The Ten most frequently asked qustions about Charley's War

1. When did Charley's War start and when did it end? Was it repeated in Eagle, or did it continue? im confused as to where to start collecting the whole thing. CW started in the 200th edition which came out 6th January 1979 it started with three other new stories, HMS Nightshade, about a ship (see Pat Mills interview) drawn by Mike Western and written by John Wagner. Glory Rider- a highly dubious story about a US tank commander and finally True life Heroes which usually was just text with a photograph, or a tasteful drawing to depict it. Needless to say CW was the only one to stand the test of time and the others rushed back into obscurity relatively quickly. Although 'Nightshade' is thought by many to be a classic. CW then went on to run right through to 4 October 1986 when the story was pulled due to lack of funds, in that time Charley's war had spanned most of the first world war, the invasion of russia and the start of the second world war up until Dunkirk. The Battle name merged in with Eagle and on the 23rd January 1988 which marked the end of the comic officially. It was dead already though just running reprints of Charley's War- (ridiculously censored this time round!) Eagle simply carried on reprinting what battle had and eventually this ground to a halt as well, im not sure what era in the strip was released before it ended. At the most it ran another year i think. Part of Charley's War was rerun earlier this year in the 2000ad spin-off the megazine. The last of which are ending at the moment of writing (december 2004) The reprints went down extremely well and i think this was Titan checking out how much interest it generated, obviously enough to reprint book one i suppose.
2. How old is Charley supposed to be in the strip? Charley is 16 in 1916 and he lies about his age to get in the army. in World War two hes a very young looking 39 with a son len of 19. He sounds like uncle Albert from fools and horses after Mills ceased writing it " when i was in the trenches son...."
3. How did it end? Is it true he had a leg blown off and dies? No that rumour came from a question asked on comics international- Charleys war ended in a bit of a rush actually, Charley ends up at Dunkirk- and eventually finds his son Len who is shellshocked- CB trys to reach him and is nearly crushed by two ships crashing together, after they are both hauled to safety we see CB thinking that hes far too old to continue fighting wars anymore and that that was it, he then starts remembering how and where it all begain..........time for reprints.
4. What happened to the Artist that drew it? Sadly Joe died in 1987, almost imediately after he retired his last ever work was on the short lived 'mask' comic.
5. How do you pronounce Colquhoun? aha good one this im not 100 percent sure myself so if anyone can let me know if im right with this? I believe it is pronounced 'cal-hoon' as opposed to 'colquin' answers on a postcard please folks. UPDATE- I can OFFICIALLY say now that it's pronounced CO-HOON!
6. Whats the score with the Graphic Novels? How many are they reprinting? Can I get them in the USA? Titan say-' 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 (Dec 04) it is only being sold by our UK Warehouse. For Australia and NZ ordering 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
    As for the UK, Titan have said this. 'As long as people are interested and the book releases go down well we will release them until they are no longer econonically viable' basically they will release the whole thing in hardback form if enough people buy them.
7. Where can i buy some original artwork by Joe Colquhoun? hahah, you wont im afraid-ive been looking for years to find some of his work and never seen it, niether does anyone else have any idea where his artwork ended up, most think it was thrown away when the battle offices closed, which is tragic. If any came up for sale it would go for a fortune because so many people would love to have some.
8. Why do you never see baby pidgeons? i think your in the wrong faq mate! Thats an old one anyway-more to the point is why do you never see an ice cream van refuelling?
9. Where is the best place to buy old battles?-Ebay i think, and 26pigs.com and the bookpalace.com ebay is the main one to get them cheap though.
10. How did you wangle writing that bit in the graphic novel? I sent them threatening letters demanding to do it lol. They just asked me actually and of course i was beside myself with glee for the chance to be a part of it. Pat Mills was the driving force though, he had been pushing from the beginning for me to be involved. Hes a top man.