"Woolly Bears and Toffee Apples": History, Memory, and Masculinity in Charley's War

Abstract

Written by Pat Mills, and with artwork by Joe Colquhoun, Charley's War, published in Battle-Action (Jan 1979–Oct 1986), is an anti-war strip within a boy's pro-war comic. Concerned with the exploits of Charley Bourne, a 'boy soldier' of the First World War, it is re-read as an insight into the existence of multiple masculinities within children's texts. Furthermore, as a 'site of memory' – where history, memory and masculinity converge – Charley's War readily facilitates a form of remembrance whereby such cultural artefacts as children's comics are on par with more well-known monuments.