Battling Britons issue three

by Justin Marriott, James Bacon, Phil Cross

Aerial Combat Special! The third issue of the fanzine devoted to vintage British war comics is a special studying war comics dealing with aerial combat.
Articles, features, reviews, interviews and letters. Including-
BATTLE IN THE SKY - strips from Battle Picture Weekly dealing with aerial combat
GARTH ENNIS IN THE AIR - a look at the author's war comics focused on war in the air
IAN KENNEDY - a discussion on the much loved artist
SOLANO LOPEZ - a look at the sweat-dripping art from a master of the aerial war comic
100 pages, black and white, fully illustrated.

109 pages, Paperback

Published May 26, 2022

Reviews

[C. John Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting volume in this title. Unlike the previous volumes this one actually does have a theme, namely aerial combat. If course this volume does concentrate on British comics so the fan who is only familiar with US comics might be a bit disappointed. However, they should still peruse this volume as they are sure to learn something and maybe they will find some stuff they want to check out (if possible). The book covers both regular weekly British comics and also the Picture Libraries. There are articles on various topics related to the theme and of course plenty of reviews of various Picture Libraries. I can't be sure, but after looking at the contents of this volume, it seems that aerial combat got more coverage in British comics than in US comics. I can only think of three strips in U.S. comics that featured aerial combat, two set in WWI and one in WWII. Ah well, such is life. if you are a fan of war comics than I do recommend this volume. You will find out a lot of interesting information. As well the reviews of various Picture Libraries may give you some ideas of what you might like to read. There are sources on the internet where you can find them. I really only have two complaints. First off as far as the picture libraries go this volume concentrates solely on those published by Fleetway/IPC or DC Thomson. However there were picture libraries from a lot of smaller publishers but nothing of them is mentioned here. I suppose it could be that they didn't do any aerial oriented stories which would explain it. As to the other complaint back in the sixties I was reading a British weekly called Lion, one of the features which appeared from time to time and which I enjoyed was Paddy Payne, Fighter Ace. However there is nothing about him in this volume. If they do another issue devoted to aerial combat hopefully that omission will be corrected. Be that as it may, this is a really nice volume. Certainly after reading it, especially if you are a non-British reader you will end up knowing quite a bit more than you did before. And it is a fairly easy read. It only took me as long as it did to read because I was only reading a few pages at night before bed. So give this one a try. Happy reading.

[John Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still more excellent articles of British books and war comics.