Steel Commando

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The Steel Commando
The Steel Commando on the cover of the 4 August 1973 edition of Lion. Art by Alex Henderson.
Character information
First appearanceThunder (17 October 1970)
In-story information
Full nameMark 1 Indestructible Robot
SpeciesRobot
Place of originEarth
Team affiliationsBritish Army
PartnershipsLance-Corporal Ernest Bates
Notable aliasesIronsides
Publication information
PublisherIPC Magazines
ScheduleWeekly
Title(s)Thunder
17 October 1970 to 13 March 1971
Lion
20 March 1971 to 18 May 1974
Thunder Annual
1972 to 1973
Lion Special
1971 to 1976 and 1978
Valiant
25 May to 22 June 1974
Lion Annual
1975 to 1978
FormatsOriginal material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) Thunder
Lion
Valiant.
Genre
Publication date17 October 1970 – 18 May 1974
Creative team
Writer(s)Frank S. Pepper
Artist(s)Alex Henderson
Vince Wernham
Reprints
Collected editions
Steel Commando - Full Metal WarfareISBN 9781781086810

The Steel Commando is a British comic character, appearing in strips published by IPC Magazines. Created by Frank S. Pepper, the character first appeared in the first issue of the short-lived boys' weekly adventure anthology comic Thunder, dated 17 October 1970. After Thunder ended in March 1971 the strip continued in Lion until 1974. The character is a robotic soldier fighting for the British Army in World War II; due to a programming error the mechanical man will only obey the orders of layabout Private Ernest 'Excused Boots' Bates.

Creation[edit]

Thunder was one of several new titles devised by IPC Magazines between 1969 and 1971. An all-new line-up of strips was devised for the new comic, including Adam Eterno and Black Max. "The Steel Commando" was created by the experienced Frank S. Pepper, who had a long history with IPC and its predecessors Amalgamated Press and Fleetway Publications, beginning with "Rockfist Rogan" for The Champion in 1937 before creating Captain Condor for Lion in 1952 and Roy Race for Tiger in 1954.[1] For "The Steel Commando" he worked with staff artist Alex Henderson, who had worked on strips such as "Spot the Clue with Zip Nolan" for Lion.[2] The strip was given four pages of Thunder, two of which were in partial colour, with either red or magenta ink added to the black and white.[3]

Publishing history[edit]

Thunder only lasted 22 issues before being cancelled and merged with Lion. The amalgamation is often considered one of the more prominent examples of IPC's 'Hatch, Match and Dispatch' policy of starting a new title, seeing which features were popular with readers and then combining it with an established title, which would receive a substantial boost in sales as a result.[4][5][6] British comics historian Steve Holland would even go as far as to suggest that Thunder was deliberately created to be merged into Lion.[7] "The Steel Commando" was one of no less than seven Thunder features to carry over to Lion and Thunder from the 20 March 1971 edition, and would remain a feature of the comic until it was cancelled and folded into Valiant in 1974.[6] "The Steel Commando" was not among the strips that continued, though the character made a six-week guest appearance in "Captain Hurricane" in the rebranded Valiant and Lion.[8]

Along with the rest of IPC's post-1 January 1970 material, "The Steel Commando" was among the IPC Youth Group properties consolidated into the resurrected Fleetway Publications and sold to Persimmon BPCC Publishing on 6 July 1987, and were later purchased by Egmont Publishing. As such the Steel Commando was not among those licensed by WildStorm for the 2005 limited series Albion, though the character made a brief unnamed cameo in the second issue.[9]

In 2016 the characters owned by Egmont were sold to Rebellion Developments, who began publishing both reprints and new material featuring the classic characters.[10] After a brief cameo in the 2017 Scream! and Misty Halloween Special, the Steel Commando was announced as a member of The Vigilant, a new team of extant and fresh characters. The team first fully appeared in the 2018 one-shot The Vigilant, which included a short back-up strip (written by Aaron Stack, with art from Warwick Fraser-Combe and Staz Johnson) that explained the Steel Commando's post-war mothballing and subsequent reactivation by Doctor Sin.[11] In 2019 Rebellion issued a digest-sized 160-page trade paperback Steel Commando - Full Metal Warfare[a], compiling the Thunder strips and a selection of those from Lion as well as the Valiant guest appearances, under their Treasury of British Comics label.[12][13]

