Well, its finally here, after many months of badgering them and hassling them, bombarding them and straffing them with your email demands for a reprint (or else), those poor people at Titan have finally given in, i received in the post this morning a brand spanking new copy of the new book and WOW! its brilliant.

 

This quality hardback edition is resplendent in black with a single poignant poppy superimposed onto one of the most famous of the photographs from WW1 (of the tommy in silhouette saying goodbye at the grave of his mate). underneath the title the cover tells us it runs from 2nd June 1916 until the 1st of August 1916 (published from the 6th of January 1979 until 28th July 1979) This means that this collection is bigger than the previous two releases in the eighties, and falls only about four issues short of being both previous books combined. Some have said they imagined that the book would be just a re-release of  books one and two to cash in on the interest to the website, that couldn't be more wrong, Titan have truly excelled themselves making it contain almost both the previous chapters (1 & 2),plus a veritable wealth of great articles -which include Pat Mill's forward, his strip commentary, a little bit by me (a stripped down stripography) and an excellent historic piece about the background to the Somme by Steve White who put this package together. that's some collection and it makes for a damn impressive book.

 

 

Mills writes a strident almost damning foreword to the story in which he acknowledges his peer's compliments on the strip but asks why no-one was influenced enough to take it and make something in its mould, with an equally subversive subtext. As a result it's 'a creative cul-de-sac' says Mills a series that 'led nowhere'.

 

After Pat's forward there's my modest little effort, all i can say to that is thank you to the kindness of Steve White at Titan for giving me the chance to be involved, and to Pat Mills who always has kept me informed and at the sharp end of the whole thing.  It's a very strange feeling to be a part of it, after all these years..

 

In addition to that at the back of the book is possibly the best thing about this release; Pat Mill's strip commentary, an issue by issue explanation to the content, who, what's, wheres, etc. its a wealth of details about the story that have never been told before and a great read. Lastly Steve White's article on the Somme is highly accurate and informative and gives the new reader some background and context to the strip, which anchors it back where it should be-reality.

 

Many people were worried that without the original art to print from then the quality of the strip would be  comprimised, im very pleased to say thats not true and the the printing is superb throughout, clear and crisp allowing Joes work to impress new generations who discover it..

 

 As you know this website is completely independent and not owned by anyone and not part of Titan at all, but i intend to use this as an advert complete with links, flashing lights and pay now signs, why? because Titan have said that depending on the sales of this release they will continue reprinting until it 'no longer is economically viable'. If the rest are anything like this i want the entire story in my bookcase, so my advice to you charley's war fans is BUY IT !!!!!!. Amazon are doing it for £10.50, and believe me for what you get it's almost criminal.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/2004/11/24/15652.shtml

This is a BBc review with a Pat Mills video interview

 

 

Review from US site Previews Reviews

CHARLEY’S WAR is a favourite comic series of many British creators, and one that is often lamented for having fallen out of print. Assuming there are no hiccups, this December should see a brand new hardcover edition of the comic strip that is lauded (in the advertisement alone) by the likes of Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, and Dave Gibbons. Set at the onset of World War I, Charley’s War is about a 16 year old survivor of the Battle of the Somme, and his experiences during the war. According to the solicitation, this edition includes a new essay by Pat Mills about the Battle of the Somme.

 

Another US review from Ninthart

CHARLEY’S WAR is one of those ‘classic’ comics that I’ve never read. My only consolation is that to the best of my knowledge, the same is also true for most comic readers in North America. Now getting distributed to us poor sods on this side of the Atlantic, CHARLEY’S WAR is about a 16-year old boy who lies about his age to fight in the trenches of World War I. I’ve got no idea what happens beyond that, and I don’t want to know until I read it for myself. With all the raves I’ve heard about the book over the years (heck, the ad alone has Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, and Dave Gibbons raving about the book, and if that’s not a pedigree I’m not sure what is), I think this is very much a must-have

This review appears on the travelling man website and recieved a measly 9 out of 10 

1916, Charley Bourne lies about his age to fight on the battlefields of France. But thoughts of glory and patriotism are swept aside by the bloody artillery barrage of horror and needless sacrifice amidst the trenches of the First World War...

