Star Spangled DC War Stories Part 38: July 1962

The DC War Comics 1959-1976
by Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook

Russ Heath & Jack Adler

GI Combat 94

"The Haunted Tank vs. Killer Tank!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"No-Gun Crew!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Irv Novick


Peter: How is it that an unseen force is picking off Allied tanks without leaving a trace of its origin? The Haunted Tank finds itself on the menu for destruction when a voice over the com informs the men they will be destroyed in order of the number on their vehicle. The Jeb Stuart is No. 4 and the first three have blown sky high. It's only when a Nazi tank is discovered in a village with human shields and the No. 5 tank swivels its turret and prepares to fire that the Jeb catches on: the No. 5 had been hijacked by Nazis! The Jeb puts an end to the German trickery with a well-placed shell. The ghost of Jeb Stuart must have asked for a pay raise since he's only visible for a few panels this time out. The present day Jeb Stuart (since both human incarnations of the soldier and the tank itself are named Jeb Stuart, this can get confusing at times) has to rely on his wits and military training alone but the result is an exciting and, of course, beautifully drawn thriller. Yep, you guessed half way through "The Haunted Tank vs. Killer Tank" what was going on (it was pretty evident when the No. 5 went missing for a bit and then all this hell started breaking lose after she'd come back) but it didn't put a crimp in the fun, did it? This could have easily been a non-Haunted Tank story.

Jack: As usual, you're smarter than I am, since I did not guess what was going on until Jeb figured it out. I prefer Joe Kubert's art over Russ Heath's, but I'll admit that Heath's work is nearly always excellent, and this story is no exception. I did not miss seeing more of the ghost at all. I'm glad modern-day Jeb didn't have to pass out this time, though telling straightforward stories kind of takes the "haunted" out of the Haunted Tank.

Peter: Three graduates from Naval gunnery school have quite the reputation as sharpshooters. Nicknamed "Kaintucky," "Texas," and "Brooklyn," the trio must fight aversion from their comrades at sea until an attack on their ship from sea and air forces them to show how good they really are. The first couple pages of "No-Gun Crew" resemble nothing we've seen before on our journey. It's almost as though these two pages were reprinted from a 1940s war comic; the art is unrecognizable. Then it starts to settle down a bit (although I still would not have been able to identify Novick as the culprit) and it rests itself comfortably alongside dozens of other mediocre "war buddy" stories. The problem I have with stories like this (and I'll pull a 180 with my feelings about these kinds of stories when we get to "Stars and Stripes and Swastikas" in this month's Star Spangled so you're allowed to snicker at me if you like) is that, at no point do I feel that any one of the trio is in any danger despite strafings from Zeros and direct hits from torpedoes. The battleship they're traveling on is engulfed in flames and yet they nonchalantly climb back aboard to man their weapon. A rare all-Kanigher issue finds Bob batting .500. Not too bad.

"No-Gun Crew!"

Jack: The weird art lasts exactly one panel, as Novick seems to be drawing likenesses of real people from photographs. I have no idea if they are old movie stars, but that's what I thought when I saw it. After that, it looks like all-Novick to me. This story was entertaining but run of the mill, and I always wonder how these soldiers can fire guns at oncoming planes and not get killed. Wouldn't the plane reach them in a matter of seconds if it was close enough to shoot at?

Jerry Grandenetti

Our Army at War 120

"Battle Tags for Easy Co.!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Joe Kubert

"The Fort Had a Heart!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath

Jack: Easy Co. is under heavy enemy fire while trying to take Hill 13, so named because 12 other companies died trying to conquer it. Rock is minding a new recruit who is on the verge of panicking, and the veteran knows that if one man panics it could spread throughout the entire company. Our favorite sergeant starts to tell the young man about the secret origins of some of the "Battle Tags for Easy Co.!" and explains how three soldiers got their nicknames. Ice Cream Soldier joined in North Africa and hated the heat but was as cool as ice cream when he used a bazooka to destroy an enemy tank on a frozen lake after a freak snowstorm. Wild Man spent so long lying in bed reading that he grew a long beard, but when he first went after the enemy he surprised everyone by fighting like a wild man. Bulldozer was an over sized gent whose clothes never fit but who barreled into the enemy like a bulldozer. Sgt. Rock's tales keep the new recruit distracted until the shelling stops and, when the young man single handedly destroys an enemy tank, he is nicknamed Green Apple because he gave the enemy indigestion! Little by little, Easy Co. is becoming more than just Sgt. Rock and a bunch of interchangeable soldiers. The development of a team of war heroes is probably a reflection of the popularity of DC's Justice League series, where superheroes were joined together to form a team.

