Sunday Splash Page #424

"Blinded by the Bling," in Marvel Boy #1, by Russ Heath (artist), writer, colorist, letterer unknown

I'm just going through these alphabetically, but it's a little funny I picked the two titles that lasted the least amount of time, as, per Grand Comics Database, Marvel Boy's book only lasted two issues. Gotta love the cover, though, where the blurb declares him the 'newest, most amazing,' in line 1, then finishes with, 'finally in his own magazine!' on line 5. How can it be "finally" if he just got created?

Friction between grammar and hype aside, Bob Grayson's scientist father decided to live on the Moon with his infant son after his wife was killed by Nazis in the 1930s. Except their rocket got redirected and landed on the uranium crust of Uranus' surface. Ah, 1950s astronomy, gotta love it. Now 17, Bob's developed some level of telepathy - presumably from all that radiation in the planet's crust - and his dad's sending him back to Earth to try and prevent the outbreak of violence over a new continent rising from the sea. Bob gets a costume, a big red flying saucer, and wristbands that temporarily blind people with 'atomic radiance.' But no killing, Bob's got to handle things the old-fashioned way: punching.

Then he fights pirates who happened to get beached on the continent as it emerged from the sea and thought they'd declare themselves kings, tries and fails to convince the actual inhabitants that surface dwellers aren't all like those guys, and watches the island sink back beneath the waves.

By the time Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk were creating Agents of Atlas, there was a slight problem. Someone brought Marvel Boy back in the pages of Fantastic Four, as "The Crusader." He behaved erratically, attacking banks that wouldn't give him loans for medical supplies to take back to Uranus, and eventually was destroyed by his much more powerful wristbands (which later became Quasar's quantum bands.)

So Parker changed Bob's backstory. Not the part about him being from Earth originally, or his scientist dad wanting to escape the violence. But the people living on the surface of Uranus weren't true Uranians, who are an amoeba-like collective living deeper within the planet, but Eternals who tried to conquer Earth thousands of years earlier and were exiled. They were allowed to stay on Uranus by the true inhabitants on the condition they don't leave, their byproducts being useful to the collective. Bob's exploits as Marvel Boy were supposed to make him an ambassador of sorts, so Earth would invite them back, which is totally different from leaving, totally. As Bob puts it, 'the Uranians do not consider such fine points of detail.'

The Crusader was the child of the exiles, modified to resemble Bob, but brainwashed to be blindly loyal, who got hatched before he was ready when the Uranians figured out what the exiles were up to and destroyed them. Bob ends up stuck in a dying colony, until he's offered a place in the Uranian collective, where he lived for decades, leaving to help save Jimmy Woo. Which also means he left the collective forever. No going back.

So Parker and Kirk go away from the superhero aesthetic, leaning on the '50s sci-fi vibe. He's still got a flying saucer - silver-grey instead of red - and the sort of vaguely rubber spacesuit look you might see in The Day the Earth Stood Still or something similar. No more wristbands and fisticuffs; Bob leans on his technology and his telepathy, which has advanced from some low-level mind-reading to linking thoughts and creating illusions/altering perceptions.

Decades as part of a collective of a species very different from humans has changed him. In the early issues of the mini-series, he keeps speaking in an alien language and admits human minds are difficult to fool, because they're so strange to him now. His reactions and emotions seem muted; Venus observes that he used to blush around her, but now he barely reacts. Even as he settles in with his old friends, he maintains a detached air, with some occasional dry humor, mostly at M-11 and Gorilla Man's friendship.

I'm a little surprised having been part of a collective for so long, that Bob isn't more tactile with his teammates. Instead, he tends to stand apart, hands folded behind his back. But he also extends his esophagus to eat, and his helmet produces a Uranian atmosphere, so maybe it's a safety issue.

Random Back Issues #157 - Our Army at War #225

Peculiar brand of mirages we're having today.

We're in the stretch of Our Army at War where Joe Kubert took over writing Sergeant Rock, with Russ Heath as the artist. In "Face Front", Rock's stuck babysitting Iggy and Gus, new guys in Easy Company who somehow wandered off during the night and got lost. This was apparently not desertion, just incompetence, but either way, Rock went out alone to find them. Now they're under attack by 3 FW-190s, so Rock's probably wishing he stayed in bed. Then again, Rock shot down more German planes than any actual American fighter pilot, so it's no surprise they down 2 of the fighters, but they still have to catch up to Easy.

On foot. During the heat of the day. In North Africa. While Gus and Iggy won't quit comparing their situation to things back on the home front. "Oh, we're stuck hiking while they're rationing gas back home." "You gotta have a ration card to buy shoes back home, but my boot's got a hole in it." 

Rock's probably happy the surviving fighter plane radioed the base to send out a halftrack full of Nazis (in shorts) to find them. Gives him someone to beat the crap out of, which they do, after tricking them with the bit where you prop up your helmet and disguise sticks as rifles. By the time the Nazis figure it out, well. . .

