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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 25, 2019 14:24:50 GMT -5
If you could narrow down which part of the 70s it might have appeared, that would aid things. By the mid-70s, the war books had been pared down to featuring single stories or just a couple. Assuming there wasn't a horror element, the likeliest candidates would be Our Army At War, Star Spangled War Stories or GI Combat. Our Fighting Forces is possible, though I think less likely.
Archie Goodwin was editing some of the war books, in the early 70s and that was where he first saw Walt Simonson's work, on a Civil War story. That helped lead him to tapping Walt to do the Manhunter series, in Detective.
My only issue, in retrospective, with Jackie Johnson, is that if he had been a champion or top heavyweight contender, the Army would have used him for morale tours and war bond drives. Of course, if he was fighting, it would be a black unit; same for Gabe. Gabe's profession is not necessarily an outsider, if he was mostly playing small clubs and not yet part of a major orchestra or group. I don't recall any stories really exporing any of the Howler's background, beyond dialogue. The most ludicrous is probably Dino Manelli, as someone that well known from Hollywood would not be in a raiding force, more than likely; at least, not with the way the Howler missions were depicted. Not impossible, though. He would have had to force the issue, I would bet, rather like Jimmy Stewart had to force things to fly combat missions.
I think the inclusion of both characters was more to present an interesting mix of characters to give it the broadest appeal. In terms of handling, I think it was on par with how Bill Cosby and Greg Morris were portrayed on I-Spy and Mission: Impossible, where race was rarely, if ever, an element, except in very specific stories.
DC was fairly forward looking in this, with Johnny Cloud, the Navajo fighter pilot (and member of the losers, later), plus Mam'selle Marie, portraying a female resistance fighter. By the 70s, they became even more overt, with Gravedigger, who is a special operative, working under cover of being in a graves detail, which wa a more historically accurate assignment for an African-American soldier, as many units were limited to support roles, such as grave details, transport and the like. A great many of the drivers in the Red Ball Express were African-American soldiers from segregated units.
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Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
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Post by Crimebuster on Sept 25, 2019 15:05:07 GMT -5
I don't know the story, but it almost sounds EC to me.
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Post by zaku on Sept 26, 2019 11:46:01 GMT -5
Some time ago I read some Superman and Action Comics issues before the reboot, and there Lana Lang and Clark Kent were a thing. When (and how?!?) did the romance begin?
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Post by MWGallaher on Sept 26, 2019 13:20:37 GMT -5
Hello,
I'm looking for a comic book I read back in the 1970s. Unfortunately, I don't know what the name of the comic book was or the title of the story I read. But if someone here could help me find it, it would be a miracle.
In the 1970s, I was a kid collecting comics. Today, I'm a Civil War historian. The story I read was probably in one of the many war comic books that were available back then; I just don't know which one. Anyway, here is my post about it. It's copied from another forum thread called civilwartalk.com. Thanks to anyone who knows anything about this.I just remembered a reference to Black Confederates in the 1970s. Back then, I was a kid collecting comic books and I remember reading an issue (I’m pretty sure it was DC Comics; it may have been Marvel but other than that, I can't tell you what specific comic book it was) with a Civil War story where a White Confederate soldier becomes separated from his unit through circumstances I can't remember. I most likely read this story between 1975-1979.
Anyway, in the dark of night, the Confederate soldier finds an enigmatic, shadowy, solitary figure who graciously leads him through to safety. Though the two men spend the whole time talking, the mystery man does not reveal himself. And, as I recall, the soldier never sees fit to ask enough questions and is simply grateful to be with another Southerner. He has to entrust everything he has to this stranger. By the last panel, some goal is finally reached and the moonlight reveals all: the mystery man is Black. As I recall, he was wearing a uniform. I seem to remember a slouch hat and military buttons. I also remember the look of shock on the White soldier's face; that he had spent the whole night with a man he never realized was Black. I'm guessing many readers of the story were similarly shocked, as well.
Anyway, I just wanted to share this. Perhaps someone else here is familiar with this story. I'd be really shocked if anyone knew the comic issue this story was in. It's my earliest recollection of the Black Confederate Soldier Myth.
unionhowler It's Our Army At War #278, March 1975. This is a back-up story to the lead Sgt. Rock tale, called "A Helping Hand" by writer Howard Liss and artist Ric Estrada. By the way, you've got a remarkably good memory! Usually these kinds of requests turn out to have lots of mis-remembered details. Other than the lack of military buttons and the revelation coming at dawn rather than by moonlight, your recollection was spot on!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2019 13:38:13 GMT -5
Some time ago I read some Superman and Action Comics issues before the reboot, and there Lana Lang and Clark Kent were a thing. When (and how?!?) did the romance begin? Are you talking about the Chuck Austen Action Comics?
