2000 AD Online Forum

Commando issue 3888, on sale til Friday, is a must read for fans of the bizarre, featuring as it does commando troopers, nazis, time travel, and big old dinosaurs. The Ridgeway art is the cherry on the top.

I also spotted Comando! The dirty dozen in Booksale the works for ?6.99 which is under halfprice and as I was on the hunt ofr a copy I was more than pleased to snaffle one. They also had copies of the Jackie reprint volume for people who are interested in that sort of thing.

The dirty dozen in Booksale the works for ?6.99

I noticed this in my local Works as well. They had a different, flimsier cover than the one I bought when it came out, without the page marker as well. I noticed that a fair few had the covers on upside down, so anyone buying from there should check they're the right way round first.

The first one I got had 50 pages missing too :(

   Steve

If they've ripped off Dinosaurs Of The Eastern Front I'm suing!

It's more a homage.

I've been really enjoying the Dirty Dozen as the good old fashioned fun there are. I think I actually prefer these older, simpler stories to the slightly more obscure stuff that some of today's COMMANDO covers (I read one about a fued between Norwegian Ski Soldiers and some Russians - very hard to identify with).

The faults of COMMANDO comics are many but it's still great. I often imagine the scripts must look something like:

CAPTION: CORPORAL SMITH OFFERED CHARLIE A CUP OF TEA. FOR THE FIRST TIME, CHARLIE FELT LIKE HE BELONGED IN THE PLATOON.

SMITH: WOULD YOU LIKE A CUP OF TEA, SIR. NOW THAT YOU'RE ONE OF THE LADS.

CHARLIE (THINKS): A CUP OF TEA! THEY ARE FINALLY ACCEPTING ME.

This picture should be of Corporal Smith offering a cup of tea and extending a welcoming hand to Charlie.


I've particularly enjoyed the CURSED RIFLE story - some of the fight sequences in the woods early on were superbly written and drawn; conveyed a real sense of (what I imagine to be) the turmoil and panic in close quarter combat.

And the brilliantly cliche ridden racing driver story.

There's some stonking art in here as well - I think Ridgeway does one of the air stories with immaculate precision. It's a crime that hey artists and writers aren't properly credited though.


Hands up; who else has submitted anything to Commando?  I did - got the shortest of letters back which I took to mean I was "waaaaaay" off the mark.  I still think SPERM STORMTROOPERS is a winning idea though.  

Great, Time travel and Dinosaus they're fine with.

  But you submit an idea about the Crazy Knockabout fun of a young, bohemian, German conscript and his hard line veteran Nazi dad picking their way across the ruins of Dresden to save the kids Jewish girlfriend.

And all you get is an, admittedly polite, rejection.

  Must press on, Little Plum: The War Years won't write itself...  

I can see it now:

"Little Plum um heap annoyed, readers!"
(Reader's voice) "Why?"
"Because um heap white men raped Little Plum's wife, scalped her and set fire to um teepee!  Me go now cut out white men's genitals and stuff them in his mouth!"
Big Chief (lying ill and drunk under a poisoned blanket) "Good luck!"

Heh.  You've summed up the Commando style (and old comics script-style generally) perfectly.

To wit:  Assume your readers are idiots.  Don't just show 'em something, tell 'em what they're looking at too.  Two or three times.  In the same panel, if possible.

I still treasure a short sequence from Marvel's Secret Wars.

What we see:  Dr Doom, returning to the villains' base.

Caption:  DOOM RETURNS TO HIS LAIR.  [although it was a Jim Shooter script, so it was probably a bit more purple prose than this.]

Villain (pointing):  LOOK!  IT'S DOOM!

Doom:  YES. IT IS I, DOCTOR DOOM.  I HAVE RETURNED TO...  [continued for another four pages]

Decent call! I picked up the last copy of this today from the Smith in Glasgow Central station and it's, well, OK. That said I also saw Jim Bowen's 'A Bit Of Bully' live show at the garage and that was OK too!

If by chance you want my copy answer this riddle-me-re...1st correct answer wins only!

By what euphamism does Union Jack Jackson refer to his hand grenades?

Good luck and no BFH offered for runners up!

>By what euphamism does Union Jack Jackson refer to his hand grenades?

At a guess: pineapples?

Well at least that poser lasted 25 minutes!

"Eat pineapples Tojo!"

Well done - send me a message with your address and you'll be in dinosaur heaven in no time.

As noticed by others as well as myself, the expressions and positioning of the soldiers and dinosaurs make it look like they're all out for a walk together.

>Well done - send me a message with your address and you'll be in dinosaur heaven in no time.

Result! Read Warlord as a nipper so it wasnt quite a total guess...

...issue 3888 sounds stonking, can anyone get it for me??? i can pay by pay pal if you so wish....