A Fistful of War Comics (for Veterans’ Day)

Conceived and used with the permission of Matthew Constantine and Brad Gullickson, the original dorks.

Everyone has a “Top 5.”  But Brad and Matt, choose to walk a different path, amended that to “A Fistful…” over at their blog, In the Mouth of Dorkness.  A film-centric blog where they also discuss comics and books and TV, these two regularly share their top 5, ranging from “Heroic Kids” to “Spies” to “Summer Movies” to “Punches” to all things in between.  Always fun, often insightful, and something I hope to regularly pilfer for Warrior27.  As they say:  If you’re going to steal, steal from those you know relatively well, who will not sue you.

In honor of Veteran’s Day, in no particular order, here are five of the best war comics from my collection. 

5. Blazing Combat



Reprinting the legendary four issues of Blazing Combat, this Fantagraphics collection includes all the stories written by Archie Goodwin, with artwork from Wally Wood, John Severin, Frank Frazetta, Gene Colan, and Alex Toth.  In the vein of EC, published by Warren, these stories from the mid-1960s showed the horrors of war, in a manner not seen in comics, or in much of popular culture.  They are rightfully considered some of the best comics ever produced. 

4. Enemy Ace: War Idyll, written & painted by George Pratt

In 1990, George Pratt brought back the classic DC comics character, the Enemy Ace, but as a dying man in 1969.  Interviewed by a reporter, who turns out to have been a tunnel rat in Vietnam.  In the sharing of their stories, they discover an unexpected connection that will lead to a truth both have been avoiding for a long time.  With lush painted artwork from Pratt, this is a beautiful, as well as a touching, story. 

3. Unknown Soldier by James Owsley (Christopher Priest) & Phil Gascoine



Eschewing previous continuity—while also being ignored by later writers—Owsley and Gascoine’s series tells the story of an actual immortal soldier who is far more cynical than the patriotic character created by Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert.  With solid art from Gascoine and a gripping story from Owsley (known today by the name Christopher Priest), this is a classic war comic that rarely gets mentioned.  But it should be. 

2. Jack Kirby’s The Losers

Kirby created, defined, and redefined more comic book characters and genres than any other artist or writer in the field, and his Losers, written & drawn by “the King,” is possibly his best writing effort, including Kamandi and his Fourth World saga. These comics are full-on Kirby, with his dynamic artistry and storytelling on display, but when I first read these, it was the words that jumped out at me.  Missing are the stilted dialogue and the overreaching hyperbole found in so much of his work.  Not to denigrate Kirby’s other writing efforts, which have a charm and excitement, but the reading of these dozen war stories was so smooth and easy that it stood out.  Kirby was a WWII veteran, and he infused this comic with those experiences, and maybe the reality of those coupled with the weightiness of the subject matter inspired Kirby’s writing in these.  It’s definitely one of his finest runs on a series. 

1. Vietnam Journal by Don Lomax

This is one of my all-time favorite comic series.  The combination of Lomax’s loose, moody artwork with stories culled form his experiences in Vietnam resulted in something special.  Touching, unvarnished, heart wrenching, and mysterious, these comics, especially the first 16 issues, are incredibly gripping.  I cannot recommend this series highly enough.  Check here for more on this amazing comic. 

Childhood Memories: Web of Spider-Man #30

Critically-acclaimed comic writer, Christopher Priest - noted for his work on Black Panther and Quantum & Woody, among many other titles - initially went by his birth name, Jim Owsley.  And as I look back over my almost 30-year comic reading history, it’s fascinating to discover Owsley’s name credited with a number of comics that resonated with me, back in the day.

Here’s one - Web of Spider-Man #30, which revealed the origin of the Rose and probably does not get as much recognition today because it was overwhelmed, in people’s minds, by the next issue, which happened to be part 1 of the J.M. DeMatteis/Mike Zeck classic, “Kraven’s Last Hunt.”

-chris

NEW TO ME: JLA Strength in Numbers

This fourth volume of the (then)-revitalized JLA was a near-complete blast. My journey back to the late 90s that I missed – at least as far as big, superhero comics of the time – has been interesting thus far. These collected volumes of JLA feel a bit like the Star Trek movie franchise (the best ones are the even numbered ones). But of all the collections to date, this one, by far, is my favorite of the bunch. With the end of each chapter, I eagerly wanted to read the next one, and often did – devouring a fair chunk of stories straight through on a Sunday morning, from the end of the Prometheus Unbound arc up through the four issues penned by Mark Waid. JLA: Strength in Numbers showcases the best about this iteration of everyone’s favorite DC team.

