Cover Cavalcade

  MARCH IS SCIENCE GONE MAD MONTH!!!!

Cover-dated May-June 1950, with art by Al Feldstein.

Cover Cavalcade

 

JUNE IS AVIATION COVERS MONTH!

From 1955. You can't go wrong with a George Evans aviation cover.

Don't Try to Out-Pirate a Pirate

cover art by Wally Wood

 EC's tragically short-lived series titled Piracy wasn't always about traditional pirates and often swerved off into other sorts of sea-going adventures. But that's okay, because (like so many of EC's series from the 1950s) it was packed full of superb stories.

And there were more than enough traditional pirates to satisfy our collective urge to read about them. The first story in the premiere issue (October-November 1954), for instance, is an excellent pirate tale.

The story is titled "The Privateer" and is drawn by the great Reed Crandall. Of course, there is a fine legal distinction between a pirate and a privateer--since the privateer has official permission from a specific government to attack enemy ships and keep a share of any loot captured.

But Captain Ballard, the main character of the story, veers away from legal piracy. He's licenced by the by the English to attack Spanish ships. He's a tad ruthless about it, but more or less sticks to the rules at first.

But, by golly, there's money to be made, isn't there? The narration in the story begins to refer to Ballard's rapid descent into piracy as his education. This is a nice touch, giving both structure and a dry humor to the tale.

When a few weeks go by without sighting a Spanish ship, Ballard attacks a neutral French ship.

Ballard realizes that, as long as he doesn't leave any witnesses, he's free to attack just about any ships he wishes. So his education continues as he captures ships from many nations, including British, and loots a few ports. His wealth continues to grow as he makes plans to hide most of it and tell the British authorities that he actually captured a much smaller amount. Thus he avoid having to pay his agreed upon percentage of all his loot to the British authorities.

But, as the story points out, Ballard's education is completed when he attacks three apparently unarmed merchant ships, only to discover that the ships are actually heavily armed pirates.

So Ballard learns--a little too late--that it doesn't pay to try to out-pirate other pirates.

Crandall's art turning a pretty good script into great story. It was a strong start to what really was a fantastic comic book. That Piracy only ran seven issues really is tragic.

Next week, it's back to visit with Cave Girl again. 

Cover Cavalcade

A wonderful Wally Wood cover from 1954.

Cover Cavalcade

A wonderful George Evans cover from 1954.

Cover Cavalcade

Very, very cool Al Feldstein cover from 1953.

Nag... Nag... NAG!

During the 1950s, when comic book readers were in-between super-hero crazes, there was a lot of cool stuff published. Arguably, the coolest stuff was being published by EC Comics, who were not shy about experimenting with comics about a wide variety of subjects. Their war stories, in my opinion, represent their best stories. But they produced a lot of other quality stuff as well.

Piracy first saw print in 1954, running for a mere seven issues. Like most EC books, each issue had four 6- to 8-page stories that often used twist endings and were illustrated by some of the best artists in the business.

Most of the tales were set during the Golden Age of Piracy, though there were quite a few set in other time periods.  But even those Golden Age stories were often given unusual slants.

Piracy #4 (April-May 1955) leads off with a 7-pager titled "Pirate Master," with art by Reed
Crandall. Here we are introduced to the ruthless, sadistic and aptly named Captain Satan, who captures a merchant ship and puts the crew to death in various cruel ways. He learns that there are a couple of women on the ship as well, though he hasn't personally seen them yet.

What made Captain Satan such a cruel man? Well, he conveniently starts musing on his life story and provides us with a flashback.

At one point, he had been a blacksmith, working hard to provide for his wife and mother-in-law. Every day, he was confronted by the older woman's constant and unending NAGGING! Never satisfied, never happy,she verbally and ruthlessly stripped her son-in-law of any happiness or chance for contentment.