Just about every war story has been told and the genre has very little surprise left. Charley’s War, when it was originally printed in Battle, was a breath of fresh air in a crowded marketplace. An antiwar story in a pro-war comic. And it is great to see that it still holds its own.

There’s plenty of emotion tied up in this hardback graphic novel - and many critics have already heralded this story as an outstandingly realistic portrayal of life on the front lines of the First World War. Charley’s War is a beautiful collection of strips which that show the horrors and stupidity of war in all their twisted glory. By the time you’ve finished reading this you’ll feel as though you were alongside Charley in the trenches.

Anyone unfamiliar with the series really should get hold of a copy of this beautiful graphic novel - anyone who is familiar with it won’t need any encouragement to buy this

 

Customer Reviews
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Buy this now., January 17, 2005

Reviewer: philip118044 from Guildford, Surrey United Kingdom

This is an absolute gem; one of the underrated classics of British comics.

This is a powerful, moving and sometimes archly funny series concerning the adventures of Charley Bourne, a naive and not too bright 16-year old Cockney lad, who lies about his age to join the army who arrives in France a few weeks before the first day on the Somme. This volume contains the opening episodes in a series that ran to nearly 300 episodes and rarely dropped the pace or the story-telling power.

If you remember the series from your youth, it will not disappoint. It retains all of its old powers to entertain as well as shock, and stands up very well to the test of time to more cynical, adult eye. The beauty of it, is that it didn't condescend to its original audience (which would have been 8-13 year olds). If you are reading this for the first time, then I am sure you will find it rivetting. Each frame is packed with information and details. It is often sly and subversive, especially when the genre was filled with a diet of gung-ho war stories of the Boys' Own variety. It gave a pretty authentic sense of what the war must have been like as a soldier.

It is filled with mordant humour, but also some quite exceptionally poignant scenes. What lifts this story out of the mundane or the worthy is a humanity. You care about Charley and his mates. They feel real, their characters develop, there surroundings feel authentic. Charley is not always very heroic (and more inclined to bitterness and apathy as the story develops), though he has the decency and humanity that is lacking in the war itself.

There is a lot of mordant and bleak humour - a soldier dies in a shellhole next to a skeleton, and if you look carefully the artist has put in an open and discarded Fray Bentos bully beef tin, no doubt chucked over the lip of the nearby trench by a comrade.

A corpse's arm sticks out of a trench side offering the Charley a `landmark' to help them navigate home. During trench repairs, another character complains that this is no kind of life `even the earthworms have snuffed it' under the intense shelling, holding up a lifeless worm as evidence, moments before they unearth a corpse.

In a much later story, a character brutally finishes off a wounded German because he looks like his old school teacher and he adds, he didn't like his school teacher much.

The story throws up unusual aspects of the war. It dealt with the tunnelling under Messines years before it becames more widely known through Sebastian Faulks's BIRDSONG. It also dealt with the British Army mutiny at Etaples a good two years before Paul McGann played Toplis in the BBC television's `THE MONOCLED MUTINEER'. More surprisingly for a war story in a boys comic, it offered long periods of inaction and boredom, and a period on leave at home (though this did involve a neat double-narrative that dealt with a deserter and the French battle of Verdun). The action was often brief, bloody and intense, which seemed to mirror the reality of the war in which two weeks of the year might be `in battle'. The writers would think nothing of devoting 3-pages to a mind-numbing fatigue of some kind, a scrounge for firewood in the dead of winter, an adventure pointing out the absurdities of army bureaucracy in which nothing can be obtained unless you have a `chit', a route march, delousing, or a game of the illegal gambling game `Crown and Anchor'. There was one episode where much of it is spoken in `backslang' to confound a particularly jobsworth NCO (backslang: a street slang that was common to East End and South London traders for years). But it was always engaging and surprisingly sophisticated.

This is loving drawn and wonderfully written by two collaborators at the height of their powers. The final compliment came from some of the old soldiers who regularly wrote into the comic after their grandsons had shown them the strip, and commented on its authenticity.

