Longbox Junk Halloween Horror 2023 part 5 - Weird War Tales #80 (1979)

Welcome to Longbox Junk, the place to find comic reviews you never even knew you wanted!

WAR! What is is good for? Absolutely nuthin'! 

Well. . .unless we're talking about DC's Weird War Tales, THEN war is good for some cool stories and great art!  Let's keep the 2023 Longbox Junk Halloween Party going with a dip into one of my favorite comic series of them all. . .Weird War Tales!

Ready, let's do this!

WEIRD WAR TALES #80

DC (1979)

COVER: Joe Kubert

THE COVER:

What a cover! The late, great Joe Kubert hits a home run with THIS Bronze Age beauty!  The detail, the bold colors, the. . .everything! There's nothing I don't like about this cover.  Joe Kubert is in my top 3 favorite comic artists and stuff like THIS is the reason why!  Such a great piece of work.  

Let's get inside!

THE STORIES:

Three stories and a one page filler.  Not bad for four thin dimes! 

Let's check them each out in their own turn, shall we?  WE SHALL!

But first. . .

Normally I don't do this, but BAM! Page One.  THIS!

Star Trek fans that weren't around when these ads started popping up simply DO NOT understand the excitement.  Looking at this ad even all these years later gives me a little thrill of anticipation.  Okay.  I'm old.  Let's get into the comic.

AN OLD MAN'S PROFESSION

SCRIPT: Steve Gerber

PENCILS: Josh Jodloman

INKS: Josh Jodloman

THE STORY:

Sometime in the future, in a crumbling city, heavily-armed street gangs are slowly taking control from the government.  Once such gang, The Mongol Savages. . .calling themselves "The People's Army", confront a defiant old man while establishing a piece of territory.  

The old man stands up to their leaders' demand for respect and the enraged gang leader shoots him.

The old man survives the attempt on his life, and after an extended period in a coma, wakes and immediately heads to the Mongol Savages' headquarters.  When the old man confronts him, he's mocked for a a fool, but he informs the gang that he met some interesting new friends while on the edge of death. . .REAL warriors. 

He somehow summons forth a small army of ghostly warriors from many different time periods.  After the gang is decimated, the old man confronts the leader of the gang in single combat and kills him with a baseball bat.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

Hmmmm. . .okay. Not a great start.  I was a little excited to see Steve Gerber as the writer on this opening tale, but it just sort of falls flat.  It feels like not much effort was put into it.  There's no explanation as to HOW the old man was suddenly able to summon ghost warriors.  The ending is abrupt.  The whole thing is just sort of confusing. 

There doesn't seem to be much of a point at all beyond some sage wisdom I learned when I was a younger man. . .Don't fight an old man.  Old man don't give a DAMN.   Well, at least the art is very nicely done, so there's that.

NEXT!

HEADS UP

SCRIPT: Paul Kupperberg

PENCILS: Ruben Yandoc

INKS: Ruben Yandoc

THE STORY:

The Vietnam War.  PFC Dave Heller is separated from his unit and takes refuge in a cave.  When the entrance tunnel is blocked, he goes deeper and finds a dead end with a strange jade idol and a bunch of smaller jade figures carved as if they are crawling on it. . .

As the days pass, the desperate soldier tries to dig his way out of the cave, but with no success.  Unnerved by the staring jade statue, he takes his anger and frustration out on it, destroying its head.

To his horror, the tiny figures come to life, crawling on the soldier and swarming him like insects.  When we leave the story, we see what has become of the hapless soldier. . .his head has been torn off to replace the one he destroyed.  The tiny figures resume their silent worship of the hidden idol.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

*sigh* I'm beginning to think the best thing about this issue is going to be the cover and the Star Trek ad.  I like that they set a story during Vietnam (which had "ended" only a few years before), but that's really about ALL I like about this little tale.  A shame, because Paul Kupperberg is usually a better writer than this.  I guess only having two pages to tell a story cramped him a little too much.

Here's hoping the last story will be better than the first two.  LET'S GO!

RING OF FIRE!

SCRIPT: Robert Kanigher

PENCILS: Ric Estrada

INKS: Ric Estrada

THE STORY:

Every night Lieutenant Gwen Talley has horrible nightmares of her beloved RAF Flight Leader Denny Huntley's gruesome death over the English Channel at the hands of a German flying a black and white-striped Messerschmitt. 

When she ferries a new plane to Huntley's unit, the two decide not to waste the opportunity and get married that very night.  But before they can celebrate, the siren signal to scramble sounds, and Huntley is off to engage the enemy!

As the battle over the Channel rages, Gwen realizes that she's hearing the same radio calls as in her nightmares.  She rushes to her plane and flies into the battle, spotting her love getting shot down by the striped Messerschmitt!

