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War Comics
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11,080 posts in this topic

One step closer to finishing the HG Enemy Ace issues cloud9.gif:

 

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Another beaut is on it's way as I post this one.

 

John, that is just a stunner!!!! And one that I need a serious upgrade on. Metro did have a reasonable 9.0 last week, but it has disappeared.

 

Nice copy. This was the first Enemy Ace book I ever bought.

 

Shep

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And a slight correction...I need OAAW 155 too. frustrated.gif

 

Good luck... of the first three Enemy Ace appearances, Our Army at War #155 is by far the toughest to find in any kind of nice grade. It is one of the few post #100 Our Army at Wars I don't have... and only because I have NEVER seen a 7.0 or better copy. Sheeeeit.... I'd be happy with a nice 6.0 on that book.

 

Gets my vote as one of the two hardest silver age Our Army at War issues, the other being the total pain in hole #172.

 

 

Shep

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And a slight correction...I need OAAW 155 too. frustrated.gif

 

Good luck... of the first three Enemy Ace appearances, Our Army at War #155 is by far the toughest to find in any kind of nice grade. It is one of the few post #100 Our Army at Wars I don't have... and only because I have NEVER seen a 7.0 or better copy. Sheeeeit.... I'd be happy with a nice 6.0 on that book.

 

Gets my vote as one of the two hardest silver age Our Army at War issues, the other being the total pain in hole #172.

 

 

Shep

 

What, do you mean this book?

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I knew I had a nice one of that issue somewhere, only wish I had extras for you fellas. Sorry....

 

Next up is a comic that I'd been searching for and searching for with no luck, only to discover it in a box of books that I had bought many years ago. foreheadslap.gif

DC Special Series #13....too bad it didn't say that on the cover...would've made my searching a little easier.

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Andy

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I have never seen many of the books listed here.

 

Thought I'd kick in a sub-category of these books that I find especially interesting. Silver age war books published in the 40s but featuring themes that revlected the 60s. Including themes racial bigotry, which while certainly a problem during WW2, never led to stories like the ones depicted here because black and white troops were segreated during WW2. They even managed to do stories set in WW2 that reflected the 1960s peace movement. No easy thing to pull ofrf, storywise.

 

 

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Edited by bluechip
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There's an excellent essay on Social Consciousness in war comics in Chris Pedrin's Big Five Guide, written by war-comic collector extraordinaire and general all round great fella Mick Rabin. It's worth checking out.

 

DC war editor/writer Bob Kanigher was one of the earliest creators to explore issues of race in comics in an honest, sometimes difficult light. The first cue from him as to how much race would become a theme was Our Army at War #113 from 1960. Incredibly, this is the first time a DC character who was non-white was featured on a cover as a 'hero'. Kanigher makes no particular statement in this story. But by placing Jackie Johnson - a black man - amongst the rest of Easy Company, and making him one of them an an equal footing, with flaws and strengths of his own, and by not drawing attention to him in a huge way, he really did make a powerful statement about equality. Easy just treated Jackie like everyone else.

 

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Kanigher returned to the theme of race many times. And not alway white/black race relations. For example, the incredible G.I. Combat #118.

 

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And in a similar vein, Our Army at War #265

 

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Racial hatred in the segregated army was explored in this Unknown Soldier story, which while not written by Kanigher, certainly fit the headspace of other statments on race found in the war comics.

 

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To me, along with 'What is the colour of your Blood' from Our Army at War, Kanigher's statements on race reached their zenith with this tale from the G.I. Combat #141. It stands as the single most powerful Haunted Tank tale of all time.

 

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Here's a taste from that story - I'm happy to say that this page is one that I own.

 

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And let's not forget the undercurrent of hatred between Slim (White) and Gus Gray (black) who replaced Arch Asher in the Haunted Tank when Asher was killed in combat (stories by Kanigher, edited by Archie Goodwin.) Or Ullysses S. Hazard, who overcame racial segregation and a physical disabilty to become 'Gravedigger' in Men of War. Or the shortlived squadron a 'Tuskegee' airmen in All Out War. Or the classic two part Sgt. Rock story 'Angels with Black Wings' toward the end of that title. In his 35 years of involvement with war comics, Kanigher raised the issue of race more often - and perhaps more effectively - than any other editor in comics during that period.

 

As for Gabriel in Sgt. Fury, he was just patterned after Jackie Johnson, much as Fury himself was patterned after Sgt. Rock.

 

Shep

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Mick Rabin is the guy who drove up from san diego to Granada Hills for the chance to buy my grey tone war issues from my OO purchase. He was thrilled to buy them all. I think he came up about a month after the Northridge earthquake. Guess he did not want to take a chance on missing out on them.

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OurArmyatWarSgt-1.jpg

 

 

 

I just loved this book, the story was so captivating. Besides the fantastic artwork, these great stories would nearly always push these books above and beyond what you'd expect from a comic book. 893applaud-thumb.gif

 

Andy

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[

 

I just loved this book, the story was so captivating. Besides the fantastic artwork, these great stories would nearly always push these books above and beyond what you'd expect from a comic book. 893applaud-thumb.gif

 

Andy

 

 

Here's a pair that are worth reading in the same day. DC beat Marvel to the punch in telling racially tinged stores in their WW2 books, but Lee and Kirby managed to best them in the contest between these two stories, both of which concerned a black soldier confrontting a racist and both of which featured a scene with blood transfusions.

 

But in the DC story the racist is portrayed as a near-inhuman monster, while in the Marvel story he's portrayed more realistically, as a person who's basically decent, even heroic -- except for that one large and glaring flaw. People like that are much more the norm out there in the real world. When you attack racism through stories it is more effective, in my view, to point out to normal decent people how they may be racist without knowing it. If they see an inhuman monster killing and maiming a black man while he gloats over their bodies, they presume "that's not me. I don't lynch people, so I must not be racist.,"

 

Anyway, here is a pair that makes good reading,

 

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OurArmyatWarSgt.jpg

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