Commentaire
I am truly thrilled to have been able to acquire an original cover of the incredible Charley’s war series.
Described by Andrew Harrison as "the greatest British comic strip ever created", Charley's War tells the story of an underage British soldier, called Charley Bourne.
Being a historian with a particular interest in World War One, I have been looking for an original piece of art of the amazing Joe Colquhoun for a long time. Original pieces of the Charley’s war series however are very hard to find..
The cover depicts a fruitless attempt by French reinforcement troops to relieve the defense forces at Fort Vaux during the battle of Verdun.
In the series, Charley meets a deserter, an Englishman of the French foreign legion called Blue who was part of the defense forces of the fort. When he tells Charley his story, this begins with the moment that the defense forces have to depend on themselves since, unfortunately, their comrades can not relieve them due to heavy German resistance.
The cover appeared on the UK magazine Battle Action Magazine no 293 in December 1980 (the year I was born actually)
The defence of Fort Vaux was marked by the heroism and endurance of the garrison, including Major Sylvain-Eugene Raynal. Under his command, the French garrison repulsed German assaults, including fighting underground from barricades inside the corridors, during the first big engagement inside a fort during the First World War. The last men of the French garrison gave up after running out of water (some of which was poisoned), ammunition, medical supplies and food.
Although World War One happed more than 100 years ago already it is most important that the rememberance is being kept.
Charley’s war does this in a most impressive way and is therefore, to my opinion, one of the best anti war comics ever made. It is, to my opinion, on the same level as Tardi’s ‘it was the war of the trenches’.
Highly recommended