DENIS McLOUGHLIN

COMMANDO ARTIST

 (POCKET HOMEPAGE) 

Denis McLoughlin

Story Artist

for

Commando Comics

1982 - 2002

 

Updated: December 4th 2005

I was first introduced to Denis's excellent artwork when I was presented, for my birthday, a Buffalo Bill Wild West Annual 1950 (illustrated top left) and I particularly remember the vivid colour illustrations contained within the annual.

Denis began working for Commando in 1982 with his first issue 1623 "FIGHT BACK" in July, he produced over 170 original titles with his last original title 3567 “NO PLACE TO HIDE!” printed October 2002.

Since that date, all the issues are re-issues of earlier Commando’s.

Denis McLoughlin, Born in Bolton, Lancashire, England April 15th 1918 – Died April 22nd 2002. Aged 84.

It always seemed strange to me, that Denis, (remembering his colour illustrations for the Buffalo Bill Annual’s), never did any of the covers for Commando.

So all the covers illustrated below are by other artists.

Vic

April 23rd 2002

 

1623

FIGHT BACK!

JULY 1982

Cover Artist: Baraldi

1688

ISLAND OF MYSTERY

MARCH 1983

Cover Artist: J. Bevan

1710

OBEY ORDERS!

JUNE 1983

Cover Artist: Ian Kennedy

1718

THE CONQUERORS

JULY 1983

Cover Artist: J. Bevan

Private Colin Shelley's nerve had gone. He'd left his fellow soldiers in the lurch and earned himself the brand of a coward. Since then he'd been written off as worthless, and that's how he felt.

But then came his chance to fight back and regain his self-respect. Colin was determined that this time he would not be found wanting …

The clinging mud of the swamp had claimed two victims already, and now Stan Cooper was going to become its third, for his only hope of rescue looked slim. After all, he couldn't expect help from the man watching him from the swamp's edge - he was a Japanese officer, and Japan and Britain were engaged in a fight to the death.

Paddy O'Grady was a bit of a wild type. Went his own way, didn't like sticking to the book of rules. He was a terrific fighter pilot, of course, and everybody knew it. But he needed discipline.

So who was going to make him obey orders? It was up to Pete Davidson, bit it wasn't going to be easy. Pete owed a lot to the crazy Irishman. On one occasion Paddy had even saved his life!

For months a single German cruiser had been wreaking havoc amongst British merchant ships in the South Atlantic. Now at last it had been located by a cruiser of the Royal Navy, and as the two evenly-matched vessels clashed, their big guns booming out, each crew hoped for victory.

But for two sailors on the British ship this was to be the beginning rather than the end of a strange and dangerous adventure … and it would be on land, not at sea!

1909

INTO BANDIT COUNTRY

JULY 1985

Cover Artist: Ian Kennedy

1966

RUN FOR IT!

FEBRUARY 1986

Cover Artist: Ian Kennedy

2022

GHOST OF EVIL

SEPTEMBER 1986

Cover Artist: Ian Kennedy

2030

TOP-SECRET BASE

OCTOBER 1986

Cover Artist: J. Bevan

He had worked with the partisan freedom-fighters before, but this was something different. Most of the men he had known were now dead and this new lot were more bandits than partisans, led by a murdering madman.

As he fell from the Dakota into the Italian night he knew he would be in more danger from his allies than from his enemies.

Ace Kelly had no intention of getting involved in someone else's war. When the Japanese forces invading Papua New Guinea damaged his plane he had no alternative but to make for the nearest city.

The jungle had dangers enough, but his task was made more difficult by a group of refugee boys and an Australian army officer tagging along. And the Japs were after them all…

Flying Officer Roger Rendell had been behaving very strangely. He would go into a rage, risk lives of his friends, stare wildly from the cockpit of his Lancaster as if seeing the war-torn sky for the first time.

You might think there was the ghost of someone else in him, looking out through his eyes. And indeed there was - the ghost of a friend.

On a sailing holiday before the war Lieutenant Dave Leward and his friend decided to pay a visit to Heartbreak Island. Barren and windswept, it was normally uninhabited, but to their surprise they met someone there - a German professor by the name of Fritz Gunther.

