Helpless Target

 

cover art tentatively credited to Dick Giordano

Charlton Comics' Attack ran for seven issue in 1958 and 1959. These issues were numbered 54 through 60, so it probably picked up the numbering sequence of a cancelled title, though I don't know what that previous title was.

Attack specialized in short (usually 5-page) stories that told their tales quickly and economically. "Helpless Target!" for instance, was published in Attack #55 (December 1958). With a script tentatively credited to Joe Gill and art by Bill Molno, it's one of a half-dozen tales crammed into the 36-page book.

A large landing craft (L.S.T.--Landing Ship, Tank) has just dropped off troops on the Philippines during the 1944 invasion. But they are having engine trouble and drop behind their convoy.

This is bad, because there are Japanese ships in the area and an L.S.T. is very lightly armed with only a few anti-aircraft guns. They wouldn't stand a chance against a destroyer or a submarine.

The captain takes cover along shore a small island. While scouting ashore, they run into some army troops.

This is a weapons company, equipped with rocket launchers mounted on halftracks. They were landed here by accident and have been holding off nearby Japanese troops while hoping someone finds them.

The army guys and their rocket launchers are loaded aboard the L.S.T., which has managed some makeshift repairs. But soon after leaving the island, they run smack into a Japanese destroyer.

The short page count of the story has some disadvantages. For instance, we never get a panel giving us a proper shot of the half-tracks in all their rocket-launching glory. Instead, we just get a few sort-of close-ups of the vehicles or the launchers. But the above panel, showing us the L.S.T. from the point-of-view of the enemy ship, framed in that space between the lifeboat and the davit, is really nice.

The L.S.T. would be virtually helpless in normal circumstances. But this isn't a normal circumstance. Those army rocket launchers take their shot, score a hit and sink a ship.

Like most stories in Attack, "Helpless Target!" is a succinct, well-told yarn that jumps into the plot quickly and resolves it just as quickly. This is obviously a neccessity for a 5-page story, but it uses that restriction to good advantage.

You can read this issue online HERE.

Next week, we'll visit again with Turok, Son of Stone.