Our Fighting Forces #124

Our Fighting Forces #124 (On Sale: January 8, 1970) has a Losers cover by Joe Kubert.

This issue begins with The Losers in "Losers Take All" by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. The Losers sneak in through Nazi-occupied France to another, unnamed Nazi-occupied country to rescue a king from the hands of the Nazis. There is a modicum of action along their way to the castle where the king is being held, but they eventually make it. There they find that the king is only a child.

As the Nazis storm the castle ("Have good time stormin' the castle!"), the Losers escape with the boy-king by making parachutes out of the royal curtains ("No, not the curtains!"). After blowing up a statue of Hitler in the town plaza the Losers turn the boy over to Allied forces. I'm not quite sure I see the purpose in this story existing, but I feel that way after reading many Kanigher books.

There is a nice two-page Battle Album on the "Killer Flying Fish of the North Atlantic" by Ken Barr.

We end with the "find' of the issue: "Parable" by Jerry DeFuccio and John Severin. This is the first of five war stories that Jerry DeFuccio would write for DC and it is wonderful in its richness of character and place. This may be due to Jerry's tenure at EC Comics where he was an assistant editor and researcher for Harvey Kurtzman's war books, Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales, books for which Jerry also wrote stories. But Jerry is mainly known for his long career as a writer at Mad Magazine, where was was also an associate editor for 25 years. Jerry DeFuccio died of cancer in August, 2001.

The "Parable" takes place in British-occupied Kandahar Afghanistan in the 1880s and tells the tale of one Private Shelley, a tightrope walker turned British soldier who fell in love with Afghanistan and after his discharge went to live with one of the local tribes. There he made the tribesmen's lives better, lowering the infant mortality rate and turning the men to a more peaceful way of life. But they believed that Shelley was a saint and as such would serve them better in paradise looking after their black souls, so one day they gutted him and left him on the side of the road for dead while they rushed home to pray for his released spirit in paradise.

But he wasn't quite dead yet and a British patrol finds him and brings him to their fort, where none of them recognize him since his appearance had changed so much since joining the tribe. When they ask him through a translator if his wound is deep he answers with a quote from Romeo and Juliet, "Tis not deep as a well nor wide as a church-door" and they realize that he is an Englishman. As one of the men put it, "He died as an Englishman...without denying his people of the Hindu-Kush!" This story was reprinted in Sgt. Rock Special #3.

This story also marked the first work at DC by John Severin since 1958, his first work with the company being in 1948 on a Boy Commandos story. Severin has had four good runs at DC, the first in 1957-1958 doing war stories. The second begins with this story and continues a year from now when he takes over the reigns of the Losers from 1971-1974. The third begins in late 1980 and really picks up steam in 1981 when he draws Enemy Ace for two years. His fourth run began in 2000 and contains runs on Desperadoes Quiet of the Grave, Caper, and Bat Lash.

John Severin is well known for his stint at EC Comics working on Two-Fisted Tales and of course as one of the five artists who began Mad. When EC folded John worked for years at Atlas/Marvel and was well regarded as an inker for Dick Ayers in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos and Herb Trimpe on The Incredible Hulk. In the 1970s he worked with his sister Marie Severin on King Kull.

Many people know John Severin from his years of association with Cracked Magazine, where he did countless movie and TV parodies and tons of covers.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Our Army at War #217

Our Army at War #217 (On Sale: January 3, 1970) has a great Sgt. Rock cover by Joe Kubert. I know the theme is a common one for DC war books, but in this case it is, 1) so masterfully drawn by Kubert and 2) an actual scene from the story. I love the way Kubert splits his cover between the above and below water shots.

This issue begins with Sgt. Rock in "Surprise Party" written and drawn by Joe Kubert. The men of Easy Co. are acting a little strange around Sgt. Rock but before he can get to the bottom of it they are given a mission. The progress into enemy country has been stopped for the last 48 hours by a company of Nazi soldiers on the other side of a river with some big guns waiting for the G.I.s to set foot on the only bridge in the area. Rock and his men are to "surprise" the enemy.

That night they quietly enter a raft and head out across the river. On the other side a group of enemy scuba divers to the same. Rock notices bubbles in the water getting thicker and they hurl grenades underneath them, killing the divers but also blowing up their raft and losing any element of surprise they might of had. They come ashore under the bridge and are met and captured by a platoon of Germans. Rock breaks down and tells the Germans that the rest of their men will be coming over the bridge soon and as they divert their attention solely to the bridge, the rest of Easy Co. comes up from behind them in the real "surprise" attack.