Three years later Dave and Fritz were to meet once more on the island. This time, though, things were different. They both had one aim - to destroy the … TOP-SECRET BASE.

2109

BACK FROM BEYOND

AUGUST 1987

Cover Artist: Longaron

2216

NAZI HUNT

SEPTEMBER 1988

Cover Artist: J. Bevan

2249

FROZEN WITH FEAR

JANUARY 1989

Cover Artist: Ron Brown

2357

FIGHTING INVENTOR

MARCH 1990

Cover Artist: Ian Kennedy

As if from nowhere, four battle-hardened German soldiers suddenly appeared during the harsh fighting in Italy. Their unit, according to reports, had been wiped out to a man in Russia, and yet here were four mysterious survivors.

Who were these soldiers? What did they want? And why had they come to Italy?

With the liberation of Europe under way, time was running out for the Third Reich. Hitler's top brass knew it too, many of them scampering away like rats from a sinking ship, looting art treasures from the occupied territories to finance a whole new life after the war.

But Lieutenant Sam Castle was determined that one particular Nazi wasn't going to get away. The hunt was on…

Brave and strong, Matt Durant was one of the most feared forwards in Canada's ice hockey leagues. Quick to enlist even before war broke out, he soon showed the same toughness in the heat of battle.

Then, unaccountably, he turned coward in the face of the enemy. Neither he nor his mates could believe it, but somehow or other he was liable to stop in his tracks… FROZEN WITH FEAR.

The German reconnaissance pilot watched bewildered as the British troops below him broke open two wooden crates to assemble a most peculiar contraption with a large propeller on top.

Closer inspection revealed it to be a flying machine of quite devastating potential - as the spotter pilot found to his cost. And this was only one of the many remarkable inventions of Professor Theophilus Washburton, the FIGHTING INVENTOR.

2384

OUT-GUNNED!

JUNE 1990

Cover Artist: J. Bevan

2447

THE LOST BOMBER

FEBRUARY 1991

Cover Artist: Ron Brown

2487

SNATCH SQUAD

JULY 1991

Cover Artist: Ron Brown

2577

FOLLOW THE DRUM!

JUNE 1992

Cover Artist: Ian Kennedy

Tom Stewart was an R.A.F. fighter pilot, but in the chaos that followed the fall of Singapore, he found himself manning the guns on an obsolete old vessel left over from the First World War.

To make matters worse, the young airman's ship was grounded. And closing fast was the cruiser, Hiro, pride of the Japanese navy, her eight-inch guns blazing …

After a disastrous R.A.F. raid on a V-1 factory, the Luftwaffe investigators moved in and soon all the Lancaster bombers that the German anti-aircraft gunners and night-fighter crews had claimed to have shot down were accounted for. All, that is except for one.

Hauptmann Wilhelm Furth in charge of the investigation wasn't worried. After all, a 21-metre-long Lancaster bomber couldn't be hard to find … could it?

Meet Konrad Scheller of the Wehrmacht. A lot of folk were keen to have a chat with him … his own people, the British, the Russians. Make no mistake, he was in great demand.

So far he had fought a very tough war, and it looked as if it was going to get a whole lot tougher …

As the war in Germany flickered to an end, a special unit of British light infantry went on a rescue mission. But the V.I.P. they were after was a "Very Important Percussion" instrument - a drum!

Hawke's Drum to be exact, and why it was so important to the regiment and especially to Captain John Elkin is a thumping good story …

3167

STORM ISLAND

AUGUST 1998

Cover Artist: Mike White

3289

ICEBERG BATTERY

NOVEMBER 1999

Cover Artist: Ian Kennedy

3450

MAC’S LAW

JULY 2001

Cover Artist: Ian Kennedy

3567

NO PLACE TO HIDE

OCTOBER 2002

Cover Artist: Ian Kennedy

An American troopship—part of the 1898 invasion armada—lies wrecked on the shore of Spanish-held Cuba at the height of a tropical hurricane. The bedraggled survivors stagger ashore into a storm of deadly fire from a group of Spanish defenders.

Bullets cut down Americans who struggle to return fire through the lashing rain, able to aim accurately only when the lightning flashes. If they survive, they’ll know this place as – STORM ISLAND.

Ever since men had set sail into far northern waters, they had feared icebergs – massive frozen islands that could hole or crush any ship unlucky enough to get in the way.

