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The DC War Comics
1959-1976 by Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook |
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| Kubert |
"Balloon for a Hawk!"
(Reprinted from Our Fighting Forces #60, April 1961)
"My Brother, the Enemy Ace!"
(Reprinted from All-American Men of War #101, February 1964)
Peter: In a new framing sequence, written and drawn by Joe Kubert, Hans Von Hammer must deal with a pilot who's got a fear of flying. By way of explaining that the new kid is not alone in history, he tells two stories of pilots who got the heebie-jeebies until they were broken in. Of course, it's doubtful the Hammer would have actually heard these stories but stranger things have happened. Ironically, DC includes a statement explaining their cover price increase from twelve to fifteen cents, citing inflation but promising that the company will "redouble (their) efforts to maintain the same high standards of publishing that have produced the world-famous line of DC Comics." Getting some new stories out there might convince me.
Jack: Like Sgt. Rock, Hans Von Hammer seems to have a lot of spare time on his hands to relate tired old reprint stories to the men serving under him. After a few more of these, they'll probably beg him to allow them to get up in the air so they can be shot down and end their misery.
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| Kubert |
"I'm Still Alive!"
Story by Joe Kubert
Art by Russ Heath
"Fill a Dead Man's Boots"
Story by Howard Liss
Art by Fred Ray
Jack: Tiny Tim, the newest member of Easy Co., asks Sgt. Rock if he can buddy up with him because his old buddy got killed. After a brief fistfight with Nazis, Tim marvels that "I'm Still Alive!" and tells Rock how his old squad was wiped out on the beach at Normandy. When Nazi planes attack, Tim runs out in front of them to draw their fire, allowing the rest of Easy Co. to shoot them down with small arms. Tim survives the attack and the soldiers march on to their next engagement.
It's very strange to see Joe Kubert write a Sgt. Rock story and Russ Heath draw it. The tale is reasonably interesting but hardly a classic.
Peter: "I'm Still Alive," for the most part, avoids the banal tendencies of the "new recruit" story (although that climax, where Tiny survives a "punctured helmet," is a bit of a head-scratcher) and offers up just about the best art of the year. Some dynamite action scenes and Heath depicts a haunted and gaunt soldier (as displayed below) like no one else can. The best scene may be when Tiny sidles up to Rock and, in almost a child-like voice, whispers "Is--is it o.k. if I stay close to you?"
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| "I'm Still Alive!" |
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| Fred Ray lavished a lot of attention on this panel from "Fill a Dead Man's Boots" |
I have a special place in my heart for Manassas, since my daughter spent a summer in college as a tour guide at the battlefield. She told a much more interesting story than this, which is poorly illustrated by Fred Ray.
Peter: Howard Liss has been responsible for numerous high-quality stories during our journey but "Fill a Dead Man's Boots" doesn't read like one of Liss's contributions. It's like a green writer popped in to the DC offices and was told to pump out a war script pronto and he went home and read a boatload of Harvey Kurtzman's Two-Fisted Tales. It's not that "Fill" is a bad story (although the art is pretty, pretty bad), it's just that it's . . . not a story. It's the same sort of collection of vignettes that Harvey would transform into a history lesson for EC readers. But those have been done before. Time for something new.
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| Guess which story? |
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| Kubert |
"We Can't See!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath
"Story of a Boot!"
Story Uncredited
Art by Joe Kubert
(Reprinted from All-American Men of War #64, December 1958)
Peter: General J.E.B. Stuart delivers his usual cryptic message to his confused descendant, Commander Jeb Stuart, this time warning that the crew of the Haunted Tank will fight for their lives in darkness. Just then, the tank rolls up on a desert village, where a boy is being manhandled by a group of thugs. The crew pop out of their tin can and unload on the bullies and the boy, Ali, is so grateful he gifts the crew with a singing parrot and prays he might return the favor some day. That day comes pretty quickly when a British fighter plane crashes nearby and the Jeb Stuart investigates, discovering a dying pilot who reveals that he was on a mission to "destroy a hidden Nazi poison gas dump in the El Mira ruins." The pilot dies and Jeb swears his men will finish the job. After dispatching a Tiger tank and several guards, our heroes blow up the gas dump but the resulting flash leaves them blind. The Ratzi survivors seek revenge for their explosion-induced wounds and head out after the boys. Luckily, Ali has seen the fireworks and acts as a guide for the crew. Unluckily, the Nazis catch up just as the boys are crossing the roof of a high building. As a fist-fight breaks out, the temporary blindness wears off and the Jeb Stuart crew put the stinkin' Nazi scum on the mat.
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| "We Can't See!" |
An amiable and lightweight entry in the Haunted Tank series, "We Can't See!" takes a plot twist we've seen before and does nothing original with it but (and this is a very old story, too!) Russ Heath's art is gorgeous and the battle scenes "well-staged." Nothing original can be found in the tired reprint either. "Story of a Boot!" joins the family of talking inanimate objects stories, a sub-genre as grating as a Jimmy Olsen/Robin team-up. Not even Kubert's art can keep the reader from rolling eyes.