So, when he's shanghaied aboard a pirate ship, he suddenly realizes that he's better off. He's escaped HER at last. So he happily embraces a life of piracy, demonstrating an unmatched cruelty and eventually becoming captain of his own ship.

And now here he is--master of his own fate--a leader of men--with the power of life and death over the two women captives.

Anyone familiar with EC's twist endings knows that poor Captain Satan was doomed at this point. Of course the women turn out to be his long-abandoned wife and mother-in-law. And Mom is still in good practice as an expert nagger. The mere sight and sound of her causes his backbone to melt away and turn him back into the spineless victim he had once been. He doesn't even try to argue as he rows off with his family, followed by the jeers of the men who had feared and respected him mere moments before.

The ending is, perhaps, predictable, but it is fun nonetheless, with Crandall's strong artwork giving the story a much stiffer backbone than its protagonist had.

This issue is downloadable as a PDF HERE.

Next week, we'll return to superheroes to join a webslinger and a shield-slinger on a adventure.

Cover Cavalcade

Several issues of EC's Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales were special Civil War issues.

Cover Cavalcade

A double-feature today--because dinosaurs and space ships somehow always seem to go together.

Can You Be a Good Guy if You Fight for the Bad Guys?

I've mentioned in the past that I think some of the finest work that EC Comics produced was not from its better-remembered horror comics, but from the war stories that appeared in Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat.

Perhaps the most thoughtful tale that appeared in this book was from Frontline Combat #3 (Nov-Dec 1951). Titled "Desert Fox!" it was written by Harvey Kurtzman and drawn by the great Wally Wood. The way the story is visually structured is by itself fascinating.

Each page shows us number of a true incidents from the military career of Erwin Rommel, arguably Germany's finest military tactician during the Second World War. If it were possible to set aside the cause Rommel was fighting for, the "Desert Fox" would be one awesome dude. This story includes incidents such as personally scouting enemy positions during an artillery barrage and visiting wounded in a hospital (oh--that's a British hospital) to make sure his men were being well-treated.

But at the end of each page, after one of these extraordinary incidents, we get a one-panel reminder of exactly what Rommel is so bravely fighting for. We're told of high school students executed for putting up anti-Nazi posters. We're told of women and children being ruthless killed enmasse. We're told of the population of a village being herded into a building and burned alive and of bodies piled up in death camps like garbage. By the time we get to page 6 of this seven-page story, we are shown nothing but panel after panel of Jews, intellectuals, priests and many others who were tortured and killed by the Nazis.

The last page recounts Rommel's death. Confronted by the Gestapo because he was suspected of being involved in a plot to kill Hitler, he is given the option of committing suicide--an option he takes.

The story can be taken in two ways, each of which is true. First, it shows us an evil regime that eventually turns on its own heroes--killing anyone it perceives as a threat no matter how valuable that person has been in the past.

But "Desert Fox" also can question whether loyalty to one's country has any value if that country has descended into evil. Rommel was not a Nazi--though not discussed in this story, he once refused an order to execute prisoners and had the pull at that time to get away with it. He treated enemy prisoners humanely. He did not participate in war crimes or murder the innocent.

But the government he fought for DID murder the innocent--murdered them by the millions. It's possible that Rommel did not personally know just how bad the ghettos and death camps were, but it's impossible for him not to know that a lot of evil was being perpetrated by the man he took an oath to fight for. Even if Rommel didn't fully grasp the numbers, he certainly knew the Nazis were killing the innocent.

So should we admire Rommel for being a brave soldier and in many ways a good man? Or do we condemn him for fighting for an evil regime? To what degree do we separate soldiers who fight to defend an evil cause--however honorably they fight--from those who are able to commit mass murder only because those soldiers are fighting for them? It's an interesting question and one that this story raises without definitively answering.

Eye In the Sky

Harvy Kurtzman wrote and edited Frontline Combat. A talented artist himself, it's my understanding that he typically drew the layouts for each story he wrote, then obligated the artist doing the pencils to follow his layouts EXACTLY.

