Number 1050


Veteran's Day 11/11/11


Today is Veteran's Day in the U. S., honoring all who have served in the armed forces of the United States. That's a lot of veterans, and includes me.

For the occasion we've got a couple of special war stories, one story from Our Army At War #8, 1953, written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Irving Novick. It's in the form of the original art taken from the Heritage Auctions site. I also took the other story from Heritage, which harkens back to an earlier era of conflict. It's from the next-to-last issue of Tomahawk*, #139, 1972, written by Bob Haney and drawn by Fred Ray. Ray, who had drawn Tomahawk for years, was an expert on the Revolutionary War period, and looks like he could handle the Civil War period, also.

These stories are dedicated to my fellow veterans, and to those serving now. Thanks to all of you!


















*The cover logo says Son of Tomahawk.

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Our Army At War #104

In honor of Veteran's Day, I thought I'd pull out one of my older war comics (March 1961). As I have discussed in the past, Sgt. Rock was the undisputed star of Our Army at War; eventually the comic was renamed after him. No surprise, the crusty old Sarge isn't much on dames:

His men speculate that perhaps he'll feel different when he falls for a girl, but others doubt that he'll ever love anything more than his sub-machine gun. Later, the kid mooning over the photo nearly gets killed trying to win a medal for his Millie; only Rock's quick thinking saves the youngster.

Then, in the midst of a battle, Rock spots a live grenade in the trench with him and the guys. He rips off his helmet and covers the "potato masher". When he regains consciousness:

Pleased to meet you Nurse Jane, but don't call me 'Honey'. Turns out that the enemy has made a breakthrough and the hospital he's in is now in German-controlled territory. The two of them evacuate the hospital, and although Rock insists that he's headed back to the front lines, Nurse Jane isn't leaving him. And amusingly, as she outranks him, he cannot insist. Rock holds off the enemy with her help until Easy Company makes it there. And then Sarge really gets embarrassed:

Comments: A fun little story with terrific characterization for Nurse Jane. I don't know if she ever returned, but I'd love to see her again. Story by Kanigher; as usual, the terrific artwork is by Kubert.

Incidentally, Nerdy Bird has the latest on the long-rumored Sgt Rock film, which apparently is not going to be set during World War II. I concur with her assessment:

I'm no Sgt. Rock expert but isn't that like, oh I don't know, the entire point of the character?

The second story, My Rival, the Jet, tells of an odd romantic triangle, between Army nurse Sally Bell, her boyfriend Bill Gage (a Korean War aviator), and his plane, (named by its previous pilot) Suzie. Sally is jeaolous of the plane and hopes for it to be destroyed while sparing Bill's life. But when word comes that Suzie's been hit, Sally prays for it to save Bill. But when it does, she's still upset:

But when Bill's in danger again, Sally prays that Suzie will bring him back safely. And in the end:

Comments: The rivalry between Sally and Suzie is a little silly, but I found the ending very effective (if predictable). GCD credits the script to Bob Haney and the artwork to Irv Novick.

The third story is Combat Racket. A rookie infantryman can't stand the noises of war, but his Sarge has some advice:

While on patrol, they hear the sound of a gun bolt behind them, and firing at the sound, they kill two snipers. Then they hear the hissing of two "potato mashers" (grenades), and bat them away with the butts of their rifles. The Sarge puts his ear to the ground and hears the rumble of an approaching tank. Then they duck as a mortar shell whistles overhead. And in the end:

Comments: A simple and very effective little story by Hank Chapman, with art by Russ Heath.

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Fifty Years Ago Today: Gibraltar Man

Unlike most DC characters of the Silver Age, Sgt. Rock did not spring to life full-blown and ready for an action figure set. For most of the 1950s, DC's war mags had bucked the trend towards continuing series in favor of one-shot stories. But things were changing; DC had placed a tiny squadron known as Gunner and Sarge as a regular feature in Our Fighting Forces in May 1959 (the squadron did expand a few years later with the addition of "Pooch", a German shepherd).

Wikipedia notes the existence of a Sgt. Rock prototype in GI Combat #68 (January 1959). Our Army At War #81 and #82 both had characters that would clearly become Sgt. Rock; in the former he was referred to as Sgt. Rocky, and although they got his name right in the latter tale he was a subsidiary character to Walker (BAR) and Dugan (bazooka), who were the real stars of the story.

But with Our Army At War #83, the series was ready to kick into gear. Overstreet calls it the "first real Sgt. Rock". In The Rock and the Wall, we learn that the legend of Sgt. Rock and Easy Company is spreading throughout the armed forces:



But one guy isn't so impressed; Easy Company's new recruit, Joe Wall. Wall is no slouch as a fighting man himself as we see here:



Several days later, a flying fortress is shot down near Easy Company. Rock and Wall fight off some enemies attacking the plane, then (improbably) hop aboard to replace the injured gunners when the engine is quickly repaired. Joe's a skilled gunner and shoots down several enemy planes along the way, but when he's hit, the Rock coolly steps in an shoots down one enemy plane, then steadies the gun so Joe can kayo the last fighter. And in the end, Wall realizes:



Comments: Superb story by Kanigher, and dazzling artwork by Joe Kubert. There's another solid reason to consider this the first real Sgt. Rock story; the Sgt. Rocky tale in OAAW #81 was drawn by Andru & Esposito, while the OAAW #82 story was by Mort Drucker.

Rock was the most successful war comics character of all time; he outlasted all his competitors, even Marvel's Sgt. Fury. When DC decided to include a war comics annual in it's lineup, what did they title it? Sgt. Rock's Prize Battle Tales.

Although I won't discuss the other stories in OAAW, I did want to note this tremendous ad for an upcoming issue of Star Spangled War Stories and DC's war titles in general:



That is poetry.

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Our Army At War #92

A buddy of mine scanned in this issue and I thought I'd do a solo issue review. Here's the cover:

(Cover art by Jerry Grandinetti)

This was the March, 1960 issue. The cover story features Sgt. Rock. Rock is a no-nonsense soldier presiding over a group of men known (ironically) as Easy Company. In this story, he's not only battling the Germans, but his own men who have become superstitious that a rabbit's foot owned by the squad's flame-thrower operator is responsible for their good fortune:

(Art by Joe Kubert, who created Sgt. Rock)

In the end, of course, the soldiers learn their lesson, that their trinkets and charms were not responsible for the luck of Easy Company. Unfortunately, they transfer their superstition:


Comments: Excellent Bob Kanigher story with terrific art as usual by Kubert. More than anything else, it's Kubert's inks that give his characters faces so much emotion.

There is a short feature on the Fighting 41st infantry division, known as the Jungleers for their fighting in the South Pacific, followed by "Bait for a Desert Hawk". A German pilot and an American pilot find their fates tied to a battle between a falcon and a sparrow hawk. The German and the falcon win the first battle, but the American copies a trick used by the sparrow hawk in a rematch and is successful as well.

Comments: Nice compact (6 pages) story with art by Russ Heath.

"D-Day Commandos" is the tale of a pre-invasion commando who is supposed to be guided to his target by three men of the Maquis. However, when he arrives at his first waypoint, he is startled to discover his guide is a boy. The lad turns out to be both brave and intelligent, saving the commando for the next waypoint. This time the person awaiting him is an old man, who again proves resourceful and courageous. Now it is up to the last guide, who is young and manly. And a Nazi intent on sabotaging the mission. The commando realizes that the young boy and the old man did their jobs, so he must do his by defeating the Nazi and blowing up the bridge to help the invasion forces.

Comments: Terrific story, in the compact style of the Silver Age; all the action described above (and more) comes in six pages and only 33 panels.

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