The Pages Of War!

"War,uh yeah! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"

Edwin Starr was right of course, but let's look at it another way. What is war good for? It made for some damn fine comic books over the decades. March derives its very name from the ancient god of war "Mars", so it's fitting that this month at the Dojo we look at some finest war comics from across the broad spectrum of what the genre has produced. 

At the center will be the best YOe Book yet -- We Spoke Out - Comic Books and the Holocaust. This is a fascinating overview of how the horrific event that transformed the latter half of the twentieth century was seen in comics. There are stories here from the 50's through the modern age, and reflect a broad spectrum of how an attempted genocide created heroes and villains and more. I'll be taking a comic by comic look (as does the book itself) and that means comics from Marvel, EC, DC, Warren, and more. Expect the expected and the unexpected as well as we have classic war yarns and superhero jaunts and other stories besides. 

This seemed also a grand time to fish out that copy of Yossel, April 19, 1943 by Joe Kubert that's been nestled in my collection for years waiting its turn on the night table. This is a highly personal story by perhaps the finest war artist of all time. There are some other Kubert stories I'd like to get as well, to but time will tell.

The Unknown Anti-War Comics features comic books from the defunct and fondly remembered Charlton Comics. The stories might not be as heavy as those in the tomes above, but maybe they are of value nonetheless.

Another weird one is Nuke' Em Classic Cold War Comics Celebrating the End of the World from Hermes Press. This one reprints just two vintage early 50's series - Atomic War and World War III from the little comic house Ace. If these comics are right, we're lucky to be here.

The weekend tent pole reviews will be a of Warren Magazines critically acclaimed Blazing Combat. War comics were once big business, but only if you could get them into military base PX's and this is one comic book magazine that raised the ire of the military brass when they caught wind of its less than gung-ho attitudes about the Vietnam War, then blazing at full tilt on the Asian continent and in the politics of the United States. There are some of the finest war stories ever in these pages and I'm eager to read them all over again.

So that's it (and maybe a few other things as time permits and circumstances demand but it's a packed house), war, war and more war. But tales of war are rarely about war, but about the peace which always seems to brief and so fragile. Join me.

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Nifty Presents - Anti-War Comics!

The Unknown Anti-War Comics is a tome I wanted the moment I saw it. The books that come Craig Yoe's operation can vary in quality, but this looked to be one that offered a wide range of material. I was a bit disappointed in that we have basically two types of stories here -- classic war yarns and vintage sci-fi stories. I don't object either and I don't object to seeing them together I just expected a bit more variation.

That said, what do get are two issues of a weird little book called Never Again, which is spot on with the theme of the collection. The comic just had two issues, with work by Ross Andru among others -- the offbeat thing is the two issues are numbered one and eight. These are Charlton comics, so numbering is always eccentric to say the least.

The majority of the collection is old-fashioned sci-fi tales and pretty good ones too, the kind with lots of ready space travel and twisty endings. It's neat to see a collection with so much of Bill Molno's work in it, as he's often seen as a hack and most of the time gets no mention when his stuff is reprinted. Other Charlton mainstays like "Nicholas Alascia" (two guys -- Charles Nicholas and Vince Alascia), Sal Trapani, and Dick Giordano are represented.

The collection closes with what might be Charlton's most famous single story -- "Children of Doom" by Denny O'Neil and Pat Boyette. It's a weird and wack view of a war-torn future, one  in which mankind is not necessarily the winner. This is a fun collection, but maybe a western or a romance thrown in to make the collection feel a bit more well-rounded.

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Nifty Presents - Archie's Madhouse!

Archie's Madhouse had morphed into Madhouse Glads when I was first bopping into comics, and alas looked too goofy for a serious superhero fan like me. I found I always liked to read Archie comics, but felt since they were girl books, I was compelled to do it in secret, but since no one was paying much attention to me in that regard, I must've been hiding from myself. The series took a brief spin into legit horror when Gray Morrow stepped in along with Frank Thorne and a few others and was called just Madhouse, before becoming just Madhouse Comics until its cancellation in the early years of the Reagan administration. When I started to get access to the vintage covers from the earliest days of the comic, I realized it had been a most vigorous offering in areas I cared much about -- classic monsters and outer space with superhero spoofs thrown in for good measure. This tome from Yoe Books documents that time and gives more than a good glimpse of just how entertaining a good Archie comic could be. I gave both my adult daughters some Archie comics for Christmas (among other things of course...I'm not that cheap...well?) and they returned the favor with this outstanding book.

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Nifty Presents - Marvel Masterwork Pin-Ups!

I knew I had to have this book the moment I saw it advertised. The "Marvel Masterwork Pin-Ups" scattered through scores of classic Marvel comics always made me smile and sometimes impressed me beyond that. Often the posters broke the fourth wall, having the character speak directly to the reader with some bogus inscription and signature, sometimes the pieces itself was just such an impressive bit of artwork that you couldn't stop staring at it, admiring the craftsmanship of the artists.

The artist responsible for the vast majority of the posters in this book is Jack "King" Kirby followed closely by "Sturdy" Steve Ditko. "Dashing" Don Heck, "Big" John Buscema, "Jazzy" Johnny Romita, and "Genial" Gene Colan are also well represented. The book features the vast galleries of villainy featured in Fantastic Four Annuals as well as the same thing from Spider-Man Annuals. These posters in the earliest days of Marvel acted almost like pages from the handbooks which proved so popular in the 80's and beyond at both Marvel and DC. It is not too much to say that there's a delight each time you turn the page in this handsome volume.

Here's a small sampling in its original form.

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