The DC War Comics 1959-1976
By Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook
By Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook
Joe Kubert and Jack Adler |
"The T.N.T. Trio!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
"A Fort Called Lucky!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Irv Novick
Peter: My least favorite threesome, Little Al, Big Al, and Charlie Cigar, now dubbed "The TNT Trio," are sent by their CO to find the enemy's secret weapon. After fumbling and bumbling their way through several misadventures, they stumble upon the payload: an underground bunker housing missiles aimed at the Allied troops. With a little luck and a whole lot of pineapples, The TNT Trio save life and limb and remain unbeaten. If any series could make a reader pine for Gunner, Sarge, and Pooch, it's The TNT Stooges, an utterly inane and unoriginal concept replayed over and over. "Isn't that right, Little Al?" "Oh, I don't know. What do you think, Charlie Cigar?" I'm convinced that this series was Kanigher's DC war answer to Jerry Lewis films (all the rage at the time), what with the crazy antics and slant-eyed buck-toothed stereotypes screaming "BANZAI!" Extra credit for inanity this time out for the scene where Charlie and Big Al shove Little Al in a lead pipe and roll him down a hill towards a tank. Or maybe my favorite scene was where Big Al was athletic enough to leap from one side of a river to the other without touching water. If I write to the address provided by DC, asking if we want more TNT Trio, will they listen? Huh? Will they, Jack?
"The T.N.T. Trio!" |
Peter: A squadron is saddled with "A Fort Called Lucky," an old bomber they'd rather have been sent to mothballs. After being strafed by enemy fire, the men must abandon ship and hoof it in the desert. Just as an enemy tank nears, the men see the flying fortress (still airborne) heading towards them. In an incredible (some would say impossible) stroke of luck, the ship not only lands safely in the desert but right where the men need her most. With the arms and bombs aboard, they're able to take out the Nazis and drink a toast to "Lucky Lady." A wildly implausible tale, I would think. I've not only never been in a war, I've never flown a plane but could someone in the know tell me how this damaged plane would fly around in circles and then make a perfect landing in the sand without going BLANG! WHAM! BAM!? Irv Novick's no Russ Heath but at least he's no Andru/Esposito either so the art is passable.
"A Fort Called Lucky!" |
Joe Kubert |
"The Big Star!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Joe Kubert
"Green Apple Ace!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jack Abel
"Frogman Fury!"
Story by Hank Chapman
Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
Jack: Freddy Miller of Easy Co. puzzles Rock due to his penchant for staring at the sky, at leaves, at butterflies, and so on. Rock wonders if he'll have what it takes when the chips are down. He finds out when Freddy is the last man left to defend a narrow pass against oncoming Nazi forces. Miller holds them off single-handedly and wins the Congressional Medal of Honor--aka "The Big Star!"-- for his bravery. Rock later finds himself in a similar situation when he is pinned down by a heavy wooden beam after lighting the fuse on a bundle of dynamite about to blow up a bridge. Lucky for him, a blast from a Nazi tank blows him to safety and the bridge goes up in flames above him.This is a great story about courage and the way that one can't tell how one will react in a crisis until it happens. Why can't the TNT Trio be more like this?
"The Big Star!" |
Jack: Lt. Frank Wells is the first member of his flying squadron to arrive at an air base in WWI. Just then, a squadron of 20 enemy planes, led by the German Ace Von Halder, flies overhead and Von Halder drops a glove, challenging the Americans to an air battle. Wells does not want the Germans to know his mates have not yet arrived, so the "Green Apple Ace!" hops in his biplane and takes to the sky, challenging and defeating one plane at a time until the rest of his squadron swoops in to save the day just in the nick of time. Jack Adler continues his rebirth in this exciting story, which features plenty of cool WWI flying battle action!
"Green Apple Ace!" |
"Frogman Fury!" |
Peter: I got the same feeling with this one that I got with "A Fort Called Lucky!" It's an exiting but highly outlandish yarn with better art than we should expect from Andru and Esposito.
Joe Kubert |
"The Frogman and the Dinosaur!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
"Ghost Ace!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jack Abel
Peter: A group of frogmen are stranded when their ship is attacked by giant monsters from the dinosaur age. They dispatch the critters with the help of some floating mines and surface just in time to take part in "the attack." Are these dino-stories set around the same island (this time identified as Lava Island) or has the entire Pacific been invaded by dinosaurs? I'm assuming that pretty soon some rules will be adopted and adhered to since, by this point, the entire US military should know something weird's going on out there.
"The Frogman and the Dinosaur!" |
Peter: After shooting down the infamous German Von Richter from the skies, an American World War I pilot is haunted by the ace's ghost plane. A really exciting, stirring tale right up to the part where we get the Scooby Doo explanation (Von Richter staged his own death so that he could come back and erode our hero's sanity until he was vulnerable enough to shoot down!). Bob Haney may have been shy about introducing the supernatural into his war stories, unlike Bob Kanigher, so we get a hokey and improbable expository. Like Kanigher though, Haney loves those Enemy Aces.
"Ghost Ace!" |
No comments:
Post a Comment