After the battle is over and won by Easy, the men come to Rock and wish him a "happy Birthday" complete with a gift. Noting the seedy nature of Rock's shirt and helmet they give him a bag with new clothes scrounged from "miles behind the lines" to replace his tattered duds. Only the shrapnel from the big guns they destroyed ripped through the bag and Rock's new clothes are in worse shape than the ones he is wearing.

Next is a beautiful one-page Warrior on William the Conqueror by the masterful Ken Barr.

The back-up "Come the Revolution" is by Mike Friedrich and Fred Ray and concerns Davy and Dan two pioneer settlers in early America. Returning home from a day of hunting they find their farms destroyed, burned to the ground. Dan is enraged by the "big city radicals" who think they can disobey the crown. He says when people start destroying what others have worked their lives for, then you have to defend it and he goes off to "get me a few rebels."

Joining up with group of the King's finest Dan is upset when he is not allowed to chase after the rebels. He decides to sneak off and kill a few rebels on his own, only he is shot by a sniper. Ducking behind a rock Dan sneaks up on the sniper and kills him. One of the King's men search the sniper for personal effects to be sent to his family and finds an unmailed letter. He gives it to Dan to see if there is an address to which they can send the body.

Opening the letter he finds it addressed to him and from his friend Davy, who says he has joined the revolution because there is something worth fighting for and that is freedom. Davy says how he was inspired to pick up his musket and use it by Dan.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Our Fighting Forces #123

Our Fighting Forces #123 (On Sale: November 6, 1969) has a Losers cover by Joe Kubert.

This is the first appearance of The Losers and they are prominantly featured on the cover, so it is kind of strange that we begin with "Cold Deadly as a Bullet" drawn by Russ Heath.

The back-up is The Losers in "No Medals No Graves" by Robert Kanigher and Ken Barr. I might try and get this issue as I would love to see the Ken Barr artwork.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Showcase #87

Showcase #87 (On Sale: October 28, 1969) has a Firehair cover by Joe Kubert.

"The Shaman" by Joe Kubert is the last of the three Firehair issues of Showcase. It is also the weakest of the three as you will see, yet it still has the wonderful art of Joe Kubert at his peak.

In his travels, Firehair comes to the edge of the Grand Canyon, where he is attacked by a mountain lion. The lion's sharp claws cut deeply into Firehair, but he uncoils his rope and wraps it around the lion's neck. However, before it can do much good the lion's aggressive action throws them both over the edge. Firehair manages to grasp onto a scrub plant as he falls and climbs back onto a ledge where he quickly passes out. When he awakens it is night and he sees the fire of a tribe on the canyon floor. He somehow makes it down the canyon wall and into the camp, where the tribe's shaman says they have been expecting "Firehair."

The shaman calls Firehair "the evil one" and dunks a totem of Firehair into a pot of water, causing Firehair's lungs to fill with water. The shaman removes the doll and Firehair is placed on a mound surrounded by a pit of rattle snakes, where he falls fast asleep. When he awakens he is taken into a cavern to the edge of a bottomless pit when a spirit of the nether-world is called to pass judgment on Firehair. The giant man with the head of a coyote says Firehair must face the judgment at the black pool of "he that holds the world."

Firehair is taken deeper into the cavern to a black pool where he is tied up and left to face "he that holds the world," a giant mutated turtle. Somehow Firehair escapes his ropes as the cave begins to crumble. Firehair must dodge large pillars of rock. Suddenly his world goes black and when vision returns he is in a Navajo camp, where they have tended to him as he has lain delirious from the poison of the lion's claws. Quite a let down from the two previous stories, almost a filler issue and not what you would expect only three issues into the series.

Also in this issue is a one-page Warrior piece on Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians of Idaho drawn by Ken Barr.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Star Spangled War Stories #148

Star Spangled War Stories #148 (On Sale: October 16, 1969) has another wonderful Enemy Ace cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with Enemy Ace in "Luck is a Puppy Named Schatzi" by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. This is just a neat little tale of Von Hammer and a puppy. It is the kind of story that Enemy Ace was created to tell, for it gives you an unsettling feeling of death waiting around every corner, of the uneasy feeling of being in war and Hans Von Hammer's acceptance of this unreal reality and his small part in the bigger picture. This is wonderful stuff and Joe Kubert was at the top of his game in 1969, of that there is no doubt.

A small puppy sniffs around the Jagdstaffel field before running out to play in the grass, not knowing that he is playing on a runway until a squadron returns and lands almost on top of him. Von Hammer finds the dog under his plane, his foot damaged and he takes the dog in. The other pilots cannot believe that the Hammer of Hell is cuddling a puppy, but hammer sees Schatzi as another soldier injured in the perilous war. The next day Schatzi rides with Hammer to the coast near Cuxhaven where English planes have been using a battle ship for an air base and inflicting much damage.

