Star Spangled DC War Stories Issue 129: August 1972

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

Kubert

Weird War Tales 6

"Pawns"
Story by Marv Wolfman
Art by Frank Thorne

"Goliath of the Western Front!"
(Reprinted from Star Spangled War Stories #93, November 1960)

Peter: In the not-too-distant future, wars are fought by mechanical men, supervised by human generals in war rooms thousands of miles away. One day, the robots decide they've had enough and turn the tables on their masters. Not much to this 2001-ish vignette but, at least, the art is nice enough. Writer Marv Wolfman had recently jumped ship to Marvel (and taken over writing chores on what would become the classic Tomb of Dracula) so perhaps this sci-fi tale had been sitting on a shelf for some time.

"Pawns" and the dreadful reprint (I called it "an almost embarrassing waste of paper" way back in issue #18 ) are bookended by a nicely-illustrated tale of foxhole friendships that turns odd. It's a little too convenient that the narrating soldier knows a couple stories about robots in battle (including a tale that wouldn't happen for a couple centuries!) and then discovers his comrade is actually one of those mechanical G.I.s, but I can show a great deal of tolerance with any script Alex Toth puts his talents to.

Jack: I was 9 when this issue came out and I think I would've liked it. I definitely like the new material now, 46 years later! The frame is cool and, like you, I'm always happy to see work by Toth, one of those artists I've only learned to appreciate as an adult. The transition to telling stories is awkward, as usual, but the Wolfman/Thorne tale about a future world where robots do the fighting is entertaining and great visually. It's unfortunate that they stuck a 12-page reprint of an Andru and Esposito story in the middle of this nice, new work, but at least I can skip through it to the conclusion of the framing story. It's no surprise after seeing the cover but I enjoyed it anyway.

Kubert

Our Army at War 248

"The Firing Squad!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"The Salute!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Sparky Moore

"Ride the Baka"
Story and Art by Sam Glanzman

Jack: Sgt. Rock receives a written order to take his six best marksmen and report to a certain location. He and the men head off in a jeep and decide to spend the night in a bombed-out farmhouse, but their rest is disturbed by a Nazi attack. The men of Easy Co. wipe out the Nazis and head off again by jeep, arriving at their destination by dawn. To Rock's dismay, a young lieutenant orders him and his men to become "The Firing Squad!" and execute three American soldiers who deserted their posts under fire.

The men of Easy Co. take aim, but when they fire they miss the men and instead start shooting at Nazi planes that have suddenly appeared in the sky. The planes are sweeping the beach for a landing party that is arriving by boat, so Rock and his men cut the prisoners loose and they all begin shooting Nazis, eventually wiping them out and spoiling the surprise attack. The three prisoners are killed in the battle and the lieutenant tells Rock that he will report them as having been killed in action.

"The Firing Squad!"

Kanigher and Heath triumph here with another outstanding tale of the exploits of Sgt. Rock and his men! I was worried in the early pages when Rock had to round up six guys for the mission, since five were familiar to us and one was new ("Four-Eyes"--guess why he's called that). I figured Four-Eyes would be killed by the end of the story, but it went in a different direction. Heath's art is superb and the new trend of using less dialogue and telling the story in a more visual way continues. I think it's working well.

"The Salute!"

It's 1879 in South Africa, and a horde of Zulus attack a British military station but are held off by the guns of the British soldiers. In the end, the Zulu chief gives "The Salute!" to the British and withdraws.

An odd four-page story, this paints the British as heroic because their guns succeed in wiping out countless Africans who are armed with spears and shields. With all of DC's "Make War No More" banners (one of which graces the final panel), I would think they might be a bit more sensitive to the obvious imbalance of weaponry in this battle of colonizers versus natives. I am not familiar with Sparky Moore, but a quick online search reveals that he did plenty of work for Dell and Disney. His art is certainly competent in this story.

The U.S.S. Stevens sees a strange, new Japanese plane approaching and begins to fire at it, but the plane passes the ship by and does not attack. The Japanese pilot mysteriously chose to "Ride the Baka" to its own destruction and fail to use the first of this type of plane for its intended purpose, instead blowing up somewhere over the ocean.

Sam Glanzman's stories often work best when they tell a vignette that doesn't require much (or any) characterization or drawing of people. "Ride the Baka" is interesting because it introduces a new weapon and tells of an unexplained event.