And now there was another reason to be wary of one of these recently-formed monsters. Six heavy calibre guns were stuck on the top, making it a floating fortress…the newest fighting ship in the British Navy!

Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman Mike “Mac” Mackenzie will always get his man…even if it means tracking him across the battlefields of France in 1944.

He is determined to avenge the cold-blooded murder of his partner…and the culprit will soon learn there is no escaping Mac’s Law.

There was no hiding place for many of the Nazis wanted for crimes committed during the Second World War. A dedicated band of Allied soldiers were on their trail, and they would not give up until justice had been done.

For Sergeant John Brook and Corporal Ian Randall it was just another task to be tackled. Yet what they were about to find out was that the officer in charge had lost a brother to one of the thugs they sought…and he was more likely to shoot first and ask questions later.

 

 

Following is a list of titles attributed to Denis McLoughlin with reprints in yellow.

 

1623 FIGHT BACK!

2702 OPERATION MANHUNT

1638 TIME-BOMB

2710 DEADLY DOUBLE-CROSS

1656 GUNS ALONG THE RIVER

2728 SHOCK FORCE SHOWDOWN

1671 ON THE TRAIL OF THE TREASURE

2736 STORM FORCE

1680 FIND THE RAIDERS

2758 OPERATION ECLIPSE

1688 ISLAND OF MYSTERY

2765 TO LEAD THE WAY

1704 THE DIE-HARDS

2782 OPERATION NAVAJO

1710 OBEY ORDERS!

2799 CLOSE ACTION

1718 THE CONQUERORS

2814 DESTINATION SIBERIA

1727 A MAN AFRAID

2830 REBELLION!

1741 THE HAWK AND THE DOVE

2845 OIL RIG RAIDERS

1744 TANK KILLER

2853 DEATH RIDE

1758 FIND THEM, SINK THEM!

2876 OBEY ORDERS (Re-issue of 1710)

1766 FOR FREEDOM

2882 FIGHTING BUCKET

1768 IN ENEMY UNIFORM

2895 HOSTAGE HUNT

1775 A WHOLE LOT OF TROUBLE

2899 A MAN AFRAID (Re-issue of 1727)

1785 BOSS OF THE ISLANDS

2912 GRUDGE TEAM

1797 BAND OF WARRIORS

2916 THE CONQUERORS (Re-issue of 1718)

1805 RAIDER ON THE PROWL

2927 SECRET SABOTEUR

1813 THE SECRET BASE

2942 SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE

1818 THE GOOD SOLDIER

2948 ISLAND OF MYSTERY (Re-issue of 1688)

1830 WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES!

2960 BORN TO BATTLE

1837 BOMBER CREW

2971 FIND THE RAIDERS (Re-issue of 1680)

1846 ISLAND OF HEROES

2982 SENTENCE OF DEATH

1854 DELAYED ACTION

2994 FIGHTING MOUNTIE

1862 ICE-COLD COURAGE

2995 IN ENEMY UNIFORM (Re-issue of 1768)

1871 RIVER OF BLOOD

3004 BOSS OF THE ISLANDS (Re-issue of 1785)

1886 ATLANTIC HURRICANE

3012 FOR FREEDOM (Re-issue of 1766)

1894 SERGEANTS DON'T RUN

3015 RUNAWAY REBEL

1902 NORTHERN PATROL

3034 THE THIEF TAKER

1909 INTO BANDIT COUNTRY

3043 WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES (Re-issue of 1830)

1917 ROAR OF THE TEMPEST

3048 LONE VOLUNTEER

1927 THE FLYING BATTLESHIPS

