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The DC War Comics
1959-1976 by Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook |
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| Kubert |
"Give Me Your Stripes!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Joe Kubert
"We Two Are One"
Story by Howard Liss
Art by John Calnan
Jack: Crusher Cole is the newest member of Easy Co. and he tells Sgt. Rock to "Give Me Your Stripes!" Raised in an orphanage and certain that no one cares about him, Crusher thinks that earning a sergeant's stripes will gain him immediate respect. He performs heroically in battle, destroying a Nazi bunker and then a Nazi plane with great shots from a bazooka, but his arrogance causes his fellows to give him the cold shoulder. In a battle to take a hill held by Nazis, Crusher is shot and killed; Sgt. Rock grabs his bazooka and finishes off the enemy, making a last good shot on behalf of the dead soldier.
The emotions are on the surface in this tear-jerker but the fighting is good. The splash page tells us that Crusher is going to get killed, so the only suspense in the story comes from waiting to see how it happens and how Rock will react. Sgt. Rock is an inspiring leader who knows how to handle a difficult soldier without losing his temper and without causing a good fighter to become discouraged.
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| "Give Me Your Stripes!" |
Peter: I used to look forward to the Rock stories more than any other series but now the great ones are few and far between. This one sinks under the tedium of Crusher's endless exclamations of "I'll get your stripes, Sarge!" Joe's art looks a little rushed as well. "We Two Are One!" lost me at the old helmet switcheroo and, unless I'm mistaken, that particular twist confused its creators as well. When the C.O. looks through his binocs, he sees "Mike Blaney," and yet he has "Joe Blaney" arrested for desertion. Howard Liss abandons intriguing characters and interesting story lines after so many high caliber tales in recent months but let's hope he finds his way back. On the letters page, future funny book writer Mike Friedrich confesses that he's never been much of a war comics fan and yet . . . Captain Hunter now ranks at #5 on his "list of favorite characters (behind four super-heroes)." In his massive missive, Friedrich bemoans the death of All American Men of War and suggests Kanigher initiate a new policy to take up the slack: two series characters in one title! Big Bob gives it some consideration and . . . well, stay tuned. Friedrich would begin writing stories for DC within a few years and his first war story, "SOS--Send Our Food" will arrive in Our Army at War #207 (June 1969).
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| Kubert |
"Blood Loyalty!"
Story by Howard Liss
Art by Jack Abel
"Secret of the Sergeant"
Story by Howard Liss
Art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito
Jack: Capt. Hunter and Lu Lin are traipsing through the jungle when they are taken prisoner by the Viet Cong. Some well-placed karate chops allow them to escape and they come upon a fort guarded by a green beret outfit. The young lieutenant in charge asks Capt. Hunter to take command and, during an attack by the Cong, Lu Lin notices her brother, whom she thought had joined the Cong. He tells her he's a spy who is waiting for the Cong to break in and take the fort.
Capt. Hunter leads the green berets in a brutal fight and Lu Lin turns in her brother, going against "Blood Loyalty!" The brother reveals that the Viet Cong are tunneling underground to come up in the fort, so Capt. Hunter and the lieutenant go through the tunnel backwards and surprise the enemy. When the fighting is done, Hunter allows Lu Lin's brother to leave, certain that the Viet Cong will deal with him appropriately.
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| "Blood Loyalty!" |
What is the "Secret of the Sergeant!" who seems hell bent on protecting his young recruit? It seems the sergeant's son was killed in a hunting accident at age ten and now the veteran sees his son in the young soldier. Time and again he saves the young man until, finally, the sergeant gives his own life in one last rescue. Liss comes through again and avoids the hokey approach Kanigher would have taken; amazingly, the art is even bearable.
