19 August 2005
I have
some news im both delighted and gutted with at the same time. Some of Joe's ORIGINAL artwork is up for auction at www.compalcomics.com The auction is live for
the next 3 weeks, closing on 6 September at 8pm. Im gutted because i know i wont be able to buy it. If you can afford
it i suggest you get on over there and snap up this RARE and i mean rare piece of CW history. It's the first time ive EVER
seen any original JC CW artwork. The lot is #258. Theres some great stuff on the site which is always worth looking at Malcolm Phillips runs the website and his company is called Comic
Book Postal Auctions Ltd. (mumbles)......now what could i sell round here to raise that kind of money....
NEW!! 22nd JUNE 2005
From 2000AD's the 'Megazine'
By popular demand - the return of Battle classic CHARLEY'S WAR, by Pat Mills & Joe Colquhoun. It's winter 1917: wounded
by shrapnel in the Battle of the Somme, at last teenage Tommy Charley Bourne is returning home from the horrors of the battle-ravaged
Western Front. But little does he know that the Great War is coming back to Blighty with him ...good news eh? im not surprised
i must admit, Great stuff and thanks to Phillip for the news.
NEW!! 08th JUNE 2005
There's a little bit of news about
the next hardback book i got this from Titan
CHARLEY'S WAR: 1 AUGUST - 17 OCTOBER 1916 is due out
on October 21st this year, 112 pages, £14.99.
We haven't locked in the introduction yet, but it features a major article
on the comic's place in and relation to history by military historian Dan Todman, plus comments on the article by Pat Mills;
and again, there will be a Mills commentary on the strips. Hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am!
Best,
*J*
Jamie
Boardman
Graphic Novels Editor, Titan Books
October is just down the road so not long to
wait for your next fix!
(apologies to Jamie for the people ringing up his number looking for me, ive removed
this now.)
There's a new Poll opened up below,
please try and take part if possible it will be interesting- seeing of the majority of you would welcome a continuation of
the story and not just reprints, who would you want to illustrate it? If you have a suggestion vote other and fill the name
in on the comments bit.
Our man in the USA Steve Beeny gave me some excellent
info this week concerning a review in this months LA times, which really is a brilliant bit of exposure to whip up an interest
the book deserves over there. Thanks Steve!
NEW!! 27th May 2005
Amazingly the last poll voted unanimously
that readers would like to see a contination of CW written by Pat Mills- The customer is always right i guess, but the question
is who would draw it i wonder?
NEW!! 26th May 2005
Apologies to all for the lack of updates recently, theres been not much news apart from a few snippets.
Charleys war is now the biggest selling of all Mills work on Amazon. the next news from
an email i recieved-
''An idle lunchtime search reveals that the second volume is on the US and
French Amazon but with a Stargate
Cover. (link below) I assume that the
second author listed has written a foreword. She seems to write them
for
the Stargate companion guides. It seems to be taking the story up to 17th
October 1916, so presumably they
are making a start on the Judgement
Trooper story line or they might end on the Titch story (the last panel
being
a couple of Bavarians discussing the imminent arrival of JTs in the
line - "those poor Tommies". A nice cliff-hanger
for a possible third
volume rounding off the Somme period.
That comes from phillip thanks mate and sorry i havent had time to thank you mate!, Phil also has heard rumours
that CW is about to restart in the megazine iminently watch this space! The next newsletter will be coming
soon and dont forget that the second book is out in November
NEW!! 02 Febuary
Steve
Beeny's latest colour stuff is up as you can see, this main one and another on the faq page ,added the proper credits
to the stripography page and changed the details on the JC interview page. Joes last ever work is now up on the JC stripography
page, theres an example of his stuff from the mask comic circa 1987.
NEW!! 27 January
Totally revamped
Joe's Stripography page and made it interactive. I would like an example of each part of his career, so if anyone has any
scans please could you send me them? thanks. Also added updated artwork here and there and a picture of Dave Hunt on his interview
page
NEW!!ADDED some more artwork here
and there- edited and coloured the sky in the image on the next page, from a colour cover from 1981, replaced the rest of
the images on the same page, and various oddments here and there all over the site,
NEW!!! 20th JANUARY 2005
ADDED-
a better portrait of Pat in the interview section and a self portrait (!) in Joe's style on the 'about me' page. Oh
and some 'letters home' intros to some of the pages
Just got this bit
of news from CW regular Lee;
Hi Neil,
I received
an email from Titan books - Charley's War book 2 is scheduled for
November. Great news, but what a wait!
