Thursday, 17 April 2025

When Commando Gets Creepy: Haunted

 Welcome to the third installment in this series. I wasn't originally planning on it being a series, even a short one, but I find that what I plan to write and what actually happens don't always match. 

 What we're currently looking at is the long-running British comic series called "Commando", which is a digest sized title focusing on wartime heroics and tending towards titles such as "Desert of Death" and "March or Die" 

 But every now and then Commando gets a bit strange. 

 Today I'm going to bring up another three examples of  stories with a supernatural element. A bit like the last lot, an item has a history and some unexpected properties. However this time the object in question is a lot bigger. And can move. And has guns. 

 Better hope it's on your side. 


Commando 2050: The Haunted Tank (1986)


Commando 2050
 I mean, the title says it all. 

The story: "New boy" Sid Raleigh has finally been accepted by the rest of his tanks crew which means they let him in on a big secret: Their particular  tank is haunted, most likely by the spirit of a notorious practical joker.  Sometimes the tank will stop for no reason. Sometimes it will start for no reason. Funny thing is, it always saves the crew from incoming danger.
  Sid is a bit dubious, as you'd expect, but we all know how this goes.  Eventually Sid and his mates get dragged into a nefarious Nazi scheme and the ghost has to take decisive action. 

An entertaining story that manages to work with the premise without making it too silly. 
  

Commando 2977: The Haunted Halifax (1996)

Commando 2977
 Again, the title is right there. 

The Story: 1944. RAF Bombers are raiding Italy. One of those bombers is a Halifax affectionately dubbed  "Creaky Kate" by her crew who believe that Kate will always get them home. However  Kate gets hit hard by a nightfighter and that means her crew fly their next mission in a strange aircraft.  When they are posted as "missing" their friends are devastated.

But maybe the newly repaired "Creaky Kate" will find a way to get her crew home after all. 

Not sure about this one.  Something doesn't gel here and that's a shame because the artwork is pretty good. 


Commando 3517: The Haunted Hurricane (2002)

Commando 3517
 It's about a Hurricane that is haunted. 

What I find interesting is that in all of these cases the "ghost" is benevolent and making a point of helping the crew. Possibly that's because a haunted Stuka would crash on the next mission.

The Story: Wilf Judd has just arrived at his new squadron in the Middle East, more than a little worried because he's a mediocre pilot and he knows this is not good for his survival chances.
 Crashing the brand new Hurricane he's ferrying does not help his confidence and it does give his new CO the best impression either.  In response, Wilf is handed a battered Hurricane with the name "Ghost" and a mysterious background. 
  Naturally the Hurricane starts behaving oddly: refusing to answer to the controls, flying itself in dogfights and oh yes, talking to Wilf through the radio.  

 Seems the previous pilot decided to stick around to settle a few scores. 

Firstly, some really good art work on display for this issue. Secondly, it's also interesting that the crews never seem to have any problems accepting that their vehicle is haunted. Very matter of fact about it. Thirdly - yes I enjoyed the haunted Hurricane and I bet 12 year old me would have absolutely loved it. 
 I'll be back soon with more spooky wartime escapades but in the meantime...

That's All Folks!


