War Picture Library: Unleash Hell Hardcover – 3 Sept. 2007

Following in the wake of the considerable success of the Commando collections, this door stop of a book reprises 12 of the best stories to appear in what was the grandaddy of all the war pocket libraries. Fleetway's War Picture Library first hit newstands in 1958 and was the comic that spawned a host of sister publications, Battle and Air Ace Picture Library being the foremost as well as many imitators from rival publishers of which the aforementioned Commando Library from rival publisher D.C. Thomson was the undoubted leader.This handsome looking book clad in covers with punchy graphics and elements of some of the original cover paintings, is in many ways superior to the Commando collections. The Commando collections are primarily dominated by stories that appeared from the 1970's onwards, they're earlier and infinitely more lurid stories are conspicuous by their abscence. Not so with Holland's selection. He adroitly goes for the earliest issues which were by and large written by men who had direct and (self evidently} fairly recent experience of active service during the Second World War, consequently the stories are much more non PC, "Huns" and "Japs" are a ruthless enemy to be despatched with cold efficiency and there's not an awful lot of agonising on either side over the dehumanising effect of war, these guys mean business and the stories have a consequential drive and dynamic that make reading this collection a really vivid and engaging experience.The artwork is similarly powerful and throws you right into the streets of war torn Arnhem, the fetid jungles of Burma, the E-Boat infested water of the English Channel or the flak torn skies over the Ruhr. With the talents of superb draughtsmen such as Gino D'Antonio, Hugo Pratt and Jorge Moliterni the feeling that you are there as you read these stories has never been bettered.There are however one or two minor (ish) caveats. The first is the printing, which is gritty in places and overall too heavy, so that a lot of the more subtle line work is lost. I suspect that some of the problem may lie in the fact that, unlike the Commando collections, the original artwork for these stories was destroyed years ago, which leaves either utilising film that was made at the time or, as seems the case here, scanning from the printed comics themselves. In which instance a certain amount of linework reconstruction is necessitated. This just doesn't appear to have occurred. I gather however that future editions of these books are going to address the problem of the printing, so perhaps best to put this down to minor teething troubles.We shall see...My other slight reservation is, as in the case of the Commando compendiums, that there is no attempt whatsoever to credit each story with names of artists and writers. This seems churlish in the extreme and would have made no imposition into the flow of this otherwise excellent book.Lastly it would have been nice to see the covers represented in a more appealing manner, rather than all cramped together on one page in murky monochrome, these are covers that burned their way into many a schoolboy's subcoscious and they deserve bettter.But then again both these problems are addressed by two complimentary publications, with Steve Holland and David Roach's "Fleetway War Libraries Index" as an indespensable adjunct to this mighty tome, not to mention the forthcoming "Aargh It's War" collection which features much of the recently discovered cover art.So minor criticisms aside, all in all a truly brilliant book - get your tin hat on and start reading!

Many years ago, WWII was a very real memory for my parents, and a frame of reference for my view of the world. In the absence of a formal history taught in schools, War Picture Library gave me - and thousands of other 1960s schoolboys - a unique insight into events which our parents, aunts and uncles had experienced at first-hand. As an educational tool - despite being frowned upon by school authorities - they proved invaluable. They were released each month as separate stories (one to each 64-page booklet), and were written by people with genuine knowledge of the subject matter - many having served in the Armed Forces during WWII. The artwork was superb, and illustrated the stories in a way guaranteed to fire a boy's imagination. The fact that many of the stories were based on actual incidents and operations during the war, made them doubly fascinating. I must confess my bewilderment that nobody - even in the heat of battle - ever swore in a WPL story (soldiers being what they are). Ah well - that was censorship in the 1960s. (YouTube footage from Afghanistan gives us a clearer picture of what soldiers really sound like when under fire.) But, as a potted history of WWII - starting at Vol 1 with the retreat to Dunkirk - WPL was excellent. I have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting many of my favourite stories from decades ago.

This item arrived today, and I'm pleased with it. More than 700 pages, and a good variety of war stories within it's pages. Fans of this genre (I'm sure), won't be disappointed! I'll probably read one of these stories, over this weekend. Very good. Thanks.

Im at an age where im returning to my youth. These are all great storys although some of the drawings have lost their sharpness because of copying problems from source. Its a must buy though.I aim to collect all these reprints. How i wish id kept all the originals from my youth ! £££

I am 62 years old and these books take me back over 50 years when I was an avid collector of War Picture Library, Battle, and Commando comics. I have always regretted giving the old comics away when I grew up. Once you read one, you are addicted.William DaviesSlough

Reliving one's youth by re-reading some of the comics from 50 years ago.

Excellent value for money. Enjoyable reading. Thanks

war stories like these where not dreamt out of thin air by writers who haven't served in the theatres of world war 2 but have written and collaberated with those who have been there and done that adding a sense of true grit and valor behind every page known to man which highlights not just the courage against impossible odds but the tragedy behind the actions of the ordinary tommy where so many end up dying to ensure their pals lived another day and that their country remained free of the nazi vermin wishing to completey engulf their freedom and liberty.