Star Spangled DC War Stories Issue 173: June 1976

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

Kubert

Blitzkrieg 3

"The Execution"
"The Partisans"
Stories by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ric Estrada

Jack: English bombing raids lead Nazi chief Martin Bormann to order his troops to execute every Allied airman they capture. A week later, on the Normandy coast, Marshal Rommel orders a massive project to lay land mines to prevent the anticipated Allied invasion. Ludwig, Franz, and Hugo, three Nazi soldiers, see an enemy submarine not far from shore and a raft with soldiers paddling toward land. The trio of Nazis blow up the raft with grenades and then shoot and kill the lone survivor.

Another week passes and the same trio are marching behind tanks on the road to Malmedy.  They see Allied paratroopers hanging dead from tree limbs where their parachutes got caught and where they were executed by the S.S. Entering an abandoned town, the Nazi soldiers see an empty carnival and board a carousel for a bit of fun and relaxation. Suddenly, they are shot dead by snipers hiding in nearby houses. Attacking the houses with mortar and tank fire, the Nazis flush out American rangers, who are herded into the woods outside of town, shot to death, and buried. The trio of Nazis march on toward another town, talking of food and women.

"The Execution"

"The Execution" is not really a story, it's more a series of depressing scenes, where one of the trio of Nazi soldiers keeps expressing concern about the legality or morality of the acts they're being told to carry out. Estrada's art is average, but Kubert could have done so much more with this adult theme.

Nazi trio Hugo, Franz, and Ludwig march into Russia, executing "The Partisans" who attack them along the way. Nazi tanks cause widespread destruction but the partisans don't give up, despite being shot and burned at will. Villagers who helped them are hanged. Even children fight and are shot down.

Kanigher once again presents a series of events rather than a story, and this one is even more depressing than the one before it because we get to see the spectacle of children being killed. The end is supposed to be inspiring, as Kanigher writes that there is great strength in resistance, but it would be even better if there were an actual story. The trio in both stories have the names of Franz, Ludwig, and Hugo, but I can't tell if they're supposed to be the same people. If so, they certainly get around!

"The Partisans"

Peter: Blitzkrieg is so obviously more adult, thought-provoking, and hard-hitting than any other DC war title, I'm not sure how Big Bob doffs and dons his different writing caps. How do you write something with such bite and bleakness as "The Execution" and "The Partisans" where, it seems, each line of dialogue is telling a story, and then throw together something as random and disposable as "The Gunner is a Gorilla"? I've proposed before that the darker topics and situations are where Big Bob wanted to spend his time, but the higher-ups pushed for "Sgt. Rock and the Baby Troops of Normandy," thinking that was where the money was. Hard to argue when you consider this top-notch title only has a couple issues left before the axe falls. My highest compliment might be that Ric Estrada elevates his game to B+ with these two latest graphics exhibitions. There are some very subtle touches that only a Heath or Kubert might deliver. Perhaps the hardest-hitting message in Blitzkrieg #3 comes not from Kanigher but from editor Allan Asherman on the op-ed page. There, Asherman speaks of Adolf Eichmann and the resurgence of Nazism in the 1970s.

Dominguez

G.I. Combat 191

"Decoy for Death"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Sam Glanzman

"Silent Partner"
Story by Murray Boltinoff
Art by John Calnan

"Sucker's Gamble"
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by Jack Sparling

Peter: Jeb and his crew are given the duty of marching a troop of captured Nazis to a POW camp. But as is the case with most of the jobs given the crew of the Haunted Tank, something goes wrong and the Germans escape (so which team are the real Losers?!). These Nazis know exactly where they're going... to a remote cave stuffed full of enough arms and explosives to blast our G.I. heroes straight to hell. But a little quick thinking and a whole lotta luck save the day.

