Star Spangled DC War Stories Issue 144: December 1973 + The Best of 1973

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

Dominguez

Weird War Tales 20

"Death Watch"
Story by Jack Oleck
Art by Don Perlin

"Operation: Voodoo!"
Story by Arnold Drake
Art by Alfredo Alcala

"Death is a Green Man"
Story by Arnold Drake
Art by Alfredo Alcala

Peter: Private Price keeps dreaming of death but, when the Germans march in and blast the building he and his fellow G.I.s are staying in, Price sees a way out. He hides in the hills and watches as the rest of his platoon is slaughtered and then comes back down to discover he hadn't escaped the bombing after all. His dead body lies in the burnt-out building. I wonder how many times Jack Oleck used this same Owl Creek Bridge-style "shock" ending over the course of his decades-long career. To be fair, everyone used it, but that doesn't make "Death Watch" any easier to read. Neither does wading through Don Perlin's icky pencils.

"Death Watch"

Even artwork from the great Alfredo Alcala (no one did voodoo stories like Alcala) can't save the dull, boring "Operation: Voodoo!," a tale of black magic in 18th-century Haiti. There's no real life in the words, just a sense of filling up pages. And Arnold must have thought, "If at first you don't succeed . . ." by handing yet another script over to Alfredo for embellishing. Again, Alcala comes out aces, but the script for "Death is a Green Man" is a mishmash that doesn't make much sense. Fighter pilot Captain Danners has a near-death experience and gets an unwanted gift for his trouble. His friends, one by one, appear to him in green-face (as if they look "three days dead") and each one dies during a mission. Brushing his teeth one night, Danners glances into the mirror to see a green face. Knowing he's marked for death on a mission, he visits the doctor, calls in sick, and waits to see what happens to his comrades. All the planes come back safely but Danners has a seizure on the tarmac, and his doctor diagnoses penicillin shock. Why was Danners gifted the foresight? Who knows? No explanation is given, as if we're just supposed to take it for granted this is a weird war they're fighting in and anything can happen. There's a funny panel of Danners checking the roster and seeing that half the names belong to the DC bullpen at the time. Reading these latest Weird War Tales, I've got the sinking feeling every possible angle had been used up by 1973.

"Death is a Green Man"

Jack: "Death is a Green Man" is a direct swipe from "The Purple Testament," a first-season episode of The Twilight Zone. Despite the good pedigree and impressive art by Alcala, the story falls flat. I found "Operation: Voodoo!" to be muddled and confusing and even Alcala's work looks listless. "Death Watch" is a Bierce swipe, as Peter points out, with below-average art by one of our favorite 70s' whipping boys, Don Perlin.

Ken Barr

Star Spangled War Stories 176

"Target . . . the Unknown Soldier"
Story by Frank Robbins
Art by Jack Sparling

"Charge!"
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Frank Thorne

Peter: The Unknown Soldier bids his resistance friend, Cornelius, adieu and then walks away, only to see a missile slam into his friend's flat, killing Cornelius and lighting a fire of vengeance under the scarred bottom of the Soldier. Knowing the Soldier is somewhere in Antwerp, the Nazis continue their massive bombing and hope the pest will be destroyed. Meanwhile, back in Germany, Colonel Krantz finally reveals his secret weapon, and it's a doozy! Captain Werner von Sturm was once the "New Red Baron," the "ace of aces," the crème de la crème but, after a particularly nasty plane crash, he's a bandaged and scarred revenge-crazed superman (hmmmmmm . . .), and Krantz wants it that way. The Colonel's idea is to lure the Soldier to Germany, kill him, and replace our hero with the psycho, von Sturm.

"Target . . . the Unknown Soldier"

Meanwhile, back in Antwerp, a very important person has fallen into the hands of the Unknown Soldier. Pieter de Groote was once a leading Dutch "solid fuels physicist" until he got fed up with the Nazis interrupting his experiments and fled to Belgium. The Soldier's idea, one that the upper command immediately green lights, is to slip behind enemy lines in the guise of de Groote and find and destroy the munitions plant responsible for supplying the Germans with their bombs. All goes well until the Soldier is captured and loaded onto a train bound for a concentration camp. It's there that he realizes, after overhearing other prisoners talk badly of de Groote, that he's been hornswoggled! The Germans are waiting for him.

