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13
Dec

The origins of the military genre or "war comic"  can be traced back to the pre World War II years.  Even as early as 1939, tales of super-heroes fighting the "bad guys, i.e. Nazis" were showing up, but not until post-war sales of comics declined (probably due to readers growing tired of super-heroe after super-heroe) did the war-comic genre take off.

 
Two Fisted Tales Of War 107x138EC Comics lead the way with Two-Fisted Tales, a bi-monthly, comic published in the early 1950s. The title appeared on newsstands with the November / December 1950 issue. Frontline Combat, also an EC comic, first hit the stands in July / August, 1951.

DC Comics followed suit in 1952 with Our Army at War (August, 1952), Star-Spangled War Stories (August, 1952), All-American Men of War (August / September, 1952), Our Fighting Forces (October / November 1954) and G.I. Combat (January 1957).



dc_comics


Probably the most highly productive publisher of war comics was Charlton Comics, who's titles included Soldier & Marine Comics (Dec 1954),  the Fightin' series --- Army (Jan, 1956), Navy (Jan, 1956), Marines (May, 1955), Air Force (Feb 1956), Battlefield Action (Nov, 1957), War At Sea (Nov 1957), and many other war related titles.

charlton_comics


By 1984 most of the war themed comics were dead, although some were revived through Trade paperback comics (several issues of a comic series in one volume).




Here's the list of War Comics available on the website:

Fightin' Air Force, 1956 (Charlton):  017,026,028,048,049

Fightin' Army, 1956 (Charlton):  020,026,044,053,054,055,065,080,081

Fightin' Marines, 1955 (Charlton):  016,022,061,088,089,092,102,103,105,108

Fightin' Navy, (Charlton):  079,111,127,128

G.I. Combat (DC Comics):   001,050,052,062,064,065,067,069,070,071,074,076,079,082,092

Our Fighting Forces (DC Comics):  001,002,003,004,005,006,007,009,010,011,012,014,017,019,022,024,025,028

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos (Marvel Comics): 001,002,003,004,005,006,007,008,009,010,011,012,013,014,015,016,017,018,019,020,021,022,023,024,025

Sgt Rock (DC Comics):  302,304,305,309,310,314,315,319,320,321,322,328,329,330,331,335,336,337,338,80 Page Giant 07

Last modified on Monday, 14 May 2012 02:54
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