DMZ

Tags

DC Comics, DMZ, Matty Roth, Vertigo Comics

Someone left a copy of DMZ #2 on the top secret fifty cent rack a few years ago. They inadvertently introduced us to a series we would now include in our Top Ten Favorite Comic Book Series. DMZ tells the story of young journalist Matty Roth’s increasingly tragic involvement in the next civil war on U.S. soil. Most of the story takes place in a war-torn New York city, a nominally demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the secessionist forces and the U.S. government’s forces – military, mercenary, and otherwise.

The 75-issue series breaks up into short stories lasting five issues with several shorter character studies interspersed between the main arcs. You can buy it as DMZ single issues, which other than a few early issues is not much more expensive than if you had purchased them new, or a series of trade paperbacks. Vertigo is, at the time of this post, three books into a deluxe hardcover edition which collects about 12 issues per volume. I had the single issues, which you can see in this post’s somewhat random photos.

Weird War Tales 25

Tags

Alfredo Alcala, black magic white death, DC Comics, George Kashdan, horror, war, Weird War Tales

We hope you’ve enjoyed revisiting Weird War Tales with us this month. We’ve posted many vignettes from this series over the past four years, and have now reached the end of our collection! We sold the last of them on eBay in 2014, but they live on in the digital archives of Mars Will Send No More.

Here are a few pages from Weird War Tales #25. Other than the wonderful cover, the stand-out of this issue is the rugged yet sumptuous artwork by Alfredo Alcala in the George Kashdan story, Black Magic-White Death! This issue also contained another fun Kashdan story called The Unseen Warriors with art by Alex Nino.

And that brings our Martian catalog of Weird War Tales to a close — unless of course you want to send us a box with more inside it!

Weird War Tales 23

Tags

Alfredo Alcala, Day After Doomsday, DC Comics, John Albano, Len Wein, Rich Buckler, war, Weird War Tales, weird war tales 23

Today, Weird War Tales #23 rises from the savage depths of the vintage DC Comics shortbox with a fairly famous two-page story by Len Wein and Rich Buckler: Day after Doomsday. The artwork by Alfredo Alcala in the opening story is also a worthy treat for the eyes.

Credits: The Bird of Death script by John Albano, art by Alfredo Alcala. Day After Doomsday script by Len Wein, art by Rich Buckler. Corporal Kelly’s Private War script by George Kashdan, art by Alex Nino.

Here are both pages of Day After Doomsday for you!

Weird War Tales 12

Tags

Arnold Drake, DC Comics, Don Perlin, egypt, Gerry Talaoc, nazis, Robert Kanigher, rommel, Tony DeZuñiga, Weird War Tales

Today we pull a copy of Weird War Tales #12 from the vintage DC Comics shortbox. This one has some interesting art by Gerry Talaoc in a Robert Kanigher story pitting evil Nazis against ancient Egyptian spirits. Another story has a couple truly trippy pages again with the ancient Egyptian theme. Let’s flip through this Bronze Age beauty.

Gotta love those opening splash pages in Weird War Tales.

The Tony DeZuñiga page above is really the most awesome one from the opening story, and a different style than what follows from the pen of Talaoc.

Things do not go well for anyone in this particular story, and carnage rules the day.

Credits: Cover art by Mike Kaluta. God of Vengeance script by Robert Kanigher, art by Gerry Talaoc. Hand of Hell script by Robert Kanigher, art by Tony DeZuñiga. The Warrior and the Witch Doctors script by Arnold Drake, art by Don Perlin.

Weird War Tales 21

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Bernard Baily, Frank Robbins, Ghost in the Portrait, Jack Oleck, Joe Orlando, one hour to kill, Sheldon Mayer, soldier, time travel, war, Weird War Tales, weird war tales 21, when death took a hand

You can still buy the original Weird War Tales #21 at a decent price if you don’t mind VG to VG+ copies. Printed by DC Comics in the early 1970s, Weird War Tales also makes regular appearances on eBay where you can often score inexpensive lots of several issues at once. The stories blend sci-fi, horror, and fantasy elements into vignettes about war and combat. Pretty much anything goes in these tales as long as there’s a war on!

