Creator and first editor of 2000AD, champion of girls' and political comics. Spacewarp, Requiem Vampire Knight, Marshal Law, Accident Man, Nemesis, Charley's War and more. Get in touch: patmillswriter (@) gmail.com. Go to millsverse.com for comics stuff.
The word ‘ Legend ‘ is overused in this society –
however without a shadow of doubt you deserve this respect
for your work in Comics over and over again –
Charley’s War stood out when I was a reader in my early teens ,
and the writing and history was first class .
Much of what you said in that comic about WW1 is still very valid
( despite the mad revisionists who claimed that Haig was a good general
and the Somme dented the German Army ! )
I can also say it was the only ‘ anti-war ‘ viewpoint I ever encountered
and made a big impact on my viewpoint , and certainly prevented me
from joining up with the Army as i had always planned ( thank heavens )
I also really loved Darkie’s Mob and ABC Warriors
plus thank you for Judge Dredd !!
Respect Pat Mills, from a Scottish Fan
David Walker
You are too kind, David. Thank you! I’m so thrilled it put you off joining the army. I know of several soldiers who joined the army because of war comics so it’s great to reverse that trend, especially now Action Man is owned by Ministry of Defence. That’s so awful! I remember as a kid being fascinated by the toy soldier diorama in my local army recruiting office. How many other kids are dead or maimed now because of that fatal attraction. Shame on them. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1115462/Hes-MoD-launches-Action-Man-range-toys-boost-profile-Armed-Forces.html#ixzz2AWRAeXzu
Hi, Pat. Many thanks for writing this blog, I am loving it.
Sorry to leave an off-topic comment, but I figured that since this is the most recent post it’s the one where you’re most likely to see my question.
I was just re-reading the Cursed Earth, when I saw this frame at the end of chapter 6, “Dark Autumn” (prog 66, page 22):
and the dialogue:
“Come away, Novar. Come in and close the door … Your FATHER was a man like Judge Dredd … BEFORE THEY HAD THE WAR!”
And straight away I thought of the song “Come away, Melinda” on UFO’s frankly not very good self-titled 1969 debut album — which has very similar lyrics.
Is that a coincidence, or were you making a tribute?
Yeah, I loved that song with its dark menace. So Dark Autumn was my tribute to it. Ditto in Rico where Dredd says “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.” as he staggers off with the corpse of Rico. I’ve long wanted to develop the links between pop music and comics – e.g. Comic Rock in Nemesis – but never really got the right chance.
The word ‘ Legend ‘ is overused in this society –
however without a shadow of doubt you deserve this respect
for your work in Comics over and over again –
Charley’s War stood out when I was a reader in my early teens ,
and the writing and history was first class .
Much of what you said in that comic about WW1 is still very valid
( despite the mad revisionists who claimed that Haig was a good general
and the Somme dented the German Army ! )
I can also say it was the only ‘ anti-war ‘ viewpoint I ever encountered
and made a big impact on my viewpoint , and certainly prevented me
from joining up with the Army as i had always planned ( thank heavens )
I also really loved Darkie’s Mob and ABC Warriors
plus thank you for Judge Dredd !!
Respect Pat Mills, from a Scottish Fan
David Walker
You are too kind, David. Thank you! I’m so thrilled it put you off joining the army. I know of several soldiers who joined the army because of war comics so it’s great to reverse that trend, especially now Action Man is owned by Ministry of Defence. That’s so awful! I remember as a kid being fascinated by the toy soldier diorama in my local army recruiting office. How many other kids are dead or maimed now because of that fatal attraction. Shame on them.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1115462/Hes-MoD-launches-Action-Man-range-toys-boost-profile-Armed-Forces.html#ixzz2AWRAeXzu
Hi, Pat. Many thanks for writing this blog, I am loving it.
Sorry to leave an off-topic comment, but I figured that since this is the most recent post it’s the one where you’re most likely to see my question.
I was just re-reading the Cursed Earth, when I saw this frame at the end of chapter 6, “Dark Autumn” (prog 66, page 22):

and the dialogue:
“Come away, Novar. Come in and close the door … Your FATHER was a man like Judge Dredd … BEFORE THEY HAD THE WAR!”
And straight away I thought of the song “Come away, Melinda” on UFO’s frankly not very good self-titled 1969 debut album — which has very similar lyrics.
Is that a coincidence, or were you making a tribute?
Yeah, I loved that song with its dark menace. So Dark Autumn was my tribute to it. Ditto in Rico where Dredd says “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.” as he staggers off with the corpse of Rico. I’ve long wanted to develop the links between pop music and comics – e.g. Comic Rock in Nemesis – but never really got the right chance.
The Rico reference was hard to miss! 🙂