Peace!
LEE
From: Sholto Brown >To: Lee Grice >Subject: Re: Charley's War Date: Tue,
18 Jan 2005 15:00:20 +0000 Hi Lee
>Thanks for your email as itıs always nice to receive mail from people who
>have
enjoyed our books. Charleyıs War has always been a particular favourite
>of mine too and our edition, as Iım sure youıll
agree, is an excellent read.
>The next instalment of the Charleys War story is due out in November 2005
>but we
have no other details confirmed at the moment. Although there are
>currently no plans for Johnny Red or Darkieıs Mob
we do have The Spider due
>out in May and The Steel Claw due out in September.
Thanks
>Reader Feedback Dept.
>Titan
Books
>Titan House
>144 Southwark Street
>London
>SE1 0UP
As Lee rightly states what a long wait!!!
NEW!!! 18 JANUARY 2005
Lew Stringer, who's
Fanzine ran the Joe Colquhoun article on the interview page contacted me and very kindly sent me a scan of the original cover
complete with specially drawn cover, ive added it to the page. A great deal of thanks to Lew for taking the time to do this
for me.
NEW!!! 14 JANUARY 2005
The Megazine ran the last
of the Charley's War reprints for a while, nice place to break though- right at the point where Charley gets his Blighty,
very well done indeed (i believe this is episode 76 Pat got a bit reflective and said this of it -
''I spent hours studying the last episode
in the Megazine. Mesmerised by his details. Note the final image in the railway station where the priest stands over
the body ... while the train goes out and more soldiers go to the front.
I think the priest standing over the one body is Joe's
idea alone. Which says what an amazing visual poet he is.
And the angle looking down is his. That's a shot
any movie director would be jealous of. It could look good "blown up" larger I suspect.
And on an earlier page when those officers get out of
the train ... It might have been my script, but the class feeling is all Joe's...He created such an "anti-Dan Dare officer/batman"
mood I wanted to hit that Hooray Henry! Which is interesting. It demonstrates - I think - that
he felt rather similarly to me about class.
All these three elements above show that Joe was much
, much more than a talented artist "passively" following a strong script - which I think he may have given the
impression as he was so self-effacing. No, he was a very strong partner in the theme and realisation of
what we were both about.
He really was a genius; and I hope at some point
he will receive some wider acknowledgement of his genius. He so deserves it. ''
Also today i got this from Owen at Titan regarding the sales
figures for the book-
Neil
Sorry about the
dealy getting back to you.
The book has indeed sold very well in stores and online (cant give out exact figures im
afraid, but the first print run will go, rest assured )
So that's official then.... well done for the cracking of money boxes and making
this a reality! Were on course for Book Two.
ADDED some original BAD art to the site -Mine! theres a portrait of
Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun done in Colquhoun-esque style (well that was the intention anyway!!)
NEW!!!
07 JANUARY 2005
Newsletter has gone out (issue two) BREAKING NEWS BREAKING
NEWS
AMAZON SAY THAT
THEY HAVE CLEARED 'WELL OVER 3000' COPIES OF BOOK ONE ON THE UK SITE ONLY SINCE LAST MONTHS RELEASE! We need loads more reviews please spare 5 minutes to write up something and add it to the customer reviews section.
Wrote to Cam Kennedy via his website asking about his time on Charley's war (see stripography), Still no word from Steve about
the next colour offering, but hes getting on well with it apparently. New Poll is running as of today.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL
NEW!!! ADDED 24 DECEMBER 2004
Yessss! just
recieved the killer coloured panel from Steve Beeny (see below) hes doing some more as well, thanks Steve!! The less knowledgeable among you may think this is easy-it is far from that,
i know because ive tried for the site, mine looked like a kids colouring book!
