By Robert Kanigher, Russ Heath, Irv Novick, Joe Kubert, Sam Glanzman & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-0789-8
Robert Kanigher (1915-2002) was one of the most distinctive authorial voices in American comics, blending rugged realism with fantastic fantasy in his signature war comics, as well as in horror stories, westerns and superhero titles such as Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, Hawkman, Metal Men, Batman plus other genres too numerous to cover here.
Kanigher sold his first stories and poetry in 1932, wrote for the theatre, film and radio, and joined the Fox Features shop where he created The Bouncer, Steel Sterling and The Web, whilst providing scripts for Blue Beetle and the original Captain Marvel.
In 1945 he settled at All-American Comics as both writer and editor, staying on when the company amalgamated with National Comics to become the forerunner of today’s DC. He wrote Flash and Hawkman, created Black Canary and Lady Cop, and many memorable villainesses such as Harlequin and Rose and the Thorn. This last temptress he redesigned during the relevancy era of the early 1970s into a schizophrenic crime-busting super-heroine who haunted the back of Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, which Kanigher also scripted.
When mystery-men faded out at the end of the 1940s, Kanigher moved into westerns and war stories, becoming in 1952 writer/editor of the company’s combat titles: All-American War Stories, Star Spangled War Stories and Our Army at War. He created Our Fighting Forces in 1954 and added G.I. Combat to his burgeoning portfolio when Quality Comics sold their line of titles to DC in 1956, all the while working on Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder, Rex the Wonder Dog, Silent Knight, Sea Devils, Viking Prince and a host of others.
In 1956 he scripted ‘Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt’ – the first story of the Silver Age which introduced Barry Allen as the new Flash to the hero-hungry kids of the world.
Kanigher was a restlessly creative writer and frequently used his uncanny but formulaic adventure arenas as a testing ground for future series concepts. Among the many epochal war features he created were Sgt. Rock, Enemy Ace, The War that Time Forgot and The Losers as well as the irresistibly compelling “combat ghost stories†collected here in this second stupendously expansive war-journal.
This terrific monochrome tome re-presents more blockbusting exploits of boyhood friends Jeb Stuart Smith, Arch Asher, Slim Stryker and Rick Rawlins from G.I. Combat #120-156 (October/November 1966 – October/November 1972), a period during which superheroes rose to astonishing global dominance before almost vanishing into history once more.
Apparently immune to such tenuous trendiness, the battle-hardened veterans of the M-3 Stuart Light Tank – named for the legendary Confederate Army General who was a genius of cavalry combat, and haunted by his restless spirit – soldiered on, battling threats mortal and often metaphysical on many fronts during World War II, becoming (after Sgt. Rock) DC’s most successful and long-lived combat feature.
The tales were generally narrated by Jeb as he manned the Commander’s spotter-position (head and torso sticking out of the top hatch and completely exposed to enemy fire whilst driver Slim, gunner Rick and loader Arch remained relatively safe inside) constantly conversing with his spectral namesake who offered philosophy, advice and prescient, if often veiled, warnings …
Throughout the early days Jeb’s comrades continually argued about what to do with him. Nobody believed in the ghost and they all doubted their commander’s sanity, but since he began seeing the General, Stuart Smith had become a tactical genius and his “gifts†were keeping them all alive against incredible odds…
This volume opens with G.I. Combat #120 ‘Pull a Tiger’s Tail!’, illustrated by Irv Novick, detailing how, after accompanying both Sgt. Rock and Navajo fighter-pilot Johnny Cloud, on sorties, Jeb defied orders to capture a giant Tiger tank his own way…
Another spiritually-sponsored warrior, Cloud regularly saw a mounted Indian Brave dubbed Big-Brother-in-the Sky galloping across the heavens during his missions.
