Two-Fisted Tales #29

Credits:
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman
Cover dated September/October 1952

"Korea!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Red Knight!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Washington!" - Art by John Severin and Bill Elder/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Fire Mission!" - Art by Dave Berg/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

"Korea!" - This story takes place in Korea. While hiding out behind a jeep, playing dice, American soldiers are shot upon by the Koreans and several are killed. The Koreans steal their jeep, but two of them get in another jeep and head after them. One of the soldiers in particular is obsessed with getting revenge for the death of his friends. They are able to shoot down the jeep and follow the soldiers, killing one and taking the last hostage. They bring their wounded prisoner to the field hospital and he is taken away. One of the soldiers thinks of how easy it is to kill a man in combat and that they should remember how each and every life is important. A rather fast paced story. I was expecting some sort of twist in the end, with perhaps the prisoner turning on the men, but it ended in somewhat different fashion.

"Red Knight!" - This story is about the German World War I ace Baron  Manfred Von Richthofen. At the start of the story, his plane is seen coming down over France. Over the next 5 pages we are shown various victories of him, and how he writes a letter each time requesting acknowledgment of his latest kill. Richthofen eventually records a record 80 kills. As the story ends his plane comes down to the ground and he is found inside, dead. Another of many World War I stories featuring ace plane pilots, this one is slightly more interesting than usual.

"Washington!" - This story features George Washington in one of his earliest battles, in Manhattan in 1776. British ships come up the East River, further than the troops expected. The Militia men quickly get scared and start running away. Seeing this, Washington angrily  tries to get them to stay, ordering them, swearing at them and even trying to shoot at them. He is unsuccessful and left completely alone. An interesting and unique story, showing a side to George Washington that you wouldn't expect to be seen, with him being quite a failure as a commander. It was stories like this that made EC's war comics unique from others, which would be unlikely to show the  first president in such an unflattering light.

"Fire Mission!" - This story features a mortar crew that are stationed within a small trench while their sergeant receives orders from out front. Enemy soldiers push near them and several of the men are killed. One of the men including the sergeant are shot and another runs out, not worrying about what will happen and gets killed as well. One of the soldiers is really scared, but runs out to observe the enemy, and is successful as the mortar crew is able to take the enemy soldiers out. The soldier admits that he headed out to show that he wasn't scared and one of the older soldiers tells him that on the battlefield everyone is scared. Berg's sole art job for EC during the New Trend; he later would become a prolific artist for Mad magazine. His artwork is a bit more cartoonish than the typical EC war comic story, so its easy to see why this was his sole appearance.

Mad #4

Credits:
Cover dated April/May 1953
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"Superduperman!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Flob Was A Slob!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Robin Hood!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Shadow!" - Art by Bill Elder/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

An average issue of Mad quality-wise, but it was the issue during which Mad started to become really popular, and started to hit its stride by doing parodies of other things from popular culture.

"Superduperman!" - A parody of Superman, the story stars Clark Bent, a miserable, emaciated man who is assistant to the copy boy. In love with reporter Lois Pain, Clark spends his life savings on a neckalce for her only for her to knock him aside, calling him a creep. Clark changes into his Superduperman persona, then has to battle Captain Marbles, a similar hulking presense who is trying to rob a safe. Superduperman manages to defeat Captain Marbles by getting him to punch himself in the face. Superduperman thinks Lois will be impressed with him now and reveals his hidden identiy to her, but she still thinks he is a creep and knocks him over.

"Flob Was A Slob!" - A young woman named Ramona Snarfle is engaged to her childhood sweethear, Sheldon, a rather baffoonish character who spends his time trying to catch a butterfly. The handsome Rackstraw Him appears and takes Ramona away with him. He shows her quite a good time at a variety of places, but she soon discovers that he is a crook, and when he tries to get her to sell racing forms she leaves him and returns to Sheldon. The story ends with Ramona in the present, where she has left Sheldon to sell racing forms.

"Robin Hood!" - A parody of Robin Hood, the story begins with two locals watching as the Sheriff of Nottingham passes by with a number of merchants. Robin Hood shows up and introduces his variety of merry men. They then pursue the merchants while our protagonists pursue Maid Marion. As Robin and his merry men are about to leave, our protagonists ask if they can provide them with some money since all they have is two cents. Robin Hood's merry men instead rob the men of the two cents and their clothing.

"Shadow!" - A woman named Marlo Pain shows up at a bar full of seedy looking characters, saying that she is the only one who knows the voice of the mysterious, invisible Shadowskeedeeboomboom. Shadow shows up, but due to him being invisible survives while all the men there end up killing one another. Margo and Shadow leave and Margo finds her life to be threatened. They eventually come upon a cabin connected to dynamite. Shadow convinces her to sit inside and he then pushes the trigger, killing her since she's the only one who recognizes his voice.

Frontline Combat #6

Credits:
Cover dated May/June 1952
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"A Platoon!" - Art by Bill Elder & John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"War of 1812!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Ace!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Bellyrobber!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

Another fairly good issue of Frontline Combat. This issue is notable for me for being the last EC war comic for me to acquire, and my review for this blog is actually the first time I've read the issue. Each story focuses on a particular soldier or character in particular. No real duds here, with Bellyrobber being my personal favorite of the issue.

"A Platoon!" - A story that takes place during the Korean War, it focuses on a soldier named Ed. He is an experienced soldier, but doesn't want any responsibilities, despite there being a shortage of officers. During the oncoming battle, some chaos ensues but Ed keeps a fellow soldier from fleeing and helps direct the fellow soldiers. After the battle is over, the wounded Captain wants to put Ed in for a battlefield commission, but Ed declines, still wanting no responsibilities.