"Decoy for Death"

Thank goodness, because I wouldn't know what to do without a monthly dose of G.I. Combat. "Decoy for Death" is a dog. Is it my imagination or is Glanzman's art getting even worse? Check out his battle scenes that climax this "rousing" adventure. The various fighting soldiers look like stick men. "Silent Partner" and "Sucker's Gamble" are both short-shorts with a "message." I got the message from both. Of the two, I prefer the latter if only because of Jack Sparling's goofy art. We've been having a look at the work he did for Warren lately and I gotta say, Jack wasn't one of those rare artists whose art got better. It's still static and eccentric but also annoying.

"Sucker's Gamble"

Jack: The crew of the Haunted Tank demonstrate their stupidity by driving straight into two traps in a row while chasing the escaped prisoners. They find honor in not shooting unarmed soldiers and thus may be contrasted with the Nazi's in Blitzkrieg (above), who do the opposite. However, doing the right thing complicates matters and endangers the crew and others; only a convenient Nazi error solves the problem. "Silent Partner" is a waste of two pages, but at least John Calnan's art looks better than that of Sam Glanzman. In "Sucker's Gamble" we get another variation on the theme of sparing an enemy; however, this time the moral is "'The enemy's never a human being.'" I'm not sure that squares up with the stories by Kanigher.

Kubert

Our Army at War 293

"It Figures!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Frank Redondo

"Between the Pages"
Story and Art by Sam Glanzman

Jack: Sgt. Rock is pulled away from Easy Co. and flown to London for a special job, but before he even gets to meet with the folks in charge he is shocked to witness a little girl killed in a bombing raid on a city street. He manages to find a handy machine gun and bring down the Nazi bomber plane, but the child's death haunts him as he is introduced to the British soldiers with whom he will be working.

"It Figures!"

They look down on Rock's rough-and-tumble style, especially when he can't keep up during some quick training maneuvers, but before you know it, Rock and the Brits are flown to Holland and assigned the task of blowing up a windmill that hides a Nazi radar station. The British soldiers fail to carry out the job and it's up to Rock to save the day, which he does by having an uncanny ability to know where various groups of Nazi soldiers are hiding and kill them before they can get off a shot. He also manages to blow up the relocated radar station.

"Between the Pages"

"It Figures!" jumps all over the place and Kanigher shoehorns in some repeated uses of the title phrase. The story starts out with Easy Co. just having blown up a bridge somewhere in Europe, then Rock is flown to London, where an air raid takes place in broad daylight. He goes through a training course at lightning speed and does terribly, but the purpose of the training course is unclear. Off to Holland, where he plays superhero and shows the British soldiers how good old American know-how is better in a pinch than training and preparation. The whole thing is a mess.

During WWII, a soldier/artist named Jerry Boyle keeps a notebook of what he sees during wartime, focusing on day-to-day events and avoiding making a record of violence. Presumably, Jerry Boyle is Sam Glanzman, who has been drawing tales of the U.S.S. Stevens on and off for years in the back of D.C. War Comics. This four-pager does nothing except recreate pages from a journal.

Peter: Another hopelessly predictable Rock adventure. You know what's going to happen right from the moment you meet Rock's prissy comrades. Redondo's work isn't bad but it's not very original either; it's like faded Kubert. This story is just too full of inanities to enjoy. "Between the Pages" is more of a nod to a World War II GI/artist than a "story," and it's a wonder to me that Glanzman was able to sell these "observations" to DC.

Dominguez

Our Fighting Forces 167

"A Front Seat in Hell!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by George Evans

"G.I. on the Bull's-Eye"
Story by Murray Boltinoff
Art by E.R. Cruz

Jack: The Losers are sent on a doomed mission, leading a convoy of troop carriers across the English Channel in a test to see what obstacles will arise when trying to land in France. The Germans get advance notice of the small invasion and, when the Allied soldiers arrive, a massacre begins. The Losers manage to capture some oil drums and set off a conflagration that allows the surviving British soldiers to retreat, and the test is deemed a success because now the Allies know what they'll need for D-Day.

"G.I. on the Bull's-Eye"

It's a pleasure to see George Evans illustrate "A Front Seat in Hell!" and the story is reasonably entertaining, though there are moments that stretch credulity, such as when Captain Storm hollers to his fellow Losers to dive underwater. There are so many bombs going off that there's no way anyone could hear him. Also confusing is the hawk that tips off the Nazis to the approaching forces; he flies over the water and returns with a British Navy cap, though whose head it comes from is never made clear.

