History ComicBook / Battle

The comic has seen a bit of a resurrection recently, as resolved rights issues have led to the more famous stories being reprinted, and the likes of Creator/GarthEnnis, a longtime vocal fan, helping to spread the word. The ''Battle'' name was revived in 2019 by '' ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' with a new story, ''Operation: Overlord'', set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII's Normandy Landings.

The comic has seen a bit of a resurrection recently, as resolved rights issues have led to the more famous stories being reprinted, and the likes of Creator/GarthEnnis, a [[BigNameFan longtime vocal fan]], helping to spread the word. The ''Battle'' name was revived in 2019 by '' ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' with a new story, ''Operation: Overlord'', set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII's Normandy Landings.

* ICallItVera: Ol' Bill Tozer carries a mace early on in thr story, which he names Elsie, after his wife.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Given that it's World War One, many characters die suddenly and quite shockingly. [[spoiler: [[TheLancer Ginger]] gets blown up by a shell when he's laughing about a joke sign that someone has put in their trench and Charley's mother dies of Spanish Flu thanks to her immune system being weakened due to her time as a munitions worker.]]

!The comic itself provides examples of:

!Individual stories provided examples of:

** The Germans are absolutely terrified at the prospect of going up against Senegalese troops. [[MacheteMayhem They tend to carry a "Coup-coup" in battle]]. Blue and his comrades are, at one point, so covered in dirt that they are [[{{Blackface}} mistaken for African troops]].

* EvilBrit: Surprisingly, for a work where TheHero is English, there are also plenty of examples of villainous Brits. Captain Snell is the most obvious example, as he gets his first platoon wiped out because of hus callousness and sets out to kill Charley later on.

* CruelMercy: When [[spoiler: Snell]] is hit with an acid sprayer, he begs Charley [[MercyKill to put him out of his misery]]. Charley refuses, leaving him to die slowly. [[spoiler: Sadly, he turned out to be [[KarmaHoudini alive]] and took part on [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober RussianCivilWar]].]]

* MistakenIdentity: Nijinksy, a Russian family, was a victim of being associated with Germans to an angry mob who assumed their surname as Germans until Charley saved them. Foreshadowing enough, the last issue had Blind Bob confusing the Germans and Russians in terming the enemy of Britain during World War 1 due to his time as a British Grenadier during the [[UsefulNotes/TheCrimeanWar Crimean War]].

The comic has seen a bit of a resurrection recently, as resolved rights issues have led to the more famous stories being reprinted, and the likes of Creator/GarthEnnis, a [[BigNameFan longtime vocal fan]], helping to spread the word.

* {{Foil}}: Oiley and Ginger. While both of them are cowardly and chagrin to Charley, Ginger was more LovableCoward with enough bravery to stay in the fight and a VitriolicBestBuds to Charley rather than bribing and running away like Oiley.

* BittersweetEnding: Bordering on DownerEnding, [[spoiler: only two members were alive by the end of the series, but Joseph Darkie died laughing after managing to kill the officer responsible for destroying his village.]]

* BoomerangBigot: [[spoiler: Joe Darkie is half-Japanese, but he had no issues using slurs against the Japanese. JustifiedTrope since his family and the entire village were destroyed by Japanese Army.]]

* KukrisAreKool: Joe himself has a Kukri to dispatch Japanese units.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Joe Dakee, or Joe Darkie, is a half British- half Japanese bandit who worked for Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) until the destruction of his village and parents in Burma. He took the British army uniform and formed his own unit, Darkie's Mob, which he formed to make the IJA pay for their treachery.]]

!!Historical, war stories that ''Battle'' produced include the following:

* TokenEnemyMinority: [[spoiler: Skins was turned out to be a British-born German who joined the military as [[TradingBarsForStripe an alternative to conviction after accidentally killing a man who insulted his heritage]]. This allowed him to disguise as a German soldier, and distinguish German military units. His brother was not lucky as he was conscripted into the German army, where he was eventually killed from a scared British soldier, during his visit just before the war broke out.]]

