Air Ace Picture Library Comics

[Lacy Tortelli]

WarPicture Library was a British 64-page "pocket library" war comic magazine title published by Amalgamated Press/Fleetway (now owned by IPC Magazines) for 2103 issues. Each issue featured a complete story, beginning on 1 September 1958 with "Fight Back to Dunkirk" and finishing 26 years later on 3 December 1984 with "Wings of the Fleet".[1] The editor was Ted Bensberg. Assistant editors included Geoff Kemp and Brian Smith. Other editorial staff included Pat Brookman, Terence Magee, Clive Ranger, Tony Power and Clive McGee. Art editor was Mike Jones and art assistant was his brother Dave Jones. Other art assistants at various times were Roy McAdorey, Geoff Berwick, Bill Reid and John Fearnley.

The stories were not limited to tales of combat, some set in "the bomb-torn streets of London during the blitz", although the bulk of the stories released several times a month[4] for over 2000 issues were set in all fields of combat.[3] Crucially, reflecting the cultural shifts in popular fiction, the war stories did not always feature "a heroic journey", nor yet were all characters automatically "gung-ho" stereotypes: "[a] diversity of characters", human emotion and even some considerable sympathy for 'the enemy' was not out-of-place in some tales.[3]

. . . cowards and glory seekers could be found in some episodes; spies and traitors rubbed shoulders with our staunchly loyal heroes in others. Neither were all of the stories purely about killing the enemy; some of them were dedicated to saving lives even in the midst of the carnage of war.[3]

Uncredited from the start, as were the vast majority of comic books written and drawn in the late 1950s and early 1960s, War Picture Library continued the trend of UK-based comics publishers such as D. C. Thomson and publisher Fleetway in continuing not to credit on-page the names of its creators.

Writers are often harder to identify, but among those identified by Steve Holland (et al.) are Donne Avenell, Ian Kellie, Douglas Leach, Willie Patterson, Alf Wallace, David Satherley, Roger P. Clegg, A. Carney Allen and S & J Thomas,[2][5] also Gordon Brunt, author of 40 Air Ace Picture Library issues between 1961 and 1969.

War Picture Library was among the first war comic to use real dates, places, settings, battles and (occasionally) battalions to more accurately place the stories in the historical action, even if the stories themselves were fictional. This came about largely because so many of the (early) writers and artists had actually fought in the battles they wrote about and drew. Steve Holland cites the example of G. R. Parvin, a "relatively minor contributor to the war libraries", who "was captured and made a P.O.W. by the Japanese".[6] Parvin's story is told in the autobiographical Yasumai! (Digit Books, 1958), and "[a]t least one"[7] of his contributions to War Picture Library (as well as Battle Picture Library) "was set around the Railroad of Death in Burma".[6]

Stories of self-sacrifice, such as that of Captain John Locke in "The Valley of Death" (War Picture Library No. 120 (Nov 1961), art by Jose Ortiz) were not uncommon, and were frequently depicted as serving a greater good and having a large, wider impact on the course of the war (in Locke's case, Operation Broadway).[9] Some tales would also provide a certain amount of levity, and even slapstick comedy, such as the mildly farcical tale of Corporal Tagg in the Donne Avenell-penned "Snarl of Battle" (War Picture Library No. 162 (Sep 1962), art by Ramon de la Fuente), which also highlighted very serious issues including the often stark discrepancies between the men who engaged in action and those who took (or were given) the credit.[8]

In addition to the multiple war-related titles, others dealing with cowboys/westerns and spies sprang up, as did titles from smaller publishers such as GM Smith/Micron, M V Features, Pearson Publications and Famepress Publications, among others.[10] Titles were also translated into several languages, and sold around the world. In Italy the stories were very successful and published since the 60s as the popular Collana Eroica and Super Eroica magazines.

While today's comic books are published in a few recognisable formats, they once came in all shapes and sizes. In another look at the history of classic British comics, David McDonald focuses on the once-popular but now almost extinct 'library' format and the thrill of finding new titles in the age before the internet...

Growing up in the early eighties, the newsagents was not the only place to get comics, there was the thriving schoolyard economy where comics had a particular currency! One could swop a well-thumbed issue that was of no interest for various contraband like sweets, Panini football stickers - and other comics, of course!

