mitchmen's war No 12 - Not Going Commando

These two pictures from a 'Commando' Comic caught my eye because of their striking imagery. 

However, on closer inspection though I discovered an amazing, hidden erotic message.

(N.B. I have removed inappropriate and racist language from the text)

(1)

Were it not for negative character traits shown in the thoughts of the man above you might find him quite attractive in a boyish way. The artist who drew him was a frequent contributor to 'Commando' in the 1980's. He has a bold style that sometimes veers into outright caricature, but he has a knack of capturing 'something about a man' which I rather like. He depicts more heroic types in just the same way as the example above, showing them not as stereotypical, square-jawed, hunks (not that I've got anything against square-jawed hunks!) but as ordinary, slightly immature men, which is what most WW2 soldiers were of course (at least, when they joined up).

(2)

This picture of the same character is infused with the same gangling, not-quite-mature characteristics.
The open legged pose is mildly erotic with cute turned-in feet, but scrupulously 'proper' in accord with the norms of the genre. At this point in the story, 18 pages later, his desertion has evolved into outright collaboration with the other side. I'll fill in the story line at the end of the article.

My main interest is in some surprising homo-erotic details in the pictures,
which are revealed if you look more closely......

~

If you look at the backside of the running man in the first picture (1),
you'll see some thin lines cutting across his thigh,
but they don't look quite like crease lines should look.

They hint at an alternative version of the picture, which I have developed below (3).
 .

(3)

I visualised the original artist doodling these extra lines and wondered idly what this man would look like if he was dressed in shorts. My colouring brings this vision out. Not just any old shorts, but shorts which have been rolled up at the leg and look very short indeed and rather sexy! The baggy, lower leg details don't fit in with this alternative vision, but notice how the shadow on the far leg takes on a shorts shape too. There's even a discontinuity in the top of this thigh suggesting a matching turn-up. The curve of these imaginary shorts makes the man's stance look open-legged, more static and rather more sexy than simply running.

I started wondering if these odd 'thigh lines' appeared in any other pictures in the story and a search turned up the second picture (2, above). Similar lines also appear here with even less obvious purpose than the first example, but also suggesting leg-hugging shorts. However, I then noticed another detail in this picture which put shorts right out of my mind, illustrated in the revised version below.

(4)

 In case you are wondering, I haven't added anything but colour to this picture and if you refer to the original (2 above) there is an unmistakable line of circles around the Cooper's upper thigh which look just like the hem of frilly knickers. I can't think of any other thing this pattern might be intended to represent.

It may be that the artist is playing on the cowardly character of his subject (using clumsy female/gay associations which we would reject today). If that was his intent I'm happy to own it and interpret it as a subversive, hidden, erotic message. Maybe he's secretly confessing to an interest of his own!

 Whatever the intentions or leanings of the artist might be, there is no suggestion in any of the story that Cooper is gay. There's actually no sexual dimension or depth to any of his relationships with the other men.
~
I outline the plot of Cooper's story and his fate below.

The pictures featured here come from
Commando Comic No 1432, 'Trapped!'


 At the outset of the story Cooper, who we met above, is depicted running from the battlefield.
Unluckily for him, he runs straight into his own Sergeant, 'Frank'.
(Sergeant Frank is tagged with his first name because he is a 'goodie'!).
Both of them have been cut off behind the opposition forces front lines, hence Trapped!

The Sergeant vows to take Cooper back to face disciplinary action.
 You can see here how the 'hero' Sergeant is shown as a callow youth rather than the traditional hunk. I think the depiction of a sullen Cooper, hands in pockets (left), is marvellous, much more interesting!

The voices they hear (right, above) turn out to be two US soldiers who are also cut-off behind the lines. They join forces and then run into a pilot who has just crashed in the same area (!).

It's inappropriate to label this scene as homo-erotic,
but I would observe that the artist did not need to depict it quite like this!

The group agree to rescue the senior Officer who was a passenger in the plane.
The opposition forces, however, are also hunting for him themselves,
hoping to extract vital intelligence from him.
Their pursuit gives Frank's group a torrid time and Cooper deserts them (below).

 Cooper's flight leads him straight into an opposition patrol.
  Their Commander obtains Cooper's collaboration by threatening to execute him.

Under threat of death, Cooper betrays his colleagues twice, once by revealing their whereabouts and when that capture attempt fails, he rejoins the group and signals when they are vulnerable to attack.
However, Sergeant Frank catches him doing so, foils that attack too and knocks Cooper out.

Cooper's demise, two thirds of the way through the story, avoids an awkward, messy ending.
It's a rather sad tale really. A not-very-subtle lesson in morality, bravery and loyalty for young readers.

I confess I'm drawn to Cooper's rebellious, outsider character
 imagining there must be a redeeming feature we haven't been told about.

The more interesting moral for me is that there may be more 'hidden eroticism' in this artist's output!
Watch this space!

For other imaginings in this series click on the 'War Comics' label below
or read all these War Comics articles from the Start
 

For more hidden eroticism also click in the label below.