Star Spangled DC War Stories Issue 177: October 1976

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

Kubert

Our Army at War 297

"Percentages"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Frank Redondo

"The Wild Piper"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ric Estrada

Jack: A famous general visits the front lines and lays out his plan to destroy the enemy stronghold atop Monte Inferno in what he calls Operation Eagle's Nest. He blithely rattles off the "Percentages" of casualties he expects the army to suffer and, soon enough, the deaths begin to mount as Rock, Easy Co., and a line of tanks cross a river and are dive-bombed by enemy planes. The next day, more soldiers die as Rock and Co. approach their objective. Sgt. Rock keeps collecting the dog tags of dead soldiers until one of his men discovers a tunnel that leads into Monte Inferno. Inside, the U.S. soldiers find a hidden ammo dump and destroy it with some well-thrown grenades. When Rock again meets the general, he asks how the senior officer can reconcile all of the soldiers' deaths with the result of having met his objective.

The problem with a story like "Percentages" is that, each time we are introduced to a new character, we know he's going to die. Oddly enough, the Easy Co. regulars seem nowhere to be found. Instead, we get:

• a nameless lieutenant in a tank who is killed just as he is about to bite into his wife's apple pie;
• a lanky soldier named Stretch who is killed by an incoming shell;
• two brothers named Frankie and Johnny who die together right after Rock says he'll send one of them home;
• a Floridian soldier named Tampa who is killed in the destruction of the hidden ammo dump.

"Percentages"

The upshot of all of this carnage is that these soldiers do just become "Percentages," men we've not gotten to know who are set up just to be knocked over like human bowling pins.

"The Wild Piper"

As a boy, Scottish lad Jaimie McTavish is told by his Pa that he must practice those bagpipes so that some day he can lead men into battle like all of his ancestors. Jaimie practices as he ages but the darn things make such a racket that other soldiers run for cover when he plays. During WWII, Jaimie finds himself riding in a bomber jet when a fierce air battle erupts. It's touch and go for the good guys, but we know they'll make it, since there's "The Wild Piper," sitting in the back of the plane, playing those bagpipes and piping his men back home.

Did we ever doubt that those bagpipes would be pulled out at the end of the story? Ric Estrada's work on air battles and planes surely did not make George Evans lose any sleep, and the story meanders along for six pages before we get to see Jaimie with his pipes in an anti-climactic final panel. Kanigher sure loved his fish out of water stories, didn't he? The whole point of this one is to figure out how to get the bagpipes going in an air battle.

Peter: "Percentages" is a weary message-story that pounds its message into us over and over. The constant reminder of the General (Patton?) and his stick-pin board are tiring. Still nothing but kudos from me on Redondo's art; if we can't have Heath or Kubert, let's keep this guy on the Rock. "The Wild Piper" wasn't one of Big Bob's best "Gallery of War"s either, but that may be due to my fondness for his darker fables. This one's definitely on the lighter side.

Kubert

Blitzkrieg 5

"The Raid"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Lee Elias

"The Devil Waits"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ric Estrada

Jack: Ludwig, Hugo, and Franz, our favorite trio of Nazis, relax on a road in Occupied France when word comes down that Allied paratroopers are attacking headquarters! Trucks of soldiers head for HQ but are attacked by elderly French soldiers left over from WWI. Hugo and Ludwig brutally machine-gun the old men, ignoring Franz's criticism of their actions.

The trio survive an attack by American fighter planes and march on toward HQ past the corpses of fellow soldiers. As they near their destination, they see American paratroopers being blown off course and into the woods and give chase. The Nazis wipe out the Americans with a combination of machine gun fire and flamethrowers, but when they come to a bridge held by Allied soldiers, the Nazi trio are ordered to dive underneath it and set mines to blow it up. This mission is a success and, when the Nazis reach the town where HQ is located, they methodically shoot and kill every American soldier they see. Satisfied at their work and certain any invasion of France is doomed to failure, they rest on their laurels and remark on the date: June 6, 1944. Little do they know what is taking place on the beaches of Normandy.

"The Raid"

I will miss Hugo, Franz, and Ludwig, now that Blitzkrieg has been canceled! "The Raid" doesn't have much of the sensitive portrait of the enemy that marks Kanigher's best work in earlier issues of this series, but it's still refreshing to see the war from the enemy's point of view. I especially like the art by Lee Elias, who (in spots) reminds me of what Frank Robbins could've been had he not been so outlandish with some of his poses.

It's 318 B.C., and when Vertix, the Goth chieftain, is killed in battle, his son, Maric, is given his father's sword and told that, if he can spend a night in the forest, he will be qualified to lead his people. Darkness falls and he fights off a pack of wolves, falling into a hole that leads to a subterranean chamber. Beckoned by a muscular woman in a fur tunic (I kid you not), he follows her and finds a tribe of hungry prehistoric men who look upon him as their next meal. Maric fights the men off and escapes back across a stone bridge that he knocks down, leading the prehistoric men to fall to their doom. Successfully returning from the forest, Maric is hailed as the new chieftain of the Goths.