Plot summary[edit]

Early in World War II, British scientists create the Mark 1 Indestructible Robot to battle the Germans. However, a programming error makes the robot impossible to control until it stumbles across Cockney malingerer Lance-Corporal Ernest 'Excused-Boots' Bates and begins responding to his orders and his orders alone. Bates' ambitions generally extend to finding menial work some distance behind the front lines, keeping his head down until the war is over and trying to get out of wearing regulation footwear. Much to his chagrin, his command over the robot sees him placed in charge of the Steel Commando for missions in occupied France. The robot, which Bates swiftly nicknames 'Ironsides', proves to be a near-unstoppable weapon - when Ernie can be persuaded to order it into combat. Thankfully for high command, his demands for doing so are generally small-time, usually just involving a promise of comfortable shoes.

Collected editions[edit]

Title ISBN Publisher Release date Contents
Steel Commando - Full Metal Warfare 9781781086810 Rebellion Developments 22 August 2019 Material from Thunder 17 October 1970 to 27 February 1971; Lion 20 March 1970 to 16 December 1972, Valiant 25 May to 22 June 1974 and Thunder Annual 1972 to 1974.

Reception[edit]

Both the character and the strip have received mixed reviews. In 1992, Lew Stringer criticised the Steel Commando as a derivative combination of Captain Hurricane and Robot Archie, feeling it was "too light-hearted to sustain interest".[14]

Previewing the collected edition for Comicon.com, Richard Bruton noted the outdated attitudes on display, something acknowledged by Rebellion in a disclaimer included in the book.[12] Win Wiacek's review for Now Read This! noted the "frequently appallingly racist" tone of the times of the original publication, but felt there was a "working-class whimsical irony" to Bates, who he compared to Andy Capp.[15] He reiterated this view in a review for Slings & Arrows, feeling it "provides a wondrous window onto simpler times that still offer fascinating fun for the cautiously prepared reader".[16] Starburst gave the collection a tentatively positive review, noting it as "a fun artefact" while noting the strips' repetitive nature, and the "jarring" shift of tone for the Valiant strips.[17]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Referred to in some sources as The Best of Steel Commando.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors. British Library. 26 August 1998. ISBN 9780712345217.
  2. ^ Freeman, John (20 April 2018). "Who's Who in Rebellion's "The Vigilant" classic comic character revival – and who created the characters". downthetubes.net.
  3. ^ Holland, Steve (2002). The Fleetway Companion. Rotherham: CJ & Publication.
  4. ^ King's Reach: John Sanders' Twenty-Five Years at the Top of Comics. Rebellion Publishing. 7 January 2021. ISBN 9781781089842.
  5. ^ Dad's Own Annual: Presenting the Comics of His Boyhood Days. Fleetway Editions Limited. 1993. ISBN 9781853862878.
  6. ^ a b Stephen Jewell (w). "The Comic That Roared - Lion" Judge Dredd Megazine, no. 421 (14 July 2020). Rebellion Developments.
  7. ^ Holland, Steve (2013). Lion - King of Picture Story Papers. Book Palace Books. ISBN 9781907081675.
  8. ^ Moore, Ray (1994). "Valiant Deeds and a Feast of Fun". Valiant - A Complete Index. Comic Journal/A&B Whitworth.
  9. ^ "The Steel Commando".
  10. ^ "The Return of the IPC Youth Group". 11 September 2019.
  11. ^ Karl Stock (w). "The Vigilant - Best of British" Judge Dredd Megazine, no. 399 (14 August 2018). Rebellion Developments.
  12. ^ a b "Steel Commando: 1970s WWII Robo Action from the Treasury of British Comics". 24 July 2019.
  13. ^ "BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: The STEEL COMMANDO returns this August!". 2 June 2019.
  14. ^ Stringer, Lew (Summer 1992). "Tales Before Dreddtime". 2000 AD Action Special. Fleetway Publications.
  15. ^ "Steel Commando: Full Metal Warfare". 21 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Slings & Arrows".
  17. ^ "Best of Steel Commando". 31 July 2019.
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