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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 3, 2018 21:00:22 GMT -5
I'm reading the Sgt. Fury Annuals and I read #2 today. It's about what the Howlers did on D-Day! And as you may have surmised, they did a lot! The first half of the 24-page story is a lot like "The Dirty Dozen" as the Howlers, on the day before D-Day, lure a bunch of Nazi commanders to a chateau and take care of them so that German leadership will be a muddle on the day of the invasion. (They lock them in a dungeon instead of outright massacring them.) This comic came out well before the movie "The Dirty Dozen," but the movie is based on a book and the book - as I found our from Wikipedia - is based on a real group called the Filthy Thirteen. I haven't had time to look into the real-life group that closely, but a quick look indicates that "loosely based" might be a useful term here. The rest of the story is about the Howlers on Omaha Beach. lending a hand to the Allied soldiers assaulting Fortress Europa. Seeing Hitler in a few panels of a Sgt. Fury comic is always kind of cool, but this issue also has Eva Braun lounging on a couch while Hitler is ranting and also Eisenhower making the final decision to go ahead wit the invasion because he's inspired by the reports that the Howlers are doing a great job with their pre-invasion sabotage. I'm also reading the reprints as I go through the annuals but I haven't got to the reprints in the second annual as yet. It's the first SHIELD story from Strange Tales #135 (which I've read a zillion times dating back to Son of Origins in 1976, but I haven't read it lately) and "The Crackdown of Captain Flint" from Sgt. Fury #11 which I read for the first time last year. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 4, 2018 0:36:11 GMT -5
Probably because it didn't involve America or Britain (directly). It was pretty much Ho Ch Minh and his guerrillas, against the Japanese and Vichy, with possible support from the OSS. Then, it became Ho Chi Minh vs the French and Ho Chi Minh against the south and the US and its allies (including Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of South Korea). Ho ended up 3-0. Yeah. When you learn a little bit about Vietnam's history, its easy to see why so many Vietnamese weren't too keen on Western interference. When World War II was over, Vietnam was given back to France as a colony despite being allied (through Vichy) with the Japanese. Have you read Ho Chi Minh: A Life by William Duiker? It's been a while since I read it but I remember being fascinated. No, just bits and pieces about Ho, from college and encyclopedia articles. he was a great admirer of the American Revolution and Washington; but, the US wasn't going to side with them against the French; so, US involvement in Vietnam became inevitable, because we wouldn't help them secure their freedom. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 4, 2018 0:41:52 GMT -5
I'm reading the Sgt. Fury Annuals and I read #2 today. It's about what the Howlers did on D-Day! And as you may have surmised, they did a lot! The first half of the 24-page story is a lot like "The Dirty Dozen" as the Howlers, on the day before D-Day, lure a bunch of Nazi commanders to a chateau and take care of them so that German leadership will be a muddle on the day of the invasion. (They lock them in a dungeon instead of outright massacring them.) This comic came out well before the movie "The Dirty Dozen," but the movie is based on a book and the book - as I found our from Wikipedia - is based on a real group called the Filthy Thirteen. I haven't had time to look into the real-life group that closely, but a quick look indicates that "loosely based" might be a useful term here. The rest of the story is about the Howlers on Omaha Beach. lending a hand to the Allied soldiers assaulting Fortress Europa. Seeing Hitler in a few panels of a Sgt. Fury comic is always kind of cool, but this issue also has Eva Braun lounging on a couch while Hitler is ranting and also Eisenhower making the final decision to go ahead wit the invasion because he's inspired by the reports that the Howlers are doing a great job with their pre-invasion sabotage. I'm also reading the reprints as I go through the annuals but I haven't got to the reprints in the second annual as yet. It's the first SHIELD story from Strange Tales #135 (which I've read a zillion times dating back to Son of Origins in 1976, but I haven't read it lately) and "The Crackdown of Captain Flint" from Sgt. Fury #11 which I read for the first time last year. The D-Day stuff was a bit much; but, it is Sgt Fury. The SHIELD origin becomes a bit of a theme, in these, as we then see the Howlers in Korea (from the first annual) and, in the "present," in Vietnam. I did like the 4th annual, with the Battle of the Bulge, with Ayers and Severin doing their glorious thing. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 5, 2018 11:40:47 GMT -5
The Howlers get back together more than 20 years later for a special mission to Vietnam! Dino leaves his Hollywood career (he has his own TV show now). Izzy says goodbye to his wife and four (at least) children. And Reb is now a congressman from Kentucky but that doesn't stop him from going on the mission too. They go to Haiphong dressed as Vietnamese peasants to destroy a facility where the Viet Cong are developing a nuclear weapon. I read about half of it but my computer locked up. I'll finish it later. But to be honest, I've pretty much decided to consider this an Imaginary Story. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 5, 2018 12:39:03 GMT -5
Now that I've finished the story in Sgt. Fury Special #3, I had to come back and note a few things:
President Lyndon Johnson goes to the SHIELD heli-carrier to meet with Fury. Air Force One lands on the top of the heli-carrier.