"The Devil Waits"

I don't know why this story is called "The Devil Waits," but I can say for certain that Ric Estrada is one of the few comic artists who can draw a scantily-clad female and make her look like a male wrestler rather than Vampirella. The whole story is kind of silly and I wonder why Bob Kanigher felt compelled to tell a story of pre-Christian era Goths.

Peter: Blitzkrieg ends its five-issue run with its weakest package. Like last issue's "The Souvenir," "The Raid" feels like something we've seen several times before. The back-up, "The Devil Waits," doesn't even fall into the structure of the title; this is not a story told from the perspective of the enemy. It's just weak sword-and-sorcery. In the letters page, reader Bob Robinson criticizes Bob Kanigher for claiming this title would make the enemy seem "human" and missing the mark. While I think the title overall is a strong one, I do see Robinson's point. Take "The Tourists" from last issue, for example, or Ludwig from "The Raid." These are monsters, seemingly devoid of soul or compassion. Still, I give Big Bob high praise for attempting to present something different to the boys and girls of 1976; evidently, the fans wanted more Haunted Taxi stories instead.

Kubert

Our Fighting Forces 169

"Welcome Home--And Die!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by George Evans

"Sign in the Sky"
Story by Murray Boltinoff
Art. by E.R. Cruz

Jack: The Losers parachute into Germany with Professor Koenig and his daughter Ursula, avoiding Nazis on the way to returning the duo to Berlin. Captain Storm pilots a boat through enemy fire, allowing the other Losers and their charges to leap into the Elbe River and escape. Climbing out of the river and onto dry land, the Losers, the professor, and Ursula find an abandoned hay truck and head for Berlin.

Johnny Cloud drives the truck right through a Nazi roadblock while Gunner and Sarge jump off of the back and disappear. Cloud thinks back to when the Losers were assigned to this mission; the reason the professor and Ursula must return to Berlin is because a blueprint for a deadly missile is hidden in his house. If the Nazis get hold of it, devastation will follow across the globe! Cloud, the professor, and Ursula reach the professor's house, only to find it leveled. They search through the rubble and find the blueprint, but suddenly Nazis appear and shoot, killing the professor and wounding Cloud.

That is some really red skin!
("Welcome Home--And Die!")

Luckily, the other three Losers show up just in time and gun down the Nazis. Cloud commandeers a Nazi plane and the Losers take to the sky with Ursula, where they hook up with Allied jets and are on their way to safety.

"Welcome Home--And Die!" is twelve pages of almost non-stop action, yet it all seems a bit cliched. For some reason, the colorist decided to make Johnny Cloud redder than ever, which is jarring. I like the way Kanigher uses the skills of Captain Storm and Johnny Cloud to help with the escape; Storm pilots a boat and Cloud pilots a plane. Gunner and Sarge do what they do best--shoot Nazis! George Evans can always be counted on for art that is adequate, if nothing special, at this point in his career, and the characters in his stories always seem to end up in a plane!

Johnny Cloud and his squadron are flying back to base when enemy bombers make a sudden appearance! Cloud escapes an attacking plane, only to find himself alone, his squadron nowhere to be found. Observing damage on the ground far below, the Navajo Ace seeks the enemy bomber but finds himself under attack by a second Nazi plane. Cloud flies into the sun and manages to destroy the plane that was following him, then uses a "Sign in the Sky" to track and shoot down the first bomber.

"Sign in the Sky"

It may only be four pages long, but this short backup story features the finest art so far this month. Johnny Cloud is as red in this story as he was in the Losers tale, but Cruz's art is so smooth it doesn't matter. The plot is quick and consists of a couple of aerial tricks; enjoyable but light.

Peter: But for the welcome twist of liebchen Ursula being the real brains of the family, this Losers story was a loser. Dopey dialogue and manufactured excitement. And what happened to Ona? One issue and she's already MIA again. "Sign in the Sky" continues the trend of weak solo back-ups, but I keep forgetting to shout out loud my praise for the art of E.R. Cruz, who at least makes turning the pages bearable. I love how the colorist is still giving Johnny Cloud that red-skinned look even in 1976, when we knew better. Why not use this vignette series to let us know what Ona's been up to?

Kubert

G.I. Combat 195

"The War That Time Forgot"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Sam Glanzman

"Champagne for a Butcher"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ric Estrada

Peter: The Haunted Tank is packed safely aboard a cargo plane, with Jeb, the crew, and a special guest star, Nurse Anna, heading for Iwo Jima with a super-secret weapon aboard: brand new lightweight tank parachutes, gizmos the Japanese would give anything to get hold of. Suddenly, two Zeroes fly out of the clouds, but their attack is fended off by a pterodactyl! What in the world? The cargo plane is destroyed, but the Haunted Tank manages to parachute to safety, landing in the dormant volcano of an uncharted island in the Pacific (hmm...). It's not long before the boys are attacked by dinosaur monsters from the prehistoric Stone Age. They blast the beasts to hell, but the crew is soon captured by a flock of cavemen who tie them up and bow before the tank as if it was a God. A well-timed T. Rex arrives and the cave guys realize they need help, so they let our boys go to do their duty.

