The Commando Interviews Part 8 - Editor George Low gives us a situation report from his headquarters

This is our second interview with Commando editor George Low, and it deals primarily with the 2005 Carlton Commando book "The Dirty Dozen".

Before I launch into the questions, let me just tell you how much our first chat in July 2004 has meant to me and many fans of war comics, and that it certainly opened up a door that allowed me to take this interest to a new level. It didn´t take me very long to see that a site in english was the way to go and here we are. This will be the first Commando interview made for Where Eagles Dare but it follows the others that we have done earlier on (and that we have now moved from the swedish Victory site to this one) nicely and the information that we have unearthed so far is fantastic. As you can see, if you go back to that first interview, I didn´t know much at all back then, but I think that was the case for many collectors all over the place. In that respect, it was an important interview, and it also opened up a lot of doors. So thank you for that. So that happened two years ago, what´s happened at the Commando headqurters since then?

- We have kept going in very much the same way with the same artists and writers. The Carlton book was a bit different, though, and very good to see.

Yes, we had a rather nice christmas present last year when Carlton Books published the 788 page Commando book "The Dirty Dozen - The Best 12 Commando Comic Books Ever!". When did you start to think about this project and who´s idea was it in the first place?

- Carlton came to us with a joint project to feature material from Jackie girls’ magazine and Commando.

Who came up with the title and the overall concept? The title is ofcourse, or so I would assume, inspired by that classic war movie from the sixties?

- Again this was down to Carlton and they carried it from there.

So you had 12 adventures and then you had the idea for the books title?

- Yes, it worked out that way.

The adventures you have picked were originally printed in the first quarter of this comicbooks history, does this mean that you think that this was the best period for the publication or does it mean that you hope to have a chance to publish more books like this one in the future?

- It was a good place to start and it allows us to look at future projects which might include more recent material.

When you picked out the stories you wanted to use, how did you go about it? What was important?

- It was a case of going back through the records and remembering a classic story here and there. I was looking for stories and artwork typical of Commando at that time. It was great fun.

I don´t know too much about the artists that created these stories, is some of them still around and have they seen or commented the book in any way?

- Yes, some of the artists are still around and they liked the finished publication.

The artist that did "Inland Navy", "Three...Two...One...Zero!", "March Of The Monsters" and "Glider Ace" is one of my all time favourites, and with four stories in the book he seems to be one of your favourite guys as well. Who was that and what do you recall of his time with Commando now?

- First of all, the artists we use are all my favourites. They are just different in their own ways. Of the four titles you mention, "Inland Navy" was done by a Scottish artist called Peter Fleming who is now retired. The other three were the work of a D.C. Thomson staff artist, Gordon Livingstone. He is also retired but he lives close to Dundee and we meet up for a coffee (?) now and again.

Can you mention who some of the other artists were that are featured in this book?

- Trouble Spot/Segrelles/cover Segrelles; Man of Iron/Segrelles/cover Ken Barr; Death Patrol/Cortes/cover Lopez Espi; Battle Wagon/Alonso/cover Segrelles; Aces Wild/Jose Maria Jorge/cover Ian Kennedy; The Ship Busters/Jose Maria Jorge/cover Ian Kennedy; Glider Ace/Gordon Livingstone/ cover Ian Kennedy; Mustang Patrol/John Ridgway/cover Ian Kennedy; Inland Navy/Peter Fleming/cover Ian Kennedy; March of the Monsters/Gordon Livingstone/cover Keith Walker; Three, Two, One, Zero…/Gordon Livingstone/cover Ian Kennedy; Riley’s Rifle/ Galindo/cover Ian Kennedy.

- Segrelles, Lopez Espi, Alonso, Cortes are Spanish; Jose Maria Jorge is from Argentina; The rest are British. Ian Kennedy, John Ridgway and Jose Maria Jorge still work for us, I am happy to say.

I have seen two covers, does this mean that there was a second printing coming out fairly rapidly, or was another edition printed in another country?

- No, it was a production matter.

I don´t know if you want to disclose sales, but what can you tell us about the interest in the book?

- A lot of interest was shown and that was gratifying. Older readers and younger ones liked the idea and the format.

Did you read any reviews in the media?

- Yes, and most were positive. There are a lot of people who look back with pleasure at the Commando books they have read over the years.

Is there a chance that we can look forward to a second volume, maybe to celebrate issue 4000 next year?

- Who knows? Watch this space…

4000 issues is a fantastic achievement, shouldn´t you guys rent a pub and invite readers and celebrate in style? I would be glad to put the word out and I am certain that people would just love that.

- We’re not there yet, and being superstitious Scots we won’t believe it until it happens. A grand cruise of the UK and Baltic coastline would be the answer!

Is it true that Commando has a slightly higher profile again? I got word from a reader in the UK who mentioned that V.H Smith shops were stocking the title again after years of not having done so.

- Our fans always knew we were there, but we do seem to be talked about more again. The Carlton Dirty Dozen helped and kind people like yourself do a power of good…

I have a follow up question from our first interview. You mentioned then that Commando is available in other english speaking countries. Do they import copies or do they print their own?

- They import them.

Have you heard that Garth Ennis is involved in getting Battler Britton back again for a few adventures? Has Garth Ennis ever written anything for Commando?

- Yes, I had heard that. Unfortunately Garth Ennis hasn’t written for us.

Do you have anything that you wish to add to this interview?

- Yes, thanks for the interest that you and other fans like you show. It’s a cliché, but Commando wouldn’t still exist if nobody bought it. Many thanks!

Thank you very much for your time.

 

Mike Eriksson (May 2006)

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