"Ride the Baka"

Peter: The script for "The Firing Squad!" is so-so (I really wish Big Bob would give Rock a continuing story line like over at "The Losers" rather than these scattershot stand-alones) but Russ takes advantage of the minimal dialogue and puts on a show for us. His battles scenes are unrivaled (yes, you heard that right, Mr. Seabrook) and the artist always manages to pull off the trick of keeping the reader's mind off the peculiarities in the story. Having "Four-Eyes" comment on the fogging of his glasses is a nice touch (Is Four-Eyes a new character or have I been napping again?). "The Salute!" is basically a four-page reworking of Zulu, but it introduces us to the art of Sparky Moore. Sparky won't be mistaken for Heath or Kubert, but at least he pulls off a war job much better than Glanzman or Maurer. We point out the crudeness of Glanzman's art but his story-telling skills cannot be denied. Some of the "U.S.S. Stevens" installments (like "Comic Strip" in this month's Our Fighting Forces) are deliberately lightweight and don't carry much resonance for me, but some, like this issue's "Ride the Baka," are fascinating little tidbits of revelation and have me scurrying off to Wiki for more information.

Kubert

Our Fighting Forces 138

"The Targets"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by John Severin

"Comic Strip"
Story and Art by Sam Glanzman

"Shotgun Frogman!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath
(Reprinted from Star Spangled War Stories #75, November 1958)

Jack: Something is blowing up Allied ships, and the Losers board a British sub with the objective of discovering the enemy's weapon and disabling it. Johnny Cloud, Gunner, Sarge, and Ona are given rings that contain miniature tracking devices, but when Ona suggests that she be sent out on a raft alone--thinking that no one would suspect a woman of being a spy--Cloud agrees. Soon after she floats off, her signal is lost and when it is picked up again, the sub captain assumes that she has been captured. Before he fixes his torpedoes on her location, he gives the Losers one hour to find her and arms them with miniature, high-explosive bombs disguised as British coins.

The Losers locate a ship that is manned by Nazis but flying an American flag; Ona is a prisoner and now the Losers are, too. The Nazi boat blows up the British sub and is about to execute the Losers when Cloud offers the Nazi commander the British coins. He drops them and they blow up the ship just as the Losers dive off the side to safety. They are picked up by a British raft manned by a survivor from the destroyed sub, and he tells them about a pirate who has been attacking enemy and allied ships.

"The Targets"

Not as good as Heath's Sgt. Rock story but still pretty good, "The Targets" continues to tell a continuing narrative that is elevated by above-average art from John Severin. It's very interesting that they are taking so long to bring back Captain Storm, who is now said to be "missing . . . presumed dead." I suppose this is a more Marvel way of telling stories than the usual DC way, but at least the stories are essentially complete in one issue rather than the Marvel tendency to use the first third of the story to wrap up the prior issue's tale.

"Comic Strip"

During down time on the U.S.S. Stevens, Jerry Boyle works on a "Comic Strip," illustrating the many places the ship has been and the things its men have seen and done. His fellow sailors tell him that no one will ever publish (or want to read) comics without made-up stories and superheroes.

I guess Jerry Boyle is meant to represent Sam Glanzman, who is telling his old ship-mates, "I told you so!" in this four-page strip.

Instead of growing up to be a cowboy in the Wild West, a boy grows up to be a frogman in the Navy. When he fights an enemy frogman underwater he imagines that it's an Indian with a war club. He rides a torpedo until it blows up a Nazi sub and imagines he's riding a horse. In the end, he plans to write to his grandfather and compare their experiences.

Not much of a story in "Shotgun Frogman!" but at least we get six more pages from Peter's favorite artist!

"Shotgun Frogman!"

Peter: "The Losers" strip continues to interest me, primarily for its continuing storyline (and that final panel is a real elbow in the ribs, ain't it?); we all know that ol' Peg Leg will be back at some point but in what fashion will he be reintroduced? Severin is only getting better and better; some of his best work in this issue is the quiet moments, the "easy panels" such as that of Ona boarding the life raft or the sub off in the distance, searching for the lost femme (below). "Shotgun Frogman!" is harmless fun but you have to wonder about these World War II magicians/frogmen who could deliver knockout punches underwater. What training they must have endured!

Next Week!
Three idiots turn out the lights
in the Crypt!