Star Spangled DC War Stories Issue 119: August/September 1971

The DC War Comics
1959-1971
by Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook

Kubert

Our Army at War 235

"Pressure Point"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"Kamikaze"
Story and Art by Sam Glanzman

"The Glory Boys!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Alex Toth

"Wall for a Fighting Man!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath
(Reprinted from Our Army at War #52, November 1956)

"Instant Hero!"
Story by Hank Chapman
Art by Joe Kubert
(Reprinted from Captain Storm #6, April 1965)

Jack: Sgt. Rock and his men are under fire and one by one he sees his soldiers get mowed down--or does he? It seems Rock has reached his "Pressure Point" and is in a field hospital, imagining the death of his men. The doctor says that the sergeant has seen too much dying and decides to ship Rock back to the states, but when a Nazi plane starts shooting at the hospital tent, Rock gets his wounded men together and heads outside to blow up an enemy tank. Though the doctor says the men are too ill to fight, Rock takes over and leads the walking wounded into battle once more, wiping out another tank and the Nazi infantry that supports it. He tells the doctor that he and his men are heading back to the front, wounds or no wounds.

One of the sideways pages from "Pressure Point"

The first 25-cent, 52-page issue of Our Army at War starts out with this odd story, which features some excellent panels by Heath and some that look like he drew them with his eyes closed. In many places, it looks like he was using photos as models for characters' faces, but I don't know who was in the photos. There are also two pages near the end that are sideways--one has three panels and the other (reproduced here) is a graphic, wide-angle splash.

"Kamikaze"

Tatsuno Sakigawa is a Japanese fighter pilot on a "Kamikaze" mission to strike an American ship. As his plane plummets toward the deck, he thinks of the devastation visited upon his country by enemy bombs. Sam Glanzman makes a rare mis-step with this story, in which he gives the reader a glimpse inside the perspective of the enemy. Very much of its time, in the Vietnam era, this story fails to reach the level of humanity that the stories set on the U.S.S. Stevens often do.

Jeremy Leigh fulfills his childhood dreams of being among "The Glory Boys!" when he enlists as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War at age 17. Battle seems exciting at first, but he soon learns the horrors of war as first his friend and then he himself are shot dead.

A fairly standard six-page war story is improved by Alex Toth's clean lines, though the anti-war message at the end is, yet again, very 1971.

"The Glory Boys!"

"Wall for a Fighting Man!"

When a downed pilot in WWII hides behind a pile of rocks to avoid an enemy tank, he wonders where the rocks came from, since everything around them is sand. This "Wall for a Fighting Man!" began as a Roman wall and sentry tower before being partially destroyed in an attack. In the Middle Ages, a knight used the wall for defense; it got more use in WWI. The pilot knows none of this but manages to destroy the tank; he walks away as the spirits of the soldiers of the past watch over him.

Credit Bob Haney for a neat premise in this story, and credit Russ Heath for solid art, 15 years before his work on the new Sgt. Rock story that opens this issue!

Jonesy learns that it's not easy to become an "Instant Hero!" when he is called up to Charlie Co. as a replacement soldier during WWII. He is captured and brought aboard a Nazi ship, but manages to use some clever trickery with a grenade to destroy a tank commanded by the Nazi known as the Iron Major.

An unusually sloppy figure on the
right from Joe Kubert in "Instant Hero!"

Strictly from hunger, Hank Chapman overuses the "instant" adjective and Joe Kubert contributes some hurried art. We did not read the Captain Storm series for this blog, but if this backup story from 1965 is any indication of its quality, we didn't miss much.

