Number 1133: Russ Heath's internal war

I don't know who wrote these stories for Atlas' War Comics #7 (1951)—Hank Chapman, maybe?—but they took a cue from Harvey Kurtzman and his cerebral war stories in Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales. They both show soldiers in combat who have a lot on their minds. In the first, a soldier doubts his ability to confront an enemy, in the other, bothered by no mail from home preys on the soldier's mind.

These human reactions elevate these stories over many other comic book war stories, where the American soldiers are unrealistically heroic, brave and single-minded. Before being drafted, in many a nightmare I confronted my own fears of being in the same situation as the G.I. in "Alone." I was in the Army during the Vietnam era but spent my time in Germany. As a clerk-typist my actual worst fear was putting the carbon paper in backwards.

Russ Heath does his usual superb work. He is a master of the impact panel, in this case the bottom panel of page 5, where the soldier's fears suddenly materialize into reality, and the full horror stands before him.

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Sgt Fury #31

Of all the series that Marvel published during the 1960s, Sgt Fury is probably the one that I have read the least. Well, except maybe for Patsy and Hedy. So when I found a small batch of issues on Ebay in reader grade, I snapped them up. This story starts out with the Howlers prepping for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Izzy earns a demerit for being too casual about his task:

The main plotline picks up when Captain Sawyer (aka Happy Sam) appears, just in time to head off to London for an important meeting. While there, the brass tells him the key date:

While there, Sawyer notes an aide who appears to be just a bit too interested:

There is something in the nature of fiction that tells us that these types of concerns are never "just your imagination". Although the aide does not hear the target dates for the invasion, he does find out that Sawyer has been informed. He quickly departs and radios the information to der Fatherland:

Now, in reality, the date of the invasion was not as important as the location. The Germans knew as well as the Allied generals that D-Day had several practical requirements: calm seas, high tides, and a full moon for illumination. The latter two virtually guaranteed the invasion would come on June 5 or June 6, or the invasion would have had to have been put off for a full month. As it happened, the weather was bad on the night of June 4, forcing the postponement of the mission to June 6, when the Allied meteorologist (correctly) projected better weather. On the other hand, the locations of the assaults were a closely-guarded secret and would have been worth quite a bit to the Germans. One of the logical spots was the Pas de Calais, the closest spot between England and France. As it happened, the Allies chose the Normandy beaches instead, but it was vital to keep this confidential so the Germans would be forced to defend both areas. The Germans kidnap Happy Sam (presumably named, like Happy Hogan, for his morose demeanor), but not without quite a fight:

The Germans attempt to torture the information out of Sawyer, but he refuses to divulge anything more than name, rank and serial number. So they try to trick the Allies into believing he has spilled the beans:

As you can see, the Howlers have picked up a British commando (apparently nicknamed Pinky, ouch), who talks straight out of central casting, with a lot of "cheerio" and "blighter" and "pip-pip, old bean" along with the obligatory brolly. No surprise, the Germans also toss around terms like "verdammt," "dummkopf" and "schweinhund". To be fair, Hollywood wasn't much more subtle in their stereotypes in WWII movies in the 1960s either. Anyway, the Howlers take the message to the brass, who apparently believe as Fury does, that Happy Sam would never tell. The general gives the commandos a chance to rescue their C.O., but warns them that the bombers will be shortly behind, as the information Sawyer has is too crucial to risk. Meanwhile:

But Fury and his men land virtually on top of Gestapo HQ and shortly:

The rest of the story virtually writes itself; they free Captain Sawyer, get away in a tank just before the bombers obliterate the Gestapo building, and are shortly headed for the English Channel. I enjoyed the plot, and I especially like the characterization for Happy Sam, who refuses to give up the date of the invasion. The tale was an early Roy Thomas outing, illustrated by Dick Ayers and J.Tartaglione.

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Among The Clouds

It is not uncommon for popular entertainment to combine two different genres. The theory is that if you can captivate fans of both genres, you double the potential audience. As I noted recently, most comics, regardless of their main focus, frequently had romantic subplots. Much of the DC universe in the early 1960s consisted of a combination of superhero and science fiction; think of Batman facing all those aliens and monsters, for example.

DC also combined their war books with other genres. In Star Spangled War stories, the regular cover feature was a mixture of soldiers battling dinosaurs:

Kid are fascinated by war, kids are fascinated by dinosaurs, so let's give them war stories with dinosaurs. Is there anything else kids are fascinated by? Oh, yeah, Indians (aka Native Americans). So let's give them a series about a Navaho pilot in World War II.

