By Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook
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| Cover by Grandenetti |
"No Detour!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Joe Kubert
"Tanks Don't Cry!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Mort Drucker
"Nobody Owns a Medal!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jack Abel
PE: The various detours a duo of soldiers in WWII must take to get to their target is the focus of "No Detour!" Overly long and suffering from the "take a word and drive it in the ground" syndrome, I found myself losing patience with this story before too long. Kubert's art, as usual, is perfect. Amazing how he could make all these various characters stand out from each other. From Sgt. Rock on down to the stumblebums of "No Detour!", all seem to have distinctive features. "Tanks Don't Cry!" is an excessively sappy yarn about a soldier who's been told by his brothers that their modes of transportation (aircraft, battleship, etc.) are living, breathing entities that protect their occupants from the hells of war. This convinces our protagonist that his tank is every bit as lively but convincing his partner inside the tank is not so easy. Much better is "Nobody Owns a Medal!" which, while falling back on the by-now cliched catch phrase, shows how a "green" soldier can become a hero and a mentor in no time flat during war. A medal is simply something a soldier strives for but then, once gained, is held only until a "braver" man comes along.
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| "Tanks Don't Cry!" |
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| Cover by Grandenetti |
"Bazooka for a Mouse"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Joe Kubert
"Rendezvous for a Fort!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
"The Second Champ"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Mort Drucker
"Don't Look Back!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath
PE: One of the best stories I've yet read on this war-torn journey is "Bazooka for a Mouse," a very taut six-page suspenser about a "Mouse" (a single G.I.) armed with a bazooka and the Germans who come to St. Croix to put him out of commission. Bob Haney works wonders with such a small amount of space, milking every bit of suspense for what it's worth and delivering a genuine surprise in the end. Believing the "mouse" to be out of ammo, the arrogant German tank soldier stops to take a picture of the American soldier before blasting him, only to find that American ingenuity can go a long way on the battlefield. Haney had a very prolific month in September 1959, placing eleven (out of a possible sixteen!) scripts in the war titles, outnumbering Bob Kanigher almost four to one. That won't last. Could be Kanigher was taking a vacation but more likely he was busy scripting Wonder Woman (which he also edited for 20 years) and attending to his duties as editor of the Big Five. Another fabulous cover painting by Jerry Grandenetti.
JS: I'm glad you mentioned the cover. Have we seen paintings before? I don't recall paintings on comic book covers before Charlton in the mid-'70s. This one is impressive. "Rendezvous for a Fort!" is another air battle story drawn by Ross Andru, who seems to have a knack for drawing jets. The P-38 in this story is a pretty cool plane. "Don't Look Back!" is another one of those stories where they repeat a phrase over and over. This issue is unusual in that it features four short stories instead of one long one and two short ones.
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| Cover by Heath |
"Tank 711"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Joe Kubert
"Last Ride for a Mustang!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath
"Bring Up the Bazooka!"
Story by Hank Chapman
Art by Jack Abel
PE: Nicky Anderson, a member of Sgt. Rock's Easy Company, is one tough cookie to please. He's convinced Easy Company does all the work with no outside help. When Easy is cornered by a Nazi tank, Nicky's viewpoint is put to the test. A very nicely done installment of Sgt. Rock, "Tank 711" veers its attention away from main event Rock and lets us get to know another member of Easy. Not having read any of these stories before, I'm curious if these supporting characters make return appearances or if they fade into the background, never to be heard from again. Bob Haney slides behind Boss Kanigher's typewriter without nary a misthrown pineapple.
JS: Middling Kubert is still better than a host of other comic book artists. The guy should open a school!
PE: Equally good is Haney's "Last Ride for a Mustang," with jaw-dropping aerial battles courtesy of the pencil of Russ Heath. It's pilot Hal's 50th mission, the mark that spells "retirement" for an ace, and his buddies Ed and Sam are adamant that Hal will survive this journey, thanks to their cover. Ironically, it turns out that Sam and Ed are in need of back-up and Hal's final mission is a tough one. Haney and Heath prove that, given the right chemistry, magic can be produced despite (or maybe because of) a five and a half page brevity. "Bring Up the Bazooka" deals with the troubles soldiers have finding the right range with their weapons. Some targets are too close, some too far. As someone who has not only never fought but never been around weapons, I found this to be an interesting little enlightener. In the movies, you're led to believe that you simply have to load the bazooka and you're a winner. Ain't necessarily so, says Hank Chapman. Jack Abel proves to be an exemplary substitute for Kubert.