Realizing that her plane is unarmed, she slams into the Messerschmitt. . .but too late to save Denny!  As their bodies sink to the bottom of the English Channel, hers comes to a rest beside her beloved.  They  will now be together forever.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

Thank God for the late, great Robert Kanigher.  When I see his name on a title, I know I'm going to get a good story.  Maybe not a GREAT story, but at least it will be good.  Kanigher is a solid, reliable writer and I'm rarely disappointed.  He manages to save this issue of Weird War tales with a decent story about nightmarish premonition and one woman's attempt to defy fate.

Is it the BEST story I've ever seen from Kanigher?  Not by a long shot.  But it IS pretty good, and it's backed up by some very nice, detailed art by Ric Estrada.  These two creators manage to carry this whole issue on their shoulders.

AND FINALLY. . .

TECHNOLOGY. . .13TH CENTURY STYLE

SCRIPT: Murray Boltinoff

PENCILS: Sid Greene

INKS: Sid Greene

THE STORY:

During the Cold War, Soviet spies seek to thwart Americans from intercepting their messages.  One of them decides to use ancient methods. . .messenger pigeons.  They don't realize that even ancient methods have ancient countermeasures as their pigeon is intercepted by a hawk.

The End.

THE REVIEW:

Yep.  This one page filler is. . .filler.  It's not BAD.  It's just sort of there.  Doing it's job.  Taking up an extra page.  It does a great job at that.  And we're done.

CONCLUSION

Weird War Tales is one of my all-time favorite comic series.  I've been working on a full run for quite some time (Got about twenty more to go.  Seems the later issues are the hardest to find), and I know that some of the issues can be a bit hit or miss.

Unfortunately, this is one of those issues that's mostly a miss.  FANTASTIC cover by the great Joe Kubert, and one decent tale courtesy of the reliable Robert Kanigher (and a cool Star Trek ad) are about all this issue has going for it..  

Now I sort of wish I hadn't pulled this one at random from my Weird War Tales run and had taken the time to find something a little better.  I don't want anyone reading this review to think that this issue is representative of the whole series.  

Like I said, the series has a lot of hit or miss to be sure, but there are some REALLY good issues of Weird War Tales, and I highly recommend the series for any comic fan looking for some spooky Bronze Age fun with a bit of a twist.

UP NEXT. . .

Let's get into some Mighty Marvel horror, shall we?

Whoever knows fear burns at the touch of. . .MAN-THING!

Be there or be square.

Wayback Wednesday - Weird War Tales #1

Welcome to another "Wayback Wednesday" edition of Longbox Junk, where I take a look at issues in my collection that might be a little more "collectible" than my usual fare.  Comics that have probably never been reviewed and nobody has ever asked to be reviewed. Why? Because that's what I DO, son!

This time out, we take a trip back to 1971 and take a look at the first issue of one of my all-time favorite comic series, DC's Weird War Tales. 

First (as usual with these retro reviews), let's dig into a little background before we get to the issue itself. . .

Weird War Tales was a hybrid horror/war anthology comic that ran for 124 issues over 12 years (1971 - 1983).  Changes to the Comics Code Authority resulting in relaxing its decades long stance on censoring the use of monsters and the undead in mainstream newsstand comics brought about a resurgence of horror-based comics in the early 1970's.  

Weird War Tales was one of the longest running and most successful comics to come out of the relatively short-lived new horror trend. . .mostly because other horror titles just really weren't scary and didn't last very long.  The hybrid nature of Weird War Tales combined appeal to two separate audiences and was able to cover a wide range of historical time periods, making it possible to tell a wider variety of stories than other horror comics. 

Weird War Tales was hosted by Death, who appeared in different military garb in every issue.  The kinds of stories that appeared during the comic's run were typically gritty combat tales with elements of suspense, fantasy, science fiction, horror, and paranormal activity.

Over the course of Weird War Tales' 12 year run, a wide variety of legendary comic creators worked on it, including Joe Kubert, Robert Kanigher, Alex Toth, Russ Heath, Walt Simonson, Frank Miller, and MANY others, making Weird War Tales a veritable who's who of comic greats.

But enough history.  Let's take a look into the issue at hand. . .

WEIRD WAR TALES #1

So what we have here is a pretty hefty book at 44 pages, with 4 stories, a 1 page text story, and a framing story split into two parts at the beginning and end of the issue. That's a lot of comic for a friggin' quarter!  They sure as hell don't make 'em like that any more.  Let's break it on down. . .

LET ME TELL YOU THE THINGS I'VE SEEN

SCRIPT: Joe Kubert

PENCILS: Joe Kubert

The first half of the framing story is written and drawn by the legendary Joe Kubert, with (in my humble opinion) some of the best art I've seen from him.  In case you can't tell. . .I'm a bit of a Kubert fan.

BUT I DIGRESS!

It's winter, 1944.  A lone American soldier separated from his unit is attacked and wounded by Germans hiding in the woods.  As he desperately tries to return to his unit to warn them about the hidden enemies waiting for them, he stumbles onto a house in the middle of the forest and is rescued by a mysterious old man who starts telling him strange war stories. . .

The utterly fantastic art aside, this short piece is a great opener for this issue AND this series!  In a few short pages, it encapsulates the entire concept of Weird War Tales in a way that modern comic creators seem to have lost a grasp of.  

