Comic book genre
War comics
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War comics
is a genre of
comic books
that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following
World War II
.
History
[
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]
American war comics
[
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]
Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre omnibus titles then popular as a format. Even prior to the
U.S. involvement in World War II
after the
attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
, comic books such as
Captain America Comics
#1 (March 1941) depicted
superheroes
fighting
Adolf Hitler
and the
Nazis
.
Golden Age publisher
Quality Comics
debuted its title
Blackhawk
in 1944; the title was published more or less continuously until the mid-1980s.
In the post-World War II era, comic books devoted solely to war stories began appearing and gained popularity in the United States and Canada through the 1950s, the 1960s, and 1970s, i.e. covering the time periods of the
Korean War
and the
Vietnam War
. The titles tended to concentrate on US military events, generally in
World War II
, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Most publishers produced
anthologies
; industry giant
DC Comics
' war comics included such long-running titles as
All-American Men of War
,
Our Army at War
,
Our Fighting Forces
, and
Star Spangled War Stories
. Another prolific publisher of war comics was
Charlton Comics
, which produced a wide variety of titles beginning in the 1950s, such as
Battlefield Action
,
Fightin' Army
, and
Fightin' Marines
. Quality also began publishing
G.I. Combat
during this era.
Marvel Comics
also produced war titles, notably
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
.
In contrast to the typical glamorizing approach of most war titles, the
EC Comics
titles
Frontline Combat
and
Two-Fisted Tales
(produced in the early 1950s) depicted the horrors of war realistically and in great detail, exposing what editor
Harvey Kurtzman
saw as the truth about war without idealizing it. (The mid-1960s black-and-white comics magazine
Blazing Combat
, produced by
Warren Publishing
, was similarly devoted to authentically drawn and researched combat stories with a self-professed
anti-war
slant.)
Around 1959, several recurring characters began to appear in mainstream comic lines, including
Sgt. Rock
and
The Haunted Tank
in the DC line. These recurring characters began as regular "guests" of anthology titles such as
Our Army at War
and later graduated to their own titles.
End of the Silver Age
[
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]
By the late 1980s, a great number of venerable war titles (most of which were either anthologies or else World War II-themed titles) from the late 1950s and 1960s "
Silver Age of Comic Books
" died out. War comics series that ended long runs in the 1980s, following publication of over 100 issues, include:
- Blackhawk
(Quality/DC, 273 issues from 1944 to 1984)
- Fightin' Army
(Charlton, 157 issues from 1956 to 1984)
[1]
- Fightin' Marines
(Charlton, 163 issues from 1955 to 1984)
[1]
- G.I. Combat
(Quality/DC, 288 issues from 1952 to 1987)
- Our Fighting Forces
(DC, 181 issues from 1954 to 1978)
- Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
(Marvel, 167 issues from 1963 to 1981)
- Sgt. Rock
(DC ? includes a retitling of the earlier
Our Army at War
, the combined run was 422 issues from 1952 to 1988)
[2]
- Unknown Soldier
(DC ? a retitling of
Star Spangled War Stories
that ran from 1952 to 1977, then continued as
The Unknown Soldier
from 1977 to 1982, with number 268 the final issue).
- Weird War Tales
(DC, 124 issues from 1971 to 1983)
[3]
New titles were still appearing, however ? notable among these being Marvel's
the 'Nam
, which debuted in 1987 and was based during the first year on writer
Doug Murray
's actual Vietnam experiences (through the eyes of fictional character Ed Marks). Murray was surprised that his proposal for a Vietnam-war themed comic was accepted during this period: "I never expected anything to come of it because war books were already pretty much dead at that point in 1985."
[4]
Another notable war comic focused on Vietnam was
Don Lomax
's
Vietnam Journal
, published by
Apple Comics
from 1987 to 1991.
Also from Marvel in the 1980s was the toy tie-in
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
which focused on a fictional counter-terrorist team in a contemporary setting, and a limited run of
Tales of the Marine Corps
, similar in tone and style to Charlton's
Fightin'
line of war anthologies.
British war comics
[
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]
Black and white anthology stories were popular in Britain in the 1960s and early 1970s. Examples include
Commando Comics
and weekly comics such as
Battle Picture Weekly
,
The Victor
, and
Warlord
.
Reprints
[
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]
Trade paperback
reprint collections of war comics include:
- Blackhawk
Archives Vol. 1
(reprints "Blackhawk" stories from
Military Comics
#1?17)
- Enemy Ace
Archives Vol. 1
(reprints "Enemy Ace" stories from
Showcase
#57, 58,
Star-Spangled War Stories
#138?142)
- Enemy Ace Archives Vol. 2
(reprints
Star-Spangled War Stories
#143?145, 147?150, 152, 181?183, 200)
- The Losers
by
Jack Kirby
(reprints
Our Fighting Forces
#151?162)
- Marvel Masterworks
Sgt. Fury
Vol. 1
(reprints
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
#1?13)
- Marvel Masterworks Sgt. Fury Vol. 2
(reprints
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos
#14?23, Annual #1)
- Sgt. Rock
Archives Vol. 1
(reprints
G.I. Combat
#68,
Our Army at War
#81?96)
- Sgt. Rock Archives Vol. 2
(reprints
Our Army at War
#97?110)
- Sgt. Rock Archives Vol. 3
(reprints
Our Army at War
#111?125)
- Showcase Presents Blackhawk Vol. 1
(reprints
Blackhawk
#108?127)
- Showcase Presents Enemy Ace Vol. 1
(reprints "Enemy Ace" stories from
Our Army at War
#151, 153, 155,
Showcase
#57?58,
Star-Spangled War Stories
#138?152, 158, 181?183, and 200,
Detective Comics
#404,
Men at War
#1?3, 8?10, 12?14, 19?20,
The
Unknown Soldier
#252?253, 260?261, 265?267,
DC Special
#26)
- Showcase Presents
The Haunted Tank
Vol. 1
(reprints "The Haunted Tank" stories from
G.I. Combat
#87?119,
The Brave and the Bold
#52,
Our Army at War
#155)
- Showcase Presents The Haunted Tank Vol. 2
(reprints "The Haunted Tank" stories from
G.I. Combat
#120?157)
- Showcase Presents Sgt. Rock Vol. 1
(reprints "Sgt. Rock" stories from
Our Army at War
#81?117)
- Showcase Presents Sgt. Rock Vol. 2
(reprints "Sgt. Rock" stories from
Our Army at War
#118?148)
- Showcase Presents The Unknown Soldier Vol. 1
(reprints "Unknown Soldier" stories from
Star-Spangled War Stories
#151?190)
- Showcase Presents
The War that Time Forgot
Vol. 1
(reprints "The War that Time Forgot" stories from
Star-Spangled War Stories
#90?137)
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
Further reading
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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