"War of 1812!" - This story focuses on a wounded native american soldier, in the aftermath of a battle during the war of 1812. Flashbacks show a battle taking place in the woods between the Americans, English and native americans. The native americans, made up of a number of different tribes are led by the great chief Tecumsah. But when Tecumsah takes a bullet to the heart and dies, the native american soldiers flee. Our protagonist is soon come across by an American soldier who scalps him.

"Ace!" - This story takes place during World War I. It focuses on an American pilot, Harry Chesterfield, trying to become an ace. The story begins as he gets his third kill, requiring only 2 more to become an Ace. He and his fellow soldiers happily eat at the round table. He soon after gets his fourth kill, and the happy meals continue. Harry finally gets his fifth kill, but it results in him being led into a trap and his plane is shot down, killing him. The meals at the round table continue, but there is a noticable absent with Harry no longer there. One of the earlier World War I plane-based stories, which would become more prevalent once George Evans joined the EC ranks.

"Bellyrobber!" - This story, taking place in the Korean War, features a rather grumpy cook, for whom his fellow soldiers never see smile or in a good mood. One day he comes across a young Korean kid in their tent. Bellyrobber befriends the kid and takes care of him, showing a human side to him. One day he finds that 2 Korean soldiers have come across the tent and while Bellyrobber is able to kill them, it is not before they have killed the child. This causes Bellyrobber to return to his angry, grumpy self.

Crime SuspenStories #1

Credits:
Cover dated October/November 1950
Cover by Johnny Craig

"Murder May Boomerang" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig
"Death's Double Cross" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"A Snapshot of Death" - Art by Graham Ingels/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"High Tide!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

The first issue of Crime SuspenStories, E.C.'s New Trend version of a crime comic (EC had a couple of crime comics prior to the New Trend). This issue is a fairly good one, one of the better of the early issues. The first story, "Murder May Boomerang" was later reprinted in issue 19 (as already covered here).
"Murder May Boomerang" - A man drives through the rain in a car with his father. Flashbacks show the father raising the son alone after his wife died. When the son grows up, he goes to college and becomes a chemist and gets a raise that permits his father to stop working. The two go on a vacation to celebrate where they go hunting, camping, etc... One night when the son leaves his father alone he hears about maniacs that have escaped from a local prison and are where his father is. The son rushes back and finds his father beaten, and that one of the escaped maniacs have stolen some of his hunting clothes. The son heads out and kills the maniac when his father points him out to him. But later when they spot another man in hunting clothes, the father claims he was his attacker. The son realizes that his father has had a nervous breakdown and will point out anyone wearing hunting clothes as his attacker.

"Death's Double Cross" - A woman named Ruth is bored with her marriage to John, pining for his twin brother Ronald whom she loved more but had gone away years before. Ronald, who bears a mole on his face, suddenly turns up one day and the two of them plot to kill John so Ronald can take his place. John walks in as they are discussing it, and Ruth wonders if he overheard it. Ronald successfully kills John, making it look like a drowning. Soon however Ronald grows cold and has surgery to remove the mole from his face. His doctor tells Ruth he never had it removed in the first place. Ruth starts fearing for her life and is nearly killed by a safe. She wonders if either Ronald has decided to kill her, or if it has been John the entire time.

"A Snapshot of Death!" A woman named Jean is told that she has an incurable disease and has six months to live. She decides to kill herself, but doesn't have the nerve, so she goes to a man named "Red" Morgan whom she pays to find an assassin to kill her. She is soon told however that she will be able to undergo surgery to cure her illness. She is deathly afraid for her life, especially as a dark figure arpproaches the house. Eventually he is able to make it in, and carries a picture of her with him. Jean passes out. She wakes up later and it is revealed that the man is a policeman, who had come across the photo when "Red" was struck by a truck and killed.

"High Tide!" - Four men depart on a mail delivery ship from a prison island. Soon the radio announces that a killer has escaped from the prison and is on the ship. Each of the men denies being the killer and one of the men on the ship, an accountant is deathly afraid of what will happen to them. Things get worse as both the engine and radio go out. The men accuse each other of being the killer, except for the quiet boat captain. When a gun is found on board, the men agree that they will seperate the gun and ammunition and that two of the men will stay up to keep watch while the others sleep. When the accountant tries to escape, one of the men grabs the gun and shoots him. This gets one of the other men to suspect he is the killer, so they fight each other. Once the accuser has killed the other man though, he is promptly shot by the ship captain, who truly is the killer. He jumps off the boat and tries to make it to shore, but the tide comes in very quickly, and not being able to swim, he drowns.

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.

Mad #23

Credits:
Cover dated May 1955

"Gopo Gossum!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Scenes We'd Like to See!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Believe It or Don't!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"The Barefoot Nocountessa!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

One of the simplest covers of all time to an EC comic kicks off this issue of Mad, which was the final issue of Mad in comic form before it became a magazine with the next issue. EC's humor comics are still not my cup of tea, but it is by far the best of the 3 that I have reviewed thus far.

"Gopo Gossum!" - This story is a parody of Walt Kelly's Pogo strip. In it, the Gopop Gossum of the title visits some big city cousins and returns home to the woods with his fellow animal creatures, convinced that the animals have to join political parties to make it big time. The remaining pages of the story feature animal parodies of various politicians at the time (many of which are lost to me, since this comic was published almost 30 years before I was born), and all of the animals are blown up. In the final two panels it is revealed that the bit city cousins Gopo met were Disney characters and that they meant an event type of party, not political parties.