Jasper Sitwell goes along on the mission to Haiphong.
Gabe distracts the nuclear facility guards by playing the North Vietnamese national anthem. While the guards are standing at attention, Fury and the Howlers (and Sitwell) - dressed as Vietnamese peasants but all still wearing their characteristic hats and facial hair and carrying their accoutrements (like Pinky's brolly) - march past the guards, who somehow assume they are laborers at the factory.
Bull McGiveney does not go to Haiphong but he does have a substantial support role.
And to complete the mission, Izzy rigs up the North Vietnamese atomic bomb to blow up.
So in this issue, the Howlers essentially nuked Vietnam's third-largest city.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 5, 2018 19:33:57 GMT -5
I'll be making my way through Our Army at War #242 over the next few days. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 7, 2018 1:39:34 GMT -5
I read Captain Savage and His Battlefield Raiders #18 and #19 over the last day or so, thus finishing the series. Both stories contain elements that seem to signal that the format was changing a bit, but I guess it was too little, too late, because #19 was the last issue. Both issues were written by Gary Friedrich with the art team of Dick Ayers and John Severin. So yes very nice art! In #18, we find that Captain Savage has a secret. He gets a telegram and, little by little, during a mission when there's the occasional slow moment, he tells the whole story to his best buddy on the squad, Roy "Blarney" Stone. It seems that Captain Savage is married and has a couple of kids. His wife got tired of being a sailor's wife and she wanted him to quit the military. When his enlistment was up, he dilly-dallied over officially quitting the service because he was hoping she would change her mind. But then, it was December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy. And all service members had to stay in the service for the duration. Anyway, the telegram is from his wife. She can't take it any more, with her husband gone all the time and always worried about him. She is officially telling him she wants a divorce. Savage and his battlefield raiders successfully finish the mission, but now Savage has this bad news hanging over his head. It's not resolved in the final issue. He's still worried about it. The other members of the Raiders are barely in this issue. Savage takes over a submarine - the Sea Wolf - for a scouting mission, checking the strength of a Japanese fleet reported in the vicinity. The usual captain of the sub resents Savage getting command for this mission and is subordinate and borderline mutinous. This causes problems and this issue is mostly about solving these problems when the sub is detected by the fleet. There's a depth charge scene and also a scene where they fire all the debris out of the torpedo tubes to make the enemy think they were blown up. The Japanese aren't fooled! But Savage figures out a way to get out of the trap and destroy the pursuing ship. And that's it for Captain Savage in his own comic. He seems to have appeared a few more times in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, and I guess I'll get to those eventually. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 7, 2018 3:22:54 GMT -5
I read Captain Savage and His Battlefield Raiders #18 and #19 over the last day or so, thus finishing the series. Both stories contain elements that seem to signal that the format was changing a bit, but I guess it was too little, too late, because #19 was the last issue. Both issues were written by Gary Friedrich with the art team of Dick Ayers and John Severin. So yes very nice art! In #18, we find that Captain Savage has a secret. He gets a telegram and, little by little, during a mission when there's the occasional slow moment, he tells the whole story to his best buddy on the squad, Roy "Blarney" Stone. It seems that Captain Savage is married and has a couple of kids. His wife got tired of being a sailor's wife and she wanted him to quit the military. When his enlistment was up, he dilly-dallied over officially quitting the service because he was hoping she would change her mind. But then, it was December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy. And all service members had to stay in the service for the duration. Anyway, the telegram is from his wife. She can't take it any more, with her husband gone all the time and always worried about him. She is officially telling him she wants a divorce. Savage and his battlefield raiders successfully finish the mission, but now Savage has this bad news hanging over his head. It's not resolved in the final issue. He's still worried about it. The other members of the Raiders are barely in this issue. Savage takes over a submarine - the Sea Wolf - for a scouting mission, checking the strength of a Japanese fleet reported in the vicinity. The usual captain of the sub resents Savage getting command for this mission and is subordinate and borderline mutinous. This