The first thing I discovered, when I opened the book, was that Yanick Paquette used to be a Mike Mignola clone (which puts him in good stead, as Ryan Sook is another Mignola clone who has gone on to become an amazing comic artist, in his own right). This first tale, written by Christopher Priest for the second JLA Secret Files, brings together a new league (consisting of many who were part of the league disbanded at the end of the previous collection). There’s a nice call-back to the Bwa-ha-ha league with Guy Gardner, in his Guy Gardner Warrior We don’t get a one punch moment like the one provided by DeMatteis, Giffen, & Maguire, back in 1987, but we do get Batman silently putting Guy in his place. guise, assuming the pose he did then, as he prepared to tell everyone he was going to lead.

But this story, though well done, is disappointing. Why did Morrison bother to have the league disband in the prior issue, if there was only going to be a relatively unchanged roster in the next one? Sure, there are some new recruits like Huntress and Zauriel and Steel, but these are all in addition to the Big Seven. The quick reversal on Superman’s part just rings hollow and makes the ending of the “Rock of Ages” story arc feel forced and contrived. But that’s a minor nitpick because the stories with this newer, bigger, stronger JLA are a whole lot of fun.

First, we get Grant Morrison writing a three-issue arc titled “Prometheus Unbound.” In this narrative, readers get to see a new villain who appears to have thought his take-down of the JLA through completely. Stealing himself aboard the satellite by taking the place of someone who’d won a contest to be a superhero for a day with the JLA (thanks to Morrison being way ahead of the curve with regards to reality television), Prometheus takes down the members of the JLA with impressive efficiency, dispatching Steel, J’onn J’onnz, and Batman with relative ease.

Prometheus puts the rest of the league on their heels, utilizing the fact that a hundred journalists had also been invited to see the JLA Watchtower as leverage against the heroes, but is defeated through the ingenuity of the newer members like Steel and Huntress, as well as the surprise appearance of Catwoman (who stole onto the Watchtower disguised as Cat Grant). The arrival of Catwoman comes out of left field and doesn’t feel fully earned on Morrison’s part, but the way the rest of the team members managed to come together to overcome Prometheus, along with his meltdown due to an overload of information, saves it for me.

This story arc is followed by two two-issue tales from guest writer Mark Waid. Despite this being known as Morrison’s JLA, these are the best stories of the bunch and some of the best from this entire run, to date. Waid offers a story of probability gone wrong followed by an adventure with Adam Strange on an enslaved Rann. Waid employs big ideas as well as Morrison does, but there’s a definite tonal shift. Waid’s stories feel more lively and fantastic with a less serious undercurrent than is found in Morrison’s JLA work. Waid, like Morrison, understands these characters intimately and, though I might question his portrayal of Orion, his offerings in this collection are reminiscent of silver age comics, with the wonder and fun often found in those old stories. And, with the climax of the Adam Strange two-parter, Waid injects some very real emotion through Adam Strange’s sacrifice that really elevates this tale.

After those four issues written by Waid, which also included Superman’s re-integration into his traditional form, Morrison returns to write the final two-part story of this collection, wherein Starro the Conqueror returns to plague the JLA. It’s another typically well-written tale, with big ideas and the heroes’ ability to think overriding their brawn in order to send Starro away. And, despite the tonal shift to a darker, more serious narrative style, the climax is rather humorous, as it basically involves the heroes playing a prank on Starro and its invading force.

I wish there were more superhero comics like this. And I don’t just mean the high level of writing on display, but I also wish there were more two-part stories rather than the often laborious six-part “epics” that fit snugly into a trade paperback. JLA Strength in Numbers includes a single-issue story, a three-part story, and three two-part tales. They race along at a nice clip and both Morrison and Waid, along with Christopher Priest, pack a lot of story – relative to what we’ve become accustomed to in this current comic market – into the pages provided. For my money, I felt like I got far more value from this book, which has five different adventures in it, than I did in the previous volume “Rock of Ages,” which was a single six-issue storyline.

Now, I can’t wait for the next trade.

chris