Sarge is given an important message to hand-deliver to regimental HQ, so off he heads through the woods, pursued by two Nazis with guns. Shot in the arm but unable to return fire, since that would give away his position, Sarge seems done for when he steps in an animal trap, but luckily Gunner was trailing him and manages to kill a Nazi soldier before he can execute Sarge.

"A Front Seat in Hell!"

E.R. Cruz makes "G.I. on the Bull's Eye" more entertaining than it has any right to be. The backup stories featuring members of the Losers don't seem to be lighting any fires, but Cruz's work is impressive.

Peter: It's not quite the big pile of cow manure it was during the Kirby era, but "The Losers" is still not a good book. Its adventures are unnecessarily complicated and its villains cut from the same cloth as Snidely Whiplash (this issue we get Commandant Flucht and his brainy hawk); nothing more than a superhero book with war trappings. Weak George Evans art as well; check out the panel I've reprinted here. Are the boys heading for a waterfall or an inlet? The back-up, starring Gunner and Sarge, at least has much better art.

Duranona

Weird War Tales 46

"Kill or Be Killed!"
Story by Jack Oleck
Art by George Evans

"The Voodoo Warrior"
Story by George Kashdan
Art by Jess Jodloman

"The Day After Doomsday!"
Story by Steve Skeates
Art by Steve Ditko & Vince Colletta

Peter: Nazi pilot Steiner is shot down over France but saved from the wreckage by the kindly French Count St. Clair who, it seems, collects Nazis in his basement. The Count explains that he's sneaking the Germans back over the border once they've healed from their wounds. Steiner grows antsy, wanting to return to battle, so he escapes the basement and follows the Count into the forest. There he witnesses the Count draw his fangs and bite one of Steiner's comrades in the neck. The Count is a vampire! Steiner manages to kill the Count and head back to the basement to let the rest of his Nazi buddies go free. They don't take the news of St. Clair's death well and they attack the pilot, who suddenly realizes he has super-strength because... he's a vampire too! Shunning any more violence, Steiner walks out into the sunlight and crumbles to dust.

"Kill or Be Killed!"

Just as dumb and cliched as it sounds, "Kill or Be Killed!" really doesn't need a byline. You can sense it's an Oleck story a mile away. Why would a vampire go to such extremes for food? Is he a part-time Freedom Fighter/part-time blood-sucker? The panel where Steiner discovers he's a vampire is handled clumsily enough; we never see St. Clair bite him, so it's right out of left field, losing all its effectiveness.

"El Coronel" is about to lead his troops of Conquistadors against the "insurrectionists," but the enemy has a better game plan. They use voodoo to kill the Colonel and discombobulate his troops. But El Coronel doesn't let death keep him from performing his task and he rises from the grave to lead the charge... or does he? If there's one thing I'll miss about the DC War titles when we abandon them in a few short months, it's this new armada of talent sneaking in here and there. Jess Jodloman would have been right at home in the Warren mags of the mid-1970s but he wasn't snapped up by that company until his best days were in their rear-view. "The Voodoo Warrior" contains some of Jodloman's best graphics yet and a nice double twist courtesy of George Kashdan. The issue is wrapped up with another one of those two-page "Day After Doomsday" vignettes. I have no idea who thought it was a great idea to run little short-shorts under the same title, but I don't recall any of these being worth the read. The short-lived connectivity between installments has been jettisoned so any thought to character development or plot is out the window.

Jack: I thought "Kill or Be Killed!" was an oddly likable story that went on much longer than expected. The Evans art seems unfinished. Jodloman's art on "The Voodoo Warrior" is certainly creepy, but I did not enjoy it. The story is okay but brief. "The Day After Doomsday!" is interesting in that it features country folk who live off the grid and thus survived the nuclear holocaust. Ditko's pencils are almost unrecognizable under Colletta's inks.

Next Week...
Finally, the girl
gets to do her thing!