Osprey Publishing have just announced that they will be teaming up with Commando Comics, the long established publishers of historical action-adventure comics, to bring out a new series of historically accurate graphic novels.

Commando For Action and Adventure, more widely known as Commando Comics, have been in publication since the 1960s. Bringing out stories set primarily during WWI and WWII, as well as other historical conflicts, the comics are relatively simplistic in terms of their plots and black and white sketch style. However, they have remained a hugely popular series that has outlived most other British historical action comics.

Here is the announcement from the Osprey Publishing blog:

Osprey Publishing (part of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC) and DC Thomson & Co Ltd have joined forces to create eight new graphic war novels consisting of an original, fictional, comic strip of 84 pages coupled with detailed historical information describing the featured conflict, campaign and combatants.

These exciting, fictional action narratives take place in times of war and feature soldiers, sailors and airmen, exploring themes of courage and friendship against a backdrop of war and adversity. Each strip will be checked for historically accuracy and feature events and situations true to the experiences of the combatants from the actual conflicts across a range of historical periods.

This new collaboration brings together the story-telling expertise of Commando and the historical authority of Osprey in a brand new fiction series with supporting material for both adults and children. The books will be on sale globally through the Osprey/Bloomsbury distribution network.

Richard Sullivan, Managing Director, Osprey Publishing said:

‘I am very excited to be working with DC Thomson and Commando. I grew up with their comics and their commitment to telling classic war stories remains undimmed. At Osprey we have a hugely enthusiastic customer base and we believe they will love these modern comics telling the stories of battle and conflict.’

Tim Collins, Head of Brands, Commando Comics said:

‘Commando’s stories of action and adventure have been continuously published for over 50 years and we’re really pleased to combine our fictional expertise with the factual strength of the Osprey collections and the huge distribution both here and across the world that Osprey and Bloomsbury can deliver.’

- Osprey Publishing

Commando Comics are responsible for sparking the historical interests of many gamers and the fact that they are now teaming up with Osprey, well regarded for their detailed historical books, I am sure will have many people jumping for joy. This series of graphic war novels promise to be both accurate and fun to read and might be a good way to fuel the imagination for our own tabletop recreations.

Do you read Commando Comics? What sort of stories do you think we are in for?