"Battle" Comic "Ashcan" Graphic Novels.

MerthyrMan · 04 March, 2003, 02:51:41 PM

Help needed to identify the source/value of some unusual items I found on the weekend.

I was looking around a, fairly crap, Car Boot Sale when I noticed a box of oldish UK comics. I glanced through and there were some old Valiant, Krazy, Monster Fun etc. It was raining so I did not have the time to go through them all. The guy on the stall was packing up and said I could have the whole box for ?5.

I paid up figuring I could get at least that much back on Ebay for some of the old Valiants.

However, when I got them home and sorted through the box I discovered some very unusual items at the bottom.

They are a set of bound Battle "ashcan" graphic novels.
I have no idea as to their origin. They look as if they are either "ashcan" editions produced as proofs for some purpose or they are some labour of love produced by an old Battle fan.

They look as if they are copies, possibly photocopies (but very high quality)double-sided, on high quality paper. They are securely bound amd measure about 18 by 17 cms ie they are reduced to about 60% of the normal Battle size. They all have bound cardboard covers.

They consist of what appears to be an almost complete run of Charley's War broken up into years (sadly 1981 is missing) Each seems to contain almost the entire run of Charley's War stories for each of the years in question. I have counted the number of episodes and it ranges from 44 in some years to a full 52 in others I have no idea why some years are lighter than others. I can only presume that the person who put them together was missing a few issues. They even include the second run of WW2 Charley stories.

The strip Johnny Red gets similar treatment with volumes covering the years 1979-1986. There are also a number of one off volumes collecting other Battle strips (not Darkies Mob sadly) such as The Hunters, Invasion 1984, Cooleys Gun, Fighting Mann and others.
My question is: has anybody any idear as regards the source of these books? Were they produced for some comic convention, or are they simply fan produced? Are there any other copies out there? (particularly 1981 run of Charleys War).

I was tempted to put them on Ebay once I had finished reading them, but I'm not sure if their, at best, semi-official nature, would force Ebay to remove them for copyright reasons.

If anyone has any information on these, including what they might be worth, could you please either reply here to this message or E-Mail me at

merthyrmark@yahoo.co.uk.

Incidentally I did get a chance to read a few of them over the weekend and can confirm that Charley's War is the great lost classic of British comics that many have claimed it to be. I have never read a more harrowing tale in my life. Why 90% of this great story has never been reprinted is beyond me! The Megazine has to move on to reprint this once Darkie has finished.
Johnny Red is very, very good too. Many similarities between this strip and Strontium Dog.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give on this.
Cheers
Martin

Marbles · 04 March, 2003, 04:19:30 PM

Holy Cow Merthyr !!!

Sounds like you found a little pot of Gold there. I've never heard of an 'official' release such as the one you describe. It sounds fan produced to me - any chance of a scan of the covers etc ?

The 'CW' fluctuation in issues over the years could be explained by illness to the artist - if you check the CW website 'stripography' you will note that in a couple of years he was ill for a couple of months and no CW was produced.

Perhaps Wake could ask Pat Mills if he's aware of anything like this being prodcuced ?

Link: http://fanboy.frothersunite.com/battle.html" target="_blank">'Battle' fansite

MerthyrMan · 04 March, 2003, 05:21:28 PM

Sorry I don't have a scanner, but the covers are just blanks anyway, some have stickers on them indicating the year and subject matter. Again, this seems to point to them being fan produced. If so, however, they are a real labour of love. Someone has clearly spent some considerable time putting these together.

I have checked out the Charley's War site Stripography section and it seems that, even taking onto consideration the illness periods etc there are still a few episodes missing from some of the years. I read the 1979/80 volumes over the weekend and there were two gaps of about one episode each year. Having said that it was still the best comic I have read in the last 10 years or so. Really looking forward to reading the rest of them. At present I have only had time to flick through the remainder. The "Johnny Red" Ones look great. I have fond memories of that strip. Some of them look a bit crap like the Professionals inspired "The Hunters", but it should be a great nostalgiafest!
Cheers
Martin

jdmobius · 05 March, 2003, 07:42:59 AM

In 1980 there is a gap of four weeks in January/early February where Battle wasn't published. There is a gap later in that year again where for four weeks Battle wasn't published. So in total there were only 42 or 43 issues of Battle in 1980. These gaps were due to strikes by printing/publishing staff and were recently recounted in Dave bishop's "Thrillpower Overload" in The Meg.

jdmobius · 05 March, 2003, 07:48:15 AM

Also, IIRC, Joe Colquhoun had a heart attack in 1983 and there was a gap of about five weeks where there was no Charley's War while he was recouperating. Details of this and a stripography can be found on the Charley's War website...I can't remember the web address but I'm sure Col. Marbles will point you in the right direction, he being the keeper of the knowledge on all things "Battle".

paulvonscott · 06 March, 2003, 05:57:20 AM

Yeah, sounds like someones labour of love really. I did the same with nemesis book 2 ages ago. I'll dump that (pass it on) and buy the nemesis book when it's out.

Anyway, well done on the find, I spend my var vbooting days dreaming of finding such a box for a fiver ;)

Marbles · 10 March, 2003, 03:42:47 PM

This from Pat Mills :-

No idea on the origins of the ashcans ...

Fascinating!

I'd guess a fan labour of love.

I'm tempted to buy them myself!

Best

Pat

Trout · 10 March, 2003, 04:20:40 PM

A welcome contribution from Mr Mills!

Now I feel really guilty for past comments.

I'd be pleased if he was to post something to counter criticism sometimes.

- Trout

MerthyrMan · 12 March, 2003, 03:15:32 PM

Really chuffed to hear from the great man himself.
As you wrote them it is only fair that if you want one of them back you can have it. If you drop me a line at my E-Mail address ( merthyrmark@yahoo.co.uk ), and tell me which years worth of Charley's War you want I will pop it in the post to you.

I have been reading through more of the Charley's War books and can only say that I was blown away by the quality of them.
Forget "Saving Private Ryan" and other modern war movies. Charley's saga is one of the most harrowing portrayals of the horrors of war that I have ever experienced.

Why this classic piece of work has been out of print for so long is one of the great mysteries of our time! If it were published today by DC or someone it would win every award going and be recognised up there with Watchmen etc as one of the greatest comic stories ever written.
Sorry if this sounds a bit gushing but these books really need to be read by a greater audience.

I must admit I also enjoyed some of the more gung-ho "Johnny Red" albums too. "HMS Nightshade" and "Rat Pack" volumes to keep me going this weekend. Can't wait!
Cheers
Mark

DavidXBrunt · 16 March, 2003, 02:29:52 AM

How much for the lot?

karne · 16 March, 2003, 04:27:59 AM

Martin? Mark? Are you a comic shop partnership trying to Spam us all? I'd still be interested in buying them for a fair price though.

DavidXBrunt · 16 March, 2003, 04:37:47 AM

Karne - let's not get into a bidding war. Time for a joint bid or a splitting of the goodies?

karne · 16 March, 2003, 04:56:47 AM

Allllriiiight! I'm with DXB, anyone else feel up to challenging us?

paulvonscott · 16 March, 2003, 05:08:36 AM

I'd gove you a fiver for the lot if you passed them all on to their author Pat Mills.

karne · 16 March, 2003, 05:13:56 AM

Don't trust him! He said exactly the same thing about the Ark of the Covenant!

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