Story of success for lecturer

AFife lecturer has had his first story published in the long-running Commando comic book series.

Colin Ma x w e l l , an animation and computer games lecturer at Fife College, has seen his Five Little Soldier Boys story printed in the latest issue of the military comic, which has been enter taining readers since 1961.

Described as a wartime murder mystery, it’s a tale of five soldiers taking refuge from a storm in a French chateau – unaware a killer is lurking.

Colin, based at Halbeath Campus in Dunfermline, has been writing comic book stories for a number of years, but this is the first time his stories have been published in Commando.

The DC Thomson title celebrates its 60 th anniversary next year and is Britain’s longest-serving war comic.

Colin said he was delighted that his story had been taken on and revealed Commando has commissioned a further three of his stories for future editions.

Colin, who has been with the college since 1999, started to write his comic stories after being inspired by a project with students in 2013.

One of those involved in the project, Michael Philp, has also worked on several comics with Colin since he left college and has gone on to develop his own part-time career in comic book illustration.

Colin said: “In 2013 we were creating animations about Robert the Bruce.

“I’d hoped to make them into a lengthier story with some live-action sequences but, in the end, turned the script into a comic book.

“That was really the start of my own comic book adventure.

“It’s been good to work with Michael on a number of projects and I’m proud to see him use his brilliant illustration talents to make a part- time career for himself in comic books.”

Colin has self-published a number of true war stories and recently finished Flight Of The Eagle – the story of a Polish submarine, Orzel, which escaped from the Baltic Sea to join Allied Forces in Rosyth at the start of the Second World War.

And he says he has a few more ideas up his sleeve for future issues of Commando.

“The stories take a bit of time to make sure they are historically accurate, but it’s been a great journey so far,” he said.

PUBLISHED: Colin Maxwell is an animation and computer games lecturer.