EXTRACTS: The Art of Commando (illustrators special) © 2019 The Book Palace (144 PAGES in Full edition)

142 dd £40 T HE A RT O F T HE A RT O F 21/02/2019 14:08 www.commandocomics.com £14.99 C O M I C S P R E S E N T S P R E S E N T S For the first time in its 57-year history, Commando presents a full colour graphic novel! Revitalising its original black-and-white pocket-sized interior artwork with explosions of colour, and blowing it up to a full-sized graphic novel format, we’ve collected the first two issues of the classic Ramsey’s Raiders comic series about a rag-tag team of maverick soldiers operating behind enemy lines! Led by the roguish Captain James Ramsey, the Raiders are a motley bunch: two Scotsmen, an Englishman, a Welshman, an Irishman, and an Australian. They play by their own rules and are good at their job — very good — so the Germans have every reason to fear Ramsey’s Raiders! They’re back… this time in German-held Sicily! When their jeeps are destroyed, they’ll show the Nazis that a captured German staff car can make an equally effective — and deadly — form of transport! THE RAG‑TAG TEAM OF MAVERICK SOLDIERS RETURN IN COMMANDO’S FIRST‑EVER GRAPHIC NOVEL IN FULL COLOUR! 001_CPRR_281118.indd 1 05/11/2018 09:22 The Art of Ian Kennedy Foreward by Gordon Tait, Introduction by Jeremy Briggs Hardbound 160 pages DC Thomson £40.00 Gone are the dayswhen artists working in the field of comics were consigned to perpetual anonymity. Now publishers such as DC Thomson are happy to give credit where credit is due and nowhere is this more apparent than in this gorgeous volume.With the sub-title 'Celebrating 70 Years of Ian Kennedy's Art for DCThomson', there certainly is a lot to celebrate. The book's generous dimensions and page count, with crisp design and minimal text, ensure that the images have space to breathe and the reader can fully appreciate the superb reproductions. The full range of Ian's art is here to savour, including examples of his earliest offerings as well as his work for Starblazer , Warlord and strips such as Union Jack Jackson and, of course, generous helpings of his Commando artwork. The art is presented in such a way that you can savour the raw edges of his uncropped artwork— about as close as one can get to viewing the real thing! Ramsey's Raiders Story by Ferg Handley Art by Ian Kennedy and Keith Page Hardbound 136 pages DC Thomson £14.99 Ramsey's Raiders were first launched by the creative teamof FergHandley, IanKennedy andKeith page within the pages of Commando comic. The idea of taking the first two stories in the series and upscaling them as well as adding colour is something of a departure for a title whose interiors have always been distinguished by being presented in black-and-white. The results are pleasingly attractive, the colours are subtle (at times a little too subtle—this is supposed to be North Africa after all) but avoid falling into the trap of overblown computer colour. You can still enjoy Keith Page's moody inks and no-nonsense story-telling and Ferg Handley's script fairly crackles with an energy that keeps you turning the pages. The bonus is getting all of Ian Kennedy's covers that appeared with these stories as well as a foreword by Ferg. Hopefully more volumes will follow and it wouldbe nice to see some originalmaterial appearing.