Peter: "Pressure Point" is top-notch Kanigher/Heath but I can't help but wonder how much better it would have been if Big Bob had stayed on the initial path, that of investigating Rock's breakdown under pressure. As it is, way too little time is spent on that and we just dive head-long into action. I can't put my finger on it (different inker perhaps?) but Heath's work looks . . . a bit harder-edged this issue, as though he's experimenting with styles (look at the panel below, which seems to suggest Heath was working from stills). No complaint; still dazzling visuals. Sam Glanzman's "Kamikaze" purports to be another chapter in the saga of the U.S.S. Stevens but are we to assume, then, that Tatsuno's Zero crashed into the Stevens? One of the best of the little sagas. "The Glory Boys!" has a fine Kanigher script and that Alex Toth magic but its heavy-handed (and oh-so poetic) finale is a bit of a disappointment. This one reminded me of the stories Archie Goodwin pumped out for Warren's Blazing Combat in the mid-'60s. Neither of the scripts for the reprints lit my TNT fuse (and "Instant Hero!" became an instant annoyance with its patented Hank Chapman catch phrase), but the art at least gets us turning pages without falling asleep.

A photo swipe by Russ Heath?

Kubert

G.I. Combat 149

"Leave the Fighting To Us!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"Last Man--Last Shot!"
(Reprinted from Our Army at War #152, March 1965)

Peter: The Haunted Tank crew comes across an Allied jeep being strafed on a bridge; they take the Nazi out but one of the men in the jeep is killed. By the time, the Jeb Stuart arrives, Sgt. Saul Levy, the survivor from the jeep, is reading Kaddish over his comrade's body. Levy climbs aboard the Stuart and gets a ride back to the base, where he receives the news that he'll be fighting with Jeb and his men. Later that day, most of the crew of the Jeb (sans Jeb himself) express their dismay at being saddled with a Jew, whose people "make good doctors--lawyers--businessmen! But fightin' they oughta leave to us!" Of course, as we all know from previous Bob Kanigher morality plays, Saul Levy proves his mettle in battle when the Jeb liberates a concentration camp and kills scores of dirty Ratzi bastards. Levy is sacrificed but the men of the Jeb Stuart have learned their lesson.

As with most of Big Bob's racism dramas, the innocent are sacrificed but a lesson is certainly learned. It's hard to fathom that the good guys of the Jeb may have been anti-Semites but this may be Bob's way of saying that even his heroes have feet of clay. In any event, the script is one of Bob's best in a while and Heath is on the money (the bridge scene that opens the story is gorgeously rendered), though it's getting tough to tell his Jeb crew apart. The General's appearance is a joke, by the way, as he pops in just long enough to tell his descendant that nothing special will happen that day but the next day is another story. Brilliant.

Jack: I give story and art an "A"! I was surprised to see the Jewish soldier identified as such, and Kanigher has his cake and eats it too by criticizing anti-Semitism while also showing us a Jew who can't play baseball. It reminded me of the famous scene in Airplane. I liked that the Jeb liberated a concentration camp. In all, a strong story with fine art by Mr. Heath. The backup also features great art, though looking back at my notes from 1965 I found the story repetitive.

Kubert

Our Fighting Forces 132

"Pooch: the Winner"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by John Severin

"The Invincible Armada"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ric Estrada

"Cabbage and Kings"
Story and Art by Sam Glanzman

Jack: The Losers are outside Buckingham Palace when Gunner and Sarge see a familiar, furry face inside the gates--Pooch! He greets them happily and they remember when he was first assigned to work with them in the Pacific Islands. Good old Pooch saved the day many times, but when his masters were sent to Europe they became losers and had to break up the band. Though they'd love to be reunited with their four-footed pal, Gunner and Sarge decide that the pup is better off in his new gig at the palace than hanging around with the Losers.

We missed you!

Boo! Hiss! Arf! A glimpse of Pooch and he's taken away from us for good! This is so cheap! Most of the story is a long, cheesy flashback to the good old days with "Pooch: The Winner." One thing I can say for this story is that it's great to see John Severin on his own; his art may not quite match up to that of his glory days at EC, but it's a heap better than what we've been subjected to in many of the entries in this series.

In 1588, "The Invincible Armada" of Spain is not so invincible when it meets up with the British fleet. Three and a half centuries later, German pilots meet the same fate as the Spanish Armada when they are defeated by British planes in WWII. Ric Estrada's art is not something I can warm up to, and Kanigher reaches a bit far in trying to find common ground between the 16th century Spanish fleet and the German fighter planes of the early 1940s.

