So would Charley's war work as a strip today? Many think it would,
my own opinion is that mine was the last generation who was interested in the wars. When i was small my mum would speak in
hushed tones if i said something wrong about some old boy when we went shopping 'show some respect, he was at arnhem' or tobruk
or El-Alemien or the Somme. My generation was brought up on a diet of stories about the second (and less so) the first world
war, it was an important part of the culture of this country. Everyones Grandad was there in some form or another, my parents
remember being kids and watching dogfights over London. My Grandfather who was in North Africa in the second war used to tell
me about the Zeppelins he remembered as a kid passing over Acton (west london) in the first. Today it isnt in the culture
anymore and im not sure whether that is a good thing or a bad thing as i know it was thought of as glamourous when i was a
kid. Every kid knew every type of British and German plane, rifle and grenade we couldn't coneive of playing cowboys and indians,
German and British was the order of the day, the weapons were sub-machine guns (suitably shaped branches from the trees) pulling
the pins of imaginary hand grenades with our teeth.
Many of my peers, as Pat Mills says, were influenced by these things
to join up and subsequently fight in dubious actions worldwide. Apart from that i cant see that it did any harm generally,
im not more violent because of it, if anything i have a great amount of respect for veterans of either world war and wish
that i had appreiciated them more as a kid, as they are sadly thin on the ground these days. The most obvious thing to me
is that we learn by history, and these days History is not even taught in schools as part of the curiculum, it has to be chosen
as an option at 14, in fact when we are the veterans age its highly likely we will be the only ones to whom 'the somme' will
mean anything- ask a kid these days if he knows what arnhem is.
So with that in mind it's highly doubtful whether the comic or even
Charley's War would mean anything to youth today. Kids of the age i was when it was current are now obsessed with celebrity
or manafactured pop to bother with such things, the age to qualify as an adult has dropped since those days and ive no doubt
that it would be considered childish by an eleven or twelve year old today to read a comic. And what a dull time in history
it must be to be a kid right now.
Charleys War has been reissued however and from what i hear
is selling well, which will in turn ensure the whole saga is printed over the next few years. so how can that be? How can
this site have had nearly 15,0000 hits since it's creation 3 years ago? I would love to hear that scores of new readers not
even born when it was out are discovering it and loving it, but alas i dont think thats the case. I think CW was so memorable
that it's original fans that are buying the book to complete their collections, i just cant see young people running out and
buying it. Its sad but true, the war comic is dead and buried.
Some people are trying though, a regular to the site is Steve Beeny.
Steve has drawn and scripted a strip about the first world war inspired by the mention of the mesopotanian campaign by Pat
Mills in the interview section. It turned out great and i publish it below for you to assess yourselves. Steve also colours
some of the stunning frames that are dotted here and there on the site. He's one of a few who are looking to the future rather
than the past, So who knows, is there a future for Charley's war in 2004, only time will tell i suppose. I hope so.
Click on the thumbnails below to read Steves strip
