Cops, Crooks and Frogmen

 

cover art by Ross Andru

Star Spangled War Stories #121 (June-July 1965) begins with a Navy frogman named Stoner hitching a ride on a PBY. But writer Bob Kanigher and artist Ross Andru soon make his life more interesting.

Partway through the story, we get a flashback giving Stoner's backstory. I'm going to cheat a little and give that information here before we get to the dinosaurs. 

Stoner was a cop before the war. His career took a downturn, though, when he arrested his own brother Manny for murder. Manny then escapes after a train wreck while Stoner is escorting him to prison. Rumors about Stoner allowing Manny to escape are rife, making the cop an outsider on the force.

Then the war happens and Stoner joins the high-risk commando team known as the Suicide Squad. And, when the PBY he's flying in gets a distress call from a submarine, he finds himself on what is definetely a high-risk mission.

The sub is being attacked by a monster. Stoner puts on his frogman suit, then bails out of the plane in an effort to help the sub. THEN the PBY is attacked by Japanese Zeroes. THEN the Zeroes are attacked by a pterodactyl, who goes after Stoner after destroying the planes. Yes, this is definitely high-risk.

Stoner uses a mini-torpedo launcher to kill the pterodactyl, then plummets into the ocean. He's then snatched up by the giant crab that was attacking the sub. Fortunately, a frogman from the sub grabs the mini-torpedo launcher and kills the crab.

You can see it coming, can't you? The two enter the sub and Stoner discovers the man who just saved him is his brother Manny, who joined the Navy under a false name. 

Soon after, the sub approaches an island, where they are attacked by a T-Rex.

After the T-Rex is killed with the sub's deck gun, Stoner and Manny scout the island. Manny decides to do away with his brother (who hasn't yet given Manny away), but can't bring himself to do it. 

The ending is predictable, but still carries some sincere emotional weight to it. They are attacked by another dinosaur. Stoner is trapped under a tree, but Manny gives his own life to save his brother. In the end, serving in the Navy had changed him from a crook to a hero.

The War That Time Forget is enormously entertaining almost purely because we get to see World War II soldiers, sailors and marines fighting dinosaurs. That only is epic and more than justifies the series' existence.

Often, the human characters are just ciphers, with no real personalities of their own. Here, even though the Stoner/Manny situation plays out in a predictable manner, it does succeed in giving them definable personalities. We don't see that often in this series, so it was nice to see it here.

Next week, we'll return to the Planet of the Apes.