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| "We Still Can't See!" |
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| Peter gives this one the boot. ("Story of a Boot!") |
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| Kubert |
"Devil in the Dark"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Art Saaf
"Killer on My Back"
Story Uncredited
Art by Ken Barr
Peter: Hunter's Hellcats team up with a different kind of hellcat, the gorgeous Italian freedom fighter known as La Donna, to close down the Nazis' new hobby. Within the Roman Colosseum, the Germans are pitting captured Italian partisans against lions and elephants. When the Hellcats and their new friend finally get to the Colosseum, they discover that the Ratzis have strapped partisans to a missile and plan to fire it off. Our heroes manage to free the prisoners, blow the rocket to smithereens, and bring most of the Colosseum down on the enemy.
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| La Donna makes her entrance in "Devil in the Dark" |
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| What goes on in Rome after dark ("Devil in the Dark") |
Jack: I was surprised by the death of Little Joe, mainly because I wasn't sure if I'd ever heard of Little Joe before. Like the men of Easy Co., the key figures in Hunter's Hellcats are invincible and only minor characters ever die. I like the idea of Nazis re-enacting the Roman sacrifices in the Colosseum, even though I think they had many other things to worry about and would never have had the time to enjoy this sort of blood sport. I liked even more the image of the partisans chained to the rocket! By the time Brute started playing Samson and knocking down the stone pillars that supported the substructure of the Colosseum, I was happily in comic book fantasy land, secure in the knowledge that we had completely separated from any attempt to mirror reality. This story went so far into imaginary occurrences that I ended up enjoying it!
Peter: After riding his new recruits hard, the Sarge knows there's a "Killer on My Back" when a faceless voice promises "tomorrow . . . when we hit that beach . . . I'm gonna kill you!" In the heat of battle the next day, the Sarge can barely keep his mind on his job, anticipating friendly fire at every turn. When the Sarge gets trapped in enemy fire, Private Manton comes to the rescue and, after being wounded, it's Manton who confesses to the threat. Now, lying wounded on the battlefield, the boy confesses he knows why the Sarge was so tough on the recruits. Not a bad tale, with some nice Ken Barr art, but we really don't have to be reminded every other panel that there's "A Killer on (the Sarge's) Back!"
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| "Killer on My Back" |
Jack: This is an exciting mystery, highlighted by a whispered threat on the deck of a ship at night. The sarge's cruelty reminded me of Full Metal Jacket but the reason for the angry soldier's sudden change of heart seemed a bit too murky to be credible.
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| Kubert |
Our Army at War 210
"I'm Kilroy!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath
"Death's Promise!"
Story Uncredited
Art by Fred Ray
Jack: Sgt. Rock and the men of Easy Co. paddle a raft toward the Italian coastline, making their way through floating bottles that contain messages from Rock's old nemesis, the graffiti writer. Easy Co. has been given the task of finding a hidden Nazi sub base and, surprisingly, messages from the graffiti writer lead them right to it. The Nazis capture Rock and his men but, just as they are about to be executed by a firing squad, a potato masher is thrown into the middle of the group by the graffiti writer. The Nazis dive for cover and Rock blows the place up. Still, the graffiti writer continues to leave messages teasing our favorite sergeant.
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| "I'm Kilroy!" |
When Brett Decker was just a lad, living in a log cabin with his Granny in the hills of Tennessee, the old woman told him that she made a bargain with Death not to take her until the boy was old enough to fend for himself. After Brett grows to be a man and his granny dies, he finds himself a soldier in the Civil War, afraid of dying on the battlefield. He sees Death and exacts "Death's Promise!" that he won't die on the field of battle. He fights like a tiger throughout the war and lives to tell the tale, only to be killed on his way home when his gun goes off accidentally.
I wasn't expecting much when the story started out with Brett speaking in a corn pone accent ("ah'm . . . ah'm so tired . . . n-no place to run . . . no place to hide! I'm dead! . . . I'm dead! But--ah can't die!"), but the story held my interest, even though I knew where it was going. This reminds me of one of Ambrose Bierce's Civil War stories, though not as well written.
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| "Death's Promise!" |
Peter: The best Sgt. Rock in months, maybe years, "I'm Kilroy" is a funny, action-packed, James Bond-esque delight from panel one to finis. Who is this Kilroy and how is it that he's one step ahead of our boys and yet does not act on any intel he receives, simply passing it on to his unwitting stooge, Rock? Domo Arigato, Mr. Kanigher! I want more Kilroy! One thing I can live without, though, is Fred Ray's sketchy, yicky art; it's got a very amateurish look to it. The story itself is not too bad, just a bit on the predictable side. "Death's Promise!" is the kind of thing we'll see pop up soon in Weird War Tales. There's correspondence from a very young Tony Isabella on the letters page; just a couple years later, Tony would be pounding out scripts for the competition.
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| Next Week... At last! The boys discuss the infamous story that may have provided Wertham with the final nail! |
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