3073 ESKIMO SCOUTS

1934 THE FLYING COFFIN

3082 VICTORY AND VENGEANCE

1938 STAND BY…FIRE!

3091 BOMBER CREW (Re-issue of 1837)

1945 WANTED, DEAD AND ALIVE

3096 TOUGH JUSTICE

1957 THE MISFITS

3108 DELAYED ACTION (Re-issue of 1854)

1966 RUN FOR IT!

3114 BEN'S BATTLE

1974 TREASURE OF THE CHATEAU

3127 TRACKS OF TERROR

1984 THE MAN WITH THE POWER

3131 RIVER OF BLOOD (Re-issue of 1871)

1989 SCHOOLBOY AT SEA

3145 BLAZING FRONTIER

1997 KNIGHTS OF THE DESERT SKY

3151 RENEGADE KNIGHTS

2007 COLIN'S LUCK

3163 INTO BANDIT COUNTRY (Re-issue of 1909)

2022 GHOST OF EVIL

3167 STORM ISLAND

2030 TOP-SECRET BASE

3171 ATLANTIC HURRICANE (Re-issue of 1886)

2034 COUNTER-ATTACK!

3180 SERGEANTS DON’T RUN (Re-issue of 1894)

2040 SUB VERSUS SUB

3186 DUEL WITH THE DEVIL

2047 LORD OF THE HEADHUNTERS

3189 MUTINY

2055 FIGHTING PARTNERS

3194 FEAR ON THE FRONTIER

2064 A BUNCH OF BANDITS

3196 NORTHERN PATROL (Re-issue of 1902)

2069 HOMEWARD BOUND

3213 ARMY OF THE SHADOWS

2089 TOP-SECRET U-BOAT

3225 FIGHTING TRAWLER

2094 MYSTERY WARRIOR

3228 WANTED DEAD AND ALIVE (Re-issue of 1945)

2104 WAR IN THE SNOW

3234 TERROR TACTICS

2109 BACK FROM BEYOND

3244 STAND BY…FIRE (Re-issue of 1938)

2118 SOLDIER OF THE EMPEROR

3250 REBEL RAIDERS

2126 DESERT STRIKEFORCE

3259 THE FLYING BATTLESHIPS (Re-issue of 1927)

2130 SPECIAL MISSION

3264 A MATTER OF NERVE

2141 THE CHEF WHO WENT TO WAR

3282 DEADLY CONTACT

2149 VLR-VERY LONG RANGE

3289 ICEBERG BATTERY

2166 SOUND THE ALARM

3301 REBEL'S REVENGE

2169 CARRIER SQUADRON

3312 LOYAL TO THE LEGION

2175 WARSHIP ON WHEELS

3315 THE MAN WITH POWER (Re-issue of 1984)

2184 SEAPLANE TO THE RESCUE

3319 LEGION GOLD

2191 ONE GOOD TURN

3334 THE CRAZY PROFESSOR

2201 WHEN THE SHOOTING STARTS

3339 SCHOOLBOY AT SEA (Re-issue of 1989)

2207 BABYFACE BAILEY

3350 O’LEARY’S REVENGE

2216 NAZI HUNT

3360 FRED'S DAY OUT

2226 WARNER'S WAR

3369 SHADOW FROM THE PAST

2229 CALL TO BATTLE

3389 CANNON FODDER

2237 LOST AT SEA

3395 COLIN’S LUCK (Re-issue of 2007)

2249 FROZEN WITH FEAR

3402 CAMEL CAVALRY

2264 PHANTOM PANTHERS

3412 SUB VERSUS SUB (Re-issue of 2040)

2269 BEWARE THE TRAITOR

3414 REGIMENTAL RUDDOCK

2280 ESCAPE FROM SINGAPORE

3420 FIGHTING PARTNERS (Re-issue of 2055)

2289 A LUCKY BREAK

3425 PRESS-GANGED!

2294 SEARCH AND RESCUE

3432 TERROR OF THE TRACKS

2305 NIGHTMARE FLIGHT

3436 HOMEWARD BOUND (Re-issue of 2069)

2313 OPERATION 'VIKING'

3444 TOP SECRET BASE (Re-issue of 2030)

2327 DOOMED DESTROYER

3450 MAC’S LAW

2346 CROSS OF FIRE

3451 LORD OF THE HEADHUNTERS (Re-issue of 2047)

2357 FIGHTING INVENTOR

3461 THE FIGHTING THREE

2365 THE FOOTSLOGGERS

3477 HERO HUNTER

2375 PAST CRIMES

3487 REBEL RAIDER!

2384 OUT-GUNNED

3491 A BUNCH OF BANDITS (Re-issue of 2064)

2398 DAYS OF FEAR

3501 RENEGADE RAIDERS

2408 YANKEE DESTROYER

3512 ROGAN OF THE RIFLES<