causes problems and this issue is mostly about solving these problems when the sub is detected by the fleet. There's a depth charge scene and also a scene where they fire all the debris out of the torpedo tubes to make the enemy think they were blown up. The Japanese aren't fooled! But Savage figures out a way to get out of the trap and destroy the pursuing ship. And that's it for Captain Savage in his own comic. He seems to have appeared a few more times in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, and I guess I'll get to those eventually. This is a problem I had with Captain Savage, especially compared to Sgt Fury. Fury was silly enough; but, Captain Savage showed total ignorance of the Navy. You would never have a submarine captain leading a Marine Raider unit. They aren't trained in infantry tactics. Captain Savage debuted in Sgt Fury, as a submarine captain (just called "the captain") whose boat is used for a Howler's mission. He would turn up a few more times, then get his own book. However, they seemed to all but forget he was a Naval Officer, not a Marine. Not to mention, if his rank was Captain, he'd be the equivalent of a Marine colonel and definitely would not be leading a squad. It's just as silly as Johnny Cloud leading the losers, as a flyboy. Again, no training in infantry tactics. The one way it would make sense is a Marine aviator, as all Marine officers go to The Basic School, to be schooled in basic Marine infantry tactics, before going on to their specialty. That way, any Marine officer can lead a marine mission, no matter where. A pilot who is shot down could find himself in charge of a Marine infantry unit, who might come along and rescue him. Meanwhile, there is the problem that friedrich was not a veteran and it shows. Officers do not enlist; they are commissioned. They serve at the pleasure of Congress, the Commander-in-Chief, and the service in which they serve. They may have a minimum service commitment; but, they do not have an enlistment contract. An officer may resign his commission, after serving his minimum commitment or retire after 20 years, or be released from service by the command. He doesn't "re-up," though, as an enlisted person would. In most cases, in that era, he would go into the reserves, for a period of time, after active service. People in my situation, who came through NROTC, actually did our reserve time up fron, during our midshipman training years; so, we were able to leave the service completely, with no further commitment. I don't know about the Academy (aka Boat School, aka Canoe U), though. I think they might at least go into the inactive reserves, for a period of time, since they are "special" (read: pampered. Stupid ring-knockers!). It's part of why I tended to prefer DC's war comics, as well as Will Franz and Sam Glanzman's material. They knew what they were doing and did their research, while crafting exciting and thoughtful tales. I like Friedrich's war comics stories; but, they were a bit too "Hollywood," by comparison. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 7, 2018 9:45:16 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments on Captain Savage. There were some similar comments in some of the letters, but not nearly as detailed.
So what did you think of the time that the Howlers nuked Haiphong?
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 7, 2018 11:26:05 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments on Captain Savage. There were some similar comments in some of the letters, but not nearly as detailed. So what did you think of the time that the Howlers nuked Haiphong? What's scary was there were plenty of people, in the administration, even, who wanted to do something like that! I remember reading a reference to their Vietnam mission, when they had the Howler reunion in Captain America, and hunted down the annual. I was a bit disappointed. However, it wasn't the first nuke set off in comics and it wouldn't be the last. Heck, even the second Six Million Dollar Man movie had him detonating a nuke! Bull McGivney, with Special Forces was a bit much, given that he seemed older than Fury in W2, let alone 20 years later. I could see him at the C-Team detachment, in the rear; but, not with an A-Team, in the field. Personally, I always felt that Marvel made a big mistake every time it put a character in Vietnam, with the possible exception of Iron Man's origin story. That was the only one that works well, without looking ridiculously naive or downright insulting. Stan and his "Commies"... |
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 7, 2018 11:27:56 GMT -5
ps Just wanted to add that I am glad someone else has taken up the thread to post thoughts on various war comics. My Other Guys review thread is taking up most of my time and I always hoped others would want to contribute. Thanks for picking up the gauntlet. Same for anyone else who has a favorite war comic to discuss.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 9, 2018 2:30:29 GMT -5
