Star Spangled DC War Stories Part 87: August 1966

The DC War Comics
1959-1976
by Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook

Kubert

 All American Men of War 116

"Circle of Death!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Russ Heath

"The Flying Mine!"
Story by Bill Finger
Art by Russ Heath
(Reprinted from G.I. Combat #61, June 1958)

Peter: A quiet day cleaning his Spad and being ogled by the Major's gorgeous daughter is interrupted for Lt. Steve Savage by the machine gun fire of attacking Fokkers. Grabbing the girl and shielding her, Savage can do nothing while his comrades die in flaming agony all around him. But once the Fokkers have left the air space, Steve and his remaining squadron take to the air for a pound of flesh. That revenge comes at a high price, since Steve manages to blow a couple of dirty German pilots out of their cockpit, but Steve's Spad is irreparably damaged and he must execute a perfect two and a half somersault in the Pike position into a conveniently placed lake to avoid becoming part of the landscape. He's in for a dressing down from his C.O. once he gets back to the base but, luckily for him, the General never seems to be doing anything but hanging around and comes to his defense (again). That night, at the base dance, the Major's daughter attempts to illustrate just how grateful she is for Steve having saved her life but, once again, duty calls, and Steve is in the air. The only plane available is the Major's, but that's no problem (until later) and Savage transforms several Gotha bombers into just so much balsa wood. The Lt. lands the Major's plane just outside of town and heads for a bar for a frosty beverage, There, he witnesses the owner of the establishment striking a young waitress and, losing his cool, Steve decks the guy. Our hero then heads back to the dance for the obligatory Major dressing down and General salvation. When he heads to the plane to bring it back to the base, he finds the young waitress, Mimi, admiring the Spad. Knowing a good opportunity when he sees one, he offers the lady a lift but Steve's good manners lead to trouble when the plane is attacked by the German ace, the Executioner. Savage blows the devil from the sky but Mimi is riddled with bullets. Steve sighs that he just can't catch a break as he carries the girl's lifeless form from the air field.

"Circle of Death!"

First off, let's separate the great from the not so great with "Circle of Death!" This could be the Year's Best Art; it's exciting, it's dazzlingly visual, and it never bores the senses. Not really surprising, I know, seeing as it's coming from the best war artist, Russ Heath, but sometimes you can take even the best for granted and then, boom, you're given the evidence again. If only the story were half as good as the illustrations. Bob's not even trying to get balloons into a Balloon Buster story now; he's just relying on the rest of the tried-and-true formula: Steve defies his C.O, men die, C.O. promises to court-martial Steve, General comes to the rescue. Seriously, the formula actually happens twice in the same story. By the second occurrence, I was on the Major's side; Steve Savage is a menace. If nothing else, the swell-looking babe, Mimi, is evidence of that. No sooner than she says, "Everytime I look up and zee [a plane] in ze sky--I sink--Mimi--eet weel be ze closest you weel ever get to Heaven--flyeeng--but ees a crazy dream! How could a nozzeeng like me--evair get up into ze clouds?," she not only gets to fly in a plane but she also gets to zee heaven! Savage's stuntman antics are also a little annoying. Here he not only survives a fall from thousands of feet in the air by hopping off the wing of his plane into a lake just before it crashes (!), but then he climbs out on to the tail of his Spad and fires a gun at the Executioner above him. I know Indiana Jones can do this stuff, but I'm not sure Steve ("I'm th' Gun!") Savage is built out of the same material. This was the Lt.'s last solo adventure and the character will be put into mothballs until 1971.

"The Flying Mine!"

"The Flying Mine" is a reprint, but it's a good one. A pilot delivering auxiliary fuel tanks happens upon an enemy battleship but his radio is damaged by an attacking Zero. After dispatching the enemy, our hero realizes he has to destroy the battleship but his Seahawk is not equipped with bombs. Spotting a floating mine, he scoops it up and drops it on the flattop, blowing it to kingdom come and ensuring the good guys a victory. Yes, we're saddled with sloppy seconds but if we're denied two original stories, at least Bob makes up for it by jamming in an extra portion of Heath.

Jack: That's it for Steve Savage for the time being? With the bravura performance by Russ Heath this time around, it's too bad. Kubert's cover is gorgeous, with the red background setting off the yellow plane, and Heath's interior art is the best I can remember. You and I will never agree about who is the best DC war artist (come on, we all know it's Joe Kubert), but your comments on Kanigher's writing here are accurate. It's unfortunate that he had to include all of the usual Steve Savage incidents because, by the end of this 18-page story, it was starting to go somewhere interesting. There is a throwaway mention of Hans von Hammer in the middle of the tale, but the highlight, for me--other than the artwork--was the ending, where Mimi rather surprisingly dies and Steve realizes that he has the "touch of death." Kanigher could get a little dark and go a bit deeper into his characters' emotions on occasion, when he wasn't sticking so closely to his self-imposed formulas.

"Circle of Death!"

Kubert

Our Army at War 170

"No One Comes Down Alive From--
Buzzard Bait Hill!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Joe Kubert

"Somebody Down There's Laughing!"
Story by Howard Liss
Art by Jack Abel

Jack: After Sgt. Rock single-handedly defeats a Nazi tank and its crew, he and the men of Easy Co. seek refuge for the night in a farmhouse, where they encounter a WWI lieutenant with a Tommy gun who thinks his war is still being fought. He remembers leading his men up Hill 711, where they learned that "No One Comes Down Alive From--Buzzard Bait Hill!" A local French woman nursed the lieutenant back to health and he has been waiting more than 20 years for replacement soldiers to come and help him take the hill.

Rather than harm the old soldier, Rock orders his men to go along with the plan and help him climb what should be an empty hill. Unexpectedly, Nazis have set up camp on the hilltop and begin firing at Easy Co. The old lieutenant is shot but Rock and his men take the position and bury the lieutenant at the top. Kubert's art seems uncharacteristically rushed in the early pages of this story, but he gets his second wind in part two and delivers pages that support Kanigher's sentimental tale. It's not top-notch Sgt. Rock, but even second tier work in this series is pretty good.

"Buzzard Bait Hill"

"Somebody Down There's Laughing!"

In Vietnam, a green beret named Roy stays a day too long on leave and, as a result, his kid brother Tommy takes his place on a mission and is killed. Roy is sent out to pick up friendly Vietnamese volunteers but soon realizes that the troops he meets are actually Viet Cong, who killed the friendly soldiers and are wearing their uniforms. Roy radios in a request for the area to be bombed and, as death rains down from the sky, "Somebody Down There's Laughing!" That somebody is Roy who, as he is killed, laughs at the irony of it all. This is certainly more edgy than what we're used to from DC war comics, especially in a backup story drawn by Jack Abel. There's a surprisingly graphic panel that recalls EC war comics, and the last panel, with Roy laughing as bombs fall around him, is shocking.

Peter: I liked the Rock saga this issue (certainly better than the last few months' entries) but, again, I find that Liss easily takes the prize. "Somebody Down There's Laughing" is relentlessly grim, with the final image, of Lt. Roy laughing as he's blown to bits, particularly harrowing. Could Liss have been placed in the DC war bullpen to give the line a much needed shot of pessimism ala Warren's Blazing Combat or EC's war titles? I would have preferred an artist like Gene Colan or Joe Kubert on the job, as Jack Abel really doesn't do the script justice with his straightforward style but, in this case at least, the words outweigh the images.

Kubert

Our Fighting Forces 102

"Cold Steel for a Hot War!"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Jack Abel

"Periscope Quarterback!"
Story by Bob Haney
Art by Russ Heath
(reprinted from G.I. Combat #64, September 1958)

Jack: As Captain Hunter continues his search through Vietnam for his missing brother, accompanied by that Oriental kewpie doll, Lu Lin, he is confronted with "Cold Steel for a Hot War!" in the hands of Vietnamese children, who insist that he lead them in a fight against the V.C. who killed their parents. After some initial reluctance, Hunter agrees and he and the young folks manage to kill every North Vietnamese soldier they encounter.

This panel by Jack Abel looks
a bit like the work of Jack Davis!

Joe Kubert's sharp cover is a bit of a tease, since the inside art is by Jack Abel, who really should be relegated to the back of the book. Speaking of the back of the book, this time around it contains a reprint by Haney and Heath in which a submarine commander recalls a razzle dazzle play from his high school football career and becomes a "Periscope Quarterback!" to outwit a Nazi destroyer. The story has been done to death in DC war comics but late-fifties Heath art is nice to see.

Peter: The Capt. Hunter series shambles on with yet another awful installment. Bob's going through the motions, just filling eighteen pages with blank space; the hammered catch-phrases ("It's a dirty little war," "the Oriental kewpie doll"), the flashbacks to his brother's capture, the same tired old beats (how many times does Lu Lin have to save Hunter's life before he trusts her?) and, most egregious of all, the really bad one-liners ("Suddenly--the dirty little war dropped down on me again like a boom in black pajamas!"). Hunter's crafty survival in a pit full of sharpened sticks is one for the books and . . . please, tell me, where does "the Oriental kewpie doll" go to when danger rears its head? Does she hang back and work on her knitting? She always seems to disappear and then show up with a helping hand after the smoke has cleared. Much better is our vintage reprint, "Periscope Quarterback!" with its fabulous Russ Heath art and ingenious plot twist. Just ignore the silly football lingo. Hey, any month that features three Heaths (even if two of them are reruns) can't be all bad!

Next Week!
A quintet of Wally Wood!