Check your brain at the door, please, and accompany me on a wild (if poorly visualized) ride through the craziness and laziness known as "Target . . . the Unknown Soldier." Well, it's laziness if you consider that creating a Nazi parallel of the Unknown Soldier is one of the oldest tricks in the superhero/funny book business, but the strip has such a tongue-in-cheek vibe to it (which is why I can excuse the awful art of Sparling), that I'm willing to give Frank Robbins a little more rope.

Of course, I've read Robbins's stuff before, which makes me wonder if ol' Frank is capable of whipping up something that isn't as it appears. This could end up as just another poorly-written arc but, for now, I'm enjoying the heck out of all the loony twists. How could the Soldier make contact with de Groote before the brass (he actually brings the scientist to his commander)? Did the Nazis know where to find US? Does the Soldier have a sign hanging above his Airbnb that reads "All important defectors check in here first!?" Robbins's double and triple twists in the climax are genius; just keep us guessing, please! Archie Goodwin contributes a Civil War tale concerning a gung ho "lootenant" who has a knack for getting his boys "kilt." Since we are to assume that Nazis don't speak English, can we also assume that the Southerners have a drawl and avoid all the "heah"s and "cain't"s? I find it immensely harder to concentrate on the story if my little brain is having to translate a foreign language all the while.

Jack and I is pert near tahd of tryin' ta
figger out this here talk, I must 'fess.

Jack: I thought "Charge!" was a very good short tale of a little-known battle, with fine art by Frank Thorne and a good script that gets the point across without being too heavy-handed or preachy. As for "Target . . . the Unknown Soldier," creating a Nazi counterpart of the Unknown Soldier is a good idea and the end, where the Nazis reveal that the Unknown Soldier has a tell that allows them to pick him out in a crowd, is a good start to a new continuing story. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Kubert

Our Army at War 263

"The Cage!!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"Winter Soldier!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ric Estrada

Jack: Though Easy Co. has had no rest for 48 hours and could skip a dangerous mission, they choose to probe Cemetery Hill rather than let Rock lead "a bunch of green apples" toward certain death. The route to the hill is fraught with peril but Rock and his men manage to dispatch a Panzerwagen as it crosses a bridge and a sunken tank turret buried on the approach to their target. This last bit of destruction alerts the Nazis guarding the hill, and they capture Easy Co. and march them as prisoners to Stalag 22, a nearby temporary P.O.W. camp that, to them, is "The Cage!!"

Major Krause puts Rock in charge of his fellow prisoners and, 44 hours later, when four inmates escape, the Allied soldiers are marched outside at night and Rock is told to select four men to be executed and several others to act as their firing squad. He picks four men to die and they hurl insults at him when he picks Easy Co. vets to be the firing squad. Machine gunners in a tower are ready to execute everyone if they disobey orders, but at the last moment Rock orders his men to fire at the gunners in the tower rather than at their fellow prisoners. Mayhem breaks out and Rock finishes the job by killing Major Krause himself. Set free, the prisoners thank Rock, and all of the Allied troops head off into the falling snow, away from the camp.

"The Cage!!"

Kanigher and Heath continue to present more realistic and violent stories in Our Army at War, even as some of the other DC War Comics suffer from weak scripts and below-average art. This is not Heath's best work, as some of the soldier's faces made me wonder if he had less capable help, but the action sequences are strong, as usual. It's nice to have a story that is wrapped up in a single issue, something we haven't seen much of lately, but I hope another extended saga gets going soon.