I sincerely hope that Titan keep going with the series. It gets even better. It also deserves not to be stuck away under the rather po-faced and pseudo-serious `graphic novels' section. It is far richer than that.

 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

ALL THIS & WW1, January 9, 2005

Reviewer: A reader from SUTTON COLDFIELD, WEST MIDLANDS United Kingdom

LIKE MANY OTHERS I READ THIS IN IT'S ORIGINAL FORMAT IN THE COMIC BATTLE AND THEN I THOUGHT IT WAS PROBABLY THE MOST REALISTIC COMIC STRIP I HAD EVER READ.
NOW MANY YEARS LATER AFTER READING MANY FACTUAL ACCOUNTS I REALISE WHAT A HIGH STANDARD & WELL RESEARCHED THIS COMIC STRIP THIS REALLY WAS.
READING IT AGAIN AFTER MANY YEARS I FIND MYSELF STILL BEING GRIPPED BY THE EXCELLENT STORY & ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR THE NEXT VOLUME.
TO SUM UP AN EXCELLENT BOOK & AN EXCEELENT INTRODUCTION TO ANYBODY INTERESTED IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Brilliant, January 7, 2005

Reviewer: timcatherall

This book is more than just a comic strip about World War One - the writing is superb and amazingly well researched and the art work brings the whole story to life.
If you have any interest in WW1 buy it, if you have no interest in WW1 buy it anyway as you soon will have after reading it

 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Charley's War, December 26, 2004

Reviewer: anders3852 from sutton, surrey United Kingdom

Charley's War was quite simply THE comic strip for me as a small boy. Battle comic would regularly pop through the family letter box in the days of yore and I would race downstairs to eagerly catch up on the various characters that then dominated my world.
Charley's War left an indelible mark on me whilst I was growing up, the strip was illustrated by an artist quite beyond this sphere, the legendary Joe Colquhoun R.I.P. and scripted by the equally talented Pat Mills.
Charley and his fellow Tommies burst off the page, the mud, the bombs, the mustard gas were so real that it seemed you were there, surely a comic, especially a British comic could not have the emotional power to do this?
These men elevated the standard and quality of a media that had previously only dealt in single dimensional one man armies,plastic heroes and downright fantastical piffle. A mere 12pence comic printed on cheap paper surely had no place or indeed right to conjure up such a raw,emotional and graphic image of a horribly obscene war that would forever colour my young mind did it??
Left in the hands of anyone else that would probably have been the case but in the hands of Colquhoun and Mills the spotty faced oiks (me and others like me) got about as close to the festering boil of World War One as was conceivable in the new age of the 1980's.
These two gentlemen of the dying art were most definately not sensationalists cashing in on other peoples misery to make a few quid.Indeed Pat Mills vigourously researched his subject matter, and Joe Colquhoun would devote all his creative zeal to bringing Charley and co alive, often turning down other assignments that would have increased his wages to create the believable story world. For these two men it was more important to represent the atrocity of war in the most real way possible.A new level in comics had been attained, surely nothing could be the same again?
For real read, deserters shot by firing squads,read tackling the class divide between Private and Officer, read rats and horses wearing gasmarks, read the emotional frailty of many of the young men and indeed boys who fought the war.Boys war comics were supposed to be full of gung ho, up and at 'em, home in time for tea thrills and spills. There was no place for 16 year old soldiers crying because they miss the folks back home or on the verge of breakdown having seen a comrade blown to bits in a rat infested trench was there?
Charleys War was the real deal, it could have been your Great Grandfather telling you all about it 20 years ago, indeed Battle used to receive letters from WW1 veterans praising the comic for the accuracy of the strip after their grandsons had shown them, it was praise indeed.
As the years passed I found new thrills in life but the memory of Charley's War stayed with me, years after my Battles were thrown out I searched specialist stores to try and discover my lost youth and I found a few old copies, here in lay the real test; would Charley's War still do it for the 30 something now used to glossy war films and video games? So many things you remember as a callow youth never seem nearly as great with the passing of years, could Charley's War buck this depressing trend?
The answer was a resounding yes it could, in fact it was better because now I understood it all more and it seemed more real.
When I found out that this superb book was to be released it exited me tremendously. Charley really deserves the platform of high art that he now occupies, Titan Books have taken a lost treasure and preserved it anew.
This book is the most awesome work you will experience for years, do yourself a big favour and buy it.