The first story, One Hour to Kill, gives us a man tasked with traveling back in time to kill Leonardo da Vinci before Leo can establish an early design for guns, thereby eliminating from history all human suffering caused by our propensity to shoot each other with small projectiles at high velocities. It turns out pretty much like every EC Comics story that had a similar idea in the 1950s, but that doesn’t stop it from being fun.

Here are the last three pages, below, where the tale reaches its climax.

Another story, When Death Took a Hand, stood out to us not simply as a worthy ghost story but as an example of a pretty sweet art technique. Look how the spooky ghost soldier is rendered. It looks to us like the inker rendered the black shapes and lines of the ghost, but then drew white lines through it with a white pen. No, that’s not exactly a revolutionary idea to today’s comic book artists, but try digging out any other comic book made in 1974 and finding this cool visual effect.

Credits: Cover art by Luis Dominguez. One Hour to Kill script by Jack Oleck, art by Frank Robbins. When Death Took a Hand script by Sheldon Mayer, art by Bernard Baily. Joe Orlando, editor.

We obtained a handful of vintage Weird War Tales when we bought a friend’s box of 70s and 80s DC Comics back in 2011, and they’ve been fun to read. They had some awesome Alex Nino artwork we dutifully scanned for posterity and learning. This one has one of our favorite covers from the lot, and we have a couple more issues we’ll take a look inside here.

Rogue Trooper

Tags

2000AD, black and white, Brett Ewins, Dave Gibbons, Gerry Finley-Day, IDW Publishing, Indie Comics, Major Magnam, Nu-Earth, Rogue Trooper, UK comics

IDW began publishing a Rogue Trooper series this year. This character, like Judge Dredd, comes from the pages of UK comics magazine 2000AD. Co-created by Dave Gibbons, the original Rogue Trooper blended war comics with science-fiction. The G.I.’s of Rogue Trooper were not “Government Issue” but laboratory-spawned “Genetic Infantrymen” designed to withstand the harsh and toxic environments of an utterly poisoned Nu-Earth. Readers in the States may recognize Rogue Trooper from the video game of the same name, although the comics have never truly penetrated the mainstream here.

Our gallery today features parts one through four of the “Major Magnam” story – short enough that you can easily enjoy all of it, but long enough to give you a good idea of the vibe of this series. We also included some full-color covers from 2000AD featuring Rogue Trooper. Artist Brett Ewins, one of several to provide top-notch work on Rogue Trooper, dramatically illustrates this deliciously dark script by Gerry Finley-Day.

Collector’s Guide: You can enjoy the Rogue Trooper classics in two paperback volumes that, together, come to about 800 pages: Rogue Trooper Tales of Nu-Earth 1 and Tales of Nu-Earth 2. You can also enjoy the first issue free, courtesy of the BBC.

Weird War Tales 24: The Invisible Enemy

Tags

DC Comics, Ernie Chan, Ernie Chua, invisible enemy, Jack Oleck, Luis Dominguez, war, Weird War Tales

Spirit tigers rock. Yes, it’s true: the dramatic storyline and sumptuously dark artwork make this story a real standout in DC’s anthology series, Weird War Tales. But what really sold us on this one? Spirit tigers! They bring to mind the mystical tiger spirit that watched over Kull the Conqueror and gave him increased power. Tiger goddess? Sign us up!

Weird War Tales #24 featured a second story, which we have in our sprawling archives of vintage Alex Niño comics here: The Last Battle.

Collector’s Guide: from Weird War Tales #24; DC Comics.

Cover art by Luis Dominguez. The Invisible Enemy: script by Jack Oleck, art by Ernie Chan as Ernie Chua. The Last Battle: script by Jack Oleck, art by Alex Niño. 32 pgs. Cover price $0.20.

frank miller interview on the world trade center attacks

Tags

911, comics journal library, frank miller, gary groth, Indie Comics, interview, kim thompson, the World Trade Center, world trade center attacks

 
Collector’s Guide:
Frank Miller: The Comics Journal Library Vol. 2; 2003
Edited by Milo George

This wonderfully over-sized tome contains rare and classic Frank Miller art, covers, and page layouts to illustrate six interviews and an essay. Gary Groth takes three of the interviews, and Kim Thompson has one. Its 130 lavish pages give you candid moments with Miller the artist at important phases in his career from 1981 to 2003.

