Product Description

In September 1958, Britain's children thrilled to the first issue of "War Picture Library", where they could read of the valiant struggle of a motley group of British soldiers from the British Expeditionary Force whose units were overwhelmed by German forces swarming through the frontiers of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. "Fight Back to Dunkirk" was a page-turner of the first order, a shilling shocker that grabbed your attention for 64 explosive pages. The good news was, when you'd finished, there was another one waiting on the spinners at the newsagents.Over the coming months and years, "War Picture Library" revealed to its young (and sometimes not-so-young) readers just what their fathers and uncles had been through in combat. The diversity of characters and breadth of locations available, from the home front to the steaming jungles, meant that there was something new for readers every month. Fifty years on, the stories still have the power to thrill and horrify us." Against All Odds" is a carefully selected collection of some of the most amazing war stories and striking war art ever produced, reproduced 25 per cent bigger than the originals so you can feel every bullet hit, every crashing wave and every nerve-shattering explosion. This is military history as you've never read it before.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41095 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 776 pages

About the Author
Steve Holland is the author of over 1,000 articles and a dozen books relating to comics and pulp culture, including The Trials of Hank Janson, nominated for the Silver Dagger Award by the Crime Writers Association. His latest book, The War Libraries Index charts the extraordinary history of Fleetway's war picture libraries.

Customer Reviews

Nostalgia for boys
Yes men of a certain age (I don't think many girls read these or the Commando books) will know what to expect here and wallow in the nostalgia. Thankfully not processed to be PC - they are of their time and therefore serve a historical purpose as well as being great entertainment. I was regalling my son only a couple of weeks ago of how I would wait for the War and Battle picture libraries Summer specials to take on holidays and how they would hold me enthralled for hours and of course we all were able to go out and fight pretend battles of our own. I prefferred these comics to the slightly more staid Commando books but devour all of them as well as the weekly doses of Victor, Hotspur and the Eagle.

Ah those were the days....and by the way my son loves these as well. Achtung Schweinhund! Indeed

Our Finest Hour
Our Finest Hour

Between the ages of 11 and 13 I used to devour war comics. I would get four a month of war picture library. There were others but I favoured these as the stories were always realistic.

We learnt that Germans would say things like Achtung shwienhund and Donner and blitzen.

Most of my friends would read them even though I was at the same time devouring novels and other magazines like Eagle or Hotspur.

I don't remember when I stopped reading them but one day I didn't. I then never went back to them

As a result I had a good working knowledge of the second world war as that was what was mostly depicted.

Rereading them now I can see they were stirring stories of heroics and the British were fighting for the right cause and they were helped by all their plucky allies. When I was younger I remember kids saying to me of yes that story is true because either their dad said or their dad remembers it happening. That added authenticity as you really believed what peoples dad's said.

It is a pity we didn't learn our history in the same way.

Great books and you had to be reasonably literate to read them so they weren't just kid's stuff. I never remember anyone in my generation not being able to read or not wanting to read.

Highly recommended to those who remember those innocent days when all we had to deal with was fighting the second world war and seeing off the German and the Japanese.The war films the British made in the fifties and sixties were really live action versions of the comics that we read. They all had a good moral and if any British servicemen ever was underhand or sneaky he paid the ultimate sacrifice by giving up his life for his squadron or regiment.

All good uplifting stuff.

A blast from the past!
Another brilliant collection from the War Picture Library. A must for anyone interested in the comic book war stories from yesteryear!

Buy it now!