Charley's War Vol. 1: Boy Soldier: The Definitive Collection: Volume 1

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Matthew: The Titan collections are very nicely presented with a fair amount of supplementary material. I think the company has done a good job. He tells the judgmental Charley his life-story and they become firm friends with the common ground being the hatred of the waste of lives in France. The features in this section sprang from the original work of Neil Emery and developed by John Freeman

Molcher says Charley’s War, featured in the exhibition, is “regarded as one of the greatest war comics ever”. It is still in print today, in collected editions put out by Rebellion.Because today it’s the only example of mainstream popular culture – outside of film and television – that challenges the establishment view of World War One. This was not a comic that shied away from the true horrors of war. The conditions in the trenches were depicted accurately and the sheer brutality of the war couldn’t be escaped. It took an approach to character death that makes George R R Martin seem lenient in comparison.

Conflict has always been a staple of comics and by the 1960s and 70s war stories were the most popular genre.Alford, Matthew (2010). Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy. London, England: Pluto Press. p.81. ISBN 9780745329833. Which makes it all the more important, Pat feels, that “Charley’s War” gains the same kind of attention here that it has in France. Despite a permanent display of art from the strip at the Tank Museum in Bovington, and an exhibition of Joe’s art during the World War One centenary in 2014 at the prestigious Abbot Hall Gallery in Kendal, “Charley’s War” seems to Pat to be deliberately overlooked as a potential educational resource.