I read and reviewed Sgt. Fury Annual #4 back in October, but because I'm reading the annuals in order now, I read it again today. There's no need to repeat myself too much. Maybe just a little. I think it's hilarious that Dugan's wife calls him Dum Dum. The framing sequence in this annual is that's it's Christmas 1968 and the Howlers are having a holiday reunion. It hasn't been that long since the last time they saw each other as this is only a year or so after their mission to Vietnam, where they nuked Haiphong. Strangely, there is no dialogue along the lines of "Hey, Izzy, what you been up to, you Brooklyn grease monkey! I haven't seen you since we killed tens of thousands of civilians when we set off that nuke in Haiphong." Izzy's children swarm all over Uncle Nick and ask him to tell them a story. He doesn't say "Well, let me tell that time when me and your daddy and the rest of the Howlers nuked Haiphong." No. Instead he tells them about Christmas 1944 when the Howlers were fighting the Battle of the Bulge. This is the best of the four Sgt. Fury annuals. Really nice art by Ayers and Severin. |
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Post by String on Apr 14, 2018 10:43:17 GMT -5
 I picked up a good copy of this issue for $2 awhile back at NC Comicon, one of the few cheap Sgt Fury issues that I saw in the various booths. Plot and art by Ayers with scripting by Thomas, this was a fun story as the Howlers are given the mission to invade this mountain fortress to learn of the Nazi's new super-weapon and if possible, steal it or destroy it. Most of the issue is spent with the Howlers making their separate ways into the actual chamber housing the weapon using various tactics from Eric's subterfuge passing as a German to Reb's stringing up an officer to get information. Colonel Klaue is in charge of the fortress and even goes a few rounds with Fury himself with his steel fist. I'm not sure if this is his first appearance in the title (or his one and only?) but he was a fun villain bent on capturing these Amerikaner commando dogs! (Favorite Klaue line: "Don't 'jawohl' me dummkopf! Just bring him to me--and I want him alive!")
Of course, the team succeeds in their mission, blowing the main part of the fortress while stealing the secret weapon, a new experimental jet-propelled plane. (A caption briefly describes it as the 'experimental ME-262' so I take that it's actually based on a German design?) On the way back to England, they even manage to get the best of a squadron of German bombers there were also en route to England. Yet the plane runs out of fuel and they crash the plane on the airfield. (Capt Sawyer wasn't too happy).
A letter writer missed his chance for a No-Prize when he wrote in asking how does Fury keep his cigar throughout these stories with all the slam bang action he does? (Good question). He failed to provide the neat answer the editor provided, he carries extras! I also found a good copy of Captain Savage #4 (for $2), the finale with Baron Strucker! Ayers' art was very good, the action intense yet I have to question, in the very beginning, with Savage and the Japanese solider working together to fight off a group of Hydra agents, the agents' rifles are being flung around in the midst of all this hand-to-hand combat. Why not simply pick up one of those rifles and end this fight more quickly? (Unless they wanted to highlight the judo techniques of the Japanese soldier maybe). Either way, another fun issue. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 14, 2018 22:00:30 GMT -5
I picked up a good copy of this issue for $2 awhile back at NC Comicon, one of the few cheap Sgt Fury issues that I saw in the various booths. Plot and art by Ayers with scripting by Thomas, this was a fun story as the Howlers are given the mission to invade this mountain fortress to learn of the Nazi's new super-weapon and if possible, steal it or destroy it. Most of the issue is spent with the Howlers making their separate ways into the actual chamber housing the weapon using various tactics from Eric's subterfuge passing as a German to Reb's stringing up an officer to get information. Colonel Klaue is in charge of the fortress and even goes a few rounds with Fury himself with his steel fist. I'm not sure if this is his first appearance in the title (or his one and only?) but he was a fun villain bent on capturing these Amerikaner commando dogs! (Favorite Klaue line: "Don't 'jawohl' me dummkopf! Just bring him to me--and I want him alive!")
Of course, the team succeeds in their mission, blowing the main part of the fortress while stealing the secret weapon, a new experimental jet-propelled plane. (A caption briefly describes it as the 'experimental ME-262' so I take that it's actually based on a German design?) On the way back to England, they even manage to get the best of a squadron of German bombers there were also en route to England. Yet the plane runs out of fuel and they crash the plane on the airfield. (Capt Sawyer wasn't too happy).