NEW!!! ADDED 22 DECEMBER 2004
Just recieved an Email from Pat Mills about
the rumour about a contination of Charley's War by Garth Ennis (as reported on the Alan Moore fansite)
"No - there's absolutely no truth in the rumour and I
have made my views known to Titan Books most forcefully! I think it's just one of those fan fantasies
and that's how it arose. Fans sometimes like to create the comic equivalent of fantasy football ; imagining
unlikely dream teams; and in this case inferring two things obliquely , rather than directly, which
is harmless enough I suppose; as long as no one takes their fantasies seriously. In fact it's
so unlikely that I don't really have to issue my usual high-handed threats when it comes to policing and protecting
my own characters ; which I am rightly known for protecting with considerable vigour.
But just to be on the safe side, I shall anyway
and just repeat my usual message to anyone out there who just might be seriously thinking of reincarnating
Charley , for which they have no moral, legal or creative right and without my approval... don't even think
it
Best wishes to all Pat Mills'
Phew thank goodness for that!! it would be similar to the Beatles
reforming without Lennon, as much as i love it unless Pat did it himself with an artist as good as Joe
(doubtful if one exists) let this classic RIP or if it's to be done take a leaf out of Steve Beeny's 'Rebellion' do something
in the spirit of it.
Id like to wish all the visitors to this site a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS
AND A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR weve had a great year this past one-2005 sees the release of book 2 so we have that to look forward to
in the next as well -lets keep the momentum going. Thanks from charleyswar.com for your continued support and a Merry
xmas!!!
NEW!! Added! 19Dec04
Added a new page 'who am I?' because (oddly) people
were requesting one(!) I also saw Moose had done one at Action (see links) so I thought id better it seems they are all the
rage.
NEW!! News!!NEW!!
News!!
I
just found this on a U.S Alan Moore fansite, mistake or truth?- '-odd thing though- Another old IPC property, "Charley's
War" is being reprinted by Titan Books. They are also looking to do new material - the name Garth Ennis can never be far away
from that.' Now what is that all about do yer reckon?
NEW!! Added! Posted Steve Beeny's Rebelion cover on the 'future' page
if you have'nt read it yet go there now- Pat Mills was most impressed by Steve's strip, a continuation in a way of the original
story
NEW!! News!!
In this months Word Magazine, (December 2004),
there is review by Andrew Harrison of the CW graphic novel, he says "The attention to detail is mesmerising... Charley's
War is simply the greatest British comic strip ever created." Word is a non-comics industry magazine, and the fact that Charley's
War is being reviewed there means that a whole new audience is going to be finding out about it, this is a real coup for the
success of the book. On the same note Wayne Harris sent me a very interesting Email in which he saw..
"in my local Ottakers in High Wycombe i saw CW under the Military book section
as opposed to the comic/graphic novels. While I guess both sections would be good, it at least gets seen by those interested
in the subject matter and are a little more mature as to remember the comic" thanks Wayne, this is very interesting- it seems
that Charley's War is getting the serious attention it desearves outside the comic world this time round. Any similar sightings
of Charley's War in the press or in the shops please give me a shout!
17/Dec/2004
NEW!! Added! I spent about two hours adding and re-writing the 'background' page which now details
the story of how the reprints of the Graphic Novels happened, added a couple more links to the links page. Coming soon! Im
going to add the only other Joe coquhoun article that exists (not an interview unfourtunately)
12/december/2002
NEW!! Added! The Joe Colquhoun fanzine
interview is all typed up and added on its own new page, its a great interview with a lot of revelations about CW and the
buisness generally, enjoy!
Also tidied up generally and added more details to the stripography
in particular the missing issues from 1985, edited the book list because of errors (thanks Tim)
11th/12th/2004
NEW!!
Added some info here for US and NZ fans from Titan:
Currently we do plan to ship this to the US for a March 2005 release
so
around then you could try ordering it from amazon.com or from our US
warehouse direct (details at bottom of email)
At
this time it is only being sold by our UK Warehouse. Given you live in
NZ ordering it is going to be expensive in terms
of shipping as we do not
have a NZ/AUS warehouse. Amazon.co.uk are stocking it or you could try our
mail order subcontractor
(email john@aasm.co.uk or call 00441536764646)
Our US warehouse is called CDS and is Tennesee based in the USA
193
Edwards Drive | Jackson | TN 38301
Tel (800) 343-4499 | Fax (800) 351-5073
www.cdsbooks.com
08/12/04
NEW!!