The final interview explores Miller’s response to the attacks on the World Trade Center. His stark, simple images speak powerfully in his two-page contribution to 9-11: Artists Respond Vol. 1. Groth doesn’t seem to get the point right away, but excels at giving Miller an opportunity to speak his mind. What begins with an inquiry into an abandoned project about the life of Jesus of Nazareth turns to a discussion of comics as war-time propaganda. Miller expresses ideas which we now know became the book Holy Terror.

Miller and Groth discuss the two things you never want to talk about at a party: religion and politics. In other interviews in this book, they sometimes disagree. This makes for spirited discussions and an outstanding read.

Miller also talks about his anti-censorship work, characters he created or left his mark on, and the nuts and bolts of actually producing ground-breaking work. In one of our favorite anecdotes, he recalls how he and Lynn Varley collaborated with their printer to create a new process for handling the nearly all-black pages in Ronin. Here we get a sense of Miller as an inventor on the cutting edge of comic book art production.

The images below are not the complete interview, which spans twelve pages. But, they give you a taste of the art and ideas within. We love huge books, great conversations, and Frank Miller’s art. This book handsomely delivers all three.

 

Hush Job: The Other G.I. Joe Silent Story

Tags

Baroness, Dennis Janke, Dr. Mindbender, G.I. Joe, GI Joe, GI Joe Yearbook, Hush Job, Kim DeMulder, Larry Hama, Mike Zeck, Ron Wagner, Scarlet, Silent Issue, Snake Eyes, Stormshadow

The G.I. Joe Yearbook #3 has a publication date of 1987, exactly three years after the fan-favorite “silent issue,” G.I. Joe #21 (available in our archives.) You can get the former for about a dollar, but the latter will cost you a little more!

The scene featuring attackers on a subway — carrying screwdrivers as weapons — recalls the story of Barney Goetz, which was a big deal in American news in the mid-80s. Other cultural highlights of this silent story include discovering what kind of underwear the Baroness wears. Really!

We also included Mike Zeck’s back cover to the issue and a light-hearted short story about war and pizza. The rest of this issue featured an article about G.I. Joe on television, splash-page art, and a plot synopsis of the ongoing storyline in the regular G.I. Joe title that year. The latter resembles Marvel’s more recent “Saga of…” publications distributed in comic shops that get readers caught up on the often-convoluted back stories of popular characters.

Credits: G.I. Joe Yearbook #3; Marvel Comics, 1987.
“Hush Job!” Written by Larry Hama. Art by Ron Wagner and Kim DeMulder.
“My Dinner with Serpentor!” Written by Larry Hama. Art by Mike Zeck and Dennis Janke.

Matchbox No. 2 S2 Jets

Tags

1981, diecast metal plane, fighter, jet, lesney, Matchbox, no 2 s2 jet, plane, S2 Jets, toy planes

These diecast metal No. 2 S2 Jets from Matchbox each bear the stamp Lesney (c) 1981 England. The wingtips fold up and the wheels roll. As you can tell, one was not enough. We assembled this fiesty five-fighter squadron from both domestic and overseas shipments. They made an attractive set when flying in formation or parked on the carrier deck. We recently sold them to someone who could appreciate this striking Matchbox model: the translucent plastic cockpits, the sleek and powerful design, the folding wings.

Let’s have a look at them, shall we?

Kill or Be Killed: Fightin’ Army #150 from Charlton Comics!

Tags

Charlton, Charlton comics, Fightin Army, Indie Comics, war, war comics

We don’t have much to say about this comic other than any time we see a Charlton appear on the top-secret 50-cent rack, we pick it up. Every now and then, you find some charming vintage stories in these low-grade, low-budget books. The first and third vignettes here work pretty well as short war stories. The ads for mind control and cosmic consciousness seem especially far-fetched. Did anyone actually order this stuff? Is it even legal to sell mind control?