"Battle Tags for Easy Co.!"

Peter: Though it only clocks in at 14.5 pages, this entry has the feel of an epic full-issue size story. There's a lot of interesting backstory packed into its brief length and I'm hoping its a tease of things to come. I love the mini-origins of some of the Easy boys, something I've been requesting for quite a while. Kanigher got smart, it seems, and realized that this squad needs personality rather than blurred faces in the background. The eye-opener here is that, if we're to believe the hints dropped, Rock is not the Sarge's surname but a "tag." One question that plagued me during the sequence when Green Apple truly becomes a member of Easy: wouldn't Rock have riddled him with machine-gun rounds when the kid ran right in front of his spray?

Jack: The U.S. fliers love the Saucy Lady, a flying fort that seems to have a mind of its own and saves them from Nazi planes time and again. After a bombing run, the Lady is forced to land in Nazi territory and the crew makes its escape, leaving the plane to the enemy. Soon, the Lady is back in the air, but this time it's being flown by Nazis and the U.S. fighters are hesitant to attack their favorite plane, thinking that "The Fort Had a Heart!" No attack is necessary, though, since the Lady remains faithful to the Allied cause and dive-bombs into some Nazi fighter planes just in the nick of time, destroying them and itself in the process. Russ Heath's art is the highlight of this lightweight story, where there are no surprises.

"The Fort Had a Heart!"

Peter: This is the format we need: 2 tales of longer length rather than three short stories. There's more room for our war writers to play with their characters, to actually give them a history and make the reader interested in them. Luckily, three out of four of our titles this month follow this strategy. The Heath art is gorgeous as always and "The Fort Had a Heart" is one of those quasi-supernatural stories I really dig (especially that eerie last panel--reprinted above). Kudos to Haney for not explaining the mystery and leaving it up to us to decide.

Jerry Grandenetti

Our Fighting Forces 69

"Destination Doom!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Jerry Grandenetti

"Last Chance for a Frogman!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Jack Abel

"T.N.T. Mailman!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Joe Kubert

Jack: Gunner, Sarge and Pooch survive an attack on their assault boat and destroy a Japanese mini sub and an attacking zero before holding off multiple Banzai charges on the beach. Colonel Hakawa tells his men that they must first distract the Marines and then attack. Unfortunately, his men tend to jump the gun and yell "Banzai" in excitement before he finishes explaining his plans. The Colonel's planes drop messages to the Marines and the papers burst into flames, singing the Marines's hands and making it difficult for them to fire their machine guns during another Banzai attack. Gunner's foot gets caught in a rope trailing from a Japanese plane and he is dragged through air and sea before destroying the aircraft. He requisitions a Japanese boat and returns safely to base. It seems like Jerry Grandenetti's art rises or falls to the occasion depending on the story he's illustrating. In "Destination Doom!" he's at his stylized worst (for 1962), unlike his story in this month's Star Spangled War Stories.

Colonel Hakawa's men are so much fun!

Peter: "Destination: Dumb" is more like it. What we learned from this one:

1/ Pooch is so smart he can shut a submarine hatch just like that!
2/ Sniff--Sniff = "We're about to be attacked, boys!"
3/ Arf--Arf--Arfff! = "We're about to be attacked from the sea, boys!"
4/ Arf--Arf-- = " I got me a feeling that's Gunner manning that Jap ship, Sarge, don't shoot!"
5/ Jerry Grandenetti's art is the pits.
6/ The same colorist that dumped all kinds of red on Johnny Cloud bought into that Yellow Peril myth big time.
7/ We're wasting time reading this tripe.

"Last Chance for a Frogman!"

