OPINION (AN COLÚN): A Birr regiment's stories and remembering my comics obsession

I WAS WALKING through the wonderful Leinster Regiment Association exhibition in Birr Library last week, looking at the exhibits, when one of them especially caught my attention. This was three comics in a frame. The comics were two Victors and a Hornet, which brought back a lot of memories.
I was immediately brought back to the 1970s, the 1980s and growing up in Birr. At the time, from about the ages of 6 to 12, I was obsessed with comics. I had several comics on order in my local Newsagents. It was a special day each week when they arrived. Homework would then be forgotten and I would spend hours perusing them, diving into a world of imagination. They were a mixture of war, superhero and science fiction publications. The war ones included Victor, Battle, Commando, Warlord; 2000AD was science fiction; and the superhero editions included The X-Men and The Avengers.
Victor was first published in 1961 and was massively popular in its day. Its characters included Alf Tupper, a working class runner; Morgyn the Mighty, a muscular Tarzan type figure; Joe Bones the Human Fly, a working class soldier and unbelievably talented climber; and I Flew with Braddock, about a World War II pilot. Each week the front cover carried a story of how a medal had been won by soldiers in the British or Commonwealth forces during the Great War or the Second World War. The last edition of Victor was published in November 1992.
I wasn't familiar with The Hornet, as it was before my time. It ran from 1963 to 1976, ceasing publication when I was only four years old and hadn't yet developed an interest in comic reading. One of the characters in The Hornet, William Wilson, migrated to other comics. Many of Wilson's friends and relatives had died early. He was determined to not be like them. He therefore worked out a health and fitness regime and learned how to slow his heart right down, using a formula created by people who could live to over 200!
Comics were extremely popular among Irish boys and girls of my generation. Many of them were produced by British publishers. The Irish comic industry was, relatively speaking, very small. The Christian Brothers published “Our Boys” for many years, which enjoyed a good circulation in Ireland. Our Boys was informed by a pro Catholic sensibility and came from an Irish nationalism perspective. Because the British comics often told stories featuring soldiers of the Commonwealth, the Christian Brothers felt there was a need to approach things from an Irish viewpoint. Like many children of my generation, I devoured comics, no matter their background. Many of us didn't care a jot whether the story was from an Irish or Commonwealth perspective. All we wanted to know was, was it well told and was it gripping? Many of us were very universal in our tastes. The small Irish comic market could never satisfy those tastes on its own.
In 2025, comics no longer dominate the book shelves of our newsagents and stores as they once did; but they are still there. You would be forgiven for thinking that the contemporary situation for comics, in financial terms, is a story of doom and gloom, another victim of the voracious and sometimes monstrous thing called “progress”. Well you'd be wrong. According to one study, the sales of physical comic books in the United States grew from $715 million in 2011 to $2.16 billion in 2022. Comics have been an integral part of popular culture for nearly a century. A huge number of comics are still being printed, covering a wide range of genres. Comics in digital format are also very popular.
The three comics on display in Birr Library tell three Leinster Regiment stories. One of them is about Private Martin Moffat who won a VC in Ledegem Belgium in October 1918. The artwork is highly skilled and dynamic, the first image portraying Moffat about to lob a grenade at a German position. “On October, 1918,” reads the opening blurb, “during the First World War, the Irish regiment, the 2nd Leinsters, was leading the attack on the German positions near Ledegem in Flanders. Out in front of the main body, Private Martin Moffat was attacking a strongly held house...” The story also features six Leinster men who are in military prison “on a petty charge.”
The Hornet story is about Sam, a mascot dog of the Leinsters in 1858 during the Indian Mutiny period. “The Leinster's first battalion had been raised in Canada as the Royal Canadians,” states the opening blurb, “and had just arrived in Aldershot, bringing their mascot, Sam, a large black labrador.” The Military Police tell the Royal Canadian men that having a dog is against the camp's standing orders. The Royal Canadians will have nothing of it. “Lay a hand on old Sam here,” warns one of them, “and we'll take you apart.”
The third comic tells the story of Sergeant John O'Neill of the Leinsters who won a VC in October 1918 for assaulting and capturing a German artillery position and charging and capturing a machine gun position.
Two of the stories are based on truth. Sadly, there was no mascot labrador called Sam during the Indian Mutiny period.

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