Star Spangled DC War Stories Part 14: July 1960 / Best And Worst Thus Far

By Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook

Jerry Grandenetti

 Star Spangled War Stories 91

"The Train of Terror!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

"Cry 'Wolf' Mission!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath

"Iron Cross vs. Bronze Star!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jack Abel

Peter: Jack's a happy man because Mademoiselle Marie is back! This time our French freedom doll contends with a dwindling supply of ammo but her nemesis, Commandant Von Ekt, is scrambling her transmissions to the allies. When the Americans become alarmed, they send in Marie's beau, Allan, to find out what's going on. Von Ekt, anticipating every move, has a team of Nazis waiting for the pair at the drop. At this point, both our heroes are loaded onto "The Train of Terror," loaded with explosives and heading just past the base where the Germans are stashing their brand new Super-Dreadnought tanks. Allan and Marie take command of the tank and force it off the tracks at the base. The train and the tanks all go up in a beautiful fireworks display and the two are left alone to wonder what weel happen to zem after zee war. More and more, I'm loosening up when it comes to this series. I couldn't stand it at the start but I've come to appreciate its charms. Perhaps it's because Marie dispenses with catch phrases and just goes about her business of blasting Nazis into Hell. I will say, though, that Andru and Esposito are in no way a substitution for Mort Drucker. Alas, this would be the French Doll's last headliner and it'll be another two years before she shows up in a supporting role (in a Sgt Rock story in Our Army at War #115, February 1962). That's the sound of Jack Seabrook closing the door on the DC war books in disgust.

"The Train of Terror!"

Jack: Mon Dieu! As Marie says to the spineless French in this episode: "What are you? Soldiers of France? Or schoolchildren!" One weird thing about this story is that every word is spelled out in ALL CAPS except Marie, which is not (most of the time). It makes it look like they mixed up her name and had to go back and erase and fill it in. Maybe they thought that writing it as "Marie" when EVERY OTHER WORD WAS ALL CAPS made it seem exotic or foreign. One thing I can say for sure is that Ross Andru and Mike Esposito will not be inducted into the Good Girl Art Hall of Fame. Marie looks about 12 years old.

Peter: Frogman Davy finds lots of traps waiting for him when he's sent to blow up a sub. One of the traps explodes in Davy's face and he's sent up top, where he's rescued. When Davy returns with fellow frogman (and brother) Ben, they find nothing on the ocean bottom but a sub lying in wait. They quickly blow up the sub and head back to their ship. There, Davy is accused of "crying wolf" and mocked by the other men. Was the young frogman victim of oxygen deprivation, as his compadres claim? An involving story ruined by an awkward expository final panel but overshadowed by nice Russ Heath visuals. I prefer Heath in the air, so to speak, but this underwater adventure finds the artist at top form.

"Cry 'Wolf' Mission!"

Jack: At one point, enemy frogmen try to lasso our heroes underwater with barbed wire. Is that even possible? It seems like the laws of physics don't always apply in DC underwater adventures.

Peter: Two decorated warriors, one a Nazi, the other an American GI, face each other in a battle of wills and strategy. "Iron Cross vs. Bronze Star" is another of those "split-screen stories" the war titles were seemingly drowning in. By now almost a cliche, we see the perspective of the war from both angles but our side always wins. I get that. What ten year-old wants to read about a Nazi getting the better of a GI? Jack Abel seems to have gotten a bit of inspiration from Joe Kubert. A couple of the panels (in particular, that Mitchum-esque shot reprinted below) look taken right out of one of Kubert's Sgt. Rock fables.

Jack: I had the same thought, but Abel's art is so inconsistent that he'll do a few good panels and then follow them with a clunker. Haney's writing is good here, especially at the end.

Peter: Sgt. Rock addresses a concern I've had for several years: the exact cyclic rate of fire of the M2 carbine. For the record, I'm glad to see Rock's calculations are close to mine (750-775 rounds per minute).

Jack: He also informs a reader that "it isn't only the size of the gun that counts." Naughty, naughty Sgt. Rock.