"Scenes We'd Like to See!" - This story features a series of typical movie scenes, which are then retold in more interesting and funny fashion. It begins with a romance scene, then also goes into a fencing scene, a battle at a fort with indians, an escape from Nazis and a hero about to get bumped off by some mobsters. While an interesting concept, a lot of this story reeks of laziness to me. For the first 7 pages, entire scenes are repeated in black and white with only the final panel being changed, making for quite a bit of space wasted. Things only get interesting with the final scene, which reduces the 15+ scene of a hero in mortal peril escaping as is the typical cliche, to a 2 panel scene in which he is immediately killed by the bad guy.

"Believe It or Don't!" - This is a short 3 page feature that features various hard to believe people, accomplishments, etc... For example, Stalin was born in the Bronx, the water in Niagara Falls does not fall, but rather travels up, and various others. My favorite is the South American Indian "Symbol of Death" which causes death if gazed upon within a year. After this brief explanation is says "Too bad if you looked".

"The Barefoot Nocountessa!" - This story is about the Barefoot Nocountessa of the title, a beautiful woman who always walks barefoot. The story is told by a Humphrey Bogart lookalike called Humphry Yogurt who is talking about her at her funeral. It features various anecdotes about her, such as a pair of rich men fighting over her, her falling in love with a stench ridden bum and various others. At the end of the story it is revealed that she was murdered due to her smelly feet.

Frontline Combat #9

Credits:
Cover dated November/December 1952
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"Abe Lincoln" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"First Shot!" - Art by John Severin & Bill Elder/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Choose Sides!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Bull Run!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

This issue is the first of what was planned to be a seven issue series dedicated to the Civil War, told in chronological order. Unfortunately only 3 issues in the series were published (the other two being Two Fisted Tales #31 and #35) before the change in format and cancellation of both of EC's war comics forced a premature end. Overall its a fairly strong issue, with the first and the last stories being the best storywise. Art-wise things are good throughout.

"Abe Lincoln" - This story tells various anecdotes from Abraham Lincoln's life, including him hunting a turkey, pulling a prank by walking kids' muddy feet over the ceiling, saving a pig from the mud and other stories. It is framed by an elderly black man telling the stories and hoping that nothing happens to Lincoln in the Civil War.

"First Shot!" - This story takes place at Fort Sumter, where the first shot of the Civil War takes place. The story looks at a few soldiers in particular over a 3 day period. The Union soldiers attempt to defend the fort, but later surrender. After 2 days without anyone being killed, some of the Union's bags of gunpowder explode, killing one of their own soldiers.

"Choose Sides!" - This story takes place in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the few states that has not decided yet whether to secede from the Union or not. The story focuses in particular on an old man who watches as a group of Union soldiers march by. The crowd gets riled up, claiming that the Union soldiers are foreigners. The old man gets so riled up that he pulls out a pistol and shoots at the troops. This causes them to fire upon the crowd and the old man dies.

"Bull Run!" - This story focuses on the battle of Bull Run. It focuses in particular on three Union soldiers who like much of their fellow troops figure the war will be over in 3 months. They agree to all stick together and call themselves the three musketeers. One of them is soon shot and killed and the troops are forced to pull back and leave him there. As they retreat another one is killed. The last one retreats in defeat with the remaining soldiers, being forced to sleep by a doorway along with some other soldiers.

Weird Science #15 (1950)

Credits:
Cover dated November/December 1950
Cover by Al Feldstein

"Panic!" - Art by Al Feldstein/Story by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines
"The Radioactive Child!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"House in Time!" - Art by Graham Ingels/Story by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines
"I Created A... Gargantua!" - Art by Jack Kamen/Story by ???

One of the funniest covers to a non-comedy EC comic starts off this issue.

"Panic!" - A radio broadcast of a story about an alien ship invading the Earth as performed by a man named Carsol Walls causes mass panic when people think it is the real thing. Eventually the police are able to calm everyone down. Years later radio executives in an attempt to think of something to attract an audience decide that they will repeat the famous broadcast. The night comes and news goes across the radio of the alien invasion. In reality, aliens have in fact invaded, but because everyone thinks it is just the Carson Walls radio broadcast, there is practically no resistance and the alien invaders are able to take over the planet and enslave humanity. This story is obviously inspired by the real life incident when Orson Wells broadcast War of the Worlds on the radio, causing mass panic.

"The Radioactive Child!" - A husband and his pregnant wife, upon returning to their home country of Argenta approach the test of a nuclear weapon. The radiation kills the husband but the wife lives and gives birth to a boy named Pedro, who is extremely smart due to the effect of the radiation. She brings Pedro to see the President of Argenta but dies while trying to see him. The President quickly notices Pedro's genius and makes him his prime minister. The President uses Pedro's genius to help build his country's technology and military might while Pedro is given whatever he wants and is unaware what his help to the President is actually causing. The U.N. soon prepares to attack Argenta and the President demands information from Pedro on creating a detonator for a nuclear bomb. When Pedro tells him to wait, the President beats him, which causes him to lose his abilities. Bombs soon hit the capital and everyone is killed except Pedro, who goes to play with the other children. Another decent story suited well for Kurtzman.

"House in Time!" - A husband and wife named Warren and Betty find a house for rent from a man named Professor Koones. They head inside the house which has glass bricks for windows and a back door with the Professor says is never to be opened. Soon Warren and Betty notice some oddities, such as hearing a thunderstorm but finding none when they go outside and buying a radio that works outside but not inside. When they head through the back door they find themselves in the prehistoric era. They return to the house and go outside from the front. By going into the house from the back they find the professor who reveals the truth to them. He has created a time machine that causes them to go back in time 500,000 years when they go inside the house through the front door, and brings them 500,000 years into the future when they head outside through it. Not believing him, they head through the front door, moving them another 500,000 years in the future, stranding them in a bleak, deserted future. This was the only science fiction story that Graham Ingels ever did for EC. Its a fairly strong story, with an excellent ending.