The inspirational Russ Heath illustrated #121’s ‘Battle of Two Wars!’ wherein after rescuing a shell-shocked pigeon the tankers are inexplicably drawn back to WWI to save Sgt Rock’s father, who then returns the favour once the Stuart returns to its proper time whilst in ‘Who Dies Next?’ (#122 and with art from Novick), the General issued a dire proclamation that one of their own would not last the day out – a forecast that came true in a most shocking manner…
Heath returned to the art with #123’s ‘The Target of Terror!’ as guest star Mlle. Marie returned with news of a secret weapon to be destroyed at all costs. Unfortunately the French Resistance leader had partial amnesia and didn’t remember exactly what or where, whilst in ‘Scratch that Tank!’ the crew’s shiny new replacement vehicle was a cause of acute embarrassment until it finally gained a few praiseworthy combat scars…
G.I. Combat #125 decreed ‘Stay Alive… Until Dark!’ as Jeb’s sorely reduced battle-group attempted to hold too much ground with too few tanks, culminating in a Horatian last stand in the shattered, cloistered streets of a tiny French town, after which the crew endured deadly desert warfare in a desperate search for Panzers hidden by a cunning ‘Tank Umbrella!’
Novick illustrated the two-fisted ‘Mission – Sudden Death!!’ in #127 as Mlle. Marie led the tank-jockeys far from their comfort zone in an infantry raid to rescue her captured father before Heath returned to limn ‘The Ghost of the Haunted Tank!’, a superbly evocative thriller in which the crew finally cracked during a brutal massed Panzer assault and restrained their clearly delusional commander for his own good. However when solid, no-nonsense Slim took the observer’s spot he too began to see the spectral sentinel and was forced to act on the apparition’s strategic advice…
Issue #129 is pure Kanigher poesy as ‘Hold that Town for a Dead Man!’ saw the tankers roll past an American soldier expired at his post, and swear to eradicate the foes who felled him… and when the blistering cat-and-mouse duel seemed to go against the crew they were saved by an impossible burst of gunfire fired by a cold, stiff hand…
In the afterlife all great military commanders sponsored mortal combatants. General Stuart was stuck looking after a pack of “Damned Yankeesâ€, but the other side also had phantom patrons.
G.I. Combat #130 saw the return of savage shade Attila the Hun, who directly attacked his revenant rival in a deadly ‘Battle of the Generals!’ with Jeb watching helplessly whilst trying to save his tank from mundane but just as murderous German panzer, artillery and air attacks…
Their next mission took the crew and a band of savage child-warriors (the short-lived and controversial Kid Guerrillas of Unit 3 who had debuted in a Sgt. Rock tale in Our Army at War #194, June 1968) into the heart of Paris to rescue Mlle. Marie from the Gestapo in #131’s ‘The Devil for Dinner!’ after which Mike Sekowsky & Joe Giella stepped in to illustrate the follow-up wherein the Belle of La Resistance led Jeb and the boys – bizarrely disguised as a circus troupe – against merciless SS leader ‘The Executioner!’
The artists stayed on for #133’s ‘Operation: Death Trap’ as the Haunted Tank and crew were parachuted into North Africa to liberate enslaved natives working in a German diamond mine, before, following a ‘Special Battle Pinup’ of the tankers by Joe Kubert, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito signed up for a stint, beginning with ‘Desert Holocaust’ wherein the boys dealt out vengeance for the three MacBane brothers, sibling tank-commanders slaughtered by the Afrika Korps.
Continuity was never a big concern for Kanigher and stories would often occur in no logical or chronological order. In #135 they were back in France battling paratroopers and air-lifted Panzers with only aged WWI survivors to aid them in ‘Death is the Joker’ whilst ‘Kill Now – Pay Later!’ pitted Tank against Nazi U-Boat and Jeb against its driven doom-obsessed Commander in an improbable duel, before Russ Heath returned in #137 to illustrate the African adventure ‘We Can’t See!’ wherein the lads were all temporarily blinded but nevertheless succeeded in destroying a poison gas cache thanks to aid of a little Arab boy.
