Two-Fisted Tales #21

Credits:
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman
Cover dated May/June 1951

"Ambush!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Pigs of the Roman Empire" - Art by Bill Elder & John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"The Murmask Run!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Search!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

A strong issue throughout, with all four stories above average.

"Ambush!" - In Korea, a pair of jeeps carrying American soldiers drives down the road. One of the soldiers, nicknamed 'Lucky' carries a Kewpie Doll in his helmet which he is convinced gives him good luck. Suddenly the jeeps are caught in an ambush and the remaining soldiers are forced to hide in a ditch and exchange fire with the North Korean soldiers attacking them. The American soldiers are slowly killed until Lucky and one other man are all thats left. Lucky, convinced that his Kewpie doll will protect him, fights off the North Korean soldiers, with his companion dying. Some other soldiers arrive on a jeep to pick him up, at which point Lucky realizes that in the chaos earlier his helmet had been exchanged with another soldiers and he never had his Kewpie doll with him the whole time. A good story to start off this issue, this story kickstarted a run of Jack Davis lead stories for Two Fisted Tales taking place during the Korean War.

"Pigs of the Roman Empire" - This story begins in a Collasseum in Carthage, where wine-loving Commander Decius watches one of his slaves be defeated by a gladiator and beheaded. Decius's wisest slave Brennus warns him of the nearby marching Vandal Barbarians but Decius doesn't pay them much attention until they are nearly upon the city. Decius heads out to battle against the Vandals and while they are initially successful, the Vandals sweep around the Roman forces and march upon them from behind. Soon Decius and Brennus are all that is left and are making their way back to Carthage through the desert. Decius leaves Brennus with the remaining water, taking the wine with him when Brennus can go no further. But Decius soon finds that the wine makes his thirst even worse and he is soon dead, being ravaged by vultures. A fairly good story, providing a good example of why the Roman empire collapsed.

"The Murmansk Run!" - This story takes place in the Arctic Circle during World War 2. A Merchant Marine ship heads through the ocean in the dead of night. A crewmember named Uriah Bragg is chewed out by a superior officer for lighting a cigarette on the deck of the ship, since the light could alert enemy submarines to their position. Bragg gets angry over this as he heads back below deck. He is later awoken when it is time to be look out. Disobeying orders, he lights a can of sterno to warm himself, only concerned with hiding it from his superiors. An enemy submarine spots the light from it and launches a torpedo at the ship, blowing it up and killing everyone on board. Another strong story, and similar to "Weak Link" that I covered a few issues prior, with a single man's foolish actions resulting in the death of everyone around him. This story was written by Kurtzman at the suggestion of Wally Wood who had requested a story about the Merchant Marine.

"Search!" - Another story taking place during World War II, this time in Italy. A soldier named Joseph Angliosani is in a trench with a younger soldier, manning a machine gun. The foot of a dead soldier sticks out from the trench. Joe tells his colleague about the fact that he won't take any break from the action since he is searching for his older brother Mario, who supported the family after his father died. He hasn't seen Mario in years but will recognize him based on a ring that he wears. The German soldiers continue to press towards them and after one fire fight the younger soldier is killed. Joe grabs his machine gun and departs. A blast later hits the trench, revealing that the corpse whose foot was sticking out was that of his brother Mario. While not at the level of some other Kurtzman solo stories that I've covered thus far in this blog, it is still another good story to wrap up the issue.