Or the general Lana/Clark relationship from when Clark was Superboy in Smallville?
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Post by Prince Hal on Sept 26, 2019 14:09:11 GMT -5
Excellent detective work, MWGallaher! Did you check every back-up story or infer from the titles which ones to check?
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Post by MWGallaher on Sept 26, 2019 15:34:35 GMT -5
Excellent detective work, MWGallaher! Did you check every back-up story or infer from the titles which ones to check? I did an advanced query at GCD to look for DC war titles with the key word "civil" in the story description and there were only a few total hits, few of those hits in the relevant time frame, and one with a title--"A Helping Hand"--that sounded like a fitting name for the story as described. Then a search found the pages online, and a quick read confirmed the suspicion.
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Post by Chris on Sept 26, 2019 15:36:52 GMT -5
Some time ago I read some Superman and Action Comics issues before the reboot, and there Lana Lang and Clark Kent were a thing. When (and how?!?) did the romance begin? I can't name a specific issue where it started, but Action Comics #542 (April 1983) is where a "new direction" started in the Superman line. The Clark/Lana thing didn't start in that issue, but that was the beginning of a storyline that had Superman and Lois break up, and Clark start dating Lana within a few months. P.S. Forget Superman and Lois breaking up. The real shock to the Superman legend during this era is that Jimmy ditched his bow tie.
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Post by zaku on Sept 26, 2019 16:28:31 GMT -5
Some time ago I read some Superman and Action Comics issues before the reboot, and there Lana Lang and Clark Kent were a thing. When (and how?!?) did the romance begin? Are you talking about the Chuck Austen Action Comics?
Or the general Lana/Clark relationship from when Clark was Superboy in Smallville?
I'm talking about the adult Clark and Lana, when in the pre-Crisis period they were both news anchors
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Post by zaku on Sept 26, 2019 16:33:56 GMT -5
Some time ago I read some Superman and Action Comics issues before the reboot, and there Lana Lang and Clark Kent were a thing. When (and how?!?) did the romance begin? I can't name a specific issue where it started, but Action Comics #542 (April 1983) is where a "new direction" started in the Superman line. The Clark/Lana thing didn't start in that issue, but that was the beginning of a storyline that had Superman and Lois break up, and Clark start dating Lana within a few months. P.S. Forget Superman and Lois breaking up. The real shock to the Superman legend during this era is that Jimmy ditched his bow tie. Thanks! So they went on with this relationship for at least three years? And what were the reactions from the readers? I mean, Superman and Lois broke up after almost fifty years.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2019 7:21:36 GMT -5
Did Marvel Comics' The 'Nam have a letters page? If so, what was it called?
(As usual, Google images is no help. Googling "Marvel 'Nam' Letters Page" brings up front covers, a Bullpen Bulletins, etc.).
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 1, 2019 10:57:25 GMT -5
Did Marvel Comics' The 'Nam have a letters page? If so, what was it called? (As usual, Google images is no help. Googling "Marvel 'Nam' Letters Page" brings up front covers, a Bullpen Bulletins, etc.). It did. It was called "Incoming," which was slightly better than the usual "Mail Call" you got in war comics.
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Post by zaku on Oct 1, 2019 11:03:26 GMT -5
Some time ago I read some Superman and Action Comics issues before the reboot, and there Lana Lang and Clark Kent were a thing. When (and how?!?) did the romance begin? I can't name a specific issue where it started, but Action Comics #542 (April 1983) is where a "new direction" started in the Superman line. The Clark/Lana thing didn't start in that issue, but that was the beginning of a storyline that had Superman and Lois break up, and Clark start dating Lana within a few months. P.S. Forget Superman and Lois breaking up. The real shock to the Superman legend during this era is that Jimmy ditched his bow tie. I googled the subject, and it seems that we had some hints of romantic affection by Lana in Superman 373 (July 1982) Then Lois Lane broke up with Superman in Action Comics 542 (April 1983). So, for almost a year, he was dating Lana and at the same time he was with Lois before the latter dumped him. As I said repeatedly, Pre-Crisis Superman was the worst.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2019 11:21:27 GMT -5
Thank you, Cody. I really miss letters pages (I know some publications have them).
Reading that now will give me an insight into how the readers of the time felt about the comic. That's priceless.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2019 13:00:09 GMT -5
Thank you, Cody. I really miss letters pages (I know some publications have them). Reading that now will give me an insight into how the readers of the time felt about the comic. That's priceless. More correctly how editors chose to present how readers felt at the time, or how interns creating letters to fill the letters page with the perception that editors wanted felt (or said they felt) about the book at the time. Letters pages were essentially editorial pages curated by editors crafting a PR tool. A true reflection of how readers felt was an exception, not the rule. -M
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