The whole "Charley's War" series is a superb read and isn't just for school-children who want to know a bit about the First World War, or an excellent way for teachers to teach the topic - it's just as interesting for all us amateur historians out there. Everything is meticulously researched and notes to each "chapter" expand on details.

This was an interesting look at WWI through the eyes of a British soldier. I don't know a whole lot about the individual battles of WWI, so it's educational to get some more details about a war that's been largely forgotten in the U.S.

Best anti-war comic series written. I can not wait to read volume 2

One of the best comics about war there is.

This is the first volume of the classic British comic by Pat Mills (writing) and Joe Colquohon (pictures) about the experiences of a young Londoner in the First World War, impeccably researched and presented with great attention to detail. For people of my generation this comic played a big part in shaping their view of the First World War and it is fascinating to revisit.

July 1 addition: It's the 100 year anniversary of one of the most horrific military disasters of WWI, The Battle of the Somme, so I re-post my reviews of 2-3 of the best:I’ve now read at least three comics greats in the last year on the Battle of Somme, in WWI, 1916, the greatest disaster in British military history, where the real villains depicted are less the Germans than the British military aristocracy, the generals, the commanders on the field that insisted on going ahead with a misguided

Charley's War is always brilliant, the collection of Battle comic strips of young Private Charley Bourne, fighting in the worst hells of the Western Front. In this collection we at the Front in August - October 1916, as the first 'landships', better known to us as tanks, are unleashed on the Germans. If the powers that be had used the full capacity of these new weapons the war would have been over, but as ever Mills and Colquhoun express the incompetence of the generals with brilliant black and

Gifted to me a few years ago by a friend and then sat on my shelf. Finally got round to reading it. It’s not the usual type of thing I’d read, but I ended up really enjoying it.

I liked this story. Smith 70 definitely has aspergur's syndrome.

I had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the style of this graphic novel. It has an excess of exclamation points, and because it was published in short bits as a serial, each issue has a brief synopsis at the beginning as well as footnotes about important events in previous issues. All that was a bit distracting, but once I adapted to it was a very moving read. It is set during World War I and is a true anti-war chronicle that delves into class issues, the disconnect between superior officers and...

For those of a certain generation, who grew up with (and still read), comics such as the Haunted Tank, Sgt Rock, and Enemy Ace, Charley's War can come as a bit of a shock. In some ways, Charley's War makes the others seem like a Disney version of war comics, which is pretty surprising given some of the story lines especially in Sgt Rock and Enemy Ace. Charley's War was a comics in the late 1970s which told the story of a young man that joins the British Army in the spring of 1916. While the vi

follow the path of a young WWI soldier.

Amazing graphic novel of World War I. Started as weekly comic in Britian. Charley starts at the first British battle of the Somme. Black and White drawings bring the horror of war to life without being too gruesome.

A little light reading.The artwork was amazing, well detailed and put together.The storyline was equally as good but it did have some flaws.Clearly Pat Mills is a pacifist and that in itself isn't a problem but when he uses it to push stereotypes of Donkeys leading Lions (something that has been debunked dozens of times by now) or that the rank and file were just naive young men who were conned, it is dishonestly and lessens their sacrifice.The claim of the Somme Cavalry Charge being the last gr...

Without question the most affecting and moving telling of the horror and slaughter of the Somme trenches I've read in graphic novel format. It might have been written for children, but the visuals and the messages are unflinching, as is Mills' stern estimation of the officers responsible for the brutality and murder in those fields. A must read.

I read a lot of comics when I was young and this story about a uneducated boy during WWI stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of artwork and storylines. You would probably need to be a fan of the war comic genre to like it. The subversive elements (which set CW apart from other war graphic novels) really give this comic an edge. There are ten volumes in the series.

This comic book story of a naive, patriotic young British soldier in World War One captures the imagery of life and death in the trenches in gritty, brutal detail, probably better than any other illustrated work out there. As comics go, this is a sternly polemic one, the authors making no secret of their outrage at the politicians who sat safely at home, demanding victory at all costs from the young men doing the fighting, or at the ruthless inhumanity of some of the soldiers' own officers. Howe...

It took forever to read this!!Back to WW1 in the form of fumetti (which is a term I adore because it included strips, graphic novels, US comics, manga and everything else with balloons in it). After Paolo Cossi, Jacques Tardi it's time for Pat Mills.This is not a graphic novel but a comic strip that ran from January 1979 to October 1985. This book is the first of ten anthologies collecting all the strips by Pat Mills and Pat Colquhoun.I don't usually read strips. I know that they appear on Ameri...

This is the first in a multi-volume compilation of a long running British cartoon strip. The illustration is heavily inked and dense and the subject matter: WW1, heavy and poignant and darkly witty. Charlie is none to bright, but a very decent kid, and his experiences in the trenches of WW1 are appropriately grim and moving. It is a great series to open older kids eyes to the horrors of war and give them some sense of what a pivotal event the Great War was and how different the world was before

Charlie est un jeune Britannique, un peu naïf, pas très intelligent. Amoureux de chevaux, il vit de petits boulots. En 1916, Charlie n’a que seize ans. C’est à ce moment qu’il apprend que l’armée britannique recrute des hommes car une grande offensive est prévue pour battre définitivement les Allemands. Sans hésitation, il ment sur son âge pour intégrer les troupes britanniques qui vont aller combattre en France, sur la Somme.Car c’est bien de cet épisode dont il est question dans ce premier tom...