"The Invincible Armada"

It's mid-December 1944, and Bo'sn Egloff is aboard the U.S.S. Stevens as a massive storm rocks the ship. He goes on deck to make sure everything is secure and saves the life of a young seaman who came up to help him. "Cabbages and Kings" features nice work on the rain and wind whipping the ship; often, Glanzman is at his best when he is not drawing human faces.

"Cabbages and Kings"

Peter: So, only a few installments into this new group book and we're already getting "solo" stories. This one is an off one, as if Big Bob wants to dangle the "Pooch carrot" in front of Jack Seabrook's nose only to keep it just out of reach. We get a Pooch origin but he's not coming back, so what's the purpose? "The Invincible Armada" has a very cool twist ending but you've got to wade through some pretty bad art to get there and a similar fate awaits you with "Cabbage and Kings." Sam Glanzman could be a maddening artist; sometimes very good and sometimes, like with this entry in the U.S.S. Stevens epic, very bad.

Kubert

Star Spangled War Stories 158

"Totentanz"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Joe Kubert

"The Flattened Point!"
(Reprinted from Our Fighting Forces #74, February 1963)

"Enemy Ace"
(Reprinted from Our Army at War #151, February 1965)

"Lame Duck Glider!"
Story by Ed Herron
Art by Russ Heath
(Reprinted from All-American Men of War #57, May 1958)

Peter: Unbeknownst to the Nazis, one of their most-wanted enemies, the mysterious Berengaria, lies right under their filthy noses in the "Totentanz" concentration camp. There, the gorgeous Berengaria (a/k/a Erika Hauser) has become the object of desire of the camp's commandant. Allied brass send the Unknown Soldier in, disguised as Erika's husband, to rescue the freedom fighter before the Ratzis wise up. US manages to infiltrate the camp and alert the girl to his presence. The commandant, aware that having Erika's spouse gives him leverage with her, uses his new prisoner to coax affection from the gorgeous girl. When a visit from one of Hitler's right-hand men, Adolf Eichmann, is announced, the Unknown Soldier uses his master skills of deception to fool the Germans and get Berengaria to safety.

Fairly exciting adventure with wall-to-wall action and suspense. Joe's art is particularly engaging here, as is Haney's compact script. In fact, the scripts are getting more and more compact it seems (this issue sees only 11 pages of original content, despite the higher price tag) as we make our way through the age of the quarter-books. As I mentioned some time before, the violence seems to be ramping up and Kubert isn't shying away from showing us disturbing images (as in this issue's row of hanging prisoners) of war.

"Lame Duck Glider!" focuses on an aspect of war we don't see much of: the glider pilots. Even though these guys somehow attract half of the Germans in World War II, they arrive on the other end unbowed and ready for more action. All in all, a likable little drama with great art from the Master.

On the letters page, Joe answers several heated missives from Enemy Ace fans not happy with the direction the series was taking (y'know, like reprints of reprints). To his credit, Kubert spends the time explaining what happened (the quasi-editorial is reprinted far below).

Jack: Two concentration camp stories in one month are probably two more then we've seen in 119 posts! The Unknown Soldier is clearly Kubert's new favorite series, since his art is superb, starting with a great splash page featuring two figures placed over a black and white photo collage. Haney's script is a thrill from start to finish, making this one of the best stories of 1971. The Heath reprint is a fun little tale with more fine art.

Kubert

Our Army at War 236

"Face the Devil!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"22 Hrs. to San Francisco"
Story by Mike Friedrich
Art by John Severin

"The Empty Cockpit!"
Story Uncredited
Art by Joe Kubert
(Reprinted from Captain Storm #3, October 1964)

"The Third Enemy"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath
(Reprinted from Our Fighting Forces #45, May 1959)

"No Beginning--No End!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Frank Thorne

"Face the Devil!"

Jack: A new recruit known as Billy Boy is a good luck charm for Easy Co., since no one has died since he joined them. As Rock and his men approach a peak called Satan's Height, they enter a dense fog and pass through a graveyard, where an old man with long white hair and a long white beard approaches and embraces Billy Boy, calling him his long-lost son. The old man tells a tale of his son's wedding day long ago, when a barbarian-like man came on his son's wedding night and murdered him. The villagers killed the barbarian and buried him in an iron mask so no one would ever gaze upon his evil face again.