Hammer's squadron arrive to find Cuxhaven in flames and as they move in closer the English fly out from behind the columns of thick black smoke and attack. Hammer watched one of his men, Kurt, on his second patrol, go down in flames. Hammer gets his men under control and they begin to attack the English who quickly turn and run back through the dark pillars of smoke. Hammer and his men follow only to find the battleship off the coast, now shooting at them. Hammer maneuvers the English Sopwiths in behind him and they follow as he hoped they would. he then dives toward the battleship and sips sideways between the ships funnels, while the less maneuverable Sopwiths impact into the ship in a fiery crash.

When they return to base his men congratulate Hammer but he asks them who will congratulate Kurt (whose name has morphed into Josef in the last three pages) who went down in flames over Cuxhaven? Hammer then takes his good luck charm Schatzi off into the woods to meet the black wolf who sometimes seems to be Hammer's only real friend. When they return to the Jagdstaffel Hammer is informed that his squadron is to provide air support for a drive into France.

In perfect Kanigher fashion they fly into France though a downpour and Hammer tells Schatzi, "Stay under my collar, little one...this rain will not last for long...then the sun will dry us out! Do not whimper, Schatzi...only the heavens my cry in war!" They fly into a pitched battle with the British depicted with amazing skill by Joe Kubert. It is during this battle that the cover scene happens, as Hammer summer-saults to dislodge a pursuer, Schatzi falls from his cockpit. In other comics there would have been some amazing heroics to save the small pup, but this is Enemy Ace and Schatzi falls to his death...and Von Hammer goes berserk! Or as Kanigher puts it, "Like a madman, the Hammer of Hell tears into battle--wreaking a terrible havoc..."

In the aftermath his men return to Germany and their Jagdstaffel, but Hammer does not return with them. One says they saw him land amidst the dead, "It--it was horrible! Like something out of Dante's Inferno! Perhaps...he landed to confirm his kills! He is truly a killing machine!" But of course he landed to properly bury Schatzi. Reprinted in Enemy Ace Archives Vol. 2 HC and Showcase Presents:Enemy Ace Vol. 1 TPB.

The back-up is "The Fall of the Red Knight" drawn by Ric Estrada. I wouldn't be surprised if Estrada also wrote this short retelling of how Captain Roy Brown shot down the most famous of all WWI aces, and the obvious template from which Hans Von Hammer sprang, Rittmeister Baron Manfred Von Richthofen, the Red Baron.

We end with at two-pages spread Battle Album on aircraft carriers drawn by the wonderful Ken Barr.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Our Army at War #212

Our Army at War #212 (On Sale: Sept 2, 1969) has a cover by Joe Kubert.

Inside we begin with Sgt. Rock in "The Quiet War" drawn by Russ Heath and I would guess written by Robert Kanigher. While waiting for a squad of specially-trained British paratroopers, Easy Co. is hit by a barrage of Nazi shells, resulting in Rock losing his hearing. Not wanting to be a burden on his men and their mission Rock doesn't let on that he can't hear, telling his men "No more yakkin', you guys! We sit tight and wait!" Rock watches Easy, using them as his ears.

The British squad arrives and Easy learns that the job is to disrupt a meeting of the German High Command in a castle not too far away. Rock can't read lips and has no idea what the mission is and the British think he is rather a bore for not even seeming to listen to them. As they near the castle the British leader warns everyone of booby traps, but Rock can't hear and takes the lead, somehow managing to avoid all of the traps by shear luck.

When they reach the castle Rock leads the men into an ambush they all heard coming and after the men are pinned down in a crossfire Rock leads them through a hole blown in the floor, which leads them to a way out of the castle and up to its roof where they burst in on the meeting of the German High Command. On the Nazis throws a self-destruct switch and it is a mad race out of the castle as it explodes around them. the resulting explosions returns Rock's hearing.

Next is a one-page Warrior on Patton by Ken Barr and a two-page Battle Album on machine guns also by Ken Barr.

The back-up is a reprint from Star Spangled War Stories #78, "Medal for a Marine" by Robert Kanigher and Mort Drucker, who before Mad Magazine, was a hell of a good war artist. The work on this strip being just excellent; look at the page here at how well Drucker told the story with his choice of shots and angles. Some of the figures in this story look a lot like Frazetta. This is great stuff. The story concerns a Marine in the Pacific theater awaiting his Medal of Honor and another Marine whose job it was to deliver the medal to the ceremony.