* DownerEnding: Though the series continued for a couple of years under Scott Goodall, Pat Mills considers his own ending to be the important one. It's fifteen years later, and an older Charley runs into [[spoiler: "Ole Bill" Tozer]] and reminisces. Charley's [[UsefulNotes/TheGreatDepression unemployed like so many thousands of others]], but he's glad other kids will never go through what he did. And he walks down the street to the dole office, [[AllForNothing passing a newsboy announcing Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany.]]

** Earlier, [[spoiler: Ginger's death]] puts Charley into a deep depression until Sergeant Tozer's own FreakOut in private shows Charley that even the most experienced soldiers are feeling the pressure.

* TimeSkip: Entire story arc revolving around Fred Green's visit to WW1 Memorial after 1982 in search of Charley, who saved his life after surviving a plane crash. It took him 65 years to remember his surname, but Charley's fate remained unknown after First World War. While Charley remained alive after First World War in future comics, whether or not Charley remained alive by 1982 was left hanging with the story ending in Second World War due to Pat Mills being replaced with Scott Goodall and [[AuthorExistenceFailure Joe Colquhoun's illness before his eventual death]].

* {{Eagleland}}: Mixed Flavor with Type 2 Boorish leanings. Many American characters are portrayed negatively, especially their racist policy towards African American soldiers, one of the whom is one of the few good Americans and an acquaintance with Charley. While Blue--British Foreign Legionnaire--had good views on American Legionnaires, he saw [[{{Jerkass}} Wes Lacey]] as an exception rather than a representation [[spoiler: since he was the one who framed Blue for drinking Krotowski's water. Despite his action, he did have a RedemptionEqualsDeath moment when he gave his life fetching water bottles from dead Germans before he was mowed down.]]

* PoliticalOfficer: Russian Civil War arc had Red Army fielding commissars ranging from frontline fighters like [[ActionGirl Rosa]] and ideological overseers like [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Zumarov]], latter being a chagrin for Spirodonov due to his dislike for those who do not take pro-active role in combat that led to an argument [[spoiler: where it became a source for Grodno to report to the brass of his "disloyalty".]]

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Ginger scoffs at Charley's suggestion of sending "[[TankGoodness lorries with massive guns on the front]]" into battle instead of horses. A couple of episodes later, the platoon is aided by tanks.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: [[TheNeidermeyer Snell]] only died at last battle of First World War, where the combination of his insanity and callous nature wiped out an entire platoon except for Charley and Tozer. While he was left to die by Charley after an incident with an acid sprayer, but not before "volunteering" him and Tozer into Russian Civil War.]]

** Most officers tend to fall under this category, but the worst of all the Lieutenant Snell. He actually makes Charley wait until he's had his tea before reading the message Charley had risked his life to bring him, asking for support for his overwhelmed comrades. This is just after knocking Charley out and using him as a human shield. [[WeHaveReserves To him, soldiers are simply expendable]] and the war is [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame just a sport]] with him holding a BodycountCompetition with other officers while they shoot wounded Germans during ceasefires. He even gets Charley's unit wiped out on the final day of the war in one last, pointless push. [[WordOfGod Mills considers him]] the BigBad of the strip.
** Lieutenant "Monkey Face" Volmar is Blue's hated commanding officer in the Legion, who--according to Blue--tend to punish his soldiers for disobeying his orders even if they are often inflexible and futile to achieve. He develops a deep personal hatred towards Blue and their coming to blows is what leads Blue to desert. He also sends in untrained Senegalese troops to storm a German trench, who get slaughtered when they first encounter a machine gun.

* PoliticalOfficer: Russian Civil War arc had Red Army fielding commissars ranging from frontline inspirer like [[ActionGirl Rosa]] and ideological overseer like [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Zumarov]], latter being a chagrin for Spirodonov due to his dislike for those who do not take pro-active role in combat that led to an argument [[spoiler: where it became a source for Grodno to report to the brass of his "disloyalty".]]

* DoAnythingSoldier: Charley has been a regular Tommy, temporary tank crewman, Snell's personal servant, firing squad member, tunneler, stretcher bearer and sniper. JustifiedTrope since Charley's skill as a Mechanic help him out with the tank while rest of the work were mostly relatively menial.