When shelling hits the graveyard, Billy Boy and the old man are killed and Rock tells Easy Co. to scatter for safety. Suddenly, Rock is attacked by a giant wearing an iron mask, and when Rock rips the mask off he is face to face with a grinning skull. Eventually, Rock comes out of it alive, the fog lifts, and Easy Co. marches on.

"Face the Devil!" is easily one of the spookiest and most mysterious Easy Co. stories we've ever read. Why did Conan the Barbarian suddenly show up at the village and how were the villagers able to subdue him so easily? Is Rock's battle with the skeleton in the iron mask a dream? Who knows? I don't really care, because it's cool as heck. My only complaint is that Kubert did not draw this story, because his cover is even better than Heath's interior art.

A Vietnam soldier is about to get on a helicopter to start the long trip home of "22 Hrs. to San Francisco" when the soldier next to him is shot dead by the enemy. We see a duffel bag make it all the way to the airport, but whose is it--the survivor's or the victim's? Fortunately, it belongs to the survivor, who meets his wife and retrieves his bag.

"22 Hrs. to San Francisco"

Mike Friedrich and John Severin tell an effective little story here in four wordless pages, where the fighting in Vietnam is in black and white and the return to the airport is in color; the two narratives intertwine and suspense is created as we wonder up to the last panel whose bag is on the belt.

In WWI, Lt. Danner dreams of filling "The Empty Cockpit!" of Spad #7, which Captain Kelly had managed to fly back on his final mission "ever after his heart stopped beating." Ever since he failed to live up to his football-star brother in high school, Danner has wanted to prove himself--and prove himself he does when, on a mission, he manages to take out a zeppelin and an enemy plane all by himself after parachuting out of his own plane!

"The Empty Cockpit!"

It's a little ridiculous how much Danner accomplishes while in free fall, but Joe Kubert's art is particularly strong in this story so it goes down smoothly.

"The Third Enemy"

In WWII, a scout on skis is told that his first enemy is the mountain and his second is the Nazis. But who is "The Third Enemy"? He battles his way up and down the mountain in a storm, evading Nazi gunfire, and finally learns that the third enemy is himself and the doubts and fears he has to conquer.

We always enjoy war stories set in snow, and fine pencils by Russ Heath make this one exciting, even though it goes by in a quick six pages.

Since caveman times, man has fought and killed his fellow man as the animals of the forest looked on, wondering why the killing has "No Beginning--No End!" Through the middle ages and the two world wars, the killing goes on with no explanation. It also goes on for a very tedious six pages here, though this issue of terrific art goes out on a strong note with Frank Thorne's work. A great cover, stories drawn by Heath, Kubert, Severin, and Thorne, and some top-notch reprints--all in all, quite a bargain for a quarter!

"No Beginning--No End!"

Peter: "Face the Devil!" has an intriguing set-up, with a supernatural vibe to it . . . so far, so good . . . but the denouement is a let down. There's no rhyme or reason to the masked creepy attacking Rock nor any explanation as to what it is (well, yes, there's a semi-sorta reasoning given, but it's pretty darned hazy if you ask me), just another one of those quasi-spooky stories Big Bob liked to lay on his readers now and then. Hey! Why am I complaining? At least the monster wasn't explained away as a gorilla escaped from a local circus or a villager trying to keep property values low. "22 Hrs. to San Francisco" and "No Beginning--No End" are tolerable and short. It's lucky that Bob Haney kept reiterating what the "First Enemy" and the "Second Enemy" were in nearly every panel of "The Third Enemy," or I would have forgotten what they were. "The Empty Cockpit!" is a pretty good thriller a la Raiders of the Lost Ark. Our hero's trek from one peril to the next in the fiery climax stretches credibility but if the art is good enough and the action moves quickly enough, it's tough to complain.

You tell 'em, Joe
Hang on . . . I'm with the letter writers!

In Only Seven Days . . .
Shock Upon Shock!