"I Created A... Gargantua!" - A man named John Paulson is extremely small and agrees to be a part of an experiment for Professor Kohlvarb. Kohlvarb has found an ability to stimulate growth on living things by causing a tumor to grow on the pituitary gland. John quickly grows to six feet tall and Kohlvarb applies radiation to the tumor to stop the growth. This fails to stop the growth however and John grows taller and taller. He finds work in a freak show, then helping some logsmen but grows to big for them. He is then put before the public in a stadium in New York. The government eventually decides he is too big and must be destroyed. They send jets after him and he flees thorugh the city, knocking over buildings before eventually being killed in the ocean. An average story, the weakest of the issue.

Two-Fisted Tales #24

Credits:
Cover dated November/December 1951
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"Hill 203!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Bug Out!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Rubble!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Weak Link!" - Art by John Severin & Bill Elder/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

"Hill 203!" - This story features a small group of U.N. troops manning the hill of the title. 4 men are responsible for holding the hill, manning a machine gun. A group of North Korean soldiers come up the hill, posing as South Korean troops and kill one of them. Chinese troops also storm the hill during the night and the men are successful in holding the hill, although they all end up dead. One of the more average Davis Korean stories that frequently led Two-Fisted Tales.

"Bug Out!" - A soldier in the Korean War flees when his forces are encountered by North Korean soldiers. He makes his way to a destroyed Korean village where he finds some North Korean soldiers eating. He shoots all of them with their own guns, then starts stuffing his face with their food. Suddenly a flee of American jets pass overhead and bomb the village. The narrative turns to the present, where the soldier is paralyzed, held in a hospital, remembering the story again from the beginning. A strong story, that was based on a real life event someone told Kurtzman.

"Rubble!" - This story tells the story of the rubble that a U.N. long-tom gun sits on during the Korean War. The rubble was part of land that belonged to the Chun family. The husband of the house works hard to build his home personally. He promises his wife he'll create a well, but he is always occupied by other things. Years pass, and troops head through the area, destroying the home with a single artillery blast. U.N. soldiers eventually come across it and use it to station the long-tom gun. Eventually it is moved off and water starts gushing from an underground spring unearthed by the blast, creating the well Chun always spoke of creating.. Another strong story, done entirely by Kurtzman, with the sympathetic Chun family, who worked so hard to build their home only for it to be destroyed and them killed in mere moments.

"Weak Link!" - this story takes place during World War II in Germany. A group of U.S. troops head through the forest. Two of the men are requested to man a bazooka on a nearby hill to prevent any tanks from crossing the river. One of the men, Pringle is very nervous and wants to flee. Once his companion is killed, he does flee the hill. This results in the tanks getting through and his entire squad is killed, including himself. The only story of this issue to not take place during the Korean War. Its another good story, rounding out an overall strong issue, showing that the actions of one cowardly soldier can result in everyone being killed.

The Crypt of Terror #18

Credits:
Cover dated June/July 1950
Cover by Johnny Craig

"The Maestro's Hand!" - Art by Al Feldstein/Story by Al Feldstein
"The Living Corpse" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by ???
"Madness at Manderville" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Ivan Klapper
"Mute Witness to Murder!" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig

"The Maestro's Hand!" - A man named Doctor Hellman comes to a lonely cabin in the woods where he finds a package waiting for him. Flashbacks reveal that Hellman was engaged to a woman named Virginia and had taken her to see the great musician Vladimir Borrstein. Virginia immediately falls in love with Vladimir's talens, which include not just playing the piano, but also painting. Virginia breaks off her engagement with Hellman and instead gets engaged to Vladimir. Hellman is convinced that Virginia is merely in love with Vladimir's talents, not him, and when Vladmir injures his hand, Hellman takes the opportunity to have it amputed. Vladimir is so distraught over losing his hand that he kills himself, and Virginia does the same shortly afterwards. Back in the present, Hellman opens the package, which is revealed to be Vladimir's severed hand. The hand comes alive and tries to kill Hellman. He tries all he can to avoid it, but it eventually grabs him by the throat and strangles him. Later the police find Hellman's body which shows that he actually imagined it all and strangled himself. A strong start to the issue, with good story and art from Feldstein.

"The Living Corpse" - A middle aged man named Jed Bryant works at a morgue. One night a corpse is brought in, but becomes alive, grasping Jed and causing him to be knocked out. Jed wakes up earlier and the corpse is gone, causing him to forge the books as if it was never there. Days later another corpse arrives and the same incident happens again, causing Jed's hair to go completely white in shock. Jed is convinced no one will believe him and instead of going to a doctor he goes to a theatre where a man named Satanus the magician defies death after beind held underwater. Later another corpse is brought to the morgue which is the murdered assistant of Satanus. Satanus himself is soon revealed to be the "living corpse", who had been faking his death so he could be brought to the morgue and the proof of his involvement in his assistant's murder could be  destroyed. The two struggle, and Satanus is knocked out when his head strikes a wall. Jed puts him in the freezer to hold him while he tries to call the police, but the shock of seeing a corpse come to life for the third time is too much and he dies of a heart attack. Locked in the freezer, Satanus freezes to death. A so-so art job, but another strong story.

"Madness at Manderville" - A woman named Marion is continuously nervous, including dropping dishes and being convinced that there are noises and lights outside when her husband Tom doesn't notice anything. Marion continues to go crazier and crazier, as the family dog is found dead. Tom brings her to a mental institution but upon arriving there, it is Tom who is committed as he wasn't noticing any of the things that were really happening. The ending to this story is a bit contrived, with Tom being committed over rather flimsy reasons. A similar ending was done in far superior fashion in the story "My Brother's Keeper" from Shock Illustrated #2.

