Secret History: Charley's War - Blue's Story
As a boy I would pass the army recruiting office and in their window they would have toy soldiers fighting in a beautifully rendered diorama of World War Two.
Welcome to my Secret History of Comics: my new book serialised on Substack. The first section was on Marshal Law: now it’s all about Charley’s War.
If you’re joining me for the first time, you can read the intro to the Secret History here, it’s available for everyone, and so is the intro to Charley’s War.
Every subsequent post has a free preview, but if you want access to my entire rant post, you’ll need to subscribe. Full access to ALL of my Secret History of Comics as I release them every week (plus other perks, check them out), will set you back just £5 per month or £50 per year, and it helps me to continue giving you my best writing. I even have a free seven-day trial on Iconoblast, so you can try it first.
Blue’s story begins with a prologue episode featuring life on the home front and, in particular, Charley stopping his younger brother Wilf from joining up. It features some remarkable propaganda posters that brilliantly evoke the times. Their power cannot be stressed enough. As a boy I would pass the army recruiting office and in their window they would have toy soldiers fighting in a beautifully rendered diorama of World War Two. The army would change their dioramas every month or so and I would excitedly hurry forward to see their new exhibit.
It reminds me now of a soldier I interviewed for another radical comic series I created entitled Third World War, centred on the USA and UK’s control of the Third World. He told me he joined the army for two reasons; firstly, because he loved the outdoor life; and secondly, because he read war comics as a kid. As I was one of the two creators of Battle, I felt some sense of responsibility here. It was one of the reasons why I needed to write Charley’s War.
The Ministry of Defence have financed war action figures for kids today.
Ministry of Defence hopes new toy action figures will help image
A range of realistic action figures based on the modern British armed forces was launched at RAF Northolt, produced by the toymaker Character Group…
The Ministry of Defence denied the range was a blunt recruitment ploy, but hopes the toys will help to burnish the armed forces' reputation, as well as generating a stipend in licensing revenues.
The Guardian, May 2009.
The power of war propaganda, applied to children, is really something that should be looked at further. Until that happens, Charley is one of the few voices that challenges militarism without being worthy or depressing. It is as appealing and entertaining as the efforts of the MOD and ‘War is Hell’ stories, which are just another form of propaganda. We’ve beaten them at their own game. Another is Darren Cullen with his superb Action Man: Battlefield Casualties spoof ad. I wish there were more of us.
The story of deserter Blue is remarkable because I featured a hero other than Charley – and in flashback, too. This breaks every creative writing rule in the book, but I knew it had to be done. Until Charley, we had a very Anglo-centric view of WW1. I doubt most readers were aware of the French role and Verdun, the most horrific battle of all time. I had to change that. It was risky and, for a few episodes, the readers weren’t sure, then they really got into the character of Blue and it is now regarded as one of the best stories in the saga – both in writing and art terms.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Iconoblast to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.