And we're still walking, but it's night, in the desert, so now it's cold. Which gives Iggy something else to whine about. Rock is saved from fragging his own men - who, again, are in this mess because they wandered off for some reason - by finding a Nazi fuel supply depot. Rock's gonna take it out, and when Iggy and Gus protest the odds, lets them have it (verbally) for spending all this time complaining how easy it is for folks back home, but refusing to do anything to help "Easy" Company. It's a strained analogy, but Rock's an infantry sergeant, not captain of the debate team. Iggy pretends to surrender, drawing attention so Rock and Gus can plant grenades around the fuel and the explosions catch Easy's attention and that's the end of the issue.

Second story, one of Sam Glanzman's U.S.S. Stevens tales, about a young sailor's first experience being on a ship under fire. While the experienced sailors calmly assess how close the planes are getting by what guns the Stevens crews are firing, the rookie decides to go topside for some water. This is a bad idea, and the rookie dives back down the ladder and jams a bucket over his head, thus the name of the story, "Buckethead". We're assured he turned out OK eventually.

Third, Ric Estrada writes and draws a story about some slaveholder hunting cranes in the swamps of Florida. "Mastah Chad" dismisses notions there might be "Injuns" around, which is when some Seminoles open fire from the shore. Chad avoids dying initially, which is more than his slaves manage, but only by getting himself lost in the swamps. His corpse is found 3 months later by soldiers. The story ends with the caption, 'Amid Florida's splendors--violence is common during the Seminole Wars of the 1830s!' on one side of the panel, and "KIRBY IS COMING" on the other. Well, hopefully he'll take care of all this violence in Florida then.

Lastly, Bob Haney/Joe Kubert bring us, "Anchored Frogman", about a frogman who, in the process of attaching an explosive charge to the hull of an enemy ship, gets his leg caught in a link of the anchor chain. Over the remaining 4 pages, as he reflects on how there's all this open water around him but he's trapped, he unsuccessfully tries to squirm free, fails to cut the chain with his cutting torch, and is in the process of being choked out by a Nazi frogman when the anchor starts to get raised. Before he can be squeezed through the hawser hole, his charge explodes and the shock throws him free of the chain. As this ship (and presumably all aboard) sink to the sea floor, he reflects that the people who taught him were right, there really is all kinds of room in the sea. Not if you keep sinking ships.

{8th longbox, 10th comic. Our Army at War #225, by Joe Kubert, Sam Glanzman, Ric Estrada and Bob Haney (writers), Russ Heath, Glanzman, Estrada and Kubert (artists)}

Sunday Splash Page #207

"88-mm Wake-Up Call," in G.I. Combat #148, by Robert Kanigher (writer), Russ Heath (artist), John Costanza (letterer), colorist uncredited

Another of DC's war titles my dad was apparently very fond of, although this'll be the last one we see for a few years. All of the issues I can recall him having were in the stretch from #137 to this issue. Only missed the crew's Stuart tank being destroyed by about three issues. This is actually the last of a five-issue run where it was "BIG G.I. Combat", because they were doing double-sized issues (for only a quarter). Mostly by rerunning stories from earlier issues.

For example, other than the story above, this issue has four other comics, ranging from 5 to 19 pages, that originally ran in the late 1950s or early 1960s (this issue came out in 1971). But at this point, the odds that there were many kids reading G.I. Combat in '71, that had been reading DC's comics in 1960 were low. My dad would be an example, since I don't think he was buying comics at that point. 

It gives you an interesting mix of writers and artists. Here's a Bob Haney story about some Navy scuba guys running into a bunch of weird traps. Here's Mort Drucker drawing a Korean War story. Here's an older Haunted Tank story with Joe Kubert art.

You can see more of a formula in some of the earlier stories. The Joe Kubert drawn Haunted Tank has that structure where the central premise is laid out (the ghost of Jeb Stuart makes a prophetic warning about the crew's lives hinging on one shot), and then they keep getting in confrontations with either seem to disprove the prophecy, or fulfill it, while there's an element whose purpose hasn't been shown yet (an old French soldier sitting by the window in a small town). 

That's not quite as prevalent by the early 1970s. The story this week's page is from is about the crew being placed under the command of a new general who insists they all be clean-shaven and showered when going into combat. Because it's professional. There's not really the same structure. The Haunted Tank wins a fight, the general scoffs at their appearance, they clean up, they win a bigger fight later where the general ends up looking like, 'he just stepped out of the coal bucket, sir.' It's almost more like a sitcom, with the final panel being the general getting a one-liner about why it's OK if he looks like a bum.

