Here’s the thing about Charlie’s War, it’s fantastic, it shouldn’t be but it is. All the ingredients are wrong but some how it works as one of the strongest anti war comics ever. Joe Colquhoun’s amazingly atmospheric and detailed artwork pretty much seemed to come from nowhere (but it didn’t). Looking at his body of work before Charlie’s war it’s considered and detailed but typical of British comics illustration. Don’t get me wrong Colquhoun is technically solid and the only real give away to the age of the work is the cartoony faces on many of the immaculately referenced and rendered characters. The resemblance to court room sketches or a battlefield artist is enhanced by his fantastic but old fashioned craft. Far from detracting from the strip the stylised faces add an extra dimension of realism and history.
So I guess you could say the art isn’t much of a surprise, no were near the surprise the writing is any way. Were Joe Colquhoun was always a gifted professional and this gave him a chance to really shine, Pat Mills was a hack writer and an editor.
Pat Mills, what can you say about Pat Mills? How about you could get away with writing at his simplistic level 30 years ago but now it’s just so much painfully bad neo-pagan claptrap. I genuinely cringed at his ham fisted modern sequel to Invasion 1999. Savage is an appalling travesty. It’s like kids comics from the 70’s but with rape and torture themes and random accusations of genocide levelled at Winston Churchill. It’s confused metaphors and its depleted uranium armoured tanks (that would make them to heavy to move and provide no amour advantage. Tank armour is actually explosive relative, thickness makes no difference, and other heavy elements like gold and lead may make excellent projectiles but crap armour. It’s nice to see he uses his research budget well.) Slaine and the A.B.C Warriors are interesting for the art alone, and his political naivety was highlighted to hilarious effect in third world war. And Fin, my goodness, just when you thought he couldn’t take his bizarre pagan claptrap any further.
So why does it work? His Writing is perfect for world war 1, his writing style, the boys own style, was how the young men at the beginning of the last century really felt about the war. His social and political depth is just enough to understand that senseless waist of life is… senseless. His righteous indignation, his working class sensibilities, it all added depth and realism to the project. In essence he was Charlie and as he researched the horrors of the war he discovered them as Charlie. The lack of sophistication of Mills writing echoes as Charlie’s simple mind.
In research presentation and execution Charlie’s War is an important work, maybe as important as Art Spiegelman's Maus. Time hasn’t taken away any of the strip's power or accessibility and it deserves far more praise and recognition then it has been given.
My first encounter with Charlie’s War was in Eagle in the early 80’s and quickly became a favourite strip. (Computer Warrior illustrated by Mike Western was probably the story I liked most, but as a computer games playing young boy it was one I could relate too.)
The art was more something I could respect then made any serious effort to emulate but given the detail and that I was about 10 years old that’s pretty understandable.
Joe Colquhoun is definitely an influence for the execution of the art work of Island of Terror, I think if you squint at page 19 you can probably see the way his work shaped my idea of how a war comic should look.
