Not So Famous Publisher Of Filmland!

James Warren is one of the most important people in the history of comic books, who as it turned out never published a comic book. Rather he published magazines, larger more up-scale items which in dynamic black and white presented a somewhat more sophisticated attitude about the graphic storytelling beneath sometimes admittedly pretty garish covers. He didn't start out wanting to be Stan Lee, though he did come to regard Marvel's maven as his primary competition.

James Warren wanted to be Hugh Hefner, the prophet of sexual emancipation who in many ways defined the pop culture of the 50's,60's and 70's. To that end his first publication was a Playboy-like magazine called After Hours. There were a lot of publishers who wanted to be Hugh Hefner though and the newsstands were stuffed with magazines featuring naked and semi-naked dames to quicken the libidos of America far and wide. So After Hours did not last and left Warren casting about for another way to make hay as the sun glimmered on the robust publishing business set to meet the needs and desires of the burgeoning baby boomers. One thing they seemed to like was monsters.

So Warren collaborated with a science fiction fan with a penchant for horror named Forry J Ackerman to create Famous Monsters of Filmland, a magazine that became the bible for the up and coming "Monsterkids" who gobbled up every morsel about monsters, both classic and new. The first cover for FMoF above shows James Warren under a Frankenstein mask alongside a buxom dame, giving off signals to both the Playboys and the "Monsterkids" at the same time. It seemed to work because the success of this presumed one-shot triggered the Warren Publishing empire. Here are some of the magazines of that "empire". 

Warren Publishing seemed in some ways like a small outfit, and in many ways it was. A limited staff but able to reach out to some of the best talent in the industry, both domestically and overseas. Warren wanted to be Hugh Hefner, but to this fanboy that would've been a waste. We already had Hugh Hefner, what we needed was James Warren. 

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Smoking Doesn't Pay!

I imagine most of us have seen Frank Frazetta's famous "ad" from vintage Warren magazines preaching the defects in the then quite common practice. I read recently that this was Frazetta's final piece of "comic art" of any kind and that it was specifically commissioned by James Warren for his magazines despite the profound loss of revenue rejecting smoking ads meant that the time. As it turns out comics were common device to sell cigarettes, so I guess it's only fair to use the format to present the counter view. Below are some vintage cigarette ads which use the comics format.

Don't fall victim amigos. I am lucky not to have the craving, though I will confess to having enjoyed the rare cigar from time to time. These days I've given it all up completely. 

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Blazing Combat Four!

And then came the fourth and final issue of Blazing Combat's brief run. Despite compelling stories by editor Archie Goodwin and artwork by some of the finest talents in the history of the comic book business including Frank Frazetta who produced all four covers, Blazing Combat was beaten back off the magazine shelves by a widespread decision not to carry it. It's content was considered controversial, too questioning of matters of war and state and so those in power decided it needed to exist and after this issue it didn't.

"Conflict!" is a story written by Goodwin and drawn by Gene Colan of Vietnam and offers up a complex yet simple war tale of men who are not only fighting the enemy but their own  prejudices. A black medic elicits the ire and verbal abuse of a stout warrior who has little regard to the medic's desire to tend to all the wounded, even the enemy. But circumstances make it such that he medic is all that stands between this racist and his final fate, and despite that we learn that some things never change.

"How It Began!" is a small two-page primer on the history of war tactics in the air. It's drawn by George Evans.

It sets up a story titled "The Edge" drawn by Alex Toth which shows that knowledge of air tactics and experience can be the difference maker in the deadly skies.

"Give and Take" drawn by Russ Heath is a somewhat sardonic tale of capriciousness of war. The things we value lose their edge when life and death are on the line.  Some will dare anything for a taste of home, and they may well lose.

"ME-262!" drawn by Wally Wood  shares some history and shows how narrow in some respects the victory in World War II was. A technical advantage in a fighter plane is not fully taken advantage of by order of Hitler himself and that proves crucial in the air war over Britain and beyond.

"The Trench" is a blood and guts tale of World War I drawn by John Severin and written by Archie Goodwin. Severin gives all his stories in Blazing Combat a vital sense of movement and energy and this one no less so. A man curses his days in the trench until he is forced to moved beyond its relative safety. What he finds changes him perhaps forever.

"Thermopylae!" is lushly illustrated by Reed Crandall and while British soldiers await the assault of Hitler's forces in Greece, a soldier learns of the significant history of the place in ancient times when the Persian Empire led by Xerxes was met by a cadre of three hundred Spartans led by a man named Leonidas. While the three hundred fell their defense still proved successful in its own way and serve to inspire the Brits to hold the place for three critical days.

"Night Drop!" is the final story in the final issue of Blazing Combat. It was drawn by Angelo Torres and Archie Goodwin's last tale shows the brutality of the hand to hand fighting of World War II and how soldiers who are "only following orders" lead to atrocities greater than they can imagine.

Blazing Combat was a magazine that was good because of the stellar writing of Archie Goodwin, one of those guys who was so good so often for so long that he is often overlooked. But I have renewed admiration for one of the finest talents the comics field has ever produced.

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Blazing Combat Three!

Blazing Combat was already a casualty of the war on truth telling when the third issue hit the stands. Despite the fact its commercial fate was sealed by the decision of many in the military and in its periphery organizations to not stock the title and present it for sale. But that didn't make the stories written by editor Archie Goodwin any less good.

This issue features the "Combat Quiz", a regular feature in all four issues of the magazine on the inside front cover. This installment was drawn by Angelo Torres.

"Special Forces" leads off the issue and is drawn by Joe Orlando, though I see the influence if not hand of Jerry Grandenetti in this one. It's a tale of Vietnam and how the war was fought tooth and nail in the rice paddies by specially trained troops against a deadly enemy.

"Scavengers" is a tale of Sherman's infamous "March to the Sea" and shows how soldiers become pillagers and looters and what they do to save their honor. 

"U-Boat" is a story drawn by Gene Colan and takes us to World War II and the Atlantic Ocean prowled by deadly "Underseaboats" better known as "U-Boats". These Nazi craft tear up the seas with their stealthy attacks and in this instance one man falls prey to a admiration for professionalism which is deadly to his allies.

"Survival" is one of the strangest stories in Blazing Combat as it showcases a world of the future battles, or at least the aftermath of same. We meet a man who works and fights diligently to survive, but who perhaps forgets why his survival matters. It's an Alex Toth masterpiece.

The great  Wally Wood joins the rosters of fine artists in the magazine when he contributes "The Battle of Britain" about the Royal Air Force's desperate struggle in the skies to forestall a Nazi invasion. Victory is counted in many ways we learn in this story.

"Water Hole" is a Goodwin story set in the American west with cavalry troops trying to corral a crafty Native American enemy. Our focus is on one young man who finds himself in a confrontation he never anticipated. This story is exquisitely drawn by Gray Morrow.

And finally "Souvenirs" masterfully drawn by John Severin finishes up the issue. This is a tale of a soldier who forgets his main mission, but somehow ends up doing the right thing anyway. Or at least his colleagues think so.

There is only one more issue of Blazing Combat to go and that's next week.

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