Star Spangled DC War Stories Issue 141: September 1973

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

Glanzman

G.I. Combat 164

"Siren Song!"
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Sam Glanzman

"The Aegean Eagle!"
Story and Art by George Evans

Peter: Stuck in Yugoslavia, the men of the Haunted Tank have got to find a way to get back to the front and that salvation may have come in the form of a freighter docked at a ruined shipyard. The Captain, Dimitri Stavros, immediately agrees to get the boys back home and has a crane load the tank on board the massive ship. Quite a relief to Gus, who's been patching the Jeb with excess wires and scrap metal pulled from various sources, but the going was getting tough. The men relax once on the ship and prepare for a long journey. Very quickly, Jeb realizes the boat is not heading to Italy and he confronts Stavros, who admits that he's taking them all to Greece. Years before, the Nazis sunk Stavros's first ship, killing his wife and infant son and, by collaborating with the enemy, he's discovered which sub was responsible. Now that he has an honest-to-goodness tank on board, he's sailing to the waters the sub patrols. The ship reaches the zone and, sure enough, the U-boat spots them and puts a torpedo in its side. As the boat is sinking, the Jeb gives it all it's got, blasting those *%$#ing Nazis past hell and right to Cleveland! The surviving Nazis try to surrender but Stavros is having none of that and he stitches the lot of them with MG fire. The boys make it to shore but Stavros decides he'd rather join his wife in Davey Jones's locker and sinks to the bottom. Now, how to get a tank in from deep waters?

"Siren Song!"

Not a great Haunted Tank installment in either script or art department (but especially in the art department), "Siren Song!" is, hopefully, just a means of getting us to a better story. It's a lot like the Sgt. Rock story line going on over in Our Army at War in that the boys are not where they're supposed to be and they're doing whatever they can to get there but they seem to stumble onto various adventures on the way. Stavros is cut from the same cloth as the two warring Slavs from last issue. Lots of people in World War II had use for a good tank, it seems. Now, how the heck is Archie going to address the fact that the Haunted Tank is stuck quite a ways from shore (atop the semi-sunken freighter) with no visible way of getting it on terra firma? Oh, and though I'm not enamored with this particular chapter, I will go out on a limb and say that Archie is still pointing us in the right direction. These multi-part stories are so much more enjoyable than the scattershot one-and-dones we used to have to deal with.

"Siren Song!"

"The Aegean Eagle!"

The bottom-half of this issue's double-bill is George Evans's "The Aegean Eagle!," a bio of the famed German World War I ace, Rudolf von Eschwege. As is the problem with a lot of these docu-dramas, the pace is slow and the writing has a history lesson vibe to it. George Evans seems to have had an easy time sliding back into these aviation stories after such a long lay-off. His air battles are still crisp but, as Jack mentioned recently, his characters have lost a bit of their luster.

Jack: So they have, Peter, so they have. It's jarring to read Evans's EC work from 1955 and then to read his DC work from 1973. The guy still knew his way around a WWI plane but the quality of the art sharply deteriorated in the nearly two decades between companies. In the wake of Joe Kubert's work on Enemy Ace in the '60s, Evans in 1973 looks pretty weak. Not as weak as Sam Glanzman, though, whose chicken scratching on the Haunted Tank makes me want to tear out what little hair I have left. Goodwin's story is not very good but it is dragged down immeasurably by the Glanzman art, just as Stavros's boat is dragged down into the briny deep.

Kubert

Our Army at War 260

"Hell's Island!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"Big Man, Little Man"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Frank Thorne

Jack: On an island somewhere in the Pacific, Sgt. Rock and the rest of the wounded men from the destroyed hospital ship find themselves under fire from Japanese soldiers until Rock runs toward the guns and tosses a grenade. Shot in the shoulder, he is patched up by a pretty nurse and manages to disarm the lone Japanese survivor before he can toss a grenade of his own.

The enemy soldier is shocked to learn that Americans are not the murderers he was told they are. Rock heads off into the jungle to try to find a way to reconnect with Allied troops and discovers that other wounded men have followed him to help support him. After Rock shoots a sniper out of a tree, the men see that Allied ships are coming in for a landing. Unfortunately, Japanese guns are hidden behind a waterfall and they are shooting at the ships. Rock and his comrades swim under water and then scale the side of the cliff to get a good vantage point from which to toss grenades into the machine gun nest.

"Hell's Island!"

