Star Spangled DC War Stories Issue 174: July 1976

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

Kubert

Star Spangled War Stories 200

"Deathride"
Story by David Michelinie
Art by Gerry Talaoc

"Shooting Star"
Story and Art by Joe Kubert

Peter: With Mademoiselle Marie just itching to blow his cover to the Nazis, the Unknown Soldier has to work quick to a/ convince the French Freedom Fighting Fireball that he's not the traitor she thinks he is and b/ get a move on destroying the German secret weapon, the Sonic Shell! Some quick thinking and Marie and her freedom fighters are out of action and US is in charge. Our hero finally proves his innocence to Marie and the two set off for the Sonic Shell, which has been loaded onto a local train. The plan is to derail the train and destroy the weapon. Problem is, they discover that the Germans have tied Marie's fellow fighters to the engine of the train to dissuade any rebel nonsense. Marie pleads with the Soldier to call off the mission until they can free her friends but America's Number One Secret Weapon is not to be stopped and he locks Marie in a shack to keep her out of the way. US boards the train and, with the help of one of Marie's freed fighters, steers the train on a "Deathride" towards the German encampment. At the last second, the  Frenchman boots our hero to safety and dies, with his fellow fighters, in the inferno. Mlle. Marie catches up with the Unknown Soldier and tells him she understands his actions but will keel heem if he ever comes to France again!

"Deathride"

A fabulously explosive finale to this saga but a lot of the story really confused me (that could be because I'm so used to the simple plots used in Haunted Tank and The Losers); I had to go back and reread the previous chapter to figure out what the two spies were fighting about in the first place. And then there's the whole Secret Nazi Weapon business. What was its purpose again? Anyway, David Michelinie comes through again and proves that just about every character (well, except maybe Mlle. Marie and US) is disposable. I want to see the next chapter where Marie holds interviews for her new squad of maquis. "Ees zees how you hold zat masheen goon?"

"Deathride"

"Shooting Star"

Hans von Hammer, the Enemy Ace, returns in "Shooting Star!" When a German scientist named Hermann Breck concocts a gyroscope that can direct bombs to their targets, von Hammer knows he must participate in any test in order to tip the balance of power in Germany's favor. The Enemy Ace must take part in an aerial dogfight against another German pilot in order to see if the concoction works during actual warfare. When the two pilots take flight, it becomes immediately apparent to von Hammer that his ally/opponent means to blow him out of the sky in order to earn some very big bragging rights back at the hangar. In order to survive, von Hammer must show the upstart why he is called "The Hammer of Hell."

How nice to have a DC war institution back, if just for one quick installment. It's way too short but that's me being greedy; it goes without saying that Kubert has crafted an exciting and gorgeously-delineated tale that sits comfortably on the shelf with his past EA masterpieces. No one could draw dangerous skies and angry clouds like Kubert. This would be the last appearance of von Hammer until 1990, when DC published the graphic novel, Enemy Ace: War Idyll. The "Dead Letter Office" page contains an interesting history of Star Spangled War Stories (on the celebration of its 200th issue) and all its past series characters.

Jack: This was a worthy 200th issue of Star Spangled War Stories! The Unknown Soldier is in very deep cover when he holds Mlle. Marie at gunpoint and whacks her in the face with a weapon. The story as a whole is exciting and builds to a thrilling finish. It's also wonderful to see the return of Enemy Ace and, even more, to see an actual story drawn by Kubert, who has been doing nothing but fabulous covers for the past number of years. The story is light but better a little Enemy Ace than none at all.

"Shooting Star"

Kubert

Our Army at War 294

"A Coffin for Easy"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Frank Redondo

"A Pair of Boots"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ric Estrada

Jack: After fighting German soldiers for 24 hours, the men of Easy Co. are out of ammunition. Suddenly, a horse-drawn hearse bursts onto the scene! Is it "A Coffin for Easy"? No, it's Mlle. Marie herself, clad in the garb of a monk and accompanied by a real monk, driving a hearse that contains ammunition for the Allies! Rock and his men drive back the German soldiers, aided by Mlle. Marie lobbing mortar shells in support.

Once the battle is over, Rock tells Marie that Easy Co. is looking for underground pipelines near the French town of Aix that are supplying German tanks with fuel. Coincidentally, Aix is the home of  the monk with Marie, whom she refers to as her brother, Jules. Donning monk's robes, the men of Easy Co. fall in line behind the hearse and march to Aix, which is occupied by the German army.

"A Coffin for Easy"

In the catacombs below the church of Brother Jules, Rock and his men discover the hidden underground fuel pipeline that is supplying the German tanks. They plan to blow it up the next day after ringing the church bell to warn the townspeople of imminent danger. When the bell is rung, the Germans realize it's a warning and break down the doors of the church in order to gun down Brother Jules. Mlle. Marie, Sgt. Rock, and the men of Easy Co. return fire and wipe out the enemy before setting an explosive charge and heading for the hills outside Aix. They watch as the pipeline is blown up and they listen as the bell in the fallen church steeple rings for the late Brother Jules.

Unfortunately, Kanigher and Redondo's meandering story is not up to the quality of Kubert's stunning cover. It's odd to see Mlle. Marie with the men of Easy Co. in France in the same month that she's with the Unknown Soldier elsewhere. Redondo's art is not up to the level of Talaoc's.

