“The story of war comics continues to grow and change”: Inside the ‘Into Battle’ exhibition

Ursula, Ben, it’s great to catch up. The ‘Into Battle: The Art of British War Comics’ has just finished its run at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum. Before we dive into that, Ursula, can you tell us a little bit more about the museum?
Ursula Corcoran, Musuem Director, Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum: The museum opened in 2014 and is now celebrating its 10th year. It’s a modern military museum, so no regimental timelines or endless rows of medals for visitors to navigate! The archives of both former county regiments are here but our collections embrace the larger military footprint of the county. The museum is very much story focused and has eight main themes, which include A Woman’s War, Global Army and Fleming and Bond.

What attracted you to the Into Battle exhibition and war comics in particular?
Ursula: Rebellion approached us after our successful Spy Oxfordshire exhibition. That really shone a light on popular culture and its relationship with several aspects of military life, especially the world of espionage and daring deeds.

“It acts as a great foil to the amount of khaki and grey in the museum!”

Into Battle felt like a natural next step to continue the journey into exploring popular culture and military life, which helps to expand our audiences but also re-engages us with our established visitors. The exhibition enables us to look at the museum’s overall messaging and consider the take away moments with a fresh perspective for all visitors.

We wanted people to be surprised by what they find here and to make new connections with us, as well as with the objects and stories on show. Into Battle resonated with our typical visitors as well as appealing to new audiences, which is great. We knew that the comic artwork would work well in the space and that – although there were few 3D objects – the amount of high impact colour would be memorable and draw people in. It acts as a great foil to the amount of khaki and grey in the museum!

Ben, let’s bring you in. This was a collaboration with Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics imprint. What does that span?
Ben Smith, Head of Film, TV & Publishing, Rebellion: The Treasury of British Comics is the imprint Rebellion created when it acquired the complete comics catalogue of the publisher formerly known as IPC. We’ve been publishing Judge Dredd and the legendary comic 2000 AD for almost 25 years, but we only managed to pull the wider catalogue back together six years ago. We’re now responsible for about 70% of the history of British comics, going all the way back to 1892 and the first comic to be called a ‘comic’: Comic Cuts.

“All of this amazing material has been out of sight for decades.”

Under the Treasury label, we curate and republish comics from across that history, making available again absolute masterpieces like The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, alongside curios such as Marney the Fox. It also encompasses comics that were ahead of their time, like Misty, and many that had a huge influence on their readers – like Battle and Action – and had a wider influence the comics medium itself.

Because of the lack of either strategy or support from former owners, all of this amazing material has been out of sight for decades. Rebellion also commissions and publishes new stories featuring classic characters, as well as mixing old characters with new, in comics like Monster Fun, Battle Action and Roy of the Rovers.

Into Battle isn’t the first exhibition that Rebellion have been involved in. What appeals about developing exhibitions of this kind?
Ben: British comics were read in their millions… Ongoing icons like Judge Dredd and DC Thomson’s Dennis the Menace are just the tip of an enormous iceberg. There is an extraordinary amount of love, nostalgia and appetite for our characters and stories to be put in front of people again.

With Roy of the Rovers, we curated and mounted an exhibition celebrating his first 65 years at the National Football Museum in Manchester. The first show we had at London’s Cartoon Museum was their most popular ever and we’ve gone on to mount capsule shows at their new venue. We’ve also collaborated with the Story Museum in Oxford and regional galleries around the country.

At Rebellion we’re not just evangelists for the medium of comics, we’re committed to reuniting a lost but hugely important part of popular culture with a mass audience. To that end, it’s not enough to publish the comics and graphic novels, but to seed them into cultural conversation though touchpoints, like football or military history.

Military museums share their subject with thousands of war stories in comics and as Into Battle shows, the museums can benefit from the additional audiences a war comics exhibition can bring into their spaces. Comics are part of a shared cultural history and their influence and ability to engage are woefully under-utilised in the UK. In France, the US and across the world, comics are recognised for their ability to connect audiences and subjects – and that’s what we’re demonstrating with each new exhibition.

“Developing an exhibition from concept to realisation takes an enormous amount of planning.”

How did you choose what to showcase in Into the Battle?
Ben: We wanted to tell the story of how war comics came to be, who made them, who read them, how they have changed over time and what they look like now. No small ask!

I was going to say!
Ben: Through judicious curation and foregrounding the original artwork we have been able to acquire – alongside original comics and excitingly laid out panel text and illustrations – we produced a really engaging show.

