Great War Dundee: The War in Comics and Popular Culture

V&A Dundee, September 20

Anyone who knows British comics knows that Dundee’s connection to the medium is deeply embedded. The obvious link, of course, is through DC Thomson’s stable of characters, including Oor Wullie, and titles like the Beano and war comic Commando.

For those more in tune with the industry, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design’s courses in comic creation are among the most highly-regarded in the country, while the heyday of the 1970s and 80s has its roots in Dundee. Such signature titles as Battle, Action and the still-continuing 2000AD were devised by people who cut their teeth at DC Thomson, including Judge Dredd co-creator John Wagner and writer and editor Pat Mills.

Titled Great War Dundee: The War in Comics and Popular Culture, this oneday event at V&A Dundee brings all of these strands of comic creation together into the launch of a new comic entitled Great War Dundee. Produced by the Dundee University’s Scottish Centre for Comic Studies, and edited by DJCAD’s Phillip Vaughan and Chris Murray, the tales within the title look back to the city of Dundee’s involvement in the First World War.

The biggest draw in the title is the main strip, Ragtime Soldier, written by Mills himself, who, in the late 1970s, co-created the strip Charley’s War with artist John Colquhoun for the comic Battle. An antiwar epic, Charley’s War is considered by comic fans to be one of the great tales of the First World War. In Ragtime Soldier, Mills believes he’s written the first chapter of the follow-up Charley deserved.

“Robbie McTaggart is a Black Watch soldier who plays ragtime music, which is rebellious,” says Mills. “That’s why the young troops called themselves ‘the Ragtime Infantry’. Our story focuses on the Battle of Loos where Scottish losses – and Dundee’s in particular – were heavy, and it also looks at incredible events after the war, when a member of the War Resistance movement beat Winston Churchill in the Dundee election and became Member of Parliament.”

With a cover by Dun don ian Commando artist Ian Kennedy, the anthology features two more strips – The Women’s Toon and Casualties of War – by graduates of DJCAD’s courses, including former Commando editor Calum Laird and 2000AD artist Anna Morozova.

Organised by the Great War Dundee Partnership and free, but ticketed through Eventbrite, this launch event will feature historical talks, workshops and signing events featuring the creators.

“Pat Mills will be coming over from Spain to give a keynote speech at the event,” says Vaughan. “The comic will be free at the V&A, and online afterwards, and we’re in talks with publishers to try and carry the Ragtime Soldier story on into a graphic novel afterwards.”