Jerry Grandenetti and Jack Adler

 GI Combat 82

"Get Off My Back!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Irv Novick

"The Rope Fighters!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jerry Grandenetti

"Bird Dog for a Tank!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jack Abel

Jack: In "Get Off My Back!" a young soldier who plays clarinet in a band on the back of a truck to entertain the troops is suddenly pulled off the truck and handed a machine gun. The enemy is close and every man's help is needed, even if the man is young and inexperienced--"buzzard bait," as the sergeant calls him. There is no time to train, as learning on the job is the order of the day. The young soldier experiences shelling, Nazis, and a tank before he makes it through to the next day, when the sergeant tells him he's a vet now and finally asks his name. Is this a new series? It calls itself a "front-line story." It's pretty good, despite the repetition of "buzzard bait" over and over and over.

"Get Off My Back!"

Peter: I thought it was a mite bit predictable and the Sarge's transformation from gruff bully with a sneer to a soldier's best pal at the end was a bit too abrupt. Irv Novick's art is about as bland as it gets, somewhere between the lows of Jack Abel and the highs of Russ Heath.

Jack: A young soldier and a gruff sergeant are tied together as they confront Nazis in mountainous terrain in "The Rope Fighters!" The young fella thinks he can do it all himself and that he doesn't need to be linked to the sergeant, but age and wisdom once again prove correct and the younger man learns the value of connections. I have never seen this type of fighting before and it's interesting. The two soldiers do some impressive maneuvers using rocks and rope. However, when the young one falls off of a rope bridge, the sergeant turns into Superman as he grabs the rope with one hand, supporting the other soldier who is suspended in mid air, and then ties their ropes together as the other man hangs there! Now that's a feat of strength and knot-tying.

Peter: Here's one of the times I didn't mind Jerry Grandenetti's art. Yep, it's crude and appears rushed and unfinished, but it goes with the setting. The story reads almost like a remake of "Get Off My Back": youngster ridden by gruff Sarge until he makes good and then they're sharing a horse and riding off into the sunset.

"The Rope Fighters!"

Jack: Will Masters was a good hunter back home, but his Pa reminded him that every hunter is only as good as his dog, since the pooch shows him where the game is. Months later, Will is a soldier in France, flushing out Nazis to allow a tank to take shots at them. Instead of the hunter, he is now "Bird Dog for a Tank!" Jack Abel turns in an above-average job on this six-pager.

"Bird Dog for a Tank!"

Peter: It's ironic that the hunter who once relied on his dog is now effectively the dog, but "Bird Dog For a Tank" is extremely outlandish at times and asks us to believe that everything could go right for this guy despite his foolish risks. One incident may end with the kid on top but three times is pushing the credibility limit to bursting. I do agree that Abel is at the top of his abilities with this story. See how I phrased that sentence?

Joe Kubert

Our Army at War 96

"Last Stand for Easy!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Joe Kubert

"Bring Back Your Ship!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

"Two Men--One Hill!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Mort Drucker

Peter: In "Last Stand for Easy," Sgt. Rock finds it tough to dole out missions to his men, wanting to take all the risks himself. This doesn't sit well with his C.O., who tries to convince Rock that the war can't be won unless men like him are around to lead the grunts. After Rock is wounded in a tank explosion, he's reduced to pencil pushin' back at headquarters, but a cushy job is not in the cards when the Germans attack the base and Rock is forced to fight tanks off with a bazooka. All ends well when Rock puts the last Tiger in the ground, as his C.O. exclaims, "If you keep Rock away from the war--it comes lookin' for him!" The Kanigher/Kubert machine just keeps on rollin', pumping out enjoyable nail-biters like this one.  This issue's Roll Call: Introducing Easy Company's No. 1 scout, Mel Austin and Rock's second in command, Corporal (Alfie) Alfred.

"Last Stand for Easy!"

Jack: Two other soldiers are introduced but killed off right away--Nick and Sammy. I begin to wonder if the reason we never see repeat soldiers is because they all die in between issues. But how can that be true if Sgt. Rock is such a great leader?