Brilliant, January 7, 2005

Reviewer: timcatherall

This book is more than just a comic strip about World War One - the writing is superb and amazingly well researched and the art work brings the whole story to life.
If you have any interest in WW1 buy it, if you have no interest in WW1 buy it anyway as you soon will have after reading it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Charley's War, December 26, 2004

Reviewer: anders3852 from sutton, surrey United Kingdom

Charley's War was quite simply THE comic strip for me as a small boy. Battle comic would regularly pop through the family letter box in the days of yore and I would race downstairs to eagerly catch up on the various characters that then dominated my world.
Charley's War left an indelible mark on me whilst I was growing up, the strip was illustrated by an artist quite beyond this sphere, the legendary Joe Colquhoun R.I.P. and scripted by the equally talented Pat Mills.
Charley and his fellow Tommies burst off the page, the mud, the bombs, the mustard gas were so real that it seemed you were there, surely a comic, especially a British comic could not have the emotional power to do this?
These men elevated the standard and quality of a media that had previously only dealt in single dimensional one man armies,plastic heroes and downright fantastical piffle. A mere 12pence comic printed on cheap paper surely had no place or indeed right to conjure up such a raw,emotional and graphic image of a horribly obscene war that would forever colour my young mind did it??
Left in the hands of anyone else that would probably have been the case but in the hands of Colquhoun and Mills the spotty faced oiks (me and others like me) got about as close to the festering boil of World War One as was conceivable in the new age of the 1980's.
These two gentlemen of the dying art were most definately not sensationalists cashing in on other peoples misery to make a few quid.Indeed Pat Mills vigourously researched his subject matter, and Joe Colquhoun would devote all his creative zeal to bringing Charley and co alive, often turning down other assignments that would have increased his wages to create the believable story world. For these two men it was more important to represent the atrocity of war in the most real way possible.A new level in comics had been attained, surely nothing could be the same again?
For real read, deserters shot by firing squads,read tackling the class divide between Private and Officer, read rats and horses wearing gasmarks, read the emotional frailty of many of the young men and indeed boys who fought the war.Boys war comics were supposed to be full of gung ho, up and at 'em, home in time for tea thrills and spills. There was no place for 16 year old soldiers crying because they miss the folks back home or on the verge of breakdown having seen a comrade blown to bits in a rat infested trench was there?
Charleys War was the real deal, it could have been your Great Grandfather telling you all about it 20 years ago, indeed Battle used to receive letters from WW1 veterans praising the comic for the accuracy of the strip after their grandsons had shown them, it was praise indeed.
As the years passed I found new thrills in life but the memory of Charley's War stayed with me, years after my Battles were thrown out I searched specialist stores to try and discover my lost youth and I found a few old copies, here in lay the real test; would Charley's War still do it for the 30 something now used to glossy war films and video games? So many things you remember as a callow youth never seem nearly as great with the passing of years, could Charley's War buck this depressing trend?
The answer was a resounding yes it could, in fact it was better because now I understood it all more and it seemed more real.
When I found out that this superb book was to be released it exited me tremendously. Charley really deserves the platform of high art that he now occupies, Titan Books have taken a lost treasure and preserved it anew.
This book is the most awesome work you will experience for years, do yourself a big favour and buy it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