An artist like Joe Colquhoun is featured in the show as he’s an unsung genius of comics. His masterpiece is the Pat Mills-scripted Charley’s War, an epic tale of an ordinary soldier in the First World War that upends all conceptions of what a ‘war comic’ should be. Joe’s incredible artwork – full of detail but so dynamic and exciting – has captivated readers for over 40 years, and not just in the UK but in translation too. Allowing people to now see his linework up close is a significant addition to the show.

Ursula, how does the Museum approach the design of an exhibition like Into Battle?
Ursula: Developing an exhibition from concept to realisation takes an enormous amount of planning and work. Smaller museum like ours can’t throw a lot of resources into technological wizardry to bring the material alive, so you have to think about how to deliver the best visitor experience with limited resources.

Once the storyline has been developed, it’s about looking at a design thread or a clear interpretation structure that will hang the exhibition together – even when there are clear distinct sections as there are with Into Battle.

Tone of voice is crucial, so that anybody can understand clearly without any jargon what the exhibition is talking to them about. The standard visitor you design for is a 12-year-old coming in with their family… By layering the interpretation through different design methods, you can add more depth of knowledge, or even take it away for your youngest visitors by introducing trails or games.

And while permanent displays need to robust and be able to test the passing of time in high traffic areas, temporary exhibitions can be more daring and entertaining – and even acknowledge their transitory nature. Having design elements that capture the mood of the moment works well as it adds to the sense that the exhibition is here for a set period and is of its time. For us, the temporary exhibitions need to feel different to the rest of the museum and achieving this is probably the hardest part of the process.

Considering the carbon footing of any exhibition is also taking a more prominent role in all design and development. All of our temporary exhibitions use the same rig and we minimise waste by reusing structures and resources.

Ben, were there creative challenges in putting this exhibition together from Rebellion’s perspective?
Ben: The biggest challenge for Into Battle was picking the most relevant stories and comics. The team at Rebellion, archivists, editors and publishers brought their knowledge together – in collaboration with the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum – to find not just the most engaging version of the story, but one that also connected with the museum’s main exhibition.

I understand that Into Battle is going ‘on the road’ now. How are you positioning Into Battle to other museums?
Ursula: Typically, it’s the bigger national museums or networks that tour exhibitions – and generally these are sponsored – so touring Into Battle is a leap into the unknown for the museum on many levels… We know it will be most probably picked up by museums similar in size to us, so it’s about showcasing the quality of artwork, the design structure and the ways it will hopefully bring in typically underrepresented groups of visitors into their museum.

The exhibition is largely retrospective, but I know Rebellion have recently published new editions of Battle. What role do you think war comics have to play in today’s publishing market?
Ben: We relaunched the UK’s most famous war comic – Battle – with a series of special one offs, starting in 2020… Then in 2023 we collaborated with world renowned writer Garth Ennis and a group of celebrated artists and writers to publish a new series of Battle Action – a uniting of two legendary comics. This proved to be a huge success with readers and will be followed by another series this year. As Into Battle tours to other venues, the story of war comics continues to grow and change.

Before we wrap up, Ursula, how did Into Battle perform for you? What feedback have you received from visitors about it?
Ursula: Our general admission figure grew by 30% compared to the same time period last year, and in particular the younger adult visitor’s category (18-29) was also up by 39%. The media interest in the show was tremendous. Having national papers pick it up and the reviews being so positive was a great bonus and in turn attracted visitors.

Most of the visitor’s comments mention nostalgia and I think the exhibition was a real boon for those visitors who hadn’t necessarily come to see it, but enjoyed it as part of their planned visit to the museum. Nostalgia in military museum’s normally brings up feelings of our collective ‘glorious past’ or the ‘Dunkirk spirit’, but Into Battle appears to have evoked a time of simpler pleasures. People leave the exhibition happy – perhaps there’s an argument that nostalgia helps wellbeing?

I’d go along with that! Finally, what is your favourite piece of art from the Into Battle exhibition?
Ursula: Spy 13. As soon as I saw both of the Spy 13 framed art, it reminded me of our earlier look into the world of espionage with Spy Oxfordshire. They capture the world of secret agents caught in a moment of time wonderfully.

Ben: The colour in the 1960s cover paintings by Italian artists will surprise people, but for me, Joe Colquohoun’s artwork is peerless and the two pages from Charley’s War are worth poring over.

Great picks. Thanks again guys.