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Labels

#HeavyMetal (249) #TheMetalProject (228) Advice (2) Airboy (2) aircraft (28) album covers (116) Alestorm (2) Andrew j Offutt (1) angels (1) anime (22) AOR (10) art and stuff (28) Attractive women. (98) B-reaction (1) Barbarion (1) Beasty Girls (1) Big D is going to lose his temper in a minute. (4) Big D talks bollocks (37) Big D talks bollocks. (38) Big D talks bollocks. aircraft (2) Black Metal (3) blatant fanservice (155) blatant plug (5) BOLOS (1) Books (51) Boston Wrestling 1964 (1) British comics (25) bunny (1) Buses (3) Captain America (1) carrier bags (1) cars (2) cartoons (12) Catgirl Nuku Nuku (1) Catwoman (1) Change 123 (1) Charleston wrestling 1964 (1) Cheapo DVD Review (75) Children (1) Chingford (1) Christmas (5) Clouds (1) comics (34) Commando (4) Dale rambles about stuff. (1) David Gibbins (1) Dejah Thoris (1) dinosaurs (13) dogs (2) doing stuff badly. (1) Dragonforce (1) dreams (1) DUKW (1) DVD artists are lying bastards (23) El Santo (1) Elvis impersonators (1) Eric Roberts will work for food (3) European wrestling 1964 (1) eurovision (20) eurovision Metal Contest (6) fantasy (10) Fathers Day (1) female cyborgs (1) Film (159) films (50) First Squad (1) FROGS (1) gardening (1) German Comics (3) Getting started. (1) Ghosts (1) gig (3) Goolie abuse (4) gorgons (2) Grappling Gertie (4) Green Lantern (1) Guest post (2) Hard Gay (1) Harley Quinn (1) Hawkgirl (1) Heavy Metal Artwork Blog (124) Heavy Metal Blog (97) Heavy Metal Cover Girls (98) History (3) Horror (34) Islamic Metal (1) Judge Anderson (2) Kobra And The Lotus. (1) Krampus (1) Lawnmower Deth (2) Lesbian Bed Death (2) List (17) Lords Of The Trident (3) lucha libre (1) Manga (11) marrow fighting (1) Martial Arts (14) Maryland wrestling 1964 (1) massive shoulderpads (1) Matthew Reilly (2) men's issues (6) Merlin (1) metal (331) Metal Christmas (1) Metal songs about metal (229) mimi hagiwara (1) MinamICon (1) Mind Wars (1) models (19) monkeys (2) Monsters Of Rock (2) MRAs (1) museums (9) music (33) music from the weird aprt of Youtube (3) music from the weird part of Youtube (4) music that gets under my skin. (2) Neil Peart RIP. (1) Nice cover (2) Nicholas Eames. (1) Night Fighters (1) Nightside (1) Noot noot (1) NWOBHM (3) Oatcakes (1) Olympics (1) photos (3) pinup (1) ponies (6) Portsmouth (13) Power Girl (2) power metal (1) puroresu (2) Rain (1) rant (20) Redheads (7) Roswell Conspiracies (2) rules (2) Sci-Fi (46) sexy witches (7) shame about the book. (2) Sharktopus (1) ships (1) Sigismund (1) silliness (1) Southampton (1) Southsea (15) Southsea Food Festival 2022 (1) spiders (1) Spitfires (4) Sport is bollocks (1) Starblazer (1) Stockings (1) Storm Eunice 2022 (1) Story (9) Strike Witches (1) Strip magazine (1) STUFF (1) Stuff with armoured cars (1) Stuff with axemurdering lumberjacks (1) Stuff with B36 Bombers (1) Stuff with big flying lizards (12) Stuff with Black Metal Catgirls (1) Stuff with blokes in kilts. (2) stuff with cute banshees. (2) Stuff with enormous birds (1) Stuff With Flying Fruit (1) Stuff with Giant Crabs. (3) Stuff with giant Germans singing about sausage. Music from the weird part of Youtube. (1) Stuff with Girls In Eyepatches (3) Stuff with Gladiators (8) stuff with kickboxing teachers. (1) Stuff with killer cricketers (1) Stuff with Killer Rabbits (1) stuff with killer snails (1) Stuff With Killer Unicorns (1) stuff with Maoris (1) Stuff with mermaids (1) Stuff with Nazi Vampires (3) Stuff with Ninjas (3) Stuff with Psycho Coppers (1) Stuff with Robot Maids (1) Stuff with Roller Derby (1) stuff with rollerskating Muses (1) Stuff with soulsucking mummies. (2) Stuff with strippers (3) Stuff with talking statues (2) Stuff with Vikings (3) Stuff with violent clowns (1) Stuff With Walking Fish (2) Stuff with weird Kiwis (1) Stuff with werewolves (5) Stuff with Wolves (1) stuffed animals (1) Stupid films about sharks (10) Synthwave (4) tanks (6) Tarkan (1) Taya Valkyrie (1) Terrible Metal Album Covers (28) Terrible songs (1) Terry Pratchett. (1) The Band (1) The Hangover pt 2 (1) The Lost Fleet (1) The Metal Project (226) Thundercats (1) Ticket Tales. (1) Top Ten (6) Toy soldiers (9) Truffle (1) Turkish films (2) Ultimate Metal Playlist (9) Valentine (2) Valkyrie (2) Vampires (8) videos (1) voyager (1) War Films (4) Warships (1) weird crushes (5) weird shit (8) White Pigeon (1) women in blindfolds (2) Women with Scythes (1) women with spears (5) women with swords (54) women with wings (7) women's wrestling (51) womens wrestling comics (14) womens' wrestling movies. (1) Wrestling (34) Wrestling Books (5) Wrestling Magazines (15) wrestling October 1964 (1) WTF? Japan (10) WW2 (1) Yamato (2) you do this shit deliberately don't you? (1) Zombie Films (6)