The Allies land safely and everyone heads back to where the nurse tends to the rest of the wounded, only to find that wives and children of enemy soldiers have holed up in a cave on a cliff, afraid to come out and be massacred by the murderous Americans. Rock and his men begin to climb the cliff with the captured Japanese soldier but see that the terrified women and children are starting to leap to their deaths rather than be tortured and killed by the Americans. Rock prevails upon the Japanese soldier to call to the scared folks and tell them the truth, but the man is shot down by a Japanese officer who is in the cave, fanning the flames of fear. The angry Japanese emerge from the cave and throw the officer to his death. Rock is finally able to leave "Hell's Island!" and can get back to the Western front and the combat happy Joes of Easy Company.

It should be clear from the time it took to summarize this story that it's not your run of the mill Rock tale. Kanigher takes things in a dark direction with the innocent Japanese civilians throwing themselves off the cliff to their death and, as usual, Heath is up to the challenge. This has been a great continuing story!

"Big Man, Little Man"

Nbutto, chief of the Watusi, kills a lion with his spear, while nearby, pygmies kill an elephant. The tall Watusi hate the short pygmies and chase them away from a watering hole so that the Watusi cattle can drink. The Watusi burn the pygmy village to the ground but, in return, the pygmies ambush the Watusi and kill them with poisoned arrows aimed from above in the dense canopy of trees. Nbutto is the last to go and the pygmies plan to retake their watering hole and rebuild their village.

"Big Man, Little Man" features enjoyable art by Frank Thorne and a simple lesson in how cleverness and preparation can make up for a difference in size, but overall it seems out of place in Our Army at War.

Peter: The Rock this issue is a sequel within an arc, a tough thing to pull off at times, but Big Bob lands the plane nicely. A patented RK sequence (and that's a compliment, before you pelt me with K-rations) is the one in which the Japanese wives grab up their children and begin flinging themselves from a high cliff (something that actually happened) rather than let "the butchers" get to them. It's a horrifying moment in the midst of a lot of gung-ho gunplay and killer sharks and the like, but it does remind me that Big Bob can inject a rather somber tone to his work (even the non-"Gallery" stuff) when he's in the mood. Speaking of "Bob Kanigher's Gallery of War," this issue's felt a bit weak to me but that may be due to the fact that it seems overly familiar.

"Hell's Island!"

Kubert

Our Fighting Forces 144

"The Lost Mission"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by John Severin

"Dirt!"
Story and Art by Tom Sutton

Jack: As the monkeys take off through the jungle canopy with their stolen jewels, the Losers observe a group of Nazis machine-gunning a British patrol and do some shooting of their own to destroy the Nazis. The sole British survivor tells the Losers about "The Lost Mission," involving a raft loaded with TNT that was going to be used to destroy a Nazi fort farther down the river. The Losers find the raft and, after killing more marauding Nazis, they sail it down the river until they see the fort. That night, the Nazis blow up what they think is the TNT-laden raft but the Losers surprise them by launching the TNT on logs and destroying the fort. After hours of wandering, the Losers come across another fort, this one manned by dead members of the French Foreign Legion and by one very live Major Fouchet, who welcomes them to Fort Fini!

"The Lost Mission"

Zowie! This was an action-packed story beautifully illustrated by John Severin. Kanigher must not have been paid by the word, because the number of wordless sequences continues to grow. Two entire pages are told without any captions or word balloons, and the chatter is kept to a minimum elsewhere. I like it and think it shows real storytelling talent on the part of the artist.

Henri Trudeau is a French soldier who survives the long, horrible battle of Verdun only to find himself alone in a trench as several German soldiers approach. Filled with rage at how his beautiful land has been turned to so much "Dirt!" by the prolonged fighting, he becomes a one-man killing machine, shooting and bayoneting the enemy until he himself is killed.

Archie Goodwin's first issue as editor of Our Fighting Forces features great art by the old pro, John Severin, and pretty decent art by the up-and-comer, Tom Sutton, who also wrote this short back up story. It is over-written and the captions take some time to slog through, but I like to see new blood among the ranks of the creative folks at DC.

"Dirt!"

