While relatively common in recent times, series and recurring characters were rarely seen in the early years of Commando. One of the first examples of a character appearing in more than a single story is that of Major Simon Harcourt-Blythe, a British Army officer, also known as the Warrior Monk.
Bare-footed and armed with a staff of bamboo, the Warrior Monk was highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts. As a holy man, he was often overlooked and underestimated by the unsuspecting Japanese. The two stories take place in Burma and in India.
The duology was first published as issue numbers 2517 and 2537, in November 1991 and in January 1992. A subsequent reprint saw the Warrior Monk reappear in issue numbers 3982 and 3983 in February 2007.
2517/3982 The Warrior Monk
He was a bare-footed, wandering monk, a loose robe hanging on his shoulders, a bamboo staff in his hand. The Japanese hardly gave him a second glance . . . which was exactly the way he wanted it.
For this monk nursed a secret which could change the very course of the war in this area of Burma . . . and this was something the Japanese could never be allowed even to suspect.
2537/3983 Hero In Disguise
The man drifted down silently, so far behind Japanese lines that it amounted to suicide. He landed expertly and calmly disposed of the parachute, then stepped out of his dark overalls . . . to reveal the robes of a wandering holy man.
It seemed that Major Simon Harcourt-Blythe, British Army officer, deadly warrior monk, was about to wage his own special brand of war on the enemy again . . .