Jack: The commander of the Japanese ship Tagawa is wanted by the Allied Forces because he has destroyed so many subs. When a frogman discovers his ship, he reads a message painted on the hull telling him that there are American POWs aboard. Loath to destroy the ship and kill his fellow soldiers, the frogman figures out a way to lure the boat over a sunken sub, thus ripping a hole in its hull and allowing the prisoners to swim to freedom. He then plants a depth charge inside the ship and, when the pressure mounts, the ship is destroyed. A tense and exciting little story with above-average art from Jack Abel, "Last Chance for a Frogman!" succeeds in five and a half pages where Gunner and Sarge failed in twelve and a half.

Peter: The art's not great but the story's a nail-biter and I loved the ingenuity the frogman used to rip a hole in the Tagawa.

Example #1 of why we love Kubert

Jack: Charlie Company is pinned down in the snow by Von Krull's men, but the captain sits writing a letter instead of giving orders! Little does Von Krull know that the captain will be a "T.N.T. Mailman!" by the time the fight is over. The letter tells the story of the first time these two met, when Von Krull used a sandstorm as cover to dig up mines and attack Charlie Co. To Von Krull's surprise, Charlie learned a lesson and pulls the same trick under cover of snow. In the end, Von Krull is captured and the captain's letter is delivered in person. Wow! What a great story. This is as good as Joe Kubert's art gets inside a comic book and there are panels that could be collected in a "best of" collection.

Peter: This one's a big-time winner from first panel to last. I'd have loved to see "T.N.T. Mailman" benefit from a 14-page length (and Kanigher wasted twelve and a half on Pooch and Hakawa) but maybe it's the brevity that pushes this one into Top Ten of the Year status; there's nothing wasted on its lean bones. A classic showdown between Von Krull and a Captain who could easily be Sgt. Rock's little brother. I want a rematch!

Example #2

Example #3

Ross Andru & Mike Esposito

Star Spangled War Stories 103

"Doom at Dinosaur Island!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

"Stars and Stripes Against Swastikas!"
Story Uncredited
Art by Jerry Grandenetti

Peter: With a giant Japanese robot chasing them, Mac and his robot buddy Joe must face "Doom at Dinosaur Island!" The boys dodge flying reptiles and rockets from the giant's metal fingers before Joe saves the day by blinding the gargantuan with machine gun bursts. Well, there's not really much to say about this other than it's the first story in the history of "The War That Time Forgot" to carry over a story line from one issue to the next. That's something, ain't it? I haven't peeked ahead so I don't know how long the Mac and Joe series lasts but it needs a new hook fast.

Jack: I liked the giant robot and, especially, its machine-gun fingers! This series is bringing out the kid in me. The Andru-Esposito art looks like all other Andru-Esposito art and the stories are repetitive, but there is something about the relationship between Mac and Joe, his robot buddy, that appeals to me. I like the way Joe is starting to seem like a sentient being.

"Doom at Dinosaur Island!"

"Stars and Stripes Against Swastikas!"

Peter: In the 1938 Olympics, the Nazis demolish the Americans in a downhill skiing competition (and they don't do it with grace, we hasten to add). Flash forward five years and a German plane carrying top secret World War II-winning documents to Hitler is shot down on the same German mountain slopes where America suffered its most bitter defeat. Now, the same two teams that skied against each other in 1938 are once more bitter enemies as they race to the downed plane to salvage the black satchel bearing the secrets to total world domination. A game of see-saw commences as the papers pass from Good Guys (Us) to Bad Guys (Them) until a Nazi trick backfires and the Allies retrieve the black bag. I'm one to scream "Yeah right!" at the silly coincidences thrown at us in these war stories (and this one has possibly the biggest "Yeah Right" of them all) but I enjoyed "Stars and Stripes Against Swastikas" for what it is: mindless entertainment. Exciting and brainless like a James Bond film, and with an equally high body count. I would like to know how our last man standing survived point blank machine gun fire.

Jack: Yeah! Very cool snow scenes and action from Jerry Grandenetti! The black bag's contents don't matter--it's the back and forth between soldiers that counts in this action-packed tale. I am slowly starting to revise my opinion of Jerry Grandenetti's art. I nominate Bob Haney as author of this uncredited story--it seems like his work rather than that of Kanigher or Chapman.

IN OUR NEXT FLESH-FREEZING ISSUE!