Peter: I don't know about you but I can't wait to dig into each new installment of "The Losers." It's such a great feeling to love your work now and then and the Kanigher/Severin duo are continuing to not only keep my attention but surprise me as well. Severin's art is fantastic, much of it displayed without the cumbersome word balloons or captions. Whereas Rock's recent "road trip" has been rocky, our underdog team just keeps right on rolling through outlandish adventures. Perhaps I'm not being fair comparing the two series as I expect Rock to maintain a level of "reality" (the Sarge's seemingly-impervious skin notwithstanding), whereas "The Losers" is a military version of DC's The Metal Men, superheroes who get the job done despite tripping over their two left feet. Like Alex Toth, Tom Sutton has a very distinct style, one that drew me in at an early age and still mesmerizes me. Unlike Toth, Sutton was pigeon-holed in one genre because he was so good at that genre and fans tend to forget he excelled at just about anything he put a pencil to, including war comics. "Dirt!" proves he was also a master scripter as well.

"The Lost Mission"

Kubert

Star Spangled War Stories 173

"No Holds Barred!"
Story by Frank Robbins
Art by Jack Sparling

"The Kill!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Frank Thorne

Peter: In an effort to get behind enemy lines in Japan and destroy their crucial submarine re-fueling base, the Unknown Soldier must impersonate Der Deutsche Angel, a German fighter who's set for a match against Japan's premier Sumo wrestler, Nikomo the Mountain. All goes well until US gets in the ring with the gargantuan Sumo and realizes that, even with the cheater drug he's dropped into Nikomo's tea, this may be the US's final mission! With some help from an undercover Japanese spy, US pins the Mountain to the mat and blows up the gas tanks for good measure. The script for "No Holds Barred!," while just as comical and outlandish as the previous installment, at least contains some excitement and surprises. The art, though, is hideous, and will doubtless remain so throughout Sparling's tenure.

His C.O. didn't have the heart to tell US
that wrestling isn't real.

"The Kill!"

Lt. Jimmy Green is set for his last WWI mission ever and all his comrades tell him to take it easy and avoid a big fight but, simultaneously, Major Vorst is itching to get his 50th kill, a number which will tie him with the legendary Hans von Hammer. The two collide in combat but the outcome is not what either had hoped for. "The Kill!" is the weakest "Gallery of War" yet, with Bog Bob falling back on all his worst tendencies and cliches. The pilot who talks to his plane; the "split screen" trick, showing the aces on either side doing and saying just about the same thing at the same time; and the least experienced pilot overcoming massive odds to triumph over the killer ace. Enemy Ace, the Hammer of Hell, and Steve Savage, Balloon Buster, both make cameos but neither actually shows his face. Frank Thorne's art does the job, certainly better than Jack Sparling, but his layouts lack originality and fall back on the typical dogfight choreography.

Jack: That panel you reproduce is one example of an almost Ross Andru-like style used by Thorne here to draw the pilot's face, and any artist who draws like Ross Andru does not impress me. The story was a bore. "No Holds Barred!" opens with a neat photo collage organized around the Japanese war flag (I think Kubert does these) but I agree with you about Sparling's art. It could be worse, though; Robbins could be drawing instead of writing! He's a better writer than he is an artist and the story breezes by quickly but it's nothing special.

George Evans

Weird War Tales 17

"Dead Man's Hands"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by George Evans

"A Gun Named Marie!"
Story by Michael J. Pellowski and E. Nelson Bridwell
Art by Ernie Chua

Peter: Colonel Victor Bretaine has built a reputation as a relentless ace, a pilot who manages to get the kill no matter the odds. If only his comrades knew that Bretaine does not subscribe to the theory that aces are honorable; he's just as apt to shoot down a German pilot whose guns have stalled or is retreating. Only one thing eludes the great Colonel and that's the beautiful Denise, who has no interest in the much-older Bretaine. The ruthless pilot holds his pride above everything else and, suddenly, after the arrival of the young gun, Lt. Andre Voison, Bretaine is not the talk of the base.

"Dead Man's Hands"

Jealous of the lieutenant's quick ascension to #1 Stud (and the affection Denise shows toward the younger man), the Colonel assigns Voison to a suicide mission to get him out of the way. The plane returns after the mission but Voison is dead in the cockpit and an accident sees Bretaine lose both hands. An emergency operation leads to the Colonel having the "Dead Man's Hands" grafted onto his stumps and he immediately wants to return to the skies for more kills to prove his machismo to Denise. But while the Colonel is making the same suicide mission that killed Voison, his hands turn against him and his Spad crashes into a gas tank, killing him.

Ouch! Another piece of evidence in my case to prove Bob Kanigher should not have been writing horror stories, even those with military elements. What an original idea: hands of the dead man come to life to act out revenge. And the unusually long (for WWT, at least) story length doesn't help much either. There's a lot of wheel spinning and padding in this one. Some months ago, Jack and I had some disagreement over whether George Evans had lost his touch and this is the first time I'd have to agree with Jack's assessment. There's way too much sketchiness and clunky looking characters, something I'd not seen much of in Evans's previous work.