This issue doesn’t have the artistic merits of a classic Sgt. Rock or Weird War Tales book from DC Comics, although Charlton seems to use DC as a model here. Fightin’ Army ran from 1956 to 1984, right around the time Charlton went under, selling the rights to its golden age superheroes to DC, where Alan Moore based his Watchmen characters on them.

Collector’s Guide: From Fightin’ Army #150; Charlton, 1981.

Samurai by Gene Day

Tags

Death, Gene Day, Indie Comics, Samurai, Star Reach, war

We discovered the short story “Samurai” in one of our favorite comic blog features: Black-and-White Wednesdays at Diversions of the Groovy Kind. Gene Day’s incredible artwork appears in 1977’s Star Reach #11.

Pastel Study of GI Robot

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art, comic book, comics, commando, DC Comics, drawing, GI Robot, military, pastel, Pat Broderick, Robert Kanigher, robot, Smoke, war, Weird War Tales

Inspiration for these pastel renderings of a robot in an army helmet comes from Weird War Tales by DC Comics. One can find the original panels drawn in 1982 by Patrick Broderick and John Beatty in Weird War Tales #108, in the Robert Kanigher story “Robots Don’t Have Hearts.”

You can buy Weird War Tales #108 for around $5 to $10 these days, depending on its condition. It remains collectible as an early appearance of the Creature Commandos, another short feature that ran in this issue.

In our gallery below, you can view the cover of this issue and the complete GI Robot story. Enjoy!

Cornplanter!

Tags

Cornplanter, Native Americans, Sgt Rock, war, war comics

“Warrior” is an interesting short piece about a Native American named Cornplanter from DC’s Sgt. Rock. Wikipedia has an article about Cornplanter where you can learn more. This page has no artist or writer credits. If you know who produced this, please comment!

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt. Rock #347; DC Comics, 1980.

Men of War #1: The Origin of Gravedigger

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David Michelinie, ed davis, first appearance, first issue, gravedigger, men of war, origin, racism, Romeo Tanghal, war, war comics

Men of War #1 gives us the first half of the origin of Gravedigger in his first appearance in DC Comics. Author David Michelinie would conclude next issue with a tale of Gravedigger’s breaking into a military installation, an unlikely story that plays well as a comic book nevertheless. Gravedigger earns his nickname digging graves in a non-combat unit. He wants to fight in the war, but the color of his skin gets him assigned to an all-black non-combat unit.

While films and novels have dealt with racism in the military before, Michelinie sticks to a theme of institutional racism. We do not see Gravedigger suffer from physical and verbal abuse, but we do see him confronting a racist system. Artists Ed Davis and Romeo Tanghal deliver a realistic style in the vein of DC’s other 1970s war comics like Sgt. Rock. Let’s have a look!

Collector’s Guide: Men of War #1; DC, 1977.

Sgt Rock 339: The Collector by Rick Veitch!

Tags

Rick Veitch, Sgt Rock, The Collector, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt. Rock #339; DC Comics, 1980.

Sgt Rock 346: Detour by Steve Bissette!

Tags

Detour, Sgt Rock, Steve Bissette, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt. Rock #346

Sgt Rock 343: Crabs by Steve Bissette!

Tags

Crabs, giant crab, Sgt Rock, Steve Bissette, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt. Rock #343; DC Comics, 1980.

Sgt Rock 338: Future War by Rick Veitch!

Tags

Future War, Rick Veitch, Sgt Rock, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt. Rock #338; DC Comics, 1980.

Sgt Rock 347: Go Down Moses by Rick Veitch!

Tags

Go Down Moses, Harriet Tubman, racism, Rick Veitch, Sgt Rock, slavery, war, war comics

Before taking on Swamp Thing and moving on to careers producing their own works, artists Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch drew stories for DC’s Sgt. Rock. This week we’ll look at a few of their back-ups for DC’s once-popular war comic.

Collector’s Guide: From Sgt Rock #347; DC Comics, 1980.