"A Pair of Boots"

As a German patrol trudges through the snow in the countryside near Warsaw, Private Fritz Vorst agonizes over his painful, hobnail boots and his hungry stomach. He comes upon a Polish officer and drowns the man in a stream, stealing "A Pair of Boots" of better quality and replacing the painful ones on his own feet. He then grabs a pretty farm girl but shoots and kills her when she resists his advances. Suddenly, the area is being shelled and Private Vorst takes refuge in a farmhouse, but he is blown to bits by one of the shells. Two birds nest in his torn boot.

Kanigher is trying to be ironic here, but Estrada's work is not strong enough to make anything but a dull and obvious morality play out of this five-page backup. Our Army at War remains a mediocre series as we come to the end of our review.

Peter: The reappearance of Mlle. Marie is welcome, if only for something to break the monotony. It sure seems like we've read this one quite a few times, with its overrun village, kindly priest (who dies at the climax), and maudlin message. At least Frank Redondo is settling in and delivering nice Kubert-lite art. Big Bob's Gallery story this issue is a weak one as well but certainly more interesting than the opener.

Dominguez

G.I. Combat 192

"The General Has Two Faces"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Sam Glanzman

"Target for Tonight--Me"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ric Estrada

Peter: The boys of the Jeb Stuart are tasked with their most important mission ever: the killing of General Erwin Rommel! The trip gets off to a rocky start when a pair of Nazi fighter planes blast the bridge they're rolling across and wound Commander Jeb. Luckily for our boys, a group of German lasses come upon the hobbled tank and its occupants. The girls take the men back to their school, a remote castle located in "the Black Forest of Germany." Once inside the academy, the crew realize these dames are divided, with half wanting to turn the boys in to the Nazis and the other half swooning over their handsome American bodies. Eventually, one of the girls gets loose and heads down the hill to notify (who else?) General Rommel of the mini-invasion. Rommel and three of his tanks head for the castle but the crew of the Jeb manages to hold them off, blowing all three tin cans to hell and killing "the Desert Fox" in the bargain.  Returning to base, the tank crew discover it was all a ruse: Rommel was elsewhere and the Kraut they killed was a double!

"The General Has Two Faces"

"The General Has Two Faces" is a fairly exciting Haunted Tank adventure, but with the usual pratfalls. Glanzman knows how to handle a scene filled with castles and rolling tanks (the panel, from the perspective of the diving Nazi pilot, is a keeper) but, as usual, his characters resemble partially-penciled figures, indistinct from each other save a bit of coloring. The Rommel switcheroo makes no sense whatsoever, but then neither does calling in this particular tank crew to head up a (solo!) mission to kill, arguably, the most important cog in the Nazi machine. The maudlin Our Secret Romance sub-plot is awful as well (Jeb's latest love interest, the Baroness thinks: As a German--I don't want him to win! But as a woman--I can't bear to see him--killed!) but maybe I was just in the mood for a dumb wall-to-wall action adventure. It's certainly more palatable then the Haunted Tanks we've been getting lately. Oh, and one important milestone: Gus sees the General! What do we make of that? Will it be commented on in future installments or cast away like most sub-plots (poor Jeb has been in love for at least fifteen minutes with forty different now-dead women)?

"Target for Tonight--Me"

This issue's back-up, "Target for Tonight--Me," written by Big Bob under his "Bart Regan" pseudonym, is a compact and crackling thriller about an OSS agent who parachutes behind enemy lines but is captured by the Nazis and taken to their base to be tortured. The agent, who confesses to his captors that he is Polish and volunteered for the mission because the Germans murdered his wife, gives up no secrets. As he is about to be hanged, RAF fighter planes hover above. The Nazi commander laughs and explains that no bombs will fall on their headquarters, since it's been disguised as a hospital. He eats those words and the bombs fall and our hero smiles. Back at OSS Control, we learn that a "miniature transmitter" was planted in the agent's skull and his was a suicide mission. Holy cow! What a fantastic short!

"Target for Tonight--Me"

Clocking in at five pages, this little sizzler has more genuine scenes of impact stuffed within its frame than 90% of the pap Big Bob was pumping out for Sgt. Rock, Haunted Tank and The Losers. Particular favorite: while the agent relates his motive to the Germans, their commander sits at a piano: "How sad! you touch my heart!," and as they drag the prisoner away to be tortured, he runs his fingers over the keys: "Ach! All this tension! Mozart is so soothing!" Brilliant! The first of a new series of back-ups under the title of "OSS," this has the darker and grimmer feel of Kanigher's "Gallery of War." Let's hope future installments are this strong.

Jack: I'm glad you liked the backup story. I thought it was a dud. Estrada is a notch above Glanzman in my book but not by much. The story itself was a weak one. Oddly enough, the Haunted Tank story was pretty good, save the usual poor art that drags it down. The bit about the tank crew being rescued by the gals who take them back to the castle is reminiscent of Clint Eastwood's movie, The Beguiled, from 1971. The opening sequence of this story is fairly exciting but the romantic stuff is a lot of hooey.

Next Week...
Witness the mercurial rise of
Richard Corben!