Peter: The Captain Hunter story shows that my new favorite DC War writer could write inconsequential drivel just as well as Big Bob. Nothing in this installment furthers the main story line; we're just running in circles. Abel's depictions of Asians are outlandishly stereotypical. Seriously, how did Kanigher approve panels that show the Asians with teeth bigger than a beaver's? "Secret of the Sergeant!" is, of course, much better, but it's lesser Liss; sort of a Hank Chapman story as told by Howard Liss. I thought for sure, once we hear the G.I.s griping, that it would be revealed that the kid was the Sarge's son but, thankfully, that scenario was dispelled quickly. Interesting that Liss ends the story with the big question still up in the air; the kid never knows why the Sarge was looking after him.
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| Kubert |
"Who Dies Next?"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Irv Novick
"Finish It Upstairs!"
Story by Howard Liss
Art by Jack Abel
Peter: General Jeb Stuart (the ghost) returns to warn Lt. Jeb Stuart (the G.I.) that a member of the Jeb Stuart (the Haunted Tank) squad will die today. Shaken by this awful news, Jeb spends the rest of the day trying to decide which friend will join the Ghost Corps. as Nazi after Nazi launch brutal attacks. The waiting game drives Stuart to distraction as each man is attacked and survives--thus eliminating that soldier from the dead pool. In the end, it's the Jeb Stuart tank itself that meets its maker, going down in a blaze of glory, but the General lifts his descendant's spirits by reminding him it's only a piece of metal and can be replaced. I'm not sure what I liked less about "Who Dies Next?": Kanigher's lazy script or Irv's rushed pencils. I was having a problem with Lt. Jeb's skewed logic; he was convinced that as, one by one, his men had potshots taken at them, they were in the clear. Why couldn't have Arch or Slim or Rick been the victim of a second attack? I seem to be a bit more patient with Big Bob's meandering story lines when the visuals are provided by Russ Heath but perhaps I'm being too hard on Novick; his style and execution are adequate. The finale gives question to whether this strip should be renamed "The Haunted Lieutenant."
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| "Who Dies Next?" |
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| "Finish It Upstairs!" |
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| "Finish It Upstairs!" |
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| Kubert |
Sgt. Rock's 6 Battle Stars
80-Page All-Reprint Issue
"Target--Easy Company"
(Reprinted from Our Army at War #94, May 1960)
"The Ace of Vengeance!"
(Reprinted from All-American Men of War #88, December 1961)
"Blind Gunner"
(Reprinted from Our Fighting Forces #49, September 1959)
"Tank with Wings!"
(Reprinted from G.I. Combat #89, September 1961)
"U-Boat to Nowhere!"
(Reprinted from Star Spangled War Stories #86, October 1959)
"The Steel Trap"
(Reprinted from Star Spangled War Stories #88, January 1960)
Jack: I love 80-page giants! Especially when they cost 25 cents and have go go checks on the cover. This is a whopper of a collection that gives the reader a lot of fun for a quarter. I guess they had to top the previous one, which had five battle stars, though I'm not sure "Frogman" really counts. The comic is really jam packed with stories, and there are no ads inside the stories and only a handful of ads between them. Best of all is a text piece that fills in the bottom half of the last page of several stories; Kanigher provides capsule summaries of how several Easy Co. soldiers earned their nicknames.
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| Heath |
"Revenge of the Big Birds!"
Story by Howard Liss
Art by Russ Heath
"The Last Booby Trap!"
Story by Howard Liss
Art by Jack Abel
Peter: Tommy Smith returns to the dinosaur island he grew up on when his plane is (coincidentally) shot down by the Japanese. Tommy wastes precious little time before he's suited up in his Tarzan gear and rounding up the pterodactyls to make a mad dive at the Jap submarine that sits in the bay. Thanks to his winged brothers, Tommy is able to destroy the enemy sub and sails off with his human comrades, promising he'll return to dinosaur island some day. Would I sound like a dimwit if I said very little of this script makes sense but who cares? Tommy takes it personally when the Japanese shoot a few of his "winged brothers" out of the air but our hero has no problem mowing down lots of other dinos on the island. A bit of a double standard, methinks. Here's the difference between a Russ Heath-illustrated "War That Time Forgot" entry and one pumped out by Andru and Esposito . . . Well, that is the difference. Russ should have been illustrating this series all along. His monsters are fearsome and dynamic rather than silly and cuddly and Tommy Smith is a chiseled hero who can scream out "Now the second part of my plan--to drive the fish of metal from the cove!" with a simple SKEEEEE! Best of all, he doesn't have a college buddy hunting him and he's not a member of a traveling trapeze troupe. "Revenge of the Big Birds!" is a big dumb hunk of glee and I wish there was more to come but, unfortunately, Tommy hangs up his loincloth after this second adventure. Don't despair, though. There are only half a dozen chapters of WTTF left and the series is definitely going out on a high note. Stay tuned!
