Repetitive Plots in Sgt Rock

I love reading the DC war titles of the Silver Age; for the most part they have excellent art and entertaining stories. But there is one major problem with reading a bunch of them consecutively, and that is that the main features recycle plotlines consistently.



I've talked in the past about Gunner and Sarge, and how many of the stories featured the same action with Gunner acting as the decoy and the Sarge figuring out where the enemy was located by their fire at his counterpart. The Johnny Cloud stories always had some incident from his youth as a Navajo relating to his problems as an air ace in WWII. In the Haunted Tank series, the ghost of Jeb Stuart would give cryptic advice to his namesake, which inevitably proved prescient.



The Sergeant Rock series was no exception to this trend. The standard plot outline involved Rock being concerned about something that Easy Company is doing wrong that could lead to disaster. For example:







That bit about Easy Company being like a chain came up often. Sarge was as fanatical about eliminating the weakest link as Anne Robinson:



There would then follow several rapid-fire combat sequences proving Rock was right:





Or sometimes the combat-happy Joes would appear to be right for awhile:



Thus increasing the pressure on Rock to prove them wrong. In the end there was always a resolution, although I admit that Kanigher (who wrote these stories) was willing to be more creative in his denouements:







So I recommend these DC war series, but also caution that you should probably read them as they were published; with a month or two in between each issue.

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Rock Against Racism

Sometimes I underestimate DC in the 1960s. Awhile ago I noted the absence of black characters in DC comics during the Silver Age, but as you can see, there's one on the cover of this mag, from November 1965. And he's even more prominently featured on the splash page:

The story starts off in a clearing somewhere in Western Europe. Rock, Wild Man and a new recruit named Jackie Johnson (the black guy) have been captured by a Nazi squadron, and the biggest German is having a bare-knuckled brawl against JJ, who refuses to fight back. Why? Rock knows:

In a flashback we learn of the first time Rock had seen Jackie Johnson:

Johnson indeed proved to be a comer, eventually winning the heavyweight championship. But he lost a crucial match against this same German:

This is a thinly-veiled retelling of the Joe Louis-Max Schmeling rivalry; more on this at the end of the post.

In the story, Johnson didn't get his revenge match against the Storm Trooper, who went into the German Army, so this was their first meeting since the heavyweight fight. Later, Johnson joined Rock's unit in the Army, but was still haunted by his defeat in the ring:

But it looked like there would be no chance for a return match; after all the German fighter could be anywhere from France to Russia. But as it turned out they did meet, under less than optimal conditions, as the Americans were captured by the Storm Trooper's unit. And:

Bringing us up to where the story began. The Nazis make it clear that they will kill everyone if Jackie defeats the Storm Trooper, so the black man holds back. But:

The Nazis cannot tolerate this, so they shoot at both fighters, critically wounding the German, although Jackie manages to avoid the bullets. Rock and Wild Man attack their captors and reverse the situation. But the Storm Trooper needs a transfusion if he is to survive, and perhaps inevitably:

And in the end, the German realizes he was wrong:

Comments: Wow! What a terrific story! Kudos to Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert for providing what must be considered one of the Silver Age's finest tales.

Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. In 1936, Joe Louis looked unstoppable at 23-0. Max Schmeling was a former heavyweight champion, but he had won his title via a disqualification of when Jack Sharkey hit him with a low blow. So Schmeling was considered just a tune-up before Louis boxed for the championship. But Schmeling had trained hard for the fight and noticed a flaw in Louis' style which he was able to exploit in knocking out the Brown Bomber at Yankee Stadium in the 12th round.

Here's how kids were taught the story at the time, from a text story in Superman #118:

The reality is much more complex, as the Wikipedia entry on the rematch notes:

Schmeling did not relish being the focus of such propaganda. He was not a member of the Nazi Party and – although admittedly proud of his German nationality – denied the Nazi claims of racial superiority: "I am a fighter, not a politician. I am no superman in any way." Schmeling had a Jewish manager, Joe Jacobs, with whom he refused to part despite significant pressure, and, in a dangerous political gamble, refused the "Dagger of Honor" award offered by Adolf Hitler. In fact, Schmeling had been urged by his friend and legenday ex-champion Jack Dempsey to defect and declare American citizenship.

Nevertheless, the Nazi regime exploited Schmeling in its propaganda efforts, and took careful steps to at least ensure Schmeling's nominal compliance. Schmeling's wife and mother were kept from traveling with him to avoid the chances of defection. Schmeling's entourage also included an official Nazi Party publicist. The publicist not only controlled any possible contrarian remarks by Schmeling, but also issued statements that a black man could not defeat Schmeling, and that Schmeling's purse from the fight would be used to build more German tanks.

Both Louis and Schmeling did serve in their respective military forces in World War II, although of course they did not meet during those years, on the battlefield or elsewhere. After the war, they became close friends, with Schmeling serving as a pallbearer at Louis' funeral in 1981.

Update: Here's a video of the second bout:

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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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