Edited by Joe Kubert

Our Army at War #211

Our Army at War #211 (On Sale: August 5, 1969) has a Sgt. Rock cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with Sgt. Rock in "The Treasure of St. Daniel" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath. The back-up story is "Dragon with Wings" by Ken Barr.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Our Army at War #209

Our Army at War #209 (On Sale: June 3, 1969) has another cool cover by Joe Kubert. The "we think we are OK but the Nazis are about to attack us" cover might be a cliche of DC war books, but nobody does this cliche better than Kubert.

We begin with Sgt. Rock in "I'm Still Alive" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath. While on patrol in Nazi country, the new replacement in Easy Co., Tiny Tim, wants to buddy up with Rock, telling Rock, "M-my old buddy g-got killed!" Before Rock can answer Easy is awash with Nazis in close hand-to-had and gun-butt to face combat. When the Nazis take off, Tiny Tim seems dazed and amazed that he is still alive.

He relates to Easy the fate of his last four-man squad, guys he had been through basic with, as they hit the beach at Normandy and how they came face-to-face with a Panzer. Tim loaded their bazooka, but before his buddy Charlie could fire, the Panzer ripped into them. Charlie was the only survivor and used the bazooka to take out the Panzer, but his friends were still dead. Just then Easy is attacked by two Focke-Wulf 190's and as they come in for a strafing run Tim screams that he is a jinx and so he runs off into the strafing, pulling the F.W.'s attention and making them easy pickings for Easy.

They find Tim lying face down in the dirt, but he's OK. A bullet had punctured his helmet, but missed his head. They leave his helmet as a signpost reading, "I walked away from this one! Tiny Tim" Rock remarks how none of them know when he is going to meet the bullet with his name on it and it is best just not to worry about it.

Next is a two-page Battle Album spread by Ken Barr on the Dive-Bombers of Midway.

Our back-up story is "Fill a Dead Man's Boots" by Howard Liss and Fred Ray. Fred Ray is not one of my favorite artists, but he has some fairly nice figures and composition in this story of the Civil War. The Confederates are getting blasted in battle and Sgt. Mal Walker carries his wounded Captain to safety only to realize that the Captain has died. Walker's boot are a mess, so he takes the boots off of his dead Captain, before crawling back behind his own lines.. There he is ordered to take charge of the company and head off whit his men, taking Cedar Mountain from the Union. All the while Walker is just trying to "fill a dead man's boots."

Walker gets order from Stonewall Jackson to destroy the supply depot at Manassas. Using his men as back-up and cover Walker sneaks into the depot and sets fire to the power dump, blowing the depot sky high. When Jackson congratulates Walker he just offers that he is trying to "fill the boots of a good man." Walker's boots are now as tattered and worn as his old pair and Stonewall remarks that "Boots don't lead armies...men do."

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Our Army at War #208

Our Army at War #208 (On Sale: May 1, 1969) has another nice Sgt. Rock cover by Joe Kubert.

We begin with our Sgt. Rock cover-story, "A Piece of Rag... a Hank of Hair" by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath. This has been reprinted in Sgt. Rock #396 and Sgt. Rock Special #10. Next is "I Love a Spitfire" written and drawn by Ken Barr. This is the only story the Scottish Barr wrote for DC and his second providing artwork. We end the issue with "Move On" a reprint from All-American Men of War #56 by Bob Haney and Joe Kubert.

Edited by Joe Kubert.

Our Army at War #206

Our Army at War #206 (On Sale: March 4, 1969) has an interesting split cover by Joe Kubert.

We start with Sgt. Rock in "There's a War On" by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. That's followed by "The Wall" a reprint from All-American Men of War #7 by France Herron, Jerry Grandenetti and Sy Barry. Lastly is "Death Crowns an Ace" by Robert Kanigher and Ken Barr.

This is Scottish artist Ken Barr's first work for DC. Ken would draw twelve stories for DC in all, eleven of them between 1969 and 1974 and a final one in 1981. Barr would also write one of the stories and he would draw four war covers for DC as well. Ken's style lent itself to war books, though two of his stories were for the horror/mystery line.

Comic fans most likely remember Ken Barr for his paintings. He did a couple of covers for Warren's Creepy and for the fanzines Phase 1 and Hot Stuf but his real workload was for Marvel. Ken painted the covers of their black and white Doc Savage book from issue 2-8. He also did covers for The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, The Rampaging Hulk, Marvel Preview, The Savage Sword of Conan, Planet of the Apes and Savage Tales.

According to his website, Ken is currently working on a fully painted Dracula graphic novel.

Edited by Joe Kubert.