War comics
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War comics is a genre of comics that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following the Second World War.
Contents |
American War Comics
War comics began gaining popularity in the 1950s, and several anthologies by various publishers began to appear, such as Frontline Combat by EC. The most prolific publisher of war comics was Charlton Comics who produced a wide variety of titles beginning in the 1950s, such as Battlefield Action, though the mainstream publishers such as DC also began to produce war titles, which gained in popularity in the United States and Canada even during the Vietnam War. The titles tended to concentrate on US military depictions, generally in World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War.
In the 1960s, several recurring characters began to appear in mainstream comic lines, including Sgt Rock and The Haunted Tank in the DC line. These recurring characters began as regular "guests" of anthology titles such as Our Army at War and later graduated to their own titles. Marvel Comics also produced war titles, notably Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos.
End of the Silver Age
By the late 1980s, a great number of venerable war titles (most of which were either anthologies or else World War II themed titles) from the "Silver Age of Comic Books" had died out, though newer titles were still debuting. Notable among these was Marvel's the 'Nam which debuted in 1987 and was based during the first year on writer Doug Murray's actual Vietnam experiences (though it followed fictional character Ed Marks) and written in "real time" following a single character through his tour of duty and then progressing through every month of the Vietnam conflict from 1966 to 1972.
Writer Doug Murray opined that his proposal for a Vietnam-war themed comic did not look promising in this period: "I never expected anything to come of it because war books were already pretty much dead at that point in 1985."slushfactory.com interview
Also from Marvel in the 1980s was the toy tie-in GI Joe: A Real American Hero which focused on a fictional counter-terrorist team in a contemporary setting, and a limited run of Tales of the Marine Corps, similar in tone and style to Charlton's Fightin' line of war anthologies.
Popular titles which ended long runs (over 100 issues) in the 1980s included:
- Sgt. Rock (DC - includes a retitling of the earlier Our Army At War, the combined run was over 400 issues from 1952 to 1988)comics database article accessed 6 July 2006
- GI Combat (DC)
- The Unknown Soldier (DC - a retitling of Star Spangled War Stories that ran from 1952 to 1977, then continued as The Unknown Soldier from 1977-1982,with number 268 the final issue).
- Fightin' Army , (Charlton, 157 issues from 1956-1984)comics database accessed 6 July 2006
- Fightin' Marines (Charlton, 163 issues from 1955-1984)comics database accessed 6 July 2006
- Weird War Tales (DC, 124 issues from 1971-1983)
Format
American war comics tended to be of the standard full-color newsprint format, though in the 1980s slick paper began to appear with more vibrant colors. DC and Marvel both also produced "Digest" in reduced paperback form to repackage older stories.
British War Comics
Black and white anthology stories were popular in Britain in the 1960s. Examples include Commando Comics and Battle Picture Weekly.
