Infinite Bronze War Thread 11 11

[sterlingcomics]

[sterlingcomics]

I see Dead People...really!

 

[sterlingcomics]

I was unaware of the history of Enemy Ace...but I definitely knew it was cool!

 

[sterlingcomics]

I liked Rock better for some reason...perhaps the gritty action...hence the reason why most of my copies never made it....

 

[TiQuinn]

I grew up with all the DC war, western, and horror books, mainly because that's what my dad liked. The Unknown Soldier was always one of my favorites, and stood above Sgt. Rock, The Haunted Tank, and The Losers in my book. Then I started reading some of the Enemy Aces, which I had skipped previously, and found another character to rival the Soldier in terms of coolness....and all this leads me to the greatest book of the DC War genre....Star Spangled War Stories....three distinct and fantastic runs in that comic...the dinosaur era and its awesome covers, the Enemy Ace run, and the beginning of the Unknown Soldier. Nothing tops it....all IMO, naturally.

[sterlingcomics]

[TiQuinn]

I see Dead People...really!

 

 

Remember and love that cover!

[sterlingcomics]

I grew up with all the DC war, western, and horror books, mainly because that's what my dad liked. The Unknown Soldier was always one of my favorites, and stood above Sgt. Rock, The Haunted Tank, and The Losers in my book. Then I started reading some of the Enemy Aces, which I had skipped previously, and found another character to rival the Soldier in terms of coolness....and all this leads me to the greatest book of the DC War genre....Star Spangled War Stories....three distinct and fantastic runs in that comic...the dinosaur era and its awesome covers, the Enemy Ace run, and the beginning of the Unknown Soldier. Nothing tops it....all IMO, naturally.

 

Keep in mind that I knew nothing of the previous titles when I was actively reading comics as a kid--only Sgt Rock, Unknown Soldier, Jonah Hex, etc. So to me that's when the characters were born. Heck, even the revitalized characters from years ago were new to me b/c I haven't been exposed to them before. My first exposure to Plastic Man? -- Adventure Comics during this time frame, although he is a GA character. Ahh, the innocence.

 

BTW, your dad had good taste.

[TiQuinn]

It sounds like we started reading them right around the same time. I knew nothing at the time of Our Army At War or Weird Western Tales or SSWS until later. I thought Sgt. Rock and Unknown Soldier always had their own books.

[Jeffro.]

I liked Rock better for some reason...perhaps the gritty action...hence the reason why most of my copies never made it....

 

 

Rock was always my fav as well. Followed up by the Haunted Tank. My early years for comics consisted primarily of three types of books, Richie Rich, Uncle Scrooge, and DC war. Superheroes were of only superficial interest to me in those days, but they became much more interesting to me in my teens.

 

I still remember my dad taking me to a comic book show in New Britain, CT, back in the late 70's and the only comics I wanted were war books. I remember buying OAAW 176, 242, Weird War 7 (I think) and SSWS 159.

 

Another of my earliest books was that Weird War book where the two soldiers are fighting and the giant head comes out of the ground.

 

I met John Severin at a show a few years ago and I told him how I basically grew up reading that stuff and he asked if I turned out okay as a result. I always thought (and still do think) that DC's war line was some of the best comics ever produced.

Edited December 30, 2006 by Jeffro

[sterlingcomics]

Superheroes were of only superficial interest to me in those days, but they became much more interesting to me in my teens.

 

Me as well. I feel like a freak even among comic collectors because superhero books are a tertiary interest to me at best...even today. New Teen Titans was my definitive superhero interest growing up. For me, it's horror, war and western. I'd even get into Romance more if there were any HG out there.

 

I always thought (and still do think) that DC's war line was some of the best comics ever produced.

 

I sincerely believe this. I'm reading the Sgt Rock Archive series now...and the stories rival some of the best war movies I've seen considering the format!

[johnenock]

 

I sincerely believe this. I'm reading the Sgt Rock Archive series now...and the stories rival some of the best war movies I've seen considering the format!

 

Those archives are awesome. And Sgt. Rock? Well you know the stories are great when 10 year olds can pick up an archive and love the stories 30 to 40 years later.

[sterlingcomics]

 

I sincerely believe this. I'm reading the Sgt Rock Archive series now...and the stories rival some of the best war movies I've seen considering the format!

 

Those archives are awesome. And Sgt. Rock? Well you know the stories are great when 10 year olds can pick up an archive and love the stories 30 to 40 years later.

 

Awesome. I just picked a story, and got sucked right in. With the storytelling, you feel you are right there in the thick of the action...not much imagination needed. Damn good stuff.

[bigfiver69]

 

I sincerely believe this. I'm reading the Sgt Rock Archive series now...and the stories rival some of the best war movies I've seen considering the format!

 

Those archives are awesome. And Sgt. Rock? Well you know the stories are great when 10 year olds can pick up an archive and love the stories 30 to 40 years later.

 

Awesome. I just picked a story, and got sucked right in. With the storytelling, you feel you are right there in the thick of the action...not much imagination needed. Damn good stuff.

