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War Comics
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Started by CycloneComics,

11,088 posts in this topic

adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted

Beautiful books every step of the way, Fay! What a group!

 

Great Heath covers! The Everett ain't bad either. :applause:

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thirdgreenham

thirdgreenham

Posted
Posted
This is a link to my silver age Russ Heath signed books I just received from CGC. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4571307#Post4571307

 

Here's a teaser for you fellows! The signature is in the bottom left corner. ;)

 

013-1.jpg[/img]

 

(worship)

 

Wow! The first one I've seen Sig Series. (thumbs u

 

Andy

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OV

OV

Posted
Posted
This is a link to my silver age Russ Heath signed books I just received from CGC. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4571307#Post4571307

 

Here's a teaser for you fellows! The signature is in the bottom left corner. ;)

 

013-1.jpg[/img]

 

(worship)

 

Wow! The first one I've seen Sig Series. (thumbs u

 

Andy

 

Hi Andy :hi: Yes, it's the only one so far. My thanks to you for all your help with this set of books. Have you seen the rest yet? :)

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Hepcat

Hepcat

Posted
Posted (edited)
I know. I've got a serious boner for the Atlas war these days.

 

Well then try this scan from my collection on for comfort:

 

CombatKelly.jpg

 

Plus here's another Korean War cover but by Maurice Whitman:

 

JetAces.jpg

 

:cool:

Edited by Hepcat
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Hepcat

Hepcat

Posted
Posted
I know. I've got a serious boner for the Atlas war these days.

 

You and me both Shep...err...umm... I should say, I'm excited about these

Atlas books too. :insane: Just kidding Shep and I've got nothing against

boners. :luhv:

 

Underwater action. :luhv:

 

NavyAction450-heath.jpg

 

NavyCombat1445.jpg

 

Oh my! I can get into some underwater action. I'm going to have to get myself a piece of that at the next comic con I attend, I just never knew that kind of book was available!

 

(thumbs u

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thirdgreenham

thirdgreenham

Posted
Posted

Just a bump for the folks that are playing in my contest. This is the 2nd last week for my auctions and the predictions will need to be in by 11:00 PM EST tonight.

 

Here's the link (thumbs u

 

Thanks!

 

Andy

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Hepcat

Hepcat

Posted
Posted

Could anyone here identify any major post-WW2 era stories in DC war books from the 50's/early 60s that deals with the Reds....

 

Prof. Bill

 

1. The Battle Aces of 3 Wars stories in All-American Men of War 89-101 had a Korean War part. All-American Men of War 101 had a particularly fabulous MIG cover and I'm a huge fan of MIG covers.

 

2. The Capt. Hunter storyline in Our Fighting Forces 99-106 was set in Vietnam.

 

200px-Capt._Hunter.JPG

 

I'm still trying to complete my run. They're tough to find in grade.

 

3. The story in Star Spangled War Stories 115 featured a Korean War era helicopter.

 

:cool:

 

 

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bigfiver69

bigfiver69

Posted
Posted

Could anyone here identify any major post-WW2 era stories in DC war books from the 50's/early 60s that deals with the Reds....

 

Prof. Bill

 

 

Considering how heavily both Atlas and EC war books skewed towards having Korean War stories in their title, it's sort of amazing how few DC stories had were about GIs fighing Commies, particularly after 1955. The early issues of most of the titles had a larger smattering of Korean war tales, but once the '50s wore on, it was almost exclusively WW2 stories.

 

One truly notable exception is the story 'Toy Jet' in All American Men of War #78. I think it was written by either Bill Finger or Bob Haney, and it's exquisitely drawn by Russ Heath. It's about a pilot in a North Korean prisoner of war camp, who appears to slowly go mad. It was reprinted in one of the early issues of Weird War Tales. It's one of the finest tales in the entire DC war pantheon.

 

On the other end of the timeline, it's worth checking out 'The Sons of Easy', in one of the later issues of Sgt. Rock towards the end of the run. It has the sons of Easy vets fighting in Vietnam, though it's largely a fantasy-tale.

 

I read somewhere that there was a distinct lack of anti-communist stories from DC because of left-leaning sympathies at DC, but frankly I think that's a load of bullcrap - more likely that Kanigher (quite rightly) identified the struggle against the Germans and Japanese in WW2 as a larger canvas, and a war more acutely symbolic of the struggle of good against evil, always one of his favorite themes.

 

Shep

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comick1

comick1

Posted
Posted (edited)

Could anyone here identify any major post-WW2 era stories in DC war books from the 50's/early 60s that deals with the Reds....

