Changes

We too seem to have such a halting experience when reading this collection, for it was definitely designed to be read bit by bit, week by week, and the constant going over of old ground every three pages is quite wearing at times. Each episode had to end with a punch and the sequel start with the same punch, just drawn slightly differently. Bless the artist, but four pages suits us better as we read a more fluid and engaging story. There's also very much a sense of us losing track of which one is actually Charley, as he can often be in the background of images, and with his face aging ageing well before its years due to the war he can often be indistinguishable from other grunts – which is surely designed to be the case.

But what the book rests on for me is the writing. Using brilliant research and verifiable documentation Mills produced something to prove to anyone that they don't know all the war stories imaginable. Even those tired of these current years' centenary publications will see something new and something very, very valid on these pages. Like As I say, this has stopped being as subversive as it once might have been, especially when taken out of context of a daring-yet-censored weekly and put into the prestige publications we get these days. But it's not once stopped being engaging, surprising, thoughtful, characterful and valuable.