The Haunted Tank had been the lead feature in the book since at least issue 90, and held that position until pretty much the book ended. Although there's a brief stretch in the 260s where it looks like DC tried to pivot to a trio called "The Mercenaries" as the lead. There was a crew shift, as one guy died and was replaced by a black American G.I. who I think they met previously when he worked at an ammo depot (issue 141, which I have.) Of course, then you have the awkward bit where you've got a black man fighting in a tank supposedly blessed by the ghost of a Confederate general, but Jeb was the only one who could see or hear his namesake, so maybe it's just a matter of everyone else thinking their boss is a bit daffy.

That Was An Abrupt Resolution

I was reading Fighting Forces #129 (I'm guessing written by Joe Kubert, drawn by Russ Heath?), yet another survivor from my father's collection. The primary story* involves The Losers, and their ongoing saga of. . . well, losing. In this one, Captain Cloud is having some sort of stress reaction from the pressure he feels to not bring shame to his people. Which incidentally, he already feels because all of his wingmen were shot down but he survived. This doesn't bode well for their mission to be airdropped into Germany and rescue a scientist who created a 'Terror Weapon' for the Germans.

Cloud behaves erratically throughout the story, having nightmares, abruptly splashing around in fountains, then tackling M.P.s who have an insensitive joke at his expense. On the mission he hops out of cover and tells some enemy soldiers 'Peace - White Brother - Peace'. It's perhaps mildly amusing that immediately after this, Gunner, Sarge, and Captain Cloud jump out and shoot the Germans, then steal their truck. It's Grand Theft Auto: Dusseldorf! During the escape, they stumble across a rocket launch site, the scientist jumps on a potato masher for them, Cloud completely loses it, charges in and wipes out the soldiers and their rocket**. And that's that. Apparently, something about that whole sequence snaps Cloud out of whatever combat fatigue state of mind he was in, and it's over and done with. According to the caption anyway, which says 'Stumbling back from the grip of his nightmare -', and shows Cloud picking up the scientist*** and leaving the scene with the rest of the cast.

I'm left wondering 'Is that it?' Cloud was in this state of mind partially because he feels tremendous pressure to represent his tribe, and that he's let everyone down by not protecting pilots under his command. Well now another guy he was supposed to protect died, so shouldn't he be even worse off? Maybe it carried over to the next issue. Hang on let me see if I've read Fighting Forces #130.

*Checking Grand Comics Database gallery. Oh, by the way, that would be where I got the image for last night and tonight's post. Probably ought to be giving proper credit where it's due.*

Nope, didn't have that one. I know there wasn't any sign of it in Fighting Forces #132, but that was a flashback to Gunner and Sarge's days in the Pacific with Pooch. We'll talk more about Pooch some time. I have no comics with Rex, the Wonder Dog, so Pooch is about as close as I come to canine badassery. Well, there was that one Uncanny X-Men about Dazzler's friend the bounty hunter and his large dog. . .

You know, I had a point in there somewhere, and it's gotten completly lost. I believe it was I feel they wrapped up the mental stress Cloud was under too neatly. Maybe it is that easy, but I would be surprised. It feels like a way to add more conflict to the story, without perhaps thinking about how well it fits. It's strange because in the story the commanding officer even says that if anyone of them isn't up for this, say so. The Losers had already been talking amongst themselves about how Cloud had become a "time bomb", but nobody speaks up. Maybe they didn't want to break up the unit, though they usually seem eager to keep people away from their horrible luck. Or they were worried that keeping him out of the mission would only increase his feelings of shame and make things worse. Or they just didn't want to call out their friend. I've been there, though the circumstances were not as dire. There's simply no explanation given for why they wouldn't voice their concerns. Heck, they never even really try and discuss it with Cloud himself. I guess we file it under M, for "Men don't talk about their feelings".

* The backup story show two teenagers on opposite sides of the Civil War. One in a Confederate ironclad trying to break through a Union blockade, the other a member of one of the cannon batteries trying to to stop said ironclad. Each boy hoping to earn glory and a medal from their respective presidentes. No, I don't know why I referred to them as presidentes. It's a story about humanity, bravery, compassion, and ignoring artificial barriers that we as imperfect beings erect between each other.

** This should probably serve as a lesson to people with rocket weapons: Don't leave mortars sitting around near your rockets, lest someone use them against you.

*** In a fortunate circumstance for the Allies, the Germans had a tattoo artist put the plans for the weapon on the scientist's back****. In ink that can't be photographed, no less. And the scientist fell face first on the Stiehlgrenate, so I guess his back - and the tattoo - is OK. So now the Allies could make the 'terror weapon'! Hooray? Yeah, that's probably not what the writer's going for. The Losers will probably give Professor Polanski a nice burial somewhere along the way.

**** Oh, and they learned about this whole thing because the tattoo artist escaped from a concentration camp by hiding among dead bodies. Lots of wild stuff happening for a 14-page story.