EC Comics were employing some of the best artists around during the 1950s, so I understand that some of them were frustrated by this approach. But at the same time, Kurtzman was one of the best storytellers that's ever worked in the comic book industry. His sense of what would make a particular story look fantastic was impeccable.

Let's look at the first story from Frontline Combat #11 (March/April 1953). Like most stories from this book, it's a Korean War adventure. Titled "Bird-Dogs," its a very simple yarn about a pilot and his observer flying a small plane over enemy lines. They spot troop movements or gun emplacements, then call in artillery fire. That's pretty much it.

But it's a great story specifically because of the way Kurtzman had artist John Severin illustrate it. Much of the story is the direct point-of-view of the guys in the plane, looking down at the landscape below them. And this simple approach turns what might have been at best an okay story--perhaps even a dull story--into something visually innovative.

We can't help but get into the story when we see what the pilot sees--troops moving along a road or a machine gun nest (which opens fire on the plane). That birds-eye view draws us into the story and plops us down right next to the pilot.

I reviewed an EC war story a few months ago. Both that story and this one work for similar reasons--the visual layouts are designed specifically to highlight the strengths of the stories and thus elevate the level of suspense and excitement. It was part of Kurtzman's particular genius that he always understood the best way to do that for each particular story.

Dying One by One

When people remember the EC comics of the 1950s, their thoughts seem to most often jump to Tales from the Crypt and the other horror books. This is really too bad, since looking back over a half-century, the horror books are somewhat overrated, while EC's other comics were always good and often excellent. From science fiction to adventure to suspense to aviation stories--EC offered some of the best non-superhero stories ever produced. Their stable of artists included Wally Wood, John Severin, Reed Crandall and other greats of the era.

Two-Fisted Tales concentrated on adventure stories. It featured four 8-page stories each issue, compactly and effectively telling stories with settings that ran the gamut from ancient Rome to pirates to spies to the Old West. These stories were short, but they had a coherent beginning, middle and ending, and usually included some really nice bits of characterizations.

For much of its 24-issue run, TFT (along with another EC book, Frontline Combat) concentrated on war stories, usually set in the then-contemporary Korean conflict. "Ambush" (In issue #21; May-June 1951) is one of these stories, following a squad of American soldiers as they are ambushed and pinned down by North Korean troops.

If you examine just the plot, you find a well-constructed but fairly basic last-stand story. The Americans are gradually whittled down as they defend themselves against a superior force. One of them tries to go for help, but doesn't make it. Several others fall one-by-one. Finally, the last two men must take a desperate gamble in order to survive. There's an ironic twist in the last panel involving one of the soldier's good luck charm. (Editors Harvey Kurtzman and William Gaines were hopelessly in love with ironic twists.)

What lifts this story above the merely good is Jack Davis’ art work. Davis is now best remembered for his many years on Mad Magazine, but he had a good eye for adventure stories as well. He begins the story with a panel taking up two-thirds of the page--an establishing shot that show the American jeeps driving towards enemy troops occupying the high-ground along the side of the road. Immediately, we understand the tactical situation, which creates a sense of real danger.

After a couple of panels to allow one soldier to explain his good luck charm (thus setting up the twist at the end), the ambush begins. Pages 2 and 3 are non-stop, with both jeeps damaged and three of the eight men killed. This sequence includes another long shot, updating the overall tactical situation for the reader. We understand that these men are in it deep, pinned down with no practical way of fighting back.

Pages 4, 5 and 6 each end with the death of one more soldier; each page is essentially a mini-story within the larger one. It's a neat little trick that gives the story an effective sense of pacing. It keeps the suspense high as everything builds to the conclusion.

The last two pages cover the action-packed finale and includes the twist about the good luck charm. Once

again, Davis expertly choreographs the fight scenes, giving us a sense of desperation while still providing us with the information we need to follow the action logically. It's fast-moving without seeming as if it's suffering from ADD--everything we need to know is there. The EC comics of the 1950s were models of the short-story format for comic books, with "Ambush" being one of many good examples of this.