Added A frequently asked question bit to the 'Postcards' page, added some more trench signs for navigation, polished
up the annuals and specials section in the Stripography, at the same time added some real-life events of each year to
give it some context.
07/Dec/04
NEW!!
Added another feature at the bottom of the Stripology page about who drew which Annuals and Summer Specials, a year
by year breakdown
06/Dec/04
Hello and Welcome to Charley's War.com the revamped, pop-up free version.
I decided to redo the site mainly because of the annoying pop-ups and banners that tripod were putting up over the months
as the site got more and more hits , and well, i hate black with white text now, i think it cheapens the whole
thing. And i thought, new Charley's War book, has to have a new website to mark the occaision really dont it? Ive taken the
plunge and brought the domain name of Charleyswar.com and as soon as i work out how to switch the whole thing it seems we
have two sites, one at the old address of charleyswar.tripod.com, the other here but what the hell!
Please let me know what you like/dont like so i can please most people
this time. What else? oh yes ive written quite a lot of new content such as on the further reading/bibliography page
tonight- ive had lots of questions about which ww1 books to read, this should help those people a lot. If anyone has any of
their own faves let me know and ill add them.
A lot of the content is the same but as you can see ive started re-writing
it a lot and replacing the bigger pictures so it loads better. Please join the new mailing list because i will be sending
out info via that means, the form is on this page. Also the Guestbook took off in a big way last time round, so dont forget
to look in and have a look, or a chat.
The first site was my virgin attempt hopefully this will be a
little more user-friendly. Theres a couple of completely new sections added as well and there will be other stuff being added
for the next couple of months, so keep looking in.
Neil Emery 04/dec/2004
LATEST NEWS AND UPDATES
17 JUNE 2004
Late breaking news! Late breaking news! Late breaking
news!
Ok people here's the latest from Steve at Titan about
the future plans for the release of Charley's War i recieved this email last thing this afternoon;
At the moment, weve got two volumes planned (just as
an initial launch). Now that youve put the material in our grasp, Im pretty certain that weve go beyond that until theyre
no longer economically viable, so who knows how far that will be! The whole point of this was to collect material never collected
before, and put in lots of bonus material that will also draw in fans. Pat is up for writing a feature that we hope to develop
into what amounts to a directors commentary. But Ill keep you abreast of things as and when they happen.
In the meantime,
thanks so much for your help.
Regards,
Steve
What can you say to that?, not only the two books but
much much more as well, as well as new comments from Pat and more besides by the look of it!!!
Yes! theres more news, heres a quote from an email i
just got from Titan;
'Hi there, Neil,
My name is Steve White and I'm an
editor here at Titan. One of the projects
I'm working on is a new series of Charley's War collections. As well as
updating
the previous Titan books, we're also hoping to bring together
previously uncollected material' So it's not just the two
books previously released, were looking at a whole lot more of the story being reprinted. AT LAST!!!!
16 JUNE 2004
REPRINT!!! ITS OFFICIAL!!
Phil Patterson, a regular to the site has posted the
following message in the forum:
Dear All It looks like Titan are going ahead as the
new graphic novel of Charley's War is now on Amazon and will be published on 22nd October 2004 priced £16.99. The ISBN is
184023627/2 and it is 144 pages long which means they have put the old 1983 and 1986 Volumes 1 and 2 together it seems. If
so, this will be episodes 1-40. Amazon's webaddress is www.amazon.co.uk Yrs Phil
Thanks to Phil and his eagle eyes. So folks it finally
looks like Titan have woken up to the lasting popularity of Charley's War. I'd like to take this chance to say thank you to
all that have visited, written me Emails (which all get passed on), helped me out with the site and supported it since i started
it, this reprint is down to your continued interest and determination, i thank you all. Next target...the whole bloody thing
reprinted!!!
Best wishes Neil
4th June 2004
Continuation of Charley's War?
Steve Beany, who is a regular of the site has produced
this excellent piece of work inspired by Pat and Joe read part one here!
28may 2004
A posting in the forum I thought may be of interest!!