"A Gun Named Marie!"

The second story, "A Gun Named Marie!," is even worse. A G.I. names his gun Marie (ergo the title!) and then watches his buddies fall right and left while his rifle magically keeps him alive. In the end, our hero is finally killed but the Nazi who shoots him picks up Marie and gets a bullet for his troubles. "Nein! It was empty!" he gasps out while dying but, unfortunately for the Ratzi, he didn't have the early tip-off we had when the G.I. told his buddies that        " 'Empty' guns have a way of turnin' on you when you least expect it!" Ernie Chan's art is passable but I've seen him do much better work. Not one of the better issues of Weird War Tales.

Jack: A terrific cover, though, don't you think? I'm in complete agreement with your assessment of this disappointing issue. Kanigher's story is as old as they come and Evans's art is running on fumes. The Chua (Chan) tale has also been told before and his art is not holding up well against some of the other Filipino artists we've been seeing lately in the pages of this comic.

Kubert

G.I. War Tales 3

"Split-Second Target"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Joe Kubert
(Reprinted from All-American Men of War #55, March 1958)

"The G.I. Who Replaced Himself!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath
(Reprinted from All-American Men of War #38, October 1956)

"The Last Wave!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Mort Drucker
(Reprinted from All-American Men of War 47, July 1957)

"Split-Second Target"

Jack: Ever since boot camp, when his instructor told him to take his time and squeeze the trigger of his rifle slowly to ensure accurate shooting, Andy has been thinking of the man's advice to go slow. Once he's a marine, he finds that, in real battle, he often has to try to hit a "Split-Second Target." Andy shoots down a Japanese Zero before he even makes it to shore, where he and his buddy Marty encounter a sniper in the jungle. Andy shoots the sniper out of his hiding place in a tree and Marty comments on his rifle skills. After Andy shoots another sniper hiding in the bushes, he and Marty are forced to dive underwater when enemy guns attack at a stream. Marty takes care of the problem with a well-placed grenade and the next thing Andy knows, a tank is bearing down on him. One more grenade and he and Marty are safe--for now.

It's such a pleasure to see classic Kubert art from 1958 in this exciting reprint story that opens the second issue of G.I. War Tales. The narrative almost veers into familiar Kanigher territory with the repetition of similar incidents, but Kubert's fine work and a good sense of fun keep it entertaining.

"The G.I. Who Replaced Himself"

Private Dan Webb aims his rocket-launcher at an enemy tank but is unable to fire when a shell knocks him out. When he comes to, he finds that his unit is moving out and fresh troops are taking their place. He becomes "The G.I. Who Replaced Himself!" when he joins the ranks of the new troops, who are short one bazooka man. More tanks attack and this time Dan is able to hang on and destroy them with his big gun.

More classic art from the '50s! This time it's courtesy of Russ Heath, who gives Kubert a run for his money in six pages of tank-blasting thrills. As with the prior story, the gimmick does not get in the way of the action.

"The Last Wave!"

Private Joe Blaine's initial disappointment at not being part of the first wave of troops to attack the beach quickly dissipates when he finds that there are still a few Nazi stragglers left to kill. Turns out being part of "The Last Wave!" isn't so bad after all!

Mort Drucker's gritty, photo-realistic style puts the perfect capper on this issue, which features three great examples of DC War comics at their best. Issues like this one, even though it's all reprints, remind us that, among all of the mediocre art by the Ross Andrus and Sam Glanzmans, DC could put out some really fine comic pages when they wanted to.

Peter: I really liked the camaraderie between the two G.I.s in "Split-Second Target"; the strip's almost like an intelligent Gunner and Sarge (if that's possible) and it manages to avoid most of the pitfalls of Big Bob's 1950s scripts (notice I said most). The other two stories are blahsville, but I can't argue with the quality of the art in all three. Kubert, Heath, and Drucker never fail to elicit smiles from this DC War veteran. What stands out the most about the two new reprint titles is a lack of cohesion; there's no theme, so I assume someone in the DC bullpen (Kubert? Kanigher?) simply grabbed old stories that would fit in the allotted space (although publishing the final three panels of "Split-Second" at the top of a page of text begs the question of whether these guys even cared if they fit!) rather than tales that shared a common thread.

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