Cover Cavalcade

Those Signal Corps guys had it rough at times! These two comics both came out during the 1950s, with coincidentally similar covers. Not a huge coincidence, since they were published 5 or 6 years apart from one another, but it's still interesting to see them together.

DECADE BY DECADE, Part 14: No super-heroes need apply

During the 1950s, comic books remained a popular medium, but the superheroes that dominated the scene through the 1940s had pretty much faded away.

Only Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman bucked the trend and remained in print. Most comics dived into other genres. There were Western, crime, science fiction, horror, romance, and humor comics. A lot of the output was mediocre, but there were some real gems popping up as well.

EC Comics was a source of a lot of these gems. EC employed some of the best artists working in comics at that time and experimented with a wide range of genres. Pirates, soldiers, cops, and even psychologists all got their turn within the pages of EC's comic books.

Today, EC is best remembered for their horror comics such as Tales from the Crypt. But I think the horror books are actually overrated. If I had to pick EC's best stuff, I'd turn to Two-Fisted Tales.

Two-Fisted Tales started out as an adventure strip. Soon, they began to specialize in war stories--with most of them set in the then-current Korean War. But every once in awhile, the book would jump a little farther back in history to tell tales of past conflicts.

Two-Fisted Tales #32 (1952) concentrated on Civil War stories. Like most EC comics of the time, it contained four 6- to 8-page stories, each of which was a superbly illustrated and well-told story set during America's bloodiest-ever conflict.

The first story, "Blockade," was illustrated by Wally Wood and recounted the clash between the Monitor and the Merrimac from perspective of the average crewmen.

"Campaign," with art by John Severin and Will Elder, follows a platoon of Union troops as they slog and fight their way through the 1862 Peninsular campaign.

"Donalson" (art by Jack Davis) details the fight to capture Fort Donalson from the Confederates, recounting both the land and the river fighting. Once again, the story gives us the perspective of the average soldier.

It's the last story--"Grant!" (art by John Severin)--that gives us the point-0f-view of a high-ranking officer. It's a short but effective biography of U.S. Grant, describing what was pretty much a failed life as a civilian before re-entering the Army to fight in the Civil War, thus placing him back in his natural element.

All the stories are excellent--historically accurate with solid characterizations and well-choreographed action.

Superheroes resurged to take over the market again a few years later. By itself, this wasn't a bad thing, since many excellent stories and characters came out of this genre. It's kind of a pity, though, that the variety in storytelling comics gave us in the 1950s seems to have disappeared forever. It must have been nice to stop at the newstand and have the option of returning to 1862 to fight the Rebs; or take a trip into deep space; or face off against a gunslinger on a dusty, tumbleweed-strewn street; or fight a giant crab deep under the sea; or even accompany Little Lulu on an 8-page slapstick adventure. Good times, indeed.

This'll be the last of the Decade by Decade series. I originally planned to take it into the 1970s, but I'm ready to move on to something else. I've no idea what yet, but I'll think of something.

Yet another magnificent comic cover

This one is by Wally Wood--its a reprint (which is why the price is $2.50 rather than .10) of an issue of Frontline Combat from the early 1950s.

This is another example of exceptional composition. The cover is perfectly designed to take your eye in a circle through the action--from the plane in the distance--to the burning baloon--to the plane on the strafing run--to the unfortunate German soldiers.

Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales (both published by EC Comics) featured realistic, intelligent war stories with excellent characterizations. The lion's share of credit for their high quality goes to artists like Wally Wood. He was unquestionably one of the best in the business.

By the way, I'm pretty sure the planes are Spads, but I'm not as knowdgeable of WWI aircraft as I am those of WWII. If anyone can confirm this (or correct me), please post a reply.