These trades usually threw up some interesting items, and one trade in particular brought the Top Secret Holiday Special and Space Picture Library Holiday Special into my hands, I can't remember the exact trade but I was very pleased!

I was familiar with the monthly War and Battle Picture library, but these chunky 192-page Holiday Specials were a revelation. Top Secret was full of secret agent action, giving me my 'James Bond' fix, and the Space Library was clearly old school sci-fi. I didn't need the 'previously published' notice inside to know it was old, but the square jawed heroic adventures of Jet Ace Logan, superbly drawn by John Gilliat, was a perfect juxtaposition to the violent antihero action I was just starting to enjoy in 2000 AD.

I continued to pick up the Holiday Specials whenever I came across them, and in one batch a stray title showed up that I had never seen before: The Fleetway Super Library, Stupendous Series - The Melody of Crime No. 24. A mouthful of a title, but this was different to the others. Clearly older with its pre decimal 1/6d price tag and featuring 'The Spider' from Lion comic in a complete tale.

The amount of information I had at the time on this series was little, but over the years I did manage to piece together more. There were three separate series: The Stupendous, Secret Agent, and Frontline. Two per month of each series were available, which included new self-contained stories.

They featured some characters that were already well established in weekly comics, so The Stupendous series alternated each issue with 'The Spider' from Lion and 'The Steel Claw' from Valiant. Future IPC juvenile chief Gil Page was the editor of the Stupendous series and wrote 'The Steel Claw' in issues 7 and 13.

The series lasted a little over a year starting in 1967. It is great to see The Treasury of British Comics collecting the first two Spider stories from The Stupendous series in their new collection The Spider - Crime Unlimited.

The Fleetway Super Library wasn't the only innovative format that was tried. Ted Bensberg was the man in charge of the Picture Libraries, and under his watch, and assisted by a team of editors and art editors, dozens of titles were published each month.

The Super Library Holiday Special was a giant 448-page mix of reprints and the biggest library published, but The Giant War Library is probably the most unusual. Its format was the same width as a standard picture library, but twice the height and saddle-stitched with a wraparound cover. Writer and editor Terry Magee started his career working in the picture library department and he recalls working on The Giant War Picture Library:

Reading through the libraries that Fleetway published, it's clear that the titles were aimed at an older reader than the weeklies. The stories were more sophisticated, perhaps even adult in tone, but never straying into anything that might raise eyebrows or cause controversy. Even the ads on the back of the libraries were for engagement rings, home study courses and postal guitar lessons!

War and adventure titles were not the only genre that Fleetway published in the Picture Library format, romance titles were also abundant; titles like Love Story racked up over 1,600 issues and lasted until 1980. At one point there were eight monthly issues of Love Story available. Other titles like Oracle, Mirabel and Real Life brought monthly tales of love and loss to an eager readership - now quite hard to find. However, in the few examples that I do have, the covers really are amazing and again, definitely aimed at an older readership.

So, while the schoolyard days are long gone, the thrill of picking up a previously unknown comic in a second-hand bookshop has not diminished. The monthly Treasury releases add to that thrill with their range of brilliant collections.

And 'The War Libraries Index' by David Roach and Steve Holland and 'The Thriller Library Index' by David Ashford and Steve Holland, both published by Book Palace Books, are a great resource on Fleetway libraries.

This is a great source of information and by creating his website, Vic became a personal hero and a bit of an inspiration for me to eventually do my own blog. His work continues to be a source of vital reference, for reasons that will become apparent below.

So this was something I thought was a cool glitch in the matrix in regard to comic covers and I would have continued to think that this was a rare thing. But a couple of years ago, a friend of mine managed to break through my resistance to collecting the wide range of UK picture libraries beyond Commando and the occasional Fleetway one. So thanks to Stephen Montgomery, I now have so many collections to complete.

I knew that DC Thomson only had a single print license for that cover because when it was reprinted in 1994, editor George Low commissioned a new cover from Mike Dorey.

I hope you have all enjoyed this sojourn into the world of art licensing and I remind you all that the comics and the art remain copyright of their respective companies. All I am doing is using specific examples to highlight how great it is that these companies have given us such great art to enjoy over the years.

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