JS: This story is definitely above-average from Abel, though I thought the title referred to what you tell a kid who has swallowed his chewing gum.
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| Cover by Grandenetti |
"Blind Gunner"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Jerry Grandenetti
"Ace -- Minus One!"
Story by Hank Chapman
Art by Mort Drucker
"Tanks on the Hour!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath
JS: In this issue's Gunner and Sarge story, "Blind Gunner," Sarge assigns a dog named Billy to partner with Gunner on patrol. Although Billy seems to be a real sweet pooch who saves Gunner's life repeatedly, Gunner is an ingrate and tries to get rid of him. When Gunner is blinded in a tank attack, Billy saves him yet again, but Sarge thinks it was all Gunner's doing and reassigns the poor puppy. I am a big dog lover and I liked Billy best of any of the characters in this story. He just did not get the appreciation he deserved. Gunner, Sarge and their mates are a bunch of bozos. And what is such a nice dog doing in the middle of the War in the Pacific?
JS: In "Ace--Minus One!" fighter pilot Captain Banner just needs to down one more plane over Korea to be considered an ace. When the enemy gets wind of this, he becomes a target and is soon shot down himself. In an odd twist of fate, he steals an enemy jet to fly home and ends up targeted by his own men! Before long, though, he shoots down his fifth plane and is now an ace. Finally, "Tanks on the Hour!" features more of those methodical Nazis whose plans go awry when they hew too closely to the clock and become predictable in their tank attacks on some GIs. The clever Yanks fight back a few minutes before the clock strikes, taking the Germans by surprise. So much for planning and organization!
PE: I liked "Ace--Minus One," primarily for its Mort Drucker art, especially that claustrophobic sequence where Captain Banner realizes he's about to be shot down by a batch of Korean migs (reprinted above). Again, I'm impressed by just how cinematically the action is storyboarded. Drucker, however, seems to lose the handle on Banner's facial features (in one panel, he resembles Richard Nixon, in another Curly Joe from The Three Stooges!), which can be a bit confusing at times. Drucker's Korean jet pilot immediately brings to mind one of the fabulous characters he'd produce for Mad. "Tanks on the Hour!" comes off as nothing more than a fragment, saved only by the usual stellar art of Russ Heath.
JS: Peter, can you recall a single story yet that did not involve 1) WWII, 2) the Korean War, 3) Nazis, or 4) Japanese? I know they were timely but weren't there a few other wars in the thousands of years of human history? Not to mention Fascists in Italy?
PE: I think Kanigher might have felt the youngsters out there might not know much about the Civil War or The War of 1812 while The Big War and Korea were not too far in the past. I'd wager that's your answer, Jack. Perhaps someday when we're very old and grey, and looking in the rear view mirror at this blog, we might visit the EC war comics. You'll find plenty of variety in those pages.
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| From "Tanks on the Hour!"--that's supposed to be an overhead view of a smoky scene but the proportions look all wrong! |
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| Cover by Irv Novick |
"Human Air Raid!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Jerry Grandenetti
"Flattop Mosquito!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath
"Who's Left?"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jack Abel
PE: I'll not waste much time on the Mademoiselle Marie installment as I've already noted I think it a waste of precious paper other than to say that, call me a nut, I couldn't get Patty Hearst out of my mind while viewing Marie mow down Nazis with her machine gun. Pretty cool trick Mlle. and her freedom fighters pull by jumping off a cliff and pulling their parachute cords "a few yards above the train." Try that sometime, without splattering.
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| Zee Fronch Fud ees a beet gassy, no? |
PE: "Flattop Mosquito" begins interestingly enough as a new fighter pilot lands his jet aboard a battleship and stands stunned by its size. The story, unfortunately, quickly grows tedious as the pilot continually compares himself to a "mosquito" in proportion to the carrier and then, predictably, becomes its sole savior when he averts a kamikaze attack. Our finale, "Who's Left," has something of a rarity for these code-approved comics: American casualties. Granted, the deaths are "off screen" but it's evident by the touching final panel (the surviving G.I. saluting his fallen comrades' ghostly images in the sky) that life has been lost here.
JS: In "Who's Left?" a G.I. keeps asking the title question as the members of his platoon are wiped out one by one until he finds that the answer is himself alone. A nice story with a positive message.
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| You tell 'em, Battle Doll! |
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