Subject:
charleys war books, Titan response
Email:
Message:
Hi Toby Thanks for your email. We have recently
added Charley's War to our schedule for October of this year so I think you'll have to wait till then to get hold of a copy
since our version of Charley's War from the 1980's has been long out of print. We may release it as a hardback and it will
hopefully include some never before collected material but the final editorial decisions have yet to be made. Thanks Reader
Feedback Dept. Titan Books Titan House 144 Southwark Street London SE1 0UP
Wow! looks like this thing may well happen!- thanks to toby for the
posting.,
Latest News from 2000AD online
Join top Creators at the BOOK FEST
Don't
miss the launch of the all-new BOOK FEST in Middleton Hall, in front of John Lewis, at thecentre:mk from Tuesday 23 ' Sunday
28 March. Previously known as the Book and Collectors Fair, organiser Ian describes the new format as an "an excellent
expansion on the theme ' a show that will be enhanced with the incorporation of publishers, authors and the involvement of
retailers. Not to be missed if you adore books and comics."
2000 AD creators Mark Harrison, Frazer Irving, Dylan
Teague, Mike Collins, Paul Cornell and Dom Reardon will be there in the afternoons of the Friday 26th and Saturday 27th of
March. They will be signing for the public and working on the charity comic for the Great Ormand Street Hospital.
Top
authors have been invited to read and deliver talks, and you can meet William Tucci (creator, writer and artist of 'Shi',
'Victoria Cross' and 'Gremlin Effect' comics & film producer of the award winning 'Some Trouble of a Serious Nature')
The
show will feature 30 book and comic dealers selling second-hand, antiquarian, children's, out-of-print, rare and collectable
books on all subjects. American & British comic books from the 1930's to the present date are certain to be the stars
of the event.
Bookworld, Scholastic Publishing, Early Learning Centre and Leapfrog will be present, and you can look
out for a display by the Magazine and Book Collector.
There is no entrance fee to the show which will be held at thecentre:mk,
the shopping centre in Milton Keynes. http://www.thecentremk.com/
For enquiries about the Book Fest please contact
Organiser Ian Kiddley on 01908 609248 or ian@bookfestmk.com.
Splundig vur thrigg
SEASONS GREETINGS!!
Id just like to say to all who have supported the site
this year THANKYOU its been a great year for CW, with the megazine re-run lets hope we can keep the momentum going this year
and who knows? maybe the graphic novels will be next!
all the best to you all anyway!!!
Latest News from 2000AD online
This months 2000 AD Gold presents the first episode
of legendary and much demanded war story Charleys War, by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun, plus the further adventures of Harry
Twenty on the High Rock, and David Bishop goes further into enemy territory in part three of Blazing Battle Action, the feature
series on the history of British war comics.
Splundig vur Thrigg!
Tharg.
LATEST NEWS!!!
Just got this from Pat :
Hey, Neil,
Charley starts in Meg 211, on sale 24
September! At last!
Duration remains to be seen, but Alan is hoping to at least do all the Battle of the Somme,
which I think means the Judgement Troopers?
(And for background info, Neil They're going to stick
with the original machine-type balloons. Joe's art is so tight that we'd end up going over some of the detail if we did them
again, and the hand-lettered reprints have got an ugly 'Best of Battle' logo plastered over every title page.)
Alan Barnes
the Megazine editor tells me:
I'll get a proper press release out next week, once the issue's done, which I'll
forward to Neil. Bit late, but 211 will still be on sale until 21 Oct. I'll be using the introduction you wrote for me a while
back.
But I thought you'd want to know soonest!
Thanks for all your support in making it happen.
Titan next!
August 27th Charleys War is at last being reprinted in the monthly '2000AD Megazine' from issue #211, due out Weds
24th Sept, There will also be a history of the strip (as part of the story of 'Battle' currently being run in the Meg).
August 2003 The complete Joe Colquhoun
Fanzine interview is up read it HERE
JUNE 2003 Sorry about the lack of
updates lately people Ive been really busy, but the promised Joe interview will be up soon aand normal service will be resumed
as they say!!
COMING SOON!!! Joe speaks!! Thanks to a great
guy Jim Croasdale I will soon have the the most in-depth JC article/interview in exsistence!! As soon as time permits I will
transcribe it and put it on the site. Thanks again Jim!