Jack: This is what the War That Time Forgot should have been all along! After a gorgeous cover that the GCD credits to Heath (though it also kind of looks like Kubert, neither artist signed it), we are treated to some very sharp art that includes some outstanding, oversized panels. One that shows dinosaurs looming over a Japanese sub is particularly impressive (reproduced further down below). I do love how Tommy immediately strips down to his tattered loincloth immediately on landing on the island! I wonder if he and Hawkman could converse in bird language? I recall Hawkman was pretty handy with "skree"!
Jack: You are right--this is an excellent, exciting, suspenseful tale with a downbeat ending. If only it had better art!
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| Kubert |
"Only 1 Medal for Easy!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath
"My Cockpit is a Cradle!"
Story by Hank Chapman
Art by Jack Abel
Jack: The C.O. gives Rock a medal to hand out along with a two day pass, but what's a sergeant to do when he has an entire company of deserving soldiers but "Only 1 Medal For Easy!" One by one, the men of Easy Co. perform heroic deeds and earn the medal, which they pass from one to another, while each of them postpones taking the two day pass. Finally, the medal ends up back with Rock, who has to put up with the C.O.'s complaining that he did not give it to anyone.
Russ Heath does his best with a story that is utterly predictable from about page two. As in this month's "Revenge of the Big Birds!" he treats us to some impressive large panels, but when Joe Kubert is away the absence is always noticeable.
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| "Only 1 Medal for Easy!" |
A lieutenant is blown out of his own plane by flak and thinks the plane and the rest of his crew were destroyed. He is assigned to pilot a scouting plane to photograph Nazi bases and laments that "My Cockpit is a Cradle!" because he thinks scout work is for babies. He has a change of heart when his plane is shot down and he parachutes into a hidden Nazi airfield, where he sees that his first plane was captured and is being readied for attack. He steals his old plane and flies off, bombing the airfield and some tanks for good measure and returning to base.
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| "My Cockpit is a Cradle!" |
Peter: "Only 1 Medal . . ." must have been one of the easiest stories Bob Kanigher ever wrote; it's a one-note joke stretched out to several pages with an absolutely predictable (albeit humorous) finale. I have the same complaint about Russ Heath's Rock: it doesn't look anything like the Rock we're used to seeing. "My Cockpit . . ." welcomes back our old friend Hank Chapman, who shows that, despite his absence, he's been stacking up the bad TNT one-liners like so much wood for the fire: "Smile for the birdie--you pig-iron monsters!" Oddly, this issue features two separate "Readers--Sound Off" pages, one of which gives Joe Kubert's packed schedule as an excuse for no new Enemy Ace stories. Big Bob mentions the other reason Joe is so busy is his "Green Berets" assignment. That caught my interest since I'd never heard of such a comic. Turns out Kubert joined forces with The Green Berets author Robin Moore for a syndicated strip about the Special Forces troops. According to Bill Schelly in his excellent Kubert bio, Man of Rock (Fantagraphics, 2008), the artist visited Fort Bragg in North Carolina to research the project and managed to juggle Tales of the Green Beret and Rock for nearly three years before the plug was pulled.
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| EC's Best Title Ever? We'll be the judges of that as we welcome Shock SuspenStories to It's An Entertaining Comic! Next Monday! |
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