A long time coming - but worth the wait!, December 17, 2004

Reviewer: wayneharris555 from Saunderton,Bucks

Fortunately, I managed to scan my entire set of the Charleys War story and have them safely stored on CD.
This was done mainly because the comics were printed on very thin paper and would never have lasted for to long. The other reason was that I never thought Titan would bring these out again. I have the 2 softback graphic novels and will certainly be ordering this new edition.
While I can only concur with Neil Emerys review, I wanted to also add my praise as someone who had no involvement in this new book (other than the tonnes of begging emails sent to Titan).
For any former readers you will know how brilliantly written a comic strip this was, not to mention the artwork which still holds its own today with many of the top creative talent around. Every picture was draw with fantastic detail and it was obvious that both writer and artist researched the material they used to full effect.
For those of you that have never read Charleys War it basically tells the story of a young lad who willingly joins the army in 1916 and is subjected to one of the bloodiest battles in history - The Somme! Needless to say he survives and the story then goes on to tell of other offensives like Passchendale and Cambrai, right up to 1918 where we see Charley go off to fight on the Russian Front and the into WW2.
Keeping to this edition however, it covers the horrors of the Somme and gives us a different persepective from the usual non-fiction reference books. The addition of real photos and reference material is a welcome and fitting bonus that only amplfies Charleys tale and gives the reader more insight into the events of 1916.
In summary I would just like to say that its fantastic that the story has been printed in the format it deserved and I only hope that enough people buy it to keep the further adventures being published.

2 of 2 people found the ollowing review helpful:

Classic british comic, December 2, 2004

Reviewer: E T Palmer from Pontyprid, glamorgan United Kingdom

If your a fan of classic british comics then this book is a must. Charley's War is one of the best comic series of all time. The book looks brilliant and is packed full of brilliant facts and info, not just about the comic strip but also about the 1st world war. 

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

Charley's War by Pat Mills and Joe Coquhoun, November 18, 2004

Reviewer: neil emery from Aylesbury, Bucks

from my website of Charley's War;

Well, its finally here, after many months of badgering them and hassling them, bombarding them and straffinf them with your email demands for a reprint (or else), those poor people at Titan have finally given in, i received in the post this morning a brand spanking new copy of the new book and WOW! its brilliant.

This quality hardback edition is resplendent in black with a single poignant poppy superimposed onto one of the most famous of the photographs from WW1 (of the tommy in silhouette saying goodbye at the grave of his mate). underneath the title the cover tells us it runs from 2nd June 1916 until the 1st of August 1916 (published from the 6th of January 1979 until 28th July 1979) This means that this collection is bigger than the previous releases in the eighties, and falls only about four issues short of being both previous books combined. Some have said they imagined that the book would be just a re-release of books one and two to cash in on the interest to the website, that couldn't be more wrong, Titan have truly excelled themselves making it contain almost both the previous chapters (1 & 2), a wealth of great articles which includes Pat Mill's forward, his strip commentary, a little bit by me (a striped down stripography) and an excellent historic piece about the background to the Somme by Steve White who put this package together. that's some collection and it makes for a damn impressive book.

Mills writes a strident almost damning foreword to the story in which he acknowledges his peer's compliments on the strip but asks why no-one was influenced enough to take it and make something in its mould, with an equally subversive subtext. As a result it's 'a creative cul-de-sac' says Mills a series that 'led nowhere'.

After Pat's forward there's my modest little effort, all i can say to that is thank you to the kindness of Steve White at Titan for giving me the chance to be involved, and to Pat Mills who always has kept me informed and at the sharp end of the whole thing. It's a very strange feeling to be a part of it, after all these years..

In addition to that at the back of the book is possibly the best thing about this release; Pat Mill's strip commentary, an issue by issue explanation to the content, who, what's, wheres, etc. its a wealth of details about the story that have never been told before and a great read. Lastly Steve White's article on the Somme is highly accurate and informative and gives the new reader some background and context to the strip, which anchors it back where it should be-reality.

Many people were worried that without the original art to print from then the quality of the strip would be comprimised, im very pleased to say thats not true and the the printing is superb throughout, clear and crisp allowing Joes work to impress new generations who discover it..

As you know this website is completely independent and not owned by anyone and not part of Titan at all, but i intend to use this as an advert complete with links, flashing lights and pay now signs, why? because Titan have said that depending on the sales of this release they will continue reprinting until it 'no longer is economically viable'. If the rest are anything like this i want the entire story in my bookcase, so my advice to you charley's war fans is BUY IT !!!!

Neil Emery