John Constable arrives at Mt. Vernon in 1781 to paint Washington's portrait but feels unworthy to capture the legendary man's likeness on canvas. A maid tells him a story of a "Winter Soldier!" who tried to desert the troops one freezing night at Valley Forge. Washington sentenced the young man to die by firing squad but took him aside to explain how his brave act of facing death with dignity would inspire his fellow soldiers to stick with the troops in that difficult winter. The young soldier is executed and Washington is haunted by his memory. Constable asks the maid how she knows the details of the story and she reveals that she is the young soldier's mother.

"Winter Soldier!"

This is a hard lesson well told by Kanigher, and Estrada does his best with his limited skill to match the tone of the story with serious illustrations. I'll admit that I was hoping Washington would find a way to pardon the young man, but I understand that the execution had to go forward. These backup stories are gritty, as Peter has noted; I just wish they'd use a better artist.

Peter: Unfortunately, "The Cage!!" doesn't change my opinion that this title, the foundation of the DC war line, is stuck in a rut. How many times we have to see the same half-dozen super-men take on a tank or a Zero with nothing more than their wits and good luck? The escape from the POW camp is indicative of what I'm talking about; are these the war's stupidest Nazis? As usual, there are still a few twists and shocks to keep the pages turning (the shadowy figure of the hanged men in a background), and Heath is, as always, the best man for the job, but why do I feel Big Bob was holding back the stronger stuff for his "Gallery of War" series? Was he being pressured to keep Rock more "middle of the road," and avoid anything too disturbing? Speaking of "Gallery of War," Big Bob's latest, "Winter Soldier!," has a jolt at the climax (the fact that Washington goes through with the execution) but the final reveal is a bit confusing. I'm assuming the woman is one of Washington's maids but it's not very clear; after the first read-through, I was convinced it was Martha Washington who was narrating the story and the President had ordered his own son's death, but that can't be the case. I'll leave it for the bookworm, Jack, to decipher the secret.

Jack: No doubt about it--she's a maid!

Kubert

G.I. Combat 167

"The Finish Line!"
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Sam Glanzman

"Just Another Mission"
Story by Steve Mitchell
Art by Ken Barr

Peter: Hauptmann Dieter Reinhardt has always wanted a rematch with the man who beat him in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The obsession has haunted him so much that he's carried a duffel bag full of athletic gear (for two!) just in case this great big war landed Gus Gray in front of his Tiger. Sure enough, last issue, Gus was reintroduced to the man he beat and that man wants to prove that his Charley horse was the only thing to keep him from the Gold. Gus is forced into the race but he takes advantage of the preoccupation of Reinhardt's men to allow the boys of the Jeb Stuart to escape. The crew rolls into a Greek village, where they are hidden by resistance fighters. When Reinhardt and his Ratzis come calling, the boys and their new allies use deception to gain the upper hand. Gus gives chase to a fleeing Reinhardt, who falls over a cliff and is hanged by his Olympic medal.

"The Finish Line!"

One of the dreariest, and certainly one of the ugliest, Haunted Tank stories I've ever read. This entire saga could have been told in one issue but Archie felt the need to pad it over two. This is the 79th Haunted Tank story (with over one hundred more to follow) and, unless someone stumbles across a new angle involving a patchwork tank guided by a ghost, this is going to be a long, long journey through mediocrity. Glanzman reaches an all-time low with "The Finish Line!," with some panels looking as though they were abandoned halfway through completion and lots of sketchy, static figures running to and fro but not looking very human. Truly wretched stuff.

Much better is the co-feature, Steve Mitchell's "Just Another Mission," in which a leftenant in the British Army in the early days of WWII accepts an easy-peasy mission, only to find his Colonel had faulty intel. Sharp dialogue and fabulous Ken Barr illustrations make this one a keeper.

"Just Another Mission"

Jack: With some of the worst pro art I've ever seen, "The Finish Line!" is a contender for worst story of the year. The final irony is terribly heavy-handed and the story is awful from start to finish. It's so bad, it makes the Unknown Soldier look good! "Just Another Mission" is certainly an improvement, though nothing special. Ken Barr's art has a Severin vibe to it here and he provides some pretty wild, big panels depicting battle. The story may be set in WWII, but the attitude is pure Vietnam-era.