Kanigher often used his stories as a testing ground for new series ideas and G.I. Combat #138 introduced one of his most successful in ‘The Losers!’ when the Armoured Cavalry unit encountered a sailor, two marines and old friend Johnny Cloud, all utterly demoralised after losing all the men in their respective commands.
Inspired by Jeb and a desire for revenge, the crushed survivors regained a measure of respect and fighting spirit after surviving a certain suicide-mission and destroying a Nazi Radar tower…
The new team were formed by amalgamating three old war series together. Gunner and Sarge (later supplemented by Pooch, the Fighting Devil Dog) were Pacific-based Marines debuting in All-American Men of War #67, March 1959 and ran for fifty issues in Our Fighting Forces (#45-94, May 1959-August 1965), whilst Captain Johnny Cloud was a native American fighter pilot who shot down his first bogie in All-American Men of War #82.
The “Navaho Ace†flew solo until issue #115, (1966) whilst Captain Storm was a disabled PT Boat skipper who fought on despite his wooden left leg in his own eponymous 18-issue series from 1964 to 1967. All three series were originally created by comicbook warlord Kanigher and The Losers soon returned as an elite unit of suicide-soldiers to star in Our Fighting Forces.
G.I. Combat #139 again saw the Haunted Tank parachuted into an Arabian nightmare when the crew interrupt a funeral and save the widow from being forced onto the pyre with her deceased husband. ‘Corner of Hell’ saw Jeb wed and lose his bride to Nazi sympathizers and an ancient prophecy…
Issue #140 featured a reprint not included here – although the new Kubert introduction page is – and the graphic narratives resume with ‘Let me Live… Let me Die!’ as Kanigher & Heath confronted the topics of race and discrimination in a powerful tale describing the plight of African-American soldiers who were used as porters, gravediggers and ammunition carriers but forbidden from bearing or actually using arms.
When Jeb arrived at a recently decimated ammo dump the sole survivor of the Segregated Negro unit demanded to accompany the crew and be allowed to fight and die like a man. Rushing to reinforce Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company and despite the thinly veiled disdain of Slim, Arch and Rick, when Jeb was wounded the valiant tag-along finally got his chance…
G.I. Combat #142 found Jeb obsessed with the moment of his own death in ‘Checkpoint – Death!’ but when the General wasn’t forthcoming soon forgot it about as an unseasonal snowstorm turned the world into a frozen hell, after which ‘The Iron Horseman!’ saw a frustrated WWI tanker finally get at chance to be a hero when Panzers attacked a convent and Jeb’s crew were ambushed. There follows an informational spread ‘Battle Album: General Stuart Light Tank M31A’ by Kubert, before #144 revealed a retrofitted origin for the Haunted Tanker in ‘Every Man a Fort!’ (illustrated by Heath). Now with Jeb a Northern Yankee, the tale revealed how he had to win the respect of Southerners Rick, Slim and Arch with his fists before they’d let him call himself Jeb Stuart, and cemented that bond during their first foray under fire in North Africa…
The desert milieu continued in #145’s ‘Sun, Sand & Death!’ when a sandstorm forced the tank off-course and led them to an abandoned B-25 bomber, giving the dying pilot a chance to redeem his lost honour, whilst #146 saw the M-3 and its crew endure debilitating hazards battling the Afrika Korps but still persevere when the General advised Jeb to ‘Move the World!’…
For some Americans the wounds of the Civil War still festered, as Jeb discovered when he encountered the hostile commander of a ‘Rebel Tank’ in #147. Of course, the Germans were happy to remind the feuders who was currently doing all the shooting, whilst in #148 ‘The Gold-Plated General!’ (a thinly disguised analogue of George S. “Blood and Guts†Patton) demanded a spit-and-polish war, but even under combat conditions led by painful example…
American services discrimination was again confronted in G.I. Combat #149 when a Jewish soldier joined the division in ‘Leave the Fighting to Us!’ Many of the good guys had to eat their words when the tank group liberated a Nazi concentration camp…
A major visual change came in #150 with ‘The Death of the Haunted Tank!’, which saw the M-3 destroyed in combat and the crew jury-rig a jigsaw replacement from the remnants of other scrapped and abandoned and, unsurprisingly, bigger, more powerful vehicles.