THE SECRET OF THE FORT WHICH DID NOT RETURN

REPRINTED FROM:  G.I. Combat #86 (1961)

SCRIPT: Robert Kanigher

PENCILS: Russ Heath

The first full-length story is actually a reprint from 1961's G.I. Combat #86.  It seems a bit odd to throw in a reprint for the lead story on a new series.  Maybe DC wasn't entirely confident in their new anthology.  But it's in there, so let's take a look. . .

The lone survivor of the crew of a B-17 bomber named "Mother Hen" remembers the harrowing last flight of the plane and decides not to tell the truth about what happened in his report. . .that somehow the battered bomber made it over the target even though all the crew except the Bombardier had been killed.

This might be a reprint, but it's an excellent story!  The art is remarkable and really shows the desperation and frantic action as the bomber squadron is picked apart in battle.  The planes and combat scenes are particularly well done. The story is action packed and tense.  The supernatural elements don't come in until it's almost done with, but even without them, this is just a fantastic, gritty piece of comic art.

THE STORY BEHIND THE COVER

SCRIPT: Joe Kubert

PENCILS: Joe Kubert

This short 3 page piece tells. . .well. . .the story behind the issue's cover.  A German Corporal is killed while out on patrol but he doesn't realize he's dead and tries to warn his commander that there are enemies nearby.  When he gets no response from anybody, the knowledge of his death and the extreme guilt of losing his men doom the lost spirit to wander the battlefields forever.

I really liked the idea of telling the story behind the comic's cover.  It's short and sweet, but nicely done and with more fantastic art from Kubert.

THE END OF THE SEA WOLF

REPRINTED FROM: Star Spangled War Stories #71 (1958)

SCRIPT: Bob Haney

PENCILS: Joe Kubert

Another reprint story.  I begin to sense a bit of a theme in this first issue. . .

After the end of WWII, a former German Submarine Captain tells the tale of the final voyage of his boat, the "Sea Wolf", which was sunk during a brutal battle with a mysterious and seemingly unstoppable ship.

The story on this one wasn't so great, and the "twist" ending (the ship they are salvaging is actually his own submarine he's been talking about) isn't that clever, but the Joe Kubert art is absolutely stunning!  Kubert could damn sure draw some great naval scenes.

END OF A CONVOY

This one page text piece's writer isn't credited.  It's a pretty interesting short summary of the Pacific Theater's Battle of The Bismark Sea.  It actually reads a bit like an outline for a regular comic story, and I wonder if that's what it originally was.  It swings from technical specifics and details of the battle to personal moments and brief snips of dialogue.  

BAKER'S DOZEN!

REPRINTED FROM: Star Spangled War Stories #116 (1964)

SCRIPT: Ed Herron

PENCILS: Irv Novick

And yet ANOTHER reprint.  

When a superstitious commander gets a 13th man assigned to his unit on Friday the 13th, he and his men are convinced that the bad luck will be the end of them all.  During a series of mishaps and misadventures through the day, they come to understand that the 13th man is actually their good luck charm.

I like that this story is a little light-hearted, but it's really not that great.  The dialogue is pretty hokey. The art is decent, but Russ Heath and Joe Kubert are hard acts to follow and it really shows.  There's some good moments in both writing and art, but not many of them. The story isn't BAD, it's just sort of average. 

And finally. . .

YOU MUST GO!

SCRIPT: Joe Kubert

PENCILS: Joe Kubert

The second half of the bookend story begun in the front of the issue.

The wounded American soldier feels strong enough to move on after a night of listening to the mysterious old man who rescued him tell strange war stories.  When the G.I. asks an old woman on the road for directions, he learns that the house he spent the night in was destroyed during WWI, along with everyone in it. . .

The end of the story was pretty predictable, but it was still good. . .and of course there's more dark and moody Kubert art to kick it up a notch.  A great finish for the issue.

CONCLUSION

I'm a bit on the fence about Weird War Tales #1.  

On the one hand, the stories are, for the most part, good reads and still hold up very well, even after more than 50 years for some of them. It's also packed full of (mostly) great art, featuring a heaping helping of the legendary Joe Kubert.

But on the other hand. . .

All of the stories in this issue are reprints, except for the framing story and an extremely short piece in the middle telling the tale of the issue's cover.  I'm not sure if the text piece is reprinted, but it looks to me like an outline for an unwritten comic story and seems a bit unnecessary.  One would think that there would be more original material in an opening issue of a new series.

Overall, I think the good and bad pretty much equal out in this case.  If the stories and art weren't as good as they were, I'd find this issue a very disappointing pile of reprint crap.  But luckily, that's not the case.  Even though this comic is mostly reprinted material, it's still pretty damn good reprinted material, for the most part.  I'm not sure what DC's thinking was, but I have the feeling that they were sort of testing the waters with this issue.

Up Next. . .

Back to Longbox Junk business as usual with more issues of 2006's Jonah Hex.

Be there or be square!