"Mute Witness to Murder!" - A woman named Pam witnesses a neighbor murdering his wife which causes her to suddenly go deaf in shock. Her husband calls for a doctor to come, but the doctor, Dr. Bask, is the very man who committed the murder. Knowing she witnessed it, he has her committed to a mental institution where he plans to murder her by claiming she needs brain surgery, then murdering her during it. Pam soon regains her voice but keeps quiet, and manages to overpower Dr. Bask when he comes to take her. Bask, who has a heart condition begs her to call for help, but she refuses and he dies. This story was adapted for an episode of the Tales From the Crypt TV series late in the show's run. It is a type of story that would have fit better in Crime SuspenStories, having no supernatural elements to it.

Frontline Combat #13

Credits:
Cover by Wally Wood
Cover dated July/August 1953

"Pantherjet!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"War Dance!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Jerry De Fuccio
"Wolf!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Jerry De Fuccio
"Frank Luke!" - Art by George Evans/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

"Pantherjet!" - This story takes place on an aircraft carrier in the ocean. The maintenance officer on the ship examines a Grumman F9F jet, which has a damaged nose and can't be repaired since there are no spare noses to use. One of the pilots takes out another one of the jets for a flight and heads over Korea where it is fired on. The tail of the jet is damaged, and the pilot puts in effort to ensure that it makes it back to the aircraft carrier instead of on the land. The maintance officer asks why and he says it was so he could bring him back a spare nose to fix the other jet with. Some interesting coloring on this story, including a page thats almost entirely colored in red to simulate the red lighting under the deck on the aircraft carrier.

"War Dance!" - The Pawnee native american tribe plans to attack the nearby Ponca tribe, led by the warrior Red Knife. Red Knife leads his troops againist the Ponca, but one of them touches him unarmed (known as a "coup"). In order to reclaim his honor Red Knife must battle the man who
touched him. He loses the battle. As a result, the Pawnee must leave and Red Knife is banished from his tribe. This was an interesting story with the concept of the "coup", which on its own was enough to completely turn the tides for the poncas. De Fuccio worked as Kurtzman's assistant and started writing stories later in the war comics' run.

"Wolf!" - This story takes place in 1016 AD in the Schwazwald, the black forest. A teenage boy named Mark Edelblut, son of the local count watches over a herd of sheep along with his hawk. When a wolf attacks, his hawk attacks it and causes it to flee. More animals suddenly pass through, causing Mark to return to his father's castle where he finds it under attack by Baron Von Wolffe, who is leading a large force. The Baron's forces are overtaking the castle but Mark sends his hawk to attack him in the eyes with a knife. This causes the Baron to flee in the opposite direction, and results in confusion among his ranks. As a result, the Baron's forces are driven away. A decent medieval-era story with some good art from Wood.

"Frank Luke!" - This story features the World War I ace pilot Frank Luke and some of his successful battles in Europe during the war, including a record take down of 15 observation balloons and 3 boche planes in a 17 day period. The story which is framed by a pair of French men discussing his accomplishments, focusing on 3 battles in particular. This includes his death when his plane is shot and forced to land and he is shot after getting out of it. This story is one of many George Evans drawn stories featuring World War I aces, a specialty of his (which later resulted in an entire comic, Aces High, built around such a theme). Its a pretty good story with strong artwork, but these types tended to get repetitive after a while.

Weird Fantasy #13 (1950)

Credits:
Cover dated May/June 1950
Cover by Al Feldstein

"Am I Man or Machine?" - Art by Al Feldstein/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Only Time Will Tell" - Art by Harry Harrison & Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Men of Tomorrow" - Art by Jack Kamen/Story by ???
"...Trip Into the Unknown" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines

Today I cover the other issue 13 of Weird Fantasy, which is the comic's first issue. Many of EC's comics didn't start with issue 1, but rather an issue much higher than that. This was done in order to save money on second class postage. Rather than create a new comic series, EC would rename existing ones. This was the case for many of EC's comics including all 3 horror comics, both sci-fi comics and Two-Fisted Tales. Sometimes the post office caught them, as they did with Weird Fantasy and the numbering had to go back to the proper order, which is why there are 2 issue 13's for this comic.

"Am I Man or Machine?" - A man named Roger, who is engaged to be married, is in a car accident. While his body dies, a pair of scientists take his brain and work on bringing him back to life. They start by giving him the ability to hear, then the ability to see and speak. Eventually they are able to construct a humanoid body for him. With his fake human body, Roger takes the opportunity to visit his fiance, Diane, now approximately 2 years after his death. Upon hearing that she has since married someone else, Roger realizes he'll never be able to provide her what a real human would and tells her its a fraternity initiation bit. A good, emotional story to start off the issue.

"Only Time Will Tell" - A scientist named Steve works on a time machine. Suddenly a portal appears in his lab and an older man comes out, demanding he help him. Steve goes through the portal with the man into the future and helps him repair his time machine. The older man forces him back to the past, but Steve manages to tear off and take part of the blueprints for the machine with him. Using these blue prints as a guide, Steve works on creating his time machine, which takes him 20 years. Something is wrong with the machine however, and it will explode in a few hours time if he can't fix it. Steve goes back in time and makes his younger self come to the future with him to fix the time machine, just as happened earlier in the story. The first of numerous time travel stories EC did, this story is a bit complicated at first read, but overall is a good one. It is rather tame compared to later time travel stories that EC did (as there's no deaths or anything done with severe consequences to history).