Lt. Dobbs was forlorn when he realized his
comrades had written on his cockpit window

Peter: No one disputes that Lt. Dobbs is an ace, but he's becoming a very expensive pilot as he's lost three (or maybe four, depending on whom you listen to) planes while downing enemy aircraft. His Admiral commands Dobbs to get back up in the air but "Bring Back Your Ship!" While in an aerial battle with Japanese Zeros, he's once again shot down but, luckily, the enemy decides to fish him out of the water and take him prisoner. Dobbs overpowers the pilot and takes command of the Zero. Unfortunately, Dobbs finds out quick that he can't contact his carrier and the other Zero pilots are on to him. Luckily, when he approaches the battleship, the other Zeros are blown to bits but our hero is allowed to land. I'd love to hear the explanation the Admiral gives for allowing a Japanese plane, ostensibly heading in to a battleship as a kamikaze, to land on their deck. And the Japanese were obviously horrendous fighters as Dobbs easily overpowers a man with a gun from below the surface of the sea! A really dumb story made even more annoying by the monotonous drone of "Bring Back Your Ship!" I picture a DC World War II landscape where these characters who constantly mouth these catch phrases bump into each other on the battlefield and have no idea what they're saying. Hilarious that the Admiral scolds Dobbs for just losing his third plane and then goes on to relate how he lost his previous three planes. Huh? 3 + 1= 3. No wonder the guy let a Zero land on his deck.

Jack: For an Andru & Esposito story, this was not bad. I especially liked the Japanese characters that were supposed to represent the speech of the enemy pilots. I wonder if they actually say anything. Can anyone read Japanese?

"Two Men--One Hill!"

Peter: After a simultaneous drop of paratroopers, two men, one Nazi and one American (stop me if you've heard this one before) fight for control of the precious Hill 39. There's not much to this story, just another lesson in why Americans were much tougher than Nazis in the war. Our GI, a green youngster, somehow escapes death several times and then manages to overpower his counterpart, a seasoned German warrior. It makes no sense, I know, but it looks good. I keep expecting Mort Drucker to sneak in a "Post No Bills" sign on one of the Nazi helmets but alas, no luck yet.

Jack: Once again, soldiers are shooting machine guns at each other as they fall through the air supported by parachutes, yet there seems to be no recoil. At least there were some realistic touches in this story, such as the wind pulling the soldiers around on the ground while their parachutes were still attached.

Peter: We joke sometimes about the letters and answers on the Sgt. Rock's Combat Corner page, but Stan Rybel of Bethlehem, PA, asks "Could you give me some information about the Air Force plane known as The Scorpion?" and Rock answers: "The F-89A Scorpion is one of the Air Force's deadliest defensive weapons. It has radar to seek out, and fire power to rip apart, any bomber in the sky. It is able to operate on one of its two jet engines, if necessary, and can dive vertically from nearly eight miles under perfect control. It has a speed of 600 mph, a range of over 800 miles, and a ceiling of over 45,000 feet. The Scorpion carries a bomb load of sixteen five-inch rockets and an armament of six 20-mm cannons, which gives it plenty of sting." Seriously, you're learning something new reading a comic book! Does that happen every day?



We somehow managed to forget our time-honored tradition of picking the best and worst stories of the year so we'll kind of make up for that here. The following are our picks for the Best and Worst Script, Art and All-Around Story for the first 14 months we've covered:

Peter

Best Script: Bob Haney, "The Toy Jet" (All-American Men at War 78)
Best Art: Russ Heath, "A Sarge is Ten Feet Tall" (Our Army at War 88)
Best All-Around Story: "The Toy Jet"

Worst Script: Robert Kanigher, "Just One More Tank" (All-American Men at War 76)
Worst Art: Bob Forgione/Jack Abel "Rearguard" (Our Army at War 90)
Worst All-Around Story: Robert Kanigher/Jerry Grandenetti
                                        "My Pal, the Pooch" (Our Fighting Forces 50)

Jack

Best Script: Robert Kanigher, "3 Stripes Hill!" (Our Army at War 90)
Best Art: Joe Kubert, "Deliver One Airfield!" (Our Army at War 93)
Best All-Around Story: "3 Stripes Hill!"

Worst Script: Bob Haney, "High Water Mark!" (G.I. Combat 78)
Worst Art: Jerry Grandenetti, "The Last Patrol" (Our Fighting Forces 55)
Worst All-Around Story: "The Last Patrol"