 

 

It's so true.... I love these as much today as I did when I was a kid.

 

And Sterling, I had the very same experience. I pretty much bought every DC war comic off the stands between 1978 and 1984, read them and kept them bagged. A couple survived in 9.0+ shape, but most got read down to 7.5-8.5 range. I kept a few for posterity, but I've pretty much upgraded 100% of the books I bought new.

 

Some of them are surprsingly tough to find in ultra high grade. And I think DC was using a lower-quality paper stock, as many I've seen have pages that have sort of turned a weird gray colour.

 

Love those books in any shape though!

 

Shep

[sterlingcomics]

What's the deal with this one issue wonder that arrived in 1978?

 

 

Was this book part of the DC implosion...I know that G.I War was a reprint series...All Out War lasted 4 issues (that Viking character was a hoot). any other short lived DC war series? Was the early 80s the "gasp" of the war genre? (If I recall, western was going through the same pains).

[Weird]

I grew up with all the DC war, western, and horror books, mainly because that's what my dad liked. The Unknown Soldier was always one of my favorites, and stood above Sgt. Rock, The Haunted Tank, and The Losers in my book. Then I started reading some of the Enemy Aces, which I had skipped previously, and found another character to rival the Soldier in terms of coolness....and all this leads me to the greatest book of the DC War genre....Star Spangled War Stories....three distinct and fantastic runs in that comic...the dinosaur era and its awesome covers, the Enemy Ace run, and the beginning of the Unknown Soldier. Nothing tops it....all IMO, naturally.

 

Totally with you on this. The US is at the top of my favorite DC character list along with Jonah Hex and Batman. I like GIC/HT a lot and Sgt. Rock is cool and all, but the SSWS/US is tops on my list for DC War.

[thirdgreenham]

 

I sincerely believe this. I'm reading the Sgt Rock Archive series now...and the stories rival some of the best war movies I've seen considering the format!

 

Those archives are awesome. And Sgt. Rock? Well you know the stories are great when 10 year olds can pick up an archive and love the stories 30 to 40 years later.

 

Awesome. I just picked a story, and got sucked right in. With the storytelling, you feel you are right there in the thick of the action...not much imagination needed. Damn good stuff.

 

 

It's so true.... I love these as much today as I did when I was a kid.

 

And Sterling, I had the very same experience. I pretty much bought every DC war comic off the stands between 1978 and 1984, read them and kept them bagged. A couple survived in 9.0+ shape, but most got read down to 7.5-8.5 range. I kept a few for posterity, but I've pretty much upgraded 100% of the books I bought new.

 

Some of them are surprsingly tough to find in ultra high grade. And I think DC was using a lower-quality paper stock, as many I've seen have pages that have sort of turned a weird gray colour.

 

Love those books in any shape though!

 

Shep

 

So well said...all of you!

 

You will all get stickers before the end of class.

 

Andy

[Weird]

What's the deal with this one issue wonder that arrived in 1978?

 

 

Was this book part of the DC implosion...I know that G.I War was a reprint series...All Out War lasted 4 issues (that Viking character was a hoot). any other short lived DC war series? Was the early 80s the "gasp" of the war genre? (If I recall, western was going through the same pains).

 

Correct, the cover to #2 is in the Cancelled Comic Cavalcade 2 - which also includes the cover to Battle Classics #3 another short lived war title.

[TiQuinn]

What's the deal with this one issue wonder that arrived in 1978?

 

 

Was this book part of the DC implosion...I know that G.I War was a reprint series...All Out War lasted 4 issues (that Viking character was a hoot). any other short lived DC war series? Was the early 80s the "gasp" of the war genre? (If I recall, western was going through the same pains).

 

Blitzkrieg predated most of those, but it only lasted 5 issues. Men of War lasted a bit longer. It's fair to say that DC stretched itself pretty thin on the war books. The western genre for DC as far as I remember was Jonah Hex, and that was it. Everything else died out years before.

[HouseofComics.Com]

It sounds like we started reading them right around the same time. I knew nothing at the time of Our Army At War or Weird Western Tales or SSWS until later. I thought Sgt. Rock and Unknown Soldier always had their own books.

 

I just beat you guys because my first issues off the racks were OAAW 302 and SSWS 204 (final issue). So I got there right at the end. Almost immediately after, GIC went dollar size.

 

Agree on the quality--man! Like a lot of people, I started with DC then got more into Marvel as I got older and when I was 10-12, the only DC books I was buying were the war books which I got every month. Sgt. Rock up until about 350, Unknown Soldier to the 240s or so? GIC started as my favorite but the dollar size didn't do much for me so it was an extra for me. I even had a subscription to Sgt. Rock right away (306 might've been my first issue) and they were shipped in a brown paper envelope, open-ended. You could get the comic out but couldn't get it back in!

 

So yeah, I remember that concentration camp Unknown Soldier cover--bought it off the stands.

 

I can't remember if I ever saw other kids at the comic racks though. I have no memory of that.

 

Marc