"The Men of Tomorrow" - A trio of scientists search for Kador Valley, within Mongolia, a valley never seen by modern civilization. They come across one of the inhabitants of the valley, and discover that he can read their mind. One of the men stays with him and is able to get him to speak while the others explore. This causes him to lose his ability to read minds, and he becomes more sly and shifty. The scientists eventually make it to the valley where they find a highly technological advanced society. The men are imprisoned, but as the entire civilization starts to learn to speak, they all lose their ability to read minds and become lying and deceitful. This causes two sides to go to war with each other, resulting in poisonous gas being spread in the city. The other side then detonates a nuclear explosion which destroys the city, and everyone within it. A decent plot, but this story is marred by a bit too much text at times, including one panel in which roughly nine tenths of the panel is filled with dialogue and the two characters are barely visible and hunchbacked.

"...Trip Into the Unknown" - A rocket ship heads into space, the first to do so with humans onboard. The rocket heads to a planet known as "Planet X", which is found to be breathable such that space suits aren't necessary. Our heroes make their way around the area, finding the civilization there in ruins. They head to a library where they take a book with them. They are soon attacked by humanoids twice their size, who chase them back to the rocket. The aliens try to knock the rocket over, so they blast off, leaving the planet. While heading through space they are able to translate the book, which reveals that the civilization of that planet ruined themselves through constant conflict, and that their planet was named Earth. Only 3 issues into EC's sci-fi comics and I've already got 2 stories where the twist at the end is that the alien planet is Earth. A very common sci-fi trope, one done better by "The Aliens" from Weird Science #7, covered a little while back.

Mad #5

Credits:
Cover dated June/July 1953
Cover by Bill Elder

"Outer Sanctum!" - Art by Bill Elder/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Black and Blue Hawks!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Miltie of the Mounties!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Kane Keen!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

Today I cover my first issue of Mad, EC's most famous publication. Elder's cover for the issue was the only one he did for EC. The insider front cover features a parody of the "EC Artist of the Issue" features that were appearing throughout EC's various publications at the time, covering publisher Bill Gaines. This fake biography stated he was a thief, peddled dope, worked around burlesque houses, couldn't read and other various things. The bio was put together by Gaines and others while editor Kurtzman was ill. What was thought initially to be just a funny joke ended up in quite the big controversy for EC with their wholesalers due to offending another publisher for whom parts of the biography were true. EC had to prepare an apology to the wholesalers as a result. Overall the bio is by far the most notable part of this issue. Only the first story is particularly good, at least story wise (art is generally strong throughout) and the other stories are generally uninteresting to me. Although I'll admit that the EC humor comics were always the genre of theirs I was least into.

"Outer Sanctum!" - This story initially takes place in a crypt where a character named Ramon
hosts the rest of the tale. In the Louisiana swamp a scientist works on a mixture to create
life, which he dumps into the swamp due to its bad smell. The mixture combines with the swamp
to form a trash-like monster called Heap. Heap robs a Bank for the scientist then falls in
love with a female garbage heap in the back. The scientist sets the female heap ablaze, which
enrages the Heap, causing it to destroy the shack they live in. It runs off, never to be seen
again, but sometimes during the full moon it can be found, with little heaps following it. Our
host, Ramon, reveals that the whole story was made up, but the Heap does show up. The controversies with this issue continue. The statement of "Nice Fat Errand Boy Wanted"
(presumbably to be eaten) was taken by the wholesalers to mean that he was wanted for sexual
perverse acts.

"Black and Blue Hawks!" - The Black and Blue Hawks head to the country of Panazonia upon
hearing from one of their colleagues whose plane crashes that there is a revolution there. Upon
arriving they encounter the leader of the revolution, a beautiful woman who tricks them and
steals their plane. The last remaining Blue Hawk (having ordered the others back to their
island) follows her and eventually makes it back to Black and Blue Hawk Island where its
revealed that the woman and the other Black and Blue Hawks were the revolutionaries.

"Miltie of the Mounties" - A series of mounties report to Chief Mountie, Scott Yardland.
Yardland receives orders from his superiors to capture the criminal Nanuk the Canuk and sends
Miltie the Mountie after him. Miltie initially starts following his own footprints in a circle,
but does come across the heavily covered Nanuk the Canuk whom he chases. Nanuk is revealed to be a woman by opening her coat, shocking Miltie enough so she can shoot him.  Not that great a story in my eyes, it takes a while to get going and I don't understand why Nanuk being a woman was supposed to be so shocking to Miltie like it was. A similar type ending was used in the first story of the Panic #1.

"Kane Keen! Private Eye" - Kane Keen of the title is a private eye hired by a beautiful woman
who claims that her uncle is in danger. Her uncle, Rollover Rover, is a retired vaudelville
actor who had an act with a talking dog, Shlep. Upon arriving at his mansion they find Rover
dead and Shlep missing. Keen is faced with a variety of suspects as well as a mysterious thug
who keeps warning him to keep off the case and hits him in the head. In the end the killer is
revealed to be Shlep, who was disguised as the butler. Shlep gets away however by taking
hostage of a dumb cop who came to the scene.

Frontline Combat #5

Credits:
Cover dated March/April 1952
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"442nd Combat Team" - Art by John Severin & Bill Elder/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Stonewall Jackson!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"War Machines!" - Art by John Severin/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Big 'If'!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

"442nd Combat Team" - This story takes place during World War II in France as an American unit is surrounded by German troops. A German medic comes by and noticing that many of the soldiers are Japanese-American asks them to surrender and join Japan's allies, the Germans. The American troops decline and make an attempt to take down the German soldiers, despite multiple calls from the German medic to surrender and stop being traitors to their ancestors. The American troops are successful in taking out the Germans and one of the soldiers comments on the one thing the medic forgot, that they're Americans. This story is a fairly decent start to the issue, just overshadowed by a couple of stories that come after it.