 

Prof. Bill

 

I read somewhere that there was a distinct lack of anti-communist stories from DC because of left-leaning sympathies at DC, but frankly I think that's a load of bullcrap - more likely that Kanigher (quite rightly) identified the struggle against the Germans and Japanese in WW2 as a larger canvas, and a war more acutely symbolic of the struggle of good against evil, always one of his favorite themes.

 

Shep

 

I read/heard that somewhere, too, but it doesn't hold much water because there's nothing to suggest that DC was any more left-leaning than Atlas/Timely or other competitors. If anything, I'd say that Timely's unparalleled fascist stomping less than a decade earlier would suggest a greater proclivity toward a leftist mentality than ANY company including DC. Times might've changed, but I'd say that Haney's and Kanigher's dominance as writers assured an intuitive vision of exactly what Shep suggests. . .not that the fascists had a monopoly on war atrocities and crimes against humanity (as folks like Bill and others have correctly pointed out earlier in this thread).

 

Mick

Edited by Comick1
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AtlasFan

AtlasFan

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'm glad to see this topic revisited!

 

I have read a number of recent interviews in ALTER_EGO conducted with DC editor George Kashdan. According to Kashdan, there was an unwritten rule that the Reds or Communists were not used as protagonists in not only the war stories, but in any DC books. He also said that there were plenty of "fellow travelers" in the DC editorial staff (with the exception of Kanigher).

 

I could not find one instance of a Communist related story in any of the DC sci-fi fantasy titles of the 50s or early 60s. I don't know of any stories where the DC Big 3 (Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman) encountered the Reds either.

 

Any time a story involved spies or sabotage, the "offending nation" was generally opaque as to who they represented in the real world.

 

As to Mick's point, I (respectfully) disagree that just because Timley/Atlas was hard on the Nazis during WW2, does not necessarily mean they had a greater proclivity to lean to the left. This is evidenced by their non-stop Red-bashing that continued well into the Marvel hero age. However, I do think this may have been the case at DC, as the Nazi covers escalated in their war books during the 50's & 60's. Maybe DC editors subscribed to the mantra that "the enemy of my friend is also my enemy"?

Edited by AtlasFan
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Hepcat

Hepcat

Posted
Posted (edited)
I don't know of any stories where the DC Big 3 (Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman) encountered the Reds either.

 

There were a very few. Wonder Woman fought Egg Fu, a Communist Chinese megalomaniac, in issues 157, 158 and 166: Here are pics from CoverBrowser;

 

157-1.jpg

 

158-1.jpg

 

166-1.jpg

 

:)

Edited by Hepcat
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AtlasFan

AtlasFan

Posted
Posted (edited)

Very interesting that you mention those particular issues. It was around this time that there was a big shake-up in the DC editorial offices and DC's biggest "fellow traveler", Jack Schiff, fell out of power. Schiff would retire 2 years later. Its also about this time that the CAPTAIN HUNTER feature started to appear in OFF.

 

By the way, the WW and CAPTAIN HUNTER series were both written by Kanigher.

 

Schiff was also responsible for scripting DC's PSAs. Here is an interesting link to a blog with a regular feature about PSAs.

http://www.politedissent.com/index.php?s=schiff&submit=search

 

I'm not saying that these DC PSAs are pro-communist, but if you read them all at once, you do see a bit of a progressive pattern forming. Anyway, I love the Moreira artwork!

Bill

 

 

 

 

Edited by AtlasFan
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adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted

This is evidenced by their non-stop Red-bashing that continued well into the Marvel hero age.

The anti-communist story theme was common both pre-code, post-code and early SA comics from Atlas/Marvel. It was in their war books, their superhero books (even some of their pre-code horror!) so I've always assumed it was an editorial stance by Stan Lee. I've never heard Lee or anyone talk about this in all of the interviews/bios that I've read so if anyone has heard anything that can shed light on it please share.

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Hepcat

Hepcat

Posted
Posted (edited)
Very interesting that you mention those particular issues. It was around this time that there was a big shake-up in the DC editorial offices and DC's biggest "fellow traveler", Jack Schiff, fell out of power. Schiff would retire 2 years later.

 

Schiff was also responsible for scripting DC's PSAs.

 

DC should have gotten rid of Jack Schiff much earlier. Under his stewardship, sales of the Batman books declined to the point where the titles were almost cancelled. He'd basically run the titles into the ground by 1964 and Julius Schwartz was given the job of turning them around.

 

Moreover enough years have now passed for the verdict of history to have been delivered. It's the Julius Schwartz books from the DC stable that are the most highly valued by collectors while the Jack Schiff titles are collected by only the occasional eccentric (such as myself). Schiff's name is now all but forgotten.

 

:makepoint:

 

 

Edited by Hepcat
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