Heath

Four ★★★★ Battle Tales 5

"Soldier's Luck!"
Story by Dave Wood
Art by Bernie Krigstein
(Reprinted from Our Army at War #11, June 1953)

"No Sunset for a Jet!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath
(Reprinted from Our Army at War #78, January 1959)

"The Three Frogmen"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Mort Drucker
(Reprinted from G.I. Combat #72, May 1959)

Jack: Fighting on the front lines in Korea, Willie is razzed by the other men in his unit when his Mom sends him a woolen scarf, but they change their tune after the scarf saves him and the rest of the guys by providing a dose of "Soldier's Luck!" during a series of enemy attacks!

"Soldier's Luck!"

The last issue of Four ★★★★ Battle Tales gets off to a good start with a quick little story set during the Korean War; somehow, Krigstein's art seems more finished in the DC stories we've seen lately in reprint than it sometimes did at EC.

The sun may set on most fighting men, but there's "No Sunset for a Jet!"as it battles all comers in the sky and on the ground. Russ Heath does what he can with this one but it's essentially a series of opportunities to repeat the title phrase or something similar to it as a lone fighter pilot overcomes incredible odds to survive.

"The Three Frogmen" are told of a mission that is too hard for even them, so each man sets out to prove the commanding officer wrong by tacking a very difficult task. They return to boast of their success only to learn that they have been tricked by a C.O. who wanted to see what they would do if he told them there was an impossible mission to be conquered.

"No Sunset for a Jet!"

A little of the frogman story sub-genre goes a long way and DC certainly milked it for all it was worth, but any chance to see Mort Drucker draw a war story is a chance I welcome. It's too bad this reprint title ends here, because the art on the old stories surpasses anything new we're getting from Don Perlin, Jack Sparling, Ric Estrada, or Sam Glanzman.

Peter: All three of the stories featured in the final issue of Four Star Battle Tales are utterly predictable but also undeniably charming in their own way. I love Bernie's art in "Soldier's Luck!" but I also fell for the easygoing way of our hero, not caring that much for the hard time his comrades are giving him and just getting on with the business of war. I wondered why "No Sunset for a Jet!" wasn't titled "Shooting Star," since that's the phrase Bob Haney chose to run into the ground. Heath's art is exquisite. Haney scores with the humor in "The Three Frogmen," and Mort Drucker's ordinary-Joe art is easy on the eye.

"The Three Frogmen"

THE BEST OF 1973

PETE

Best Script: Robert Kanigher, "Pathfinder" (G.I. Combat #165)
Best Art: Alex Nino, "Old Samurai" (Weird War Tales #13)
Best All-Around Story: "Pathfinder"

Worst Script: Arnold Drake, "The Warrior and the Witch-Doctor" (Weird War Tales #12)
Worst Art: Sam Glanzman, "The Finish Line!" (G.I. Combat #167)
Worst All-Around Story: "The Finish Line!"

FIVE BEST STORIES OF THE YEAR 

  1 "Pathfinder"
  2 "What's It Like?" (Our Army at War #255)
  3 "Mud and Sky" (G.I. Combat #158)
  4 "The Final Victor!" (G.I. Combat #162)
  5 "Castaway" (Our Army at War #257)

JACK 

Best Script: Robert Kanigher, "The Return!" (Our Army at War #262)
Best Art: Tony DeZuniga/Alfredo Alcala/Gerry Talaoc/Alex Nino, "October 30..." (Weird War Tales #11)
Best All-Around Story: "The Survivor!" (Our Army at War #258)

Worst Script: Robert Kanigher, "What Price War?" (G.I. Combat #158)
Worst Art: Sam Glanzman, "The Finish Line!"
Worst All-Around Story: "What Price War?"

FIVE BEST STORIES OF THE YEAR 

  1 "Who is Haunting the Haunted Chateau?" (Weird War Tales #10)
  2 "The Town" (Our Army at War #254)
  3 "What's it Like?"
  4 "School for Sergeants!" (Our Army at War #256)
  5 "The Survivor!"

Next Week...
...with a whimper!