In Review: Darkie's Mob

At its heart, Darkie’s Mob is a fairly grim adventure strip set in the jungles of Burma during World War 2. The men who join Darkie choose to stay and fight the Japanese forces rather than rejoin their own troops and go home. It has all the solid storytelling, both in text and graphics, as we expect from writer John Wagner and artist, Mike Western. Indeed I would suggest that this is some of the finest work that Mike Western ever produced.

Darkie’s Mob first appeared in 1976 in the pages of Battle Picture Weekly. From a time when most war stories were gung-ho adventures with little consequence, Darkie’s Mob showed the brutal reality. Just about every two or three episodes one of the mob would be killed in a variety of ways; fever, suicide, decapitation not to mention the usual gunshots and explosions of which there is no shortage.

The strength of this strip lay in the variety of characters, the camaraderie they forge and in the shared desire they all have to find out just exactly who Joe Darkie is. It is made clear early on that he has never been a member of the British army so what is he doing in a Captain’s uniform, marching men around the jungle and training them in guerrilla warfare? From time to time, Burmese natives reveal they know of him from before the war, so to do one or two of the Japanese forces. Darkie holds a deep hatred of the Japanese and this drive adds to the building menace.

It is true that the dialogue and actions in the strip have dated; the language quite badly shows its age and indeed the back cover warns that some readers may be offended. It should be read in context though and not be allowed to overshadow the fact that this is a very strong, clearly defined story with a level of characterisation that was quite unusual for its time. That’s not to say this is a literary epic but it is a graphic epic. I spent hours going back and forth through the pages, studying Mike Western’s art. He had a fantastic eye for layout, choosing optimum angles and a strong command of chiaroscuro. I guess acknowledgement should be made of the excellent scanning and book design that Titan have put into this; it really does pay off. And John Wagner’s use of Private Shortland’s diary to conduct us throughout the story is a masterpiece of storytelling, quickly establishing events and making the reader feel complicit in the goings on.

Highly recommended then, one the best British war stories ever published in comics.