Proving again that men and not the machine were the heart of the partnership, the General stuck around, and when the new Haunted Tankers passed through an alpine village they relived a mediaeval battle against barbarian invaders in #151’s ‘A Strong Right Arm!’ before bringing a Nazi infiltrator aboard who turned their homemade rolling fortress into a deadly ‘Decoy Tank’ to lure Allied forces into an ambush…
Comics and animation legend Doug Wildey replaced Heath for #153 as sentimental fool Jeb adopted a lost piglet, orphan puppy and lame duckling before completing his tank’s transformation to ‘The Armored Ark!’ by packing in a homeless and displaced family, all while tracking down and eradicating a hidden Nazi rocket silo, after which the series took on a far grittier and raw feel with the addition of a new regular artist.
With G.I. Combat #154 (June/July 1972), unsung master and battle-scarred veteran Sam Glanzman began his decades-long association with the feature, pencilling and inking the blistering improbable ‘Battle Prize!’ wherein the Haunted Tank and crew were captured and paraded before Hitler in Berlin before busting loose and heading East. Hijacked by Polish Resistance fighters soon the Yanks were stranded in ice-bound, siege-locked Russia…
Shamefully, Sam Glanzman is one of the least highly-regarded creators in American comics, despite having one of the longest careers and certainly one of the most unique styles. His work, in genres from war to mystery, westerns, science fiction, sword & sorcery, horror, fantasy and even graphic autobiography is passionate, powerful, subtly engaging and irresistibly compelling.
With a solid, uniquely rough-hewn style he has worked since the 1940s on a variety of titles for many companies, mostly on anthology material for fantasy, mystery, war and adventure titles, but also on serial characters such Attu, Sgt. Rock, Jonah Hex, Hercules and Jungle Tales of Tarzan for Charlton, Kona and Voyage to the Deep for Dell/Gold Key: magnificent action sagas that fired the imagination and stirred the blood, selling copies and winning a legion of fans amongst his fellow artists if not from the small but over-vocal fan-press.
His most significant works are undoubtedly the two semi-autobiographical graphic novels A Sailor’s Story and Wind, Dreams and Dragons although his Vietnam set ‘The Lonely War of Willie Schultz’ and the subtly beguiling U.S.S. Stevens (and if anybody from DC is reading this, those 46-odd U.S.S. Stevens strips are so-very-long-overdue for the trade paperback treatment…).
Glanzman, born in 1924, is still active today producing online strips and a new USS Stevens story is forthcoming in October 2012.
G.I. Combat #155 undertook ‘The Long Journey’ as the Haunted Tank experienced the worst horrors of war whilst trekking across the embattled Eastern Front, aided by Russian partisans, women, children and dotards as they fought off the fascists with every drop of their blood and sweat whilst making their way to a port and the normal war…
This second sterling tome ends with the crew back in Africa where the desert and the German vie for the privilege of destroying the beleaguered tankers and their frantic search for fuel and water drags them ‘Beyond Hell’…
An added attraction for art fans and battle buffs are the breathtaking covers by Heath and Kubert…
These spectacular tales took the Haunted Tank through tumultuous times when America fervently questioned the very nature and necessity of war. Vietnam was progressively blighting the nation’s sensibilities, and in response DC’s war comics addressed the issue and also confronted the problems of race and gender roles in a most impressive and sensitive manner.
As always they combine spooky chills with combat thrills and a fierce examination of both war and warriors but always offer a powerful human message that has never dated and may well rank this work amongst the very best war stories ever produced.
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 2008, DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.