DC had successfully entered the war comics market in 1952 with Our Army at War, Star-Spangled War Stories and All-American Men of War and so Editor Bob Kanigher was instructed to launch another title and Our Fighting Forces was the result, making its debut cover dated October/November 1954.
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| Our Fighting Forces #1 (October/November 1954) Art by Jerry Grandenetti |
The comic followed the tried and tested formula of the other war anthologies and featured high quality art from the best in the business including Jerry Grandenetti, Russ Heath, Joe Kubert, Ross Andru and Irv Novick.
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| Our Fighting Forces #21 (May 1957) Art by Joe Kubert |
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| Our Fighting Forces #25 (November 1957) Art by Joe Kubert |
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| Our Fighting Forces #29 (January 1958) Art by Joe Kubert |
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| Our Fighting Forces #35 (July 1958) Art by Joe Kubert |
Joe Kubert was an absolute master wasn't he? The frogman cover for Our Fighting Forces #35 displays a cover artist operating at a level that most artists cannot reach. It grips the viewer, displays fear, heightens the tension and compels you to purchase the title.
As with the other war books Kanigher started to introduce recurring characters in the late fifties and Our Fighting Forces became home to Gunner and Sarge. These two marines had first appeared in All-American Men of War #67 (March 1959) in a story by Bob Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito and made their Our Fighting Forces debut in #45 (May 1959) in a story by Kanigher and Grandenetti.
Gunner and Sarge gained a canine companion in the form of a German Shepherd called Billy but referred to as Pooch in #49 (September 1959).
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| Our Fighting Forces #45 (May 1959) Art by Jerry Grandenetti |
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| Our Fighting Forces #49 (September 1959) Art by Jerry Grandenetti |
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| Our Fighting Forces #75 (April 1963) Art by Joe Kubert |
Gunner, Sarge and Pooch were the stars of the book through to #94 (August 1965). Kanigher then decided to switch to stories featuring Lt. Rock, The Fighting Devil Dog. Larry Rock was Sgt. Frank Rock's brother who fought with the marines in the Pacific while his brother battled the Nazis in Europe with the army. Larry first appeared in a story by Kanigher and Irv Novick in #95 (October 1965).
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| Our Fighting Forces #95 (October 1965) Art by Russ Heath |
Unfortunately Lt. Rock did not have the same level of success as his brother and was replaced in #99 (April 1966) by a series set in the contemporary Vietnam war. Kanigher and Novick introduced Capt. Phil Hunter who was a Green Beret on a quest to rescue his brother Nick, a pilot who had been shot down by the Viet Cong.
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| Our Fighting Forces #99 (April 1966) Art by Joe Kubert |
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| Our Fighting Forces #105 (January/February 1967) Art by Joe Kubert |
There was too much controversy surrounding the Vietnam war for Capt. Hunter to succeed and so Kanigher went back a generation, literally, and returned to the less ambiguous battles fought in World War II. Ben Hunter was Phil's father who led a group of military prisoners in a special squad called Hunter's Hellcats. This direct copy of The Dirty Dozen movie first appeared in a story by Howard Liss and Jack Abel in #106 (March/April 1967).
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| Our Fighting Forces #106 (March/April 1967) Art by Irv Novick |
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| Our Fighting Forces #111 (January/February 1968) Art by Irv Novick |
Hunter's Hellcats had a decent run through to #123 (January/February 1970) when Joe Kubert, who had taken over as editor of the war comics in 1968, assigned his top writer, Bob Kanigher, to form a group from characters who had previously been headliners. Our Fighting Forces own Gunner and Sarge joined Johnny Cloud from All-American Men of War and Captain Storm from his own short lived title in The Losers. The Losers first appeared in a Haunted Tank story in G I Combat #138 (October/November 1969) by Bob Kanigher and Russ Heath.
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| G I Combat #138 (October/November 1969) Art by Joe Kubert |
Bob Kanigher focussed on the tragic aspects of war, as tragic as DC war comics could get anyway, and the series was a long running success. Joe Kubert drew some excellent covers starting with their debut in Our Fighting Forces #123 (January/February 1970).