Johnny Cloud was the result, and it's a pretty interesting series. The stories had a very basic template. A problem in the present (WWII era) reminds Johnny of an event in his past as a young brave. Johnny uses that prior experience to solve the proble.

Sound familiar? Well, if you watched the first few seasons of Lost, you saw that template used over and over again.

Problem in the present:


Memory of the past:

Leads to solution of problem in the present:

Many of the stories noted Johnny's metaphysical connection to a particular cloud formation:

Johnny Cloud lasted until the end of All-American Men of War with issue #117 (Sept-Oct 1966), then made a couple of guest appearances in other DC war mags. He was a charter member of the Losers, a group made up of discontinued features.

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Star Spangled War Stories #84

This is another example of the women who began to pop up in the DC magazine line during the late 1950s and early 1960s; I still don't quite understand the sociological reasons for this although I suppose it could be just as simple as the publishers realizing that there was a huge untapped market.

Mademoiselle Marie became a mildly significant character in the DC Universe. In the early 1980s it was disclosed that she had been a lover of Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler, and had borne him a daughter, named Julia Remarque. Julia had a continuing presence in the Batman line and became a brief romance interest for Bruce. Of course, this illustrates once again the problems with tying continuing characters to historical events. Back then it would have put Alfred at (say) 60 years old and established a girlfriend for Bruce of about 35 years old. Now it would mean that Alfred is pushing 90 and Julia would be eligible for Social Security.

But all that was far in the future as this August 1959 story was published. A paratrooper is about to land in occupied France. He expresses frustration here:

Eventually the lights appear briefly, but his parachute gets tangled in some trees and it looks like he's going to be snuffed out by a Nazi patrol, until:

She quickly impresses him with her competence and fighting ability. And when he destroys a tank that is about to kill her, he gets a little taste of her softer side:

But then she chastises him for disobeying her order to escape. Later, they attempt to blow up a bridge, but she delays pressing the plunger:

He wants her to come back to England with him, but she knows where she belongs:

Marie was featured in SSWS for the next year, before being bumped for the War that Time Forgot (aka Dinosaur Island) series. She made irregular appearances in several of the DC war comics features of the Silver Age, including Sgt. Rock, the Haunted Tank, and Johnny Cloud. In Detective Comics #501-502, it was revealed that she was shot and killed by a Nazi collaborator shortly before the end of WWII.

There are two backup stories. The first is a Mort Drucker treat called Blind Bomber. As the title implies, a Korean War bomber pilot is blinded by flak, but he still manages to deliver his "eggs" to market:

The final story is No Flag for a Sand Flea. A squad of US infantry is dying of thirst in the desert of North Africa, when they come upon an oasis. But you can probably guess the problem:

The flag has six stars on it, indicating that the Nazis are a crack outfit, having defeated six Allied units. Determined not to be the seventh, the infantry squad manages to take the flag and the oasis. Afterwards they come up with their own flag:

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The "Don't Worry, There Are No Enemies Here" Covers

These covers became a cliché of the war comics genre, starting in the late 1960s and extending well into the 1970s. Here's a classic example, from Our Army At War #195 (July 1968):

Here we see the classic elements of the DWTANEH cover:

1. Hidden enemies in the foreground.
2. Central "hole" in the cover through which we can see the approaching Americans.
3. Clear statement or belief that the enemies are not there.

Here are a few more examples:



As you can see, the covers pack some dramatic punch. The reader can see something that the approaching GIs can't, that there is about to be a sudden reversal of fortune. A number of these covers feature children, as in the GI Combat issue above, or this one:

The children may give an added sense to the soldiers that everything is okay, that they are not about to be ambushed. You can see the same thing with these covers:


These covers also often feature blinded American soldiers:



This adds a bit to the dramatic tension, as we know that even if the soldiers become aware of the enemy's presence, they will be hard-pressed to do battle.
Similar themes crop up in these covers:



I was unable to find a significant number of these covers prior to about 1968. The Our Army At War #159 cover with the nurse helping Sgt. Rock is from October of 1965, but even that one is arguably atypical, in that Rock is clearly alert and on guard. Similarly, I don't think this February 1960 cover counts:

Here's the exit question. Was the popularity of these covers inversely related to the popularity of the US military among comic-buying kids and teens? As the Vietnam War dragged on, there is little doubt that the image of our armed forces declined, especially after an event like My Lai. Did this give the readers of the time an added perverse enjoyment of covers featuring American soldiers heading into an ambush? Or am I reading too much into this?

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