A letter writer missed his chance for a No-Prize when he wrote in asking how does Fury keep his cigar throughout these stories with all the slam bang action he does? (Good question). He failed to provide the neat answer the editor provided, he carries extras! I also found a good copy of Captain Savage #4 (for $2), the finale with Baron Strucker! Ayers' art was very good, the action intense yet I have to question, in the very beginning, with Savage and the Japanese solider working together to fight off a group of Hydra agents, the agents' rifles are being flung around in the midst of all this hand-to-hand combat. Why not simply pick up one of those rifles and end this fight more quickly? (Unless they wanted to highlight the judo techniques of the Japanese soldier maybe). Either way, another fun issue. The Me-262 was an actual plane; but, I would have to see the issue to say whether the one there is supposed to be a 262. The real one looked like this...  I assume the more bloodless fighting was to prevent problems with the Code. Plus, Stan kept the Marvel war books a little less bloody than DC. Even stories where you saw people get hit, they tended to be far less graphic than the reality of combat. The Howlers were more about pulling one over on the Germans than bodycounts. On a side note, when I was a kid, I always misread "jawohl" as "ja-howl (or Ya-howl!), until I heard it uttered in a war movie and looked at a comic again. However, it was an Unknown soldier issue that taught me that a German Wehrmacht captain was a "hauptmann," not a "kapitan." The latter is a naval captain; but, Hollywood constantly gets that one wrong. |
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Post by String on Apr 16, 2018 18:15:35 GMT -5
I picked up a good copy of this issue for $2 awhile back at NC Comicon, one of the few cheap Sgt Fury issues that I saw in the various booths. Plot and art by Ayers with scripting by Thomas, this was a fun story as the Howlers are given the mission to invade this mountain fortress to learn of the Nazi's new super-weapon and if possible, steal it or destroy it. Most of the issue is spent with the Howlers making their separate ways into the actual chamber housing the weapon using various tactics from Eric's subterfuge passing as a German to Reb's stringing up an officer to get information. Colonel Klaue is in charge of the fortress and even goes a few rounds with Fury himself with his steel fist. I'm not sure if this is his first appearance in the title (or his one and only?) but he was a fun villain bent on capturing these Amerikaner commando dogs! (Favorite Klaue line: "Don't 'jawohl' me dummkopf! Just bring him to me--and I want him alive!")
Of course, the team succeeds in their mission, blowing the main part of the fortress while stealing the secret weapon, a new experimental jet-propelled plane. (A caption briefly describes it as the 'experimental ME-262' so I take that it's actually based on a German design?) On the way back to England, they even manage to get the best of a squadron of German bombers there were also en route to England. Yet the plane runs out of fuel and they crash the plane on the airfield. (Capt Sawyer wasn't too happy).
A letter writer missed his chance for a No-Prize when he wrote in asking how does Fury keep his cigar throughout these stories with all the slam bang action he does? (Good question). He failed to provide the neat answer the editor provided, he carries extras! I also found a good copy of Captain Savage #4 (for $2), the finale with Baron Strucker! Ayers' art was very good, the action intense yet I have to question, in the very beginning, with Savage and the Japanese solider working together to fight off a group of Hydra agents, the agents' rifles are being flung around in the midst of all this hand-to-hand combat. Why not simply pick up one of those rifles and end this fight more quickly? (Unless they wanted to highlight the judo techniques of the Japanese soldier maybe). Either way, another fun issue. The Me-262 was an actual plane; but, I would have to see the issue to say whether the one there is supposed to be a 262. The real one looked like this... I assume the more bloodless fighting was to prevent problems with the Code. Plus, Stan kept the Marvel war books a little less bloody than DC. Even stories where you saw people get hit, they tended to be far less graphic than the reality of combat. The Howlers were more about pulling one over on the Germans than bodycounts. On a side note, when I was a kid, I always misread "jawohl" as "ja-howl (or Ya-howl!), until I heard it uttered in a war movie and looked at a comic again. However, it was an Unknown soldier issue that taught me that a German Wehrmacht captain was a "hauptmann," not a "kapitan." The latter is a naval captain; but, Hollywood constantly gets that one wrong. Yes, that's what it looked like. Except this secret Nazi version had room for all the Howlers (I think, 7 of them). Someone even questioned how they were all going to fit into this plane and Eric responded along the lines of, this model having been modified to let high-ranking Nazi officers take a joy-ride in order to 'truly' evaluate it's success. Along with 'jawohl', I almost always see a 'Mach Schnell!' line somewhere too. I also didn't know about Pinky's usage of 'Wot?' about every fifth word or so (at least, that's what it felt like). |
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