Golden Age War...Best Runs To Collect 4 4

[Hepcat]

On 5/13/2024 at 11:32 AM, Scrooge said:

My favorite is simply War Comics.... Bonus: you still get some good Heath covers as part of the run.

Russ Heath's Silver Age DC War comic artwork ranks a very close second to that of Joe Kubert in my book. That being said, I think his artwork is simply too "clean" when it comes to the dark and gritty Atlas War comics of the 1950's. I think the work of less heralded artists such as Carl Burgos and Sol Brodsky were better suited to the tone of Atlas War comics.

Moreover I think War comics should by nature be dark and gritty to fit the subject matter. That's one of the reasons I hate the Golden Age stories of superheroes, including their kid sidekicks(!), involved in war action as if war was just another grand adventure. For that reason I also prefer Sgt. Rock to Sgt. Fury in the 1960's because Sgt. Rock treated the war as not an opportunity for heroism but only something to be endured because he had no choice.

But I also hated it when Superhero comics went to the opposite extreme beginning in the late 1980's when the protagonists all became dark, gritty and ever so tough with perpetual snarls on their faces. And that was the heroines. The male heroes were even worse.