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We've seen how Pat Mills brought realism to
Charley's War with his inclusion of real events into it's storyline but Pat wasn't the only one to do this. Joe Colquhoun
must have researched the war extensively as well, as his frames were so full of detail and adhered to fact just as much as
the script did. This page gives a few examples of this.
Blind
Leading the Blind. Heres an example of the attention to detail in Joe's work. Left is a photograph from 1917
of men walking to the dressing station behind the line after being blinded by poison gas. On the right is Joe's Artwork from
1979 of the same subject.
One of the great things about Joe was his ability
to cover scenes such as the horrific wounds, and gruesome death suffered by the soldiers in the great war without ever becoming
cliche or peurile. A lot of his work showed more because it left the bulk to the imagination. An example is an episode where
the character Pop has his legs blown off. We only know this because charley thinks it while comforting him, Pop is cropped
at the chest throughout. Ginger's death is another good example: we just see him engulfed in flame, the
imagination completes the image.
St Quentin Canal Bridge. The
merged picture to the left is another comparison. The photo shows the bridge crossing the canal at St Quentin: the
scene of one of the most daring actions of the war in 1918 when the British advanced across the Canal under terrible machine
gun and artillery fire, it is also the spot where the poet Wilfred Owen was killed. The canal was part of the Hindenburg
Defensive positions that the Germans had built in 1917 when they withdrew from their positions and retreated three
miles. On the top is a scene of Charley's War when he had become a Lance Corporal in the strip and was leading
his Lewis section across the canal, below is a photo of the same bridge and crossing soon after the battle in 1918.
Lady Angela Forbes See the merged picture
below. This a scene from the storyline about the British Army Mutiny at Etaples training camp (otherwise known as the Bullring). Lady Angela Forbes was the forces sweetheart
at the camp and was extremely voiciferous in her feelings towards the brutal treatment of soldiers there. She was a friend
of the Royal Family and very repected in British high society, it's said that she infuriated Haig who called 'That damn Woman'
when she told of what was happening at Etaples. Joe's research is quite amazing considering there has only ever been one book
about the Mutiny due to the cover up by the Army. (the records are released in 2017) See 'Blue' on the Characters page for more information.
Below left is a photo of Brigadier-General
Andrew Graham Thomson the camp commandant at Etaples and right is Joe's interpretation. As someone said to me
in an Email -Who would have known the difference? As Pat and Joe showed very well in Charley's War Thomson was taken to the
river by the ringleaders of the mutiny and thrown in the river. He had been desperately trying to contact friends in the cavalry
and machine gun corps at the time of the mutiny in order to 'make some examples' to regain control.
The
Bullring The brutal retraining ground known as the 'Bullring' at Etaples. The troops who had returned from leave
or from convalescence would be 'toughened' up here before being returned to the trenches. The picture here (and Joe's interpretation
of it) shows bayonet practice on the beach. Up to 20,000 men would be drilled here at one time. On the 8th of September 1917
it was the setting for a mass sit-down protest against the brutal treatment by the drill NCOs and military police and marked
the beginning of the mutiny.From the western front to the Yorkshire Dales, London's East-end to the battlefields of Gallipoli; Joe's artwork
was spot on every time. The leaning virgin of the famous Albert church in France was an image I thought I'd forgotton until
I saw a photograph of it in Lyn Macdonald's 'The Somme' and realised I'd seen it before in Charley's War 20 years before.
Quite a feat for any artist. But then again Joe wasnt just any artist.
Cloth
Hall Ypres Below left is a photograph of the Cloth Hall Ypres after 2 years of shelling. On the right is
Joe's interpretation of the scene from 1980.
Third Battle of Ypres
I really can't think of anything more difficult a subject than this: the third battle of Ypres look at the way Joe handles
the mud, rain, showers of earth from the shells etc. The picture on the left shows the ypres salient's conditions at the end
of 1917.
The depth in this kind of scene would be difficult to
produce in a drawing or painting, let alone the style that comic art demands.
Home Front (above
left) Joe's handling of the home front was as acurate and detailed as his war scenes.It was a rare treat for most
fans when Charley went home on leave to a London gripped by Zeppelin raids and black market dealing. I'll leave
the caption for this bit to Pat Mills
"I could look at some of Joe's edwardian London scenes
and feel the clatter of horse-drawn trams an so on, his gift was exceptional"
Over the top (above
right)Surprisingly the image above is one of the few 'classic' , 'over the top' images Charley's War ever
contained, yet it's the image one imagines when thinking of the first world war (the idea of troops climbing scaling
ladders and advancing across no-man's land.) I think the reason for that is realism yet again. As the real truth of the great
war is that boredom and lack of action became the number one enemy for the men that fought it most of the time. Trench
life consisted of living like a mole and never seeing your enemy and most deaths were at the hands of unaimed random shellfire.
Gallipoli 'V' Beach Cappe Helles
Setting for the disastrous landing of commonwealth troops in 1915. This frame is a brilliant example of Joe's expansive backgrounds.
Look at the detail and depth in the distance, done with finer and finer linework.
According to an article in Battle at the time Joe used
a series of fine brushes to ink his work. (as opposed to the dip-pen traditionally used by comic artists) and this accounts
for his varied lines and heavier style. It took five working days to complete just three pages and you can see why when you
look at any page. Joe very rarely drew for the summer specials or annuals of Battle I only knew of him doing them twice-the
reason I presume is sheer workload and perhaps he felt if he had, the quality of one or the other would be lacking. Joe,youre
the 'daddy' of this game and always will be!
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