"Stonewall Jackson" - This story takes place in 1864 during the Civil War. A group of COnfederate soldiers gather by a fire and tell stories about Stonewall Jackson, one soldier in particular. The story tells various anecdotes about Jackson's time as an officer. Towards the end of the story it is told how he died, being shot accidently by his own men in Chancellorville at night. The soldier telling the stories leaves the fire and it is revealed that he is the one who killed Jackson. Some of Kurtzman's stories focused in particular on historical figures such as Jackson, Lincoln, Rommel and others, and this was one such tale. Kurtzman featured Jackson in another story in Two-Fisted Tales #35, "Chancellorville" which focused in particular on his death. That story was also drawn by Davis. This story was one of the few Civil War themed stories that did not appear in the special Civil War issues that Kurtzman did.

"War Machines" - This story focuses on a battle that takes place in the hills of Korea, but in particular on the "war machines" involved. The American forces utilize various methods to try and take out the Koreans occupying caves in the hills. They start with planes, then move on to heavy artillery and tanks, none of which are able to be successful. Then the final war machine, man, heads up the hill and is successful in wiping out the Koreans and taking control of the hill. From time to time Kurzman would do stories focused not on particular characters but rather the weapons or devices used during war and this was one such example.

"Big 'If'" - A wounded soldier named Paul Maynard sits before some ancient Korean devil posts, thinking of how if only things would have been different. Maynard flashes back to how he got into this situation. His unit had been traveling and he volunteered to stay with a tank while his fellow soldiers seperated from him. When he gets fired upon Maynard flees from the tank and spots some planes flying by. He eats his lunch then passes by the devil posts, bending down to tie his shoe. At that moment he gets hit by a shell. After thinking of if he just changed one minor thing, all would be okay, Maynard collapses, dead. The final war story that Kurzman drew for EC, this is probably his second most well known after "Corpse on the Imjin" from Two-Fisted Tales #25. It is a simple, but powerful premise, that in war someone can die for no reason, for simply being in a certain place at a certain time. The story had a 6 page article written by Greg Potter (who wrote stories for Warren Publishing's horror magazines in the 1970s) dedicated to it in The Comics Journal Library for Harvey Kurtzman.

The Vault of Horror #12

Credits:
Cover dated April/May 1950
Cover by Johnny Craig

"Portrait in Wax!" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig (hosted by the Vault Keeper)
"The Werewolf Legend" - Art by Wally Wood & Harry Harrison/Story by Gardner Fox
"Horror in the Night" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Ivan Klapper
"Terror Train" - Art by Al Feldstein/Story by Al Feldstein

Today I cover the first issue of the Vault of Horror, which along with The Crypt of Terror #17, was the first horror comics released by EC. Vault of Horror stories originally appeared in issues 10 and 11 of War Against Crime prior to EC changing the title to the Vault of Horror with this issue.

"Portrait in Wax!" - Henry is a struggling artist with little talent but a lot of ambition who lives with Robert, who is the exact opposite, lots of talent but no ambition. Henry steals a piece of Robert's artwork and makes a lot of money selling it to an art dealer. He does it repeatedly, making a lot of money. But Robert goes to a showing of the dealer's art and discovers what Henry has done. He is going to the police, but Henry throws acid in his face, knocking him out. Henry dumps him in a vat of acid to destroy his remains. Years pass and Henry makes tons of money off Robert's work. But eventually he sells of all the artwork. Luckily he finds a new artist to make money off of when a sculptor named Jules Vendette shows him his wax statues of people who died. Henry makes lots of money opening a museum of them, claiming the work as his own. But one day while moving a statue he discovers they're not really statues, but corpses covered with wax! Jules is actually Robert, who had not actually died since the vat he was dumped in was just water. He kills Henry and makes him his latest statue. Johnny Craig's first Vault lead story (and along with Curse of the Full Moon, which came out the same month in Crypt 17, one of his first horror stories). Although Craig's art is still somewhat simple looking compared to his later stuff, he still does a good job here. This story would be somewhat redone (with much more horrific results) in Silver Threads Among the Mold from issue 27, which was the first EC story I ever read.

"The Werewolf Legend" - An Englishman named Walter Mallory finds himself transformed into a werewolf and he kills a man who comes by him. The next day he wakes up in his home and grows nervous upon hearing from his cousin Gregory that a neighbor has been torn to shreds. Walter goes to the family library where he finds some manuscripts revealing that several ancestors had been werewolves. The next full moon he awakens as a werewolf again and kills another man. Walter seeks out the police and discusses the possibility of a werewolf doing the killings with them. He asks them to watch his castle the night of the next full moon and kill the werewolf if he sees it. The next full moon Walter becomes a werewolf yet again and kills another man without being caught by the police. Upon returning to human, Walter is prepared to kill himself but is stopped by the police, who reveal that it was actually his cousin Gregory who killed those men. Gregory had hypnotized Walter into thinking that he was a werewolf, faked the manuscripts and killed 3 men who were blackmailing him. The first of numerous werewolf stories to appear in the Vault of Horror. Wally Wood worked with Harry Harrison for a number of early EC stories in the horror and sci-fi comics. The artwork on this story bears only slight resemblance to the well known style Wood later developed on his own throughout much of his years at EC. While the art is a bit uneven at times, this is a fairly strong story.

"Horror in the Night" - A man named Jim visits his brother Tom at Hawkins Tourist Cabins, the family business. Tom is a nervous wreck, telling Jim about a horrific dream he had. In the dream, a couple comes to the cabins to stay the night. Tom suddenly finds himself in the cabin, as if he was a ghost. The wife is a complete lunatic, trying to escape multiple times in the night and murdering a cat by the door. The husband is bringing her to an insane asylum, as she has been crazy ever since their baby was clawed to death by a cat. When she tries to escape yet again, he strangles her then kills himself. Jim convinces Tom that it was just a dream and not something to worry about, but soon the couple arrives for real. The dream coming to life is another common horror story trope. While it is not something I have seen referenced out there from EC historians, this story may be yet another one inspired by an anecdote from Bennet Cerf's Try and Stop Me, as that book contains an anecdote about a woman's dream coming to life much like what we see here.

