This is the final article in my series outlining which issue I believe to be the best original story published in Commando in each decade. Each decade has highlighted different aspects of what there is to enjoy about Commando.
And this article on my final pick is no exception. This issue owes its’ origin to a song from World War II. This song also inspired Garth Ennis to write about the same subject. As a fan of Garth Ennis’ body of work, I have read a fair chunk of his work and I have yet to be disappointed by any of it. However in my opinion it is not Garth Ennis’ War Story that is the better of the two treatments on this subject. And on this subject, Garth is beaten by fellow wordsmith Alan Hebden. Hopefully, those of you that have not heard the song before will take a few minutes to listen to this inspiration.
And the issue of Commando is 4781 and the title is naturally D-Day Dodgers which was obviously inspired by the song.
This is accompanied by a wonderfully atmospheric cover by the ever youthful Ian Kennedy and the internal art is by veteran contributor Vicente Alcazar.
The story looks at the Italian campaign and how it came to be perceived as almost a summer camp as gains were often measured in yards gained rather than the miles that were being gained as the Allied Forces raced across France and the low countries in their charge to the heart of Germany. However, when you look at the fighting on the Italian campaign, you can see that it was more expensive to gain the ground with over 320,000 Allied personnel injured during the campaign.
I would happily put this issue in my top 5 Commandos and it proves to me that Commando is still as stunning as it was when I first discovered them way back in 1973 and long may the Commando team continue to produce issues as stunning as this.
And if you want to see my recommendation for the other decades, try these links to the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s.
However, if you want to check out the other issues that I recommend from each decade, then you want to try these links to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The other decades I am still working on!
Advertisements Share this:
