Skeletons At War

Switching from horror to war, and combining the two, here are a couple of covers by Luis Dominguez, with skeletons at war with humanity, from Weird War Tales #30 and #31 (October and November, 1974).

War Chess

Still a little horror, both supernatural as well as real, with this Ernie Chan cover to Weird War Tales #43 (November-December, 1975)...

...showcasing the idea that, while war might be necessary, the only winners are the chess masters behind it...

...death.

 

America At War - The Best Of DC War Comics

 

Celebrating those who served in the United States Armed Forces, a look at the war comics that were published by DC Comics from the 1940s to the 1970s, via America At War - The Best Of DC War Comics, which is a Fireside book released for October, 1979, collected by Michael Uslan, with this Joe Kubert cover featuring Sgt. Rock.

This book breaks down DC's war heroes by decade, so that's what will happen here.

1940s

Where it all began with World War II, this section features Blackhawk with his origin from Military Comics #1 (August, 1941), Hop Harrigan from All-American Comics #48 (March, 1943), Boy Commandos from Detective Comics #82 (December, 1943), Superman from Superman #25 (November-December, 1943), as well as a cover to Boy Commandos #4 (Fall, 1943) and a run from the Superman newspaper strip where Clark Kent joins the army.

Blackhawk and the Boy Commandos have been covered before, this Superman was the one who was in the JSA, and Hop Harrigan was a young pilot (who had associations with the Justice Society as well, and was America's Ace of the Airways, even being in his own movie serial).

1950s

Next up, a group of tales including one from Our Army At War #67 (February, 1958), with Sgt. Rock from Our Army At War #83 (June, 1959), Gunner & Sarge from Our Fighting Forces #49 (September, 1959), and Mademoiselle Marie from Star Spangled War Stories #87 (November, 1959), with covers from G. I. Combat #54 (November, 1957) and Our Fighting Forces (September, 1959).

Thankfully, Sgt. Rock, Gunner & Sarge and Mlle. Marie have all already been covered...

..including times that they have teamed up together.

1960s

Continuing on, with covers from Our Army At War #112 (November, 1961) and Our Fighting Forces #102 (August, 1966), as well as stories from G. I. Combat #87 (April-May, 1961) with the World War II's Haunted Tank, World War I Enemy Ace from Showcase #57 (July-August, 1965), Sgt. Rock and Easy from Our Army At War #160 (November, 1965), the War That Time Forgot from Star Spangled War Stories #134 (August-September, 1967) and Captain Hunter from Our Fighting Forces #102 (August, 1966).

The Haunted Tank, Enemy Ace and the War That Time Forgot all were previously covered...

...and Captain Hunter was Phil Hunter, a Green Beret looking for his brother, Nick, in 1960s Vietnam, as DC takes war beyond World War II. 

1970s

Finishing up in the decade this volume was printed, with stories from Our Army At War #235 (August, 1971), Our Army At War #233 (June, 1971), Star Spangled War Stories #183 (November-December, 1974), and Weird War Tales #3 (January-February, 1972) and covers from Army At War #1 (October-November, 1978), Our Army At War #233 (June, 1971) and Star Spangled War Stories #183 (November-December, 1974).

Mostly generic war stories, with one Sgt. Rock, and a story of the Unknown Soldier, who has been covered before...

....all with the hopes of war no more.

Gorilla Warfare

World War II.  A time of epic battles, where the world took sides, with countries all across the world being a part of the Allies or the Axis.

This even extended to the animal kingdom, as gorillas joined in with the U.S soldiers, and the Nazi forces as well.

Here are their stories.

You Can't Pin A Medal On A Gorilla

First up, the Allies, with Star Spangled War Stories #126 (April-May, 1966) by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, under a Kubert cover, where Charlie, the simian friend of Sgt. Pinky Donovan, gets unintentionally enlisted in war in the Pacific Theater.  

How did this unlikely scenario happen?

Donovan was an entertainer, working with his gorilla, Charlie, to entertain the troops in the Pacific, when he got called back into duty.  Unfortunately, that meant Charlie had to be locked up in the ship's hold as he headed to his assignment.  But, an attack beached the ship, and set Charlie free.  The enemy attacked the soldiers, with Charlie going into action to save the day.  It worked, much to the surprise of Donovan's C.O....who kept demoting Donovan, even with Charlie's successes!  Charlie even helped them take on their original mission, and lead to them flying the American flag in victory, but ending with the tagline that was the title of the story!

This lighter war story was also felt very real thanks to the stylings of artist Joe Kibert, who usually did more realistic war stories with Sgt. Rock (but still great to see him flex his abilities here!).

Primate Patrol

Hearing from the Axis side, is Weird War Tales #89 (July, 1980) by George Kashdan, Ken Landgraf and Dave Simons, under a cover by Jim Starlin, with a whole group of intelligent gorillas working on behalf of the Nazi forces in Africa.

Here's how that happened!

Willy, Jake and the rest of their troop of American soldiers were taken captive by the Nazis, and given to their new jailers...gorillas dressed in Nazi uniforms.  The gorillas were intelligent, and could speak!  They were found by the Germans, and trained to do simple tasks (as they were natural imitators), with those who resisted punished.  But, they didn't take into account animal nature, as they still imitated, and learned from their American prisoners to fight the Nazis, then going to hide better in the jungle after freeing the American soldiers.

Now, whether or not these gorillas were a part of Grodd's Gorilla City, we'll never know.

The results speak for themselves, as to which sides the simians worked with, but one still has to wonder what would have happened had these apes crossed paths on the battlefield?

Creature Commandos Invade The War That Time Forgot

Chocolate and peanut butter are two great things.  Each of them are made better by combining the two...and the same can be said about series set in World War II.

Two of the oddest features of World War II combined for an issue, when the Creature Commandos ended up on Dinosaur Island, fighting the War That Time Forgot in Weird War Tales #100 (June, 1981) by Mike W. Barr, Bob Hall and Jerry Ordway (under a cover by Joe Kubert).

Creature Commandos

But, first, a little history, starting with the premier of the Creature Commandos from Weird War Tales #93 (November, 1980) by J. M. DeMattteis, Pat Broderick and John Celardo, with the U.S. government via a group called Project M (for "Monster") created what would be the Creature Commandos...

...taking convicted con man Sgt. Vincent Velcro and injecting him with experimental chemicals including the blood of vampire bats until he manifested the ability to turn into a bat, with a desire for human blood (though no weakness to the sun or religious iconography); Warren Griffith, a 4F young man from Oklahoma who suffered from the belief he was a lycanthrope, and giving him treatments to make him change into a wolfman at random (not controlled by the moon) and Private Elliot "Lucky" Taylor, who stepped on a land mine on a Pacific island, yet was reassembled as a super-strong, silent patchwork man; with these men turned monsters led by Lt. Matthew Shrieve (whose lust for battle could make him the most monstrous of them all).  

The group continued as the main feature of Weird War Tales after this issue, missing only a few issues, adding a Dr. Medusa to their ranks, as well as teaming up with both versions of the G.I. Robot, right up until the end of the series with Weird War Tales #124 (June, 1983), where they were shot into space (later to be picked up by Brainiac and returned to Earth by Superman).

The War That Time Forgot

Dinosaur Island premiered in Star Spangled War Stories #90 (April-May, 1960) by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito (though the island didn't get that name until later in the series), and started a series of loosely connected stories featuring soldiers versus dinosaurs during World War II, but with some regular sub-features that it introduced like...

...G.I. Robot (in Star Spangled War Stories #101), the Suicide Squadron (WWII's inspiration for the Suicide Squad, which came first, but this version started in Star Spangled War Stories #110) and the Bird-Man (who fought enemy forces on pterodactyls, starting in Star Spangled War Stories #129), with the series ending in Star Spangled War Stories #137 (February-March, 1968), though Dinosaur Island could still be found, being visited once by the crew of the Haunted Tank, then a few stories in Weird War Tales before the team-up (and a few after)...

...with Dinosaur Island "settling" post-Crisis to be a part of Warlord's Skartaris (and even being a place where Bat Lash and the Enemy Ace fought Vandal Savage in the 1920s before these stories....).

But, back to the task at hand....

 

Dinosaur Convoy

The Creature Commandos were assigned to follow up on missing recon patrols near a series of Pacific Islands, looking for a Japanese convoy.  

There, they encountered Japanese troops (as well as plenty of dinosaurs), with both Shrieve and the Japanese commander realizing that the dinosaurs could have uses as troops as well.  

 

The Creature Commandos reluctantly fought the dinosaurs, dispatched the Japanese troops, and even helped rally the dinosaurs to take out the Japanese convoy, with Shrieve taking pictures to document how the dinosaurs could be used by the government against the Japanese.  

Lucky (the patchwork man) destroyed Shrieve's camera, with Velcro (the vampire) explaining that he wouldn't let them exploit the dinosaurs, who were just mindless creatures, unlike the "monsters" of the Creature Commandos they already have in service.

 

For Memorial Day

Remembering those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms on Memorial Day.


I present this cover, from artist Joe Kubert, from Weird War Tales #2 (November-December, 1971).


Usually, Weird War Tales stories had a supernatural or science fiction angle, but we'll let this cover speak for itself, about the bravery of our soldiers, and the pain of those they left behind.