'Not so quiet on the Western Front'

A SUCCESSOR TO CHARLEY’S WAR AT LAST!

The revisionist historians who covered up the truth about the Great War during the centenary years 2014-2019 probably thought their job was done with a successful media blackout on any film or TV series that was anti-war. And afterwards the conflict could be quietly forgotten with the death of the last Tommy – Harry Patch – even though, to the establishment’s huge embarrassment, he declared the trench war was ‘organised murder’ and that politicians should have fought each other instead of sending soldiers into battle.

But, despite the blackout, interest in the Great War is as strong as ever. Charley’s War continues to sell well, nationally and internationally, with a recent beautiful Spanish edition from Cartem Comics.

The excellent Netflix remake of All Quiet On The Western Front was hugely popular. It showed the reality of war, although, of course, this was only possible because it was a German film production. British filmmakers, by comparison, produced 1917, which, although it had its moments, suffered from being given a patriotic, ripping yarn treatment, even if it was based on a true story.

But what both films illustrate is that there are more stories waiting to be told, stories that are relevant and important today. Relevant because they show the never-changing true nature of war, e.g. The Ukraine, and important because these are our forefathers, our ancestors, our great grandfathers. The harsh truth is they’ve been sold short by historians.

And they deserve better.

So it’s up to comic creators to do what historians have shown no interest in doing.

To honour the ordinary soldiers: The Ragtime Infantry. As their marching song says:

We are Fred Karno's army,
We are the Ragtime Infantry.
We cannot fight, we cannot shoot,
What bleeding use are we?
And when we get to Berlin
The Kaiser he will say,
Hoch, hoch! Mein Gott, what a bloody rotten lot,
Are the Ragtime Infantry!

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Fred Karno was a famous British comedian of the time.

I wanted to show the Ragtime Soldiers as they really were. Often they were teenagers – crazy about Ragtime, the cool music of its day. Their parents hated Ragtime because it was hot, sexy, black music. They had a dark, Monty Python, very cynical, British sense of humour. And, whilst they were patriotic and heroic, they had as low an opinion of politicians and generals as we have today

They were not the tragic, patriotic, cannon fodder which is how historians dismissively portray them. Even blaming their raw recruit, lack of battle training for the disastrous Battle of the Somme, which they also proclaimed as a great victory!

So that is the thinking behind Ragtime Soldier and our Kickstarter. To honour their memories, and tell it like it really is and was, just as I did in Charley's War, with humour, drama, tragedy and action.

And with an enthralling, authentic and unique storyline about events in World War One and afterwards. It starts with a barbaric trench raid, with soldiers using weapons straight out of the Middle Ages, and develops into a wider story of modern mass-murder and soldiers driven crazy by battle. It’s a story with not just a twist in the tale, but a sting in its tail.

I described Ragtime Soldier as ‘Charley’s War meets Peaky Blinders’. That’s because Peaky Blinders shows the effects the Great War had on ordinary soldiers in peacetime. And it featured sinister plots involving Winston Churchill. In Ragtime, we do the same. Churchill similarly appears with our equivalent of Peaky Blinders’ Inspector Campbell: Major Hugh Pollard. Pollard was a real life, crazy character, the James Bond of his day, renowned for his hunting, drinking, shooting and womanising, but despite his incredible and unsavoury exploits – including starting the Spanish Civil War by rescuing Franco from North Africa – he is barely known today. Why? Because he often brought the British Empire into disrepute.

Peaky Blinders shows the machinations of the sinister secret society called the Economic League. In Ragtime Soldier there is a similar, authentic secret society called The Legion of Frontiersmen, led by Pollard. Their mission: to silence all ‘enemies’ of the British Empire and this includes our hero Robbie McTaggart: the Ragtime Soldier.

Ragtime Soldier is written to appeal to all ages, kids and adults. People who wouldn’t usually pick up a comic told me how much they enjoyed Charley’s War and we hope to have the same audience with Ragtime Soldier. Only we have more space – 48 pages – so we can have wide-screen, double-page spread action, like those amazing war panoramas in All Quiet. Something that we just could not do in Charley's War, where everything was usually confined to three weekly pages with seven pictures on a page.

So in Ragtime Soldier we see the First Day of the Battle of the Somme as a panorama, illustrated by Gary Welsh and Phil Vaughan, who have produced 12 pages of the book so far.They work in a style that echoes the great Joe Colquhoun of Charley’s War, but with their own unique take. And it’s an all-Scottish comic production, where we can call on Scottish experts to get everything right from the legendary Black Watch soldiers, whom Robbie is a proud member, to authentic Dundee slang.

Here are some of the incentives to pledge your support for Ragtime Soldier.

*There’s the regular A4 stapled 48 page comic on good quality paper with the digital version included. That’s £10, available in UK, EU and USA.

*If you’re in the UK, there’s also a standard hard cover edition, £25.

*And a deluxe hardback with dust jacket, ribbon and foil, and exclusive end pages £35.

*There’s the Ballistic magazine, which gives you the background of the story. It’s like those ‘Making of’ features that used to be included with DVDs in pre-streaming days. With commentaries, inside and extra information, sources and further reading.

*The original script and Gary Welsh sketch book with preliminary drawings of characters and the world of Ragtime Soldier.

*A Zoom talk Q&A with me.

*And also, if you’re a writer and want an expert opinion and help developing your work, I’m offering a limited number of master-classes. The idea would be that you send me your storyline with an indication of where you need support. Then we’ll do a Zoom, talk it over, and I give you some pointers on how to move your project forward.

On our recent successful Sha kickstarter this was the first extra to be snapped up. My book Pageturners will give you an idea of what to expect and the kind of input from me you’re unlikely to find anywhere else.

*If you’re a comic artist, Gary Welsh will do a similar appraisal of your art portfolio.

*Signed bookplates and more.

For the full run down on all the rewards, head to our Kickstarter:

I hope you’ll support us.

I used to think that Charley’s War was the last word in anti-war stories about the Great War. But today historians rewrite the past in a way that is straight out of Orwell’s 1984. Plus, I discovered amazing new facts about the war that I would love to have included in Charley’s War.

They’re all in Ragtime Soldier.

So Ragtime Soldier is important today, not just for these reasons, but because there seems to be more danger of war than when I wrote Charley.

Thus, recently, the Conservative party declared they would bring back mandatory national service if elected. Fortunately, they were not. But today I read:

‘ UK must prepare for war and to bring back conscription,’ warns ex-Nato commander. General Sir Richard Shirriff announced, ‘Trump’s refusal to help NATO allies has left Britain no choice but to conscript.’

So it makes this anti-war comic more relevant than ever before. With your backing we can make Ragtime Soldier happen.

Thanks so much for your support!