"The War That Time Forgot"

After the T. Rex is blasted to atoms, Jeb and co. escape through a small cave and arrive back on the beach, just in time to be shot at by a Japanese battleship. "As if it expected us," murmurs Jeb, just as he puts two and two together and realizes that cute nurse Anna is really a Fraulein and has been radioing the Japs with her Dick Tracy wristwatch (which seems to have frequency even while in a prehistoric Stone Age). The Haunted Tank IV sinks the battleship and the ensuing Zero and Frau Anna is buried in the rubble. The boys are rescued by a destroyer that happens to be passing by and they all muse about how wonderful it is to have exited "The War That Time Forgot!"

"The War That Time Forgot"

For those of you who had asked, time and again, whatever happened to that crazy little island in the Pacific that managed to lure so many wayward seamen, Allied or otherwise, this dopey little saga's for you. It's harmless (and brainless), just like most of the previous journeys to the island, but it also smells of futility, as if Bob is waving the white flag and admitting he's low on petrol. The draw for the original WTTF strips was, obviously, the dinos. Though we often dragged Andru and Esposito through the mud for all their weaknesses, they could at least pencil and ink some pretty ferocious critters when they wanted to. You're not going to get that with Sam Glanzman and his doodles. I'm still not sure why the Army always went to such great expense to make sure either Rock, the Jeb crew, or the Losers were everywhere something was happening.

This issue's "OSS" concerns pretty agent Rolande, who helps blow the hell out of a train carrying Nazi Colonel Kunzler, aka "the Butcher," to his mountaintop pad. Unfortunately, the plan goes awry and the Colonel survives, so Rolande must execute her orders (and Kunzler) in a much more intimate fashion, by serving "Champagne for a Butcher." Another winner in this new series, Kanigher has hit on a great formula, one where the reader is never sure whether the central character will survive or even finish the mission successfully. And, don't look now, Jack, but Estrada's getting better.

Jack: Better is a relative term. In this case, he's certainly better than Glanzman! "The War That Time Forgot" will be hard to top for worst story of 1976, a year not destined to go down in history as one of the better ones for the DC War Comics. The pterodactyl is enormous (it grabs a plane in its claws) and the Haunted Tank is somehow able to fire at it while dropping through the sky attached to parachutes. Wouldn't the recoil send it spinning off? The dinos and cavemen in the volcano are ridiculous and, like you, I never thought I'd miss Andru and Esposito. Then, suddenly, we forget about the dinos and get a subplot with a female spy and a bang-bang battle with a ship and a plane! Just dreadful. The backup story is only slightly better, in my opinion.

García-López

Weird War Tales 48

"Ultimate Destiny"
Story by John Albano
Art by Ruben Sosa

"The Greeks Had a Word For It!"
Story by George Kashdan
Art by Bill Draut

"The Day After Doomsday!"
Story by Steve Skeates
Art by Buddy Gernale

Peter: A Stuka crashes to the ground, but the pilot walks through the burning wreckage, seemingly unhurt. Elsewhere, an arrogant Nazi Colonel believes he has been put on Earth to eliminate the Allied forces; to achieve this goal he disobeys orders and advances into ground held by stronger Allied troops. Very soon, the Colonel's regiment is surrounded and they have no alternative but to surrender. But this Nazi believes in going down with the ship and orders his men to advance rather than retreat. Just as he's giving his order, a stranger appears and informs the Colonel he's a Stuka pilot who crashed but observed a weakness in the enemy lines: he convinces the Colonel they can escape through the hole. It's only after bombs fall and the Colonel's entire regiment is blown straight to hell that the pilot admits to the dying Colonel that he's actually the ghost of a Jew, who died in a concentration camp, now roaming the land for "great conquerors" to foil.

"Ultimate Destiny"

"The Greeks Had a Word for It!"

What a screwy story "Ultimate Destiny" is. Our ghostly "hand of God" appears for a handful of panels in the prologue and then is forgotten until the final few pages. The reveal is a lazy one but the story was enjoyable anyway. Ruben Sosa has an unusual style, akin to Howard Chaykin as if inked by Yandoc. What's left after this jumbo-sized opener is two short-shorts, neither of which has much to discuss. In "The Greeks Had a Word For It!," the Italian commandant of a POW camp falls in love with a veiled woman and discovers too late... she's a Gorgon! Just as lame is another "The Day After Doomsday!" about a boy scout out looking for a pet, not realizing the animals have mutated and even the smallest of critters can be carnivorous. Tell me there was a goal here with these two-page doomsday vignettes.

Jack: I don't think Weird War Tales is ever very good, but I enjoyed "Ultimate Destiny." The art was only so-so but the story was satisfying from start to finish, with a decent plot and a weird element that works. "The Greeks Had a Word for It!" is silly, but Draut doesn't draw a bad Medusa. "The Day After Doomsday!" is as bad as the other entries in the series.

Next Week...
More S&S magic from
Billy Graham!