Recommended
Reading:
Dermot Poyntz, the founder of the
publishing company, has published
three titles, 'Curse of Cromwell: The
Siege', 'War of The Two Kings' and
'Plight of The Wild Geese'. The series
is drawn by Lee Grace.
Rob Curley's Atomic Diner Comics
has published a number of comics with a military slant, such as
'Black Scorpion', 'Crimson Blade',
'The Glimmer Man' and 'League of
Volunteers'. The latter title focuses
on Irish superheroes in Ireland during the Emergency. Even though the
country is neutral it still has to be
protected from many dark terrors as
well as potential dangers from the
war that rages beyond its shores.
Although pure fantasy, these titles
draw upon different aspects of the
military in history.
This is just a small sample of
the Irish comic artists, writers and
publishers who use military based
themes to tell their tales. Some do
it through the Irish language, some
tell military based fiction and others
describe factual aspects of military
history but all use the medium of
comics to highlight their themes.
Special Mention: 'Dougie's War'
is a graphic novel, written by Rodge
Glass and drawn by Dave Turbitt,
that tells the fictional story of Dougie Campbell, who has left the British Army after returning to Scotland
from Afghanistan but whose experiences of his time there continue to
haunt him.
The novel deals with Dougie's
post-traumatic stress disorder and
his response to his environment
as he deals with civilian life. Adrian
Searle follows the initial fictional
comic with a very interesting article
on the condition that also features
interviews with veterans of different
conflicts who give their points of
view. The third part of the book is an
essay that talks about the 'Charley's
War' comic strip that appeared in
'Battle' in the late 1970s and 1980s
and how it highlighted PTSD, or
'shellshock' as it was known in
World War I.
While very entertaining this book
also highlights issues and aspects of
military service that need to be addressed as well as understood.
| 19
Irish Based Comics:
• 'At War with the Empire' by Gerry
Hunt, ISBN: 9781847172600. Published
by OBrien Press €14.99 www.obrien.ie/
graphic-novel
• 'Curse of Cromwell' by Dermot Poyntz
and Lee Grace, ISBN: 9780956655806.
Published by Moccu Press €10.00 (hardcopy) €2.00 (Ebook) www.moccupress.
com
• 'League of Volunteers' by Rob Curley
and Barry Keegan €5.00 can be bought
in Sub City Comics, Dublin, or from
www.atomicdiner.com
• 'Battle Raid of Cooley' by Paddy
Brown can be bought at www.comicsy.
co.uk/paddybrown/
• 'An Táin' by Colman Ó Raghallaigh and
Barry Reynolds, ISBN: 9781899922284.
€10.00 www.leabhar.com/comics.htm
International Based Comics:
• 'Commando Tank Attack' edited by
Calum Laird, ISBN: 9781853758935.
Published by Carlton Books £5.99 www.
carltonbooks.co.uk/
• 'Charley's War', Volume 1: 2nd June
- 1 August 1916, by Pat Mills and Joe
Colquhoun, ISBN: 9781840236279. Published by Titan Books, £14.99. http://
titanbooks.com/
• 'The 'Nam', Volume 1, by Doug Murray
and Mike Golden, ISBN: 9780785137504.
Published by Marvel, £22.50.
• 'Showcase Presents Sgt Rock', Volume
4, by Roger Kanigher and Joe Kubert,
ISBN: 9781401238117. Published by DC
Comics £14.99. www.dccomics.com/
talent/joe-kubert
• 'Fax from Sarajevo' by Joe Kubert,
ISBN: 978156713464. £12.99
• 'Journalism' by Joe Sacco, ISBN:
9780224097321. £18.99 http://
us.macmillan.com/Metropolitan.aspx
• 'The PS: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly' by Will Eisner, ISBN:
9780810997486. £13.99. Published by
Abrams. www.abramsbooks.com
• 'Beetle Bailey - The Daily and Sunday
Strips 1965', by Mort Walker, ISBN:
9781848567061. Published by Titan
Books. £14.99 http://titanbooks.com/
• 'Dougie's War' by Rodge Glass and
Dave Turbitt, ISBN: 9780954402488.
Published by Freight Books. £14.95
www.freightbooks.co.uk
• 'Garth Ennis's Complete Battlefields',
Volume 1 Trade Paperback, by Garth
Ennis, ISBN: 9781606902554. Published by Dynamite Entertainment.
$24.99/£18.99 www.dynamite.com
www.military.ie the defence forces magazine
