War Time Team Ups.

By 1964, DC Comics had established a growing cast of World War II-themed characters, fighting in both the European and Pacific theaters. But, oddly, team-ups between these characters had been rare.

So, when Brave and the Bold #52 (Feb-March 1964) decided to have the European-based characters team-up in a single story, it was a bit of a big deal. These characters included a fighter pilot, a tank commander, an infantry sergeant and a French Resistance fighter. Getting two of them together into a single story would probably be pretty easy. But putting all for of them in the same tale would be a challenge.

Fortunately for all of us with good taste in our graphic literature, writer Bob Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert proved to be up to that challenge. "Suicide Mission" gradually brings all the various characters in a way that makes sense in context to DC Comics' unique WWII universe.

It begins with P-51 pilot Johnny Cloud being given the mission of rescuing an Underground agent named Martin and bringing him back to Allied lines. The mission is extremely dangerous because every German this side of Berlin is looking for Martin, but the agent has information that can save thousands of Allied lives.

But the mission starts to go awry from the start. Johnny arrives at the rendezvous only to find most of Martin's Underground team dead or dying. Martin himself is hidden in a hay wagon, encased in a metal suit. The Nazis had captured him and figured a heavy metal suit would hamper any escape or rescue attempts.

Well, Martin might currently weigh a ton, but Johnny manages to jam him into his plane. They are able to make a getaway only because the last of the Underground soldiers sacrifices himself for them.

This, in fact, will be an ongoing theme throughout the story. On several occasions, men will give their lives to save their comrades and allow the mission to go forward. It's an effective bit of writing on Kanigher's part, setting up the tense ending when each of the major characters expresses a willingness to die for the others.

Back to the story. Cloud's plane is damaged in a dogfight and forced to crash land. Fortunately, Jeb Stuart's Haunted Tank is nearby, though circumstances separate most of the crew from the tank. Jeb has to make do with Johnny, who isn't trained to operate a tank, to help navigate the vehicle and its valuable passenger home.

This is another story detail that I enjoy. Johnny tries to drive the tank, but he's pretty hopeless at it. It's something he's simply not trained to do. Finally, Jeb takes over driving and firing the gun while Johnny calls out directions.

The ghost of General Stuart shows up to tell Jeb he needs to find a "Rock of Strength" to complete the mission. Jeb has no idea what the general means, but few readers would have missed the pretty obvious reference to Sgt. Rock.

Rock does soon show up. When the four other men in his patrol get killed, he uses a bazooka to take out a Tiger Tank and save Jeb, Johnny and Martin. But the Haunted Tank has lost a tread, so now the good guys are on foot.

But at least they have time to pry Martin out of his iron suit. And they soon find that Martin isn't a "him," but a "her." The Underground agent they've been rescuing is Mlle. Marie.

Marie didn't get on the cover, so there's a fair chance that original readers of this comic didn't tumble to her identity before the dramatic reveal. But, by golly, I knew who she was all the time.

The climax of the story has all four protagonists claiming to be Martin after they get captured by a German tank. This is the culmination of the theme of self-sacrifice that's been running through the entire story. Soldiers look out of each other and, if necessary, are often willing to die for each other.

No dying is required today, though. Well, at least no Allied dying. When Rock is able to take out the tank by the clever application of two bazooka rockets to the treads, it seems likely that a few Germans died. 

There's a short epilogue in which the three Americans are each promoted and Rock immediately starts planning for a way to get himself busted down to sergeant again. Rock does not want to be an officer. He works for a living, by golly!

That's it for now. Next week, we'll look at the last Lee Hunter/Reb Stuart tale.