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| Our Fighting Forces #123 (January/February 1970) Art by Joe Kubert |
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| Our Fighting Forces #143 (June/July 1973) Art by Joe Kubert |
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| Our Fighting Forces #146 (December 1973/January 1974) Art by Joe Kubert |
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| Our Fighting Forces #150 (August/September 1974) Art by Joe Kubert |
Our Fighting Forces #151 (October/November 1974) also had a stylish Kubert cover that did not hint at the fact that it was all change inside the comic because the King had arrived! Jack Kirby was now writing, pencilling and editing the title and DC's traditional approach was out, replaced by full length, full on Kirby. The King also drew on his World War II experience as a combat infantry soldier in Patton's US 3rd Army in the European theatre to illustrate weapons and medals in splash pages. Those used to Bob Kanigher's plots and scripts and DC war book art were not best pleased and Kirby's fan base weren't buying war books. Kirby's run was short but very exciting and Kanigher was back in #163 (January 1976).
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| Our Fighting Forces #151 (October/November 1974) Art by Joe Kubert No hint of Kirby on cover, times change! |
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| The Losers by Jack Kirby, inks: D. Bruce Berry from Our Fighting Forces #152 (December 1974/January 1975) |
Kanigher had been emphasising the "war is hell" theme with gorgeous illustration by John Severin.
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| Original art from Our Fighting Forces #138 (July/August 1972) Art by John Severin, words: Bob Kanigher |
Kirby brought his trademark highly kinetic and adventurous art with all out action.
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| Words and pencils by Jack Kirby, inks: D. Bruce Berry from Our Fighting Forces #152 (December 1974/January 1975) |
I am a great admirer of both John Severin and Jack Kirby but contemporary readers of DC war comics failed to see Kirby's brilliance. Kirby returned to Marvel and Our Fighting Forces continued for two more years under the editorship of Murray Boltinoff before cancellation with #181 (September/October 1978). A great war comic had provided high quality entertainment for 24 years. Our Fighting Forces we salute you!
"The Dirty Dozen" was the #1 hit movie of 1967, a fact that evidently was not lost on Hollywood or comic book publishers. Besides Hunter's Hellcats, there was a TV show, Garrison's Gorillas, about a commando unit comprising paroled prisoners. And in 1973, Marvel brought out Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen. By then, though, war comics in general were on the way out.
ReplyDeleteThe 1968 movie "The Devil's Brigade" may have been another attempt to jump on the "Dirty Dozen" band wagon. It was based on the true story of the First Special Service Force. Some members of that unit were, in effect, on parole or probation.
DeleteAtlas/Seaboard's Savage Combat Tales had a strip called "Sgt. Stryker's Death Squad" in the 1970's. Like the Dirty Dozen (and Garrison's Gorillas, Hunter's Hellcats, and Combat Kelly's Deadly Dozen), they were a commando-type unit made up of paroled convicts. Like other Atlas-Seaboard titles, it was short-lived. None of their comics ran for more than four issues.
Weisinger was giving plots to his writers on Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes in Adventure Comics based on movies too. Jim Shooter has said (in the Legion Companion) that Mort Weisinger suggested the Dirty Dozen as inspiration for a plot and that led to Shooter creating the Fatal Five!
ReplyDeleteMost Silver Age action heroes premiered in anthologies or try-out titles (Showcase, Brave&Bold), and, if they proved popular enough, went on to star in their own comics. Captain Storm went the opposite route. In fact, he was the first Silver Age DC hero to debut in his own self-titled comic book. He ended up in Our Fighting Forces as a member of the Losers, along with other characters who had lost their own solo strips. DC's willingness to start Storm out in his own title may have been because PT boats and their officers were a popular subject at the time (thanks to the late JFK). The relegation of Storm, Johnny Cloud, and Gunner and Sarge to members of an ensemble may indicate a decline in war comics in general.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about Captain Storm! The Losers intrigued me because they had all "lost" their headline status until they were brought back by Kubert and Kanigher for a run that was more successful than their solo runs. I suspect that the editorial thinking was "what have we got to 'lose' if we put these characters together!"
DeleteThe original premise of Storm's solo series was "Moby Dick" in a WWII setting. He lost a leg and his entire crew in a battle, and he was obsessed with tracking down the enemy ship (and its captain) responsible. In his premiere story, he had to convince his superior officer that he was qualified to return to combat duty (rather than accept a medical discharge or a transfer to a desk job).
DeleteA recurring theme seemed to be Storm having to prove himself when the crew and/or other officers doubted his competence. Their skepticism did appear to have considerable justification, though. In Captain Storm #3, he sailed into another ambush, and lost another boat and crew, for the second time in six months.
In The Losers, his handicap seemed to have been forgotten. They were a special operations unit (like US Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, or Great Britain's SAS and Royal Marine Commandos), and were sent on especially dangerous missions behind enemy lines. Storm was running, climbing, swimming, skiing, and parachuting along with the other team members.