast, not as a king, but as an outlaw, has bestial intercourse with her before all, professing himself to be a beast also.

—Gerald of Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland

A bit of nudity might or might not have caused blushes, but outright horse-fucking would never have passed unnoticed.

[paddykafka]

Now that's a horse of a different colour, to be sure! I really must give these early story's a re-read. For Bellardinelli's fabulous art, if nothing else.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Wow. Like I said, I was 11.  The telly was showing the Real Ghostbusters to my age group, while Tharg was providing a naked man drinking his own bath broth shortly after shagging a goddess in front of a crowd, and ripping someone's heart out through his throat.

[M.I.K.]

Here's a sort-of prog-related thing I've just remembered that I used to assume when I was younger...

"Charley's War". Is the title a kind-of pun on "Carrie's War", the 1973 children's book that had a live action adaptation on BBC1 in 1974 and which I seem to remember being repeated around the time the comics were being published?

[sheridan]

Charlie's War made its debut in 1979, so could be...

Which reminds me, I really need to take a photo of a pub near where I live called Charlie's Bar - I alwways think of the strip when I see the sign!

[Barrington Boots]

I wouldn't be surprised on this either although I never made the connection: I just assumed Charley was picked as a common name to further highlight the focus of the strip on a common man.

Pat Mills is writing about Charley's War on his Substack at the moment and it's interesting stuff.

[Dark Jimbo]

I wouldn't be surprised on this either although I never made the connection: I just assumed Charley was picked as a common name to further highlight the focus of the strip on a common man.

Going off on a bit of a tangent, but someone might find it interesting - many names in Charley's War come from Frederick Manning's Her Privates We - the main character is Private Bourne (same surname as Charley), the Sergeant is called Tozer (same as Old Bill) and there's even a Weeper, too. I've never known Pat acknowledge this, or even that he's read HPW, but it surely can't be coincedence. I've always assumed he read it as part of his mountains of research and unconsciously lifted some of the names.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Wow. That couldn't possibly be a coincidence, could it?  To be fair to Pat, for all his self-aggrandising, he usually acknowledged his sources.  Very odd that he neglected them here.

 Of course, this doesn't take away from the fact that Charley's War was a brilliant piece of work.

[JohnW]

I've no problem with Mills taking names or even whole characters from wherever he finds them. (In the case of Her Privates We I think it's just names. It's been yonks since I read that book.)
The bit about Ginger being buried in a sandbag is from somebody's memoirs – I can't recall whose. Blue's story is Alistair Horne's The Price of Glory with a large dollop of Beau Geste added. Even the waterlogged pigeon at Passchendaele is from Lyn MacDonald.
Our boy Pat certainly did his homework.
Originality ain't all it's cracked up to be.
After all, Halo Jones Book 3 is Michael Herr's Dispatches judiciously mixed with Haldeman's The Forever War.
I'm glad I didn't know that when I read Halo, but I wasn't at all bothered when I finally did come across the source material.

[JayzusB.Christ]

After all, Halo Jones Book 3 is Michael Herr's Dispatches judiciously mixed with Haldeman's The Forever War.
I'm glad I didn't know that when I read Halo, but I wasn't at all bothered when I finally did come across the source material.

I remember a work colleague telling me years ago that Halo Book 3 had been heavily inspired by some piece of sci-fi or other, but couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.  So thanks for that.

To be fair, pretty much everyone in Sláine is some version of a person from Celtic mythology, and some lines are lifted word-for-word from The Táin.  So fair enough.

[JohnW]

Haldeman's book is great. So is Herr's for that matter (it provided material not just for Halo Jones but for Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now too). Alan Moore saw quality that was worth the swiping, same as Pat Mills.

But Mills isn't the only lad doing his homework. Lookee me.



In the Avenue, which is the main communication trench, we pass a rifleman carrying a sandbag full of something. I become suspicious. Thefts of rations and minor stores and comforts from the line are increasing. 'What have you got in the bag? I ask. 'Rifleman Grundy,' comes the unexpected answer.
—Brigadier Francis P. Crozier, A Brass Hat In No Man's Land



Also...


'Your father is dead.'
'That has seized me,' said he.
'Your mother is also dead,' said the young man.
'Now all pity for me is at an end,' said he.
'Dead is your brother,' said Loingseachan.
'Gaping is my side on that account,' said Suibhne.
'Dead is your daughter,' said Loingseachan.
'The heart's needle is an only daughter,' said Suibhne.
'Dead is your son who used to call you "daddy",'said Loingseachan.
'True,' said he, 'that is the drop which brings a man to the ground.'
—Buile Suibhne (The Frenzy of Sweeney)

[Richard]

Pat has said several times that he does lots of research before writing a story, to the point where he asked Rebellion to pay him in advance to do six weeks' research before putting pen to paper. (They said no.)

[JayzusB.Christ]

It's an incredible scene, that 'my mate Ginger' one, and totally brings to life the account that inspired it.

I hadn't heard of Buile Suibhne, but Sláine's first reaction - 'that grieves me' - always struck me as a bit understated for a man who has just lost a child. 

Obviously you, JWare, will already know that the Children of Sláine is identical to the Irish myth called The Children of Lir (who, I believe, is the same King Lear that someone or other wrote a play about).

Pat was brilliant in his day, though I'm not sure research necessarily leads to a quality story and the need for extra pay.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I've probably mentioned this before, but it took me about 30 years to get the 'Time Wastes' in Nemesis. 

[JohnW]

Don't feel too bad about it, JayzusB. I'm still not sure if there's anything to get, and I'm supposed to be one of them intellectshul college-edumicated types.