"Terror Train" - A woman named Gloria is convinced that her husband Ralph is going to kill her to get the $25,000 life insurance policy he has out on her. She catches him bringing poison into the house and one night wakes up with him over her bed, a knife in hand. She flees to a train station, buys a ticket and heads aboard. Soon however she notices that Ralph is aboard as well. After fleeing from him she goes to sleep, but when she awakens she finds all her fellow passengers murdered. She jumps off the train and makes her way to an abandoned shack where Ralph is waiting for her. Ralph throws her in a coffin and buries her alive. Suddenly Gloria wakes up; everything since she awoke and found the other passengers dead has been a dream and she imagined all of it, including her paranoia about Ralph trying to kill her. Ralph is there with a crew-member and has her taken away and put in a mental institution. A fairly strong ending to what is overall a fairly good issue for its time. Having insane women in back to back stories to wrap up the issue is the one flaw, and "Horror in the Night" would have fit better if moved to another issue (perhaps flipped with the 6 page story from The Crypt of Terror issue published the same month) such that there would be more variety. This story was one of a rare number that were reprinted by EC during the new trend, and would later reappear in The Haunt of Fear #20.

Weird Science #7

Credits:
Cover dated May/June 1951
Cover by Al Feldstein

"Monster From the Fourth Dimension" - Art by Al Feldstein/Story by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines
"Something Missing!" - Art by Jack Kamen/Story by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines
"...Gregory Had a Model-T!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"The Aliens!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines

"Monster From the Fourth Dimension" - A man named Hank encounters a bizarre meat-colored blob that floats in midair, changing shape constantly. The creature kills his cow then dissappears, only to reappear soon afterwards and comes after him. Hank flees from the creature and goes to see his brother Willy, a scientist. Upon seeing the creature, Willy believes it is from a fourth dimension which explains its constantly changing shape and ability to dissappear then reappear. The two of them shoot through the creature with a harpoon and tie it up. Willy then uses a device he was creating to go to the fourth dimension so he can blow it up with dynamite. A few minutes pass and Willy's machine appears back in our dimension, shattered into a bunch of pieces. Willy's dead body appears soon afterwards, a look of sheer horror on his face. The creature stops moving and dies, and Hank buries it. A fairly good story to start off the issue, with some interesting concepts in it. The story was redone in 1954 in the first issue of Three Dimensional EC Classics, drawn by Bernie Krigstein.

"Something Missing!" - A University professor named Roger is married to a nagging shrew of a wife, Hannah. Hannah is constantly complaining over Roger spending too much time on his experiments rather than teaching more and making more money. Roger hires one of his female students Sally, to be his assistant, enraging Hannah even further. Roger and Sally fall in love as they work on a device that can transmit matter and cause any transported creature to turn into what they are thinking about. After further nagging, Roger admits to his wife that he's in love with Sally. One night when Roger and Sally are in the lab, Hannah storms in. Roger puts Sally in the machine and turns it on, causing her to turn into a small statue of herself. Seeing it, Hannah smashes it. Roger picks up the pieces and puts it back in the machine so as to turn Sally back to normal, but misses a large piece, causing Sally to reform with a large part of her body (exactly what, not revealed) missing. The similarly themed Jack Kamen stories continue! This one's a bit similar to "The Trip" which I covered in Weird Fantasy #13, although not as good as that story.

"...Gregory Had a Model-T!" - This story is about an old man named Gregory Gearshift who loves his Model-T car, acting like it was another person. One day Henry passes out, but the car drives him home on its own. Having become very ill, Gregory's sister takes care of him and has to sell his possessions including his Model-T. His Model-T is sold to a young man who treats it as a joke and the Model-T, acting on its own drives after him, scaring him into climbing up a tree. When Gregory dies soon afterwards, the model-T drives itself into a cliff, essentially committing suicide. Kurtzman did a number of stories in the early EC science fiction comics but eventually his work was exclusively in his war comics and Mad. This was actually his final sci-fi story for EC and was probably the weakest of such stories. Kurtzman's sci-fi stories were often a bit more lighthearted, but a number of them were pretty good. Unfortunately this was not one of them.

"The Aliens" - This story features the first rocket ship to head into space. Our protagonists head towards the nearest planet, looking to see if there is intelligent life there. They initially land in the desert and find a cloud off in the distance which they follow, leading them to a group of the planet's inhabitants. It takes a while to converse with them due to the language difference. Suddenly the planet's inhabitants grow angry when the word "peace" is used and they attack. Multiple men are killed and both groups flee. The protagonists return to their rocket, but unbeknownst to them, the planet's inhabitants head to their own rocket ship, as they were visiting the planet as well. As the story ends, it turns out that both groups of people were from other planets, one from Venus and the other from Mars. Both, thinking they were talking with Earthlings plan to launch an attack on Earth. My favorite story of the issue, with an interesting twist ending.

Two-Fisted Tales #19

Credits:
Cover dated January/February 1951
Cover by Harvey Kurtzman

"War Story!" - Art by John Severin & Bill Elder/Story by John Severin & Harvey Kurtzman
"Jivaro Death!" - Art by Harvey Kurtzman/Story by Harvey Kurtzman
"Flight from Danger" - Art by Johnny Craig/Story by Johnny Craig
"Brutal Capt. Bull!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Harvey Kurtzman

Today I'll be covering my first issue of EC's war comics. I was never as much a fan of the Kurtzman edited comics as I was the Feldstein ones, but Kurtzman's war comