In the seventies it was practically a requirement that boys in the UK were dragged off to have their hair butchered in a grubby barber just off the main road. You would walk into a small room full of old men sitting around listening as the barber held court, occasionally turning from the hair he was hacking off to talk about the state of the nation's roads, the stupidity of politicians and how young people don't know how lucky they are. The only highlight in this ritual was the stack of Commando books tucked in with all the Readers Digest and Country Lifes. I would sit there, reading these small comic books as I waited for my turn to get a terrible haircut alongside my brothers.

Now I've noticed on my latest trips to the barber that these small books with the iconic dagger on the back have returned so I decided to check them out and I was pleasantly surprised to discover all the old elements that made them so enjoyable are still there but there are some differences. For a start I remember the old books very rarely strayed beyond the first and second world wars whereas these new titles went to the Napoleonic wars and beyond.