Alex Niño: I Never Dreamed the Ray Would Transmit a Living Being!

Tags

Alex Nino, Corporal Kelly's Private War, dreams, George Kashdan, occult, war, war comics, Weird War Tales

Alex Niño’s work was featured in DC Comics publications such as Weird War Tales, House of Mystery, and House of Secrets. You will also find Alex Niño in issues of Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion, Secrets of Sinister House, Weird Mystery Tales, and The Witching Hour. Alex Niño also appeared in Warren’s Creepy and Heavy Metal.

Here on Mars Will Send No More we have a nice collection of Space Voyagers, and an ongoing gallery of work from the out-of-print Satan’s Tears.

If you’d like to dig into our whole online Alex Niño gallery, just click Alex Niño.

Comics in the Afghanistan War!

Tags

Afghanistan, national geographic, war, war comics

We were reading a blog the other day where the author suggested that comic books are dead. Dude, come on! Marvel and DC may have to re-number their books every week to stoke the sales fire, but comic books as an art form — as a communications medium — are far from dead. Wherever sequential pictures tell a story, comics live! Wherever words and pictures together tell a story more fully than either words or pictures alone, you are getting your world rocked by comics!

We suggested to the author that there’s a comic book in every seat of every commercial airplane. You know, the adventure where the lady puts an oxygen mask on her kid. The comic book where a bunch of people go sliding down an inflatable slide into the ocean. Yeah, that comic!

Later on, we found this page in a 2011 National Geographic. The military was using comics to communicate with people in Afghanistan! It’s pretty simple to follow the storyline on these: The locals tell a soldier where the bombs are hidden, the soldiers round up the bombs, and the locals get paid cash. Hey, DC should try that plot sometime!

Weird War Tales: It Takes Brains to Be a Killer!

Tags

brains, George Kashdan, It Takes Brains to Be a Killer, Weird War Tales

It takes Brains to be a killer! Script by George Kashdan.

Collector’s Guide: From Weird War Tales Vol. 1, #81.

See more of our Weird War Tales gallery.

Losers – First Issue!

Tags

Andy Diggle, first issue, Jock, Losers, Vertigo Comics, war, war comics

The modern incarnation of The Losers is my favorite action series. If you saw the movie and think you know this comic book, then think again. If you like crime comics, this will be at the top of your list, too. I’m also a big fan of Ed Brubaker’s & Sean Phillips’ Criminal, too, if that gives you any idea of my taste in crime comics!

When the Losers, once an elite U.S. Special Forces Unit, stumbled onto the C.I.A.’s dirty little secret, their refusal to play along got them murdered — or so the C.I.A. thought. Now the Losers are back and out for payback against the organization that betrayed them.

2020 Update: Once upon a time, I sold my collection of all the original single issues, but I missed it so much that I got the complete TPB series in 2019 to read while traveling. I started reading it on the plane, didn’t finish, but stayed up until almost dawn in my hotel room reading the rest of it. If I were doing a top-ten list of books I couldn’t put down and lost sleep over, Losers would be near the top.

Anyway, let’s enjoy the first two scenes introducing our cast of Losers!

Collector’s Guide: From Losers #1; DC/Vertigo, 2003. Story by Andy Diggle; art by Jock. Reprinted in Losers TPB #1, 2004 and a double-sized Losers TPB in 2010.

Looking for the Jack Kirby version? Click Jack Kirby Losers to dig Our Fighting Forces #152!

Alex Niño: Whatever They Are, They Aren’t Friendly!

Tags

Alex Nino, Day After Doomsday, war, war comics, Weird War Tales

Alex Niño’s work was featured in DC Comics publications such as Weird War Tales, House of Mystery, and House of Secrets. You will also find Alex Niño in issues of Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion, Secrets of Sinister House, Weird Mystery Tales, and The Witching Hour. Alex Niño also appeared in Warren’s Creepy and Heavy Metal.

Here on Mars Will Send No More we have a nice collection of Space Voyagers, and an ongoing gallery of work from the out-of-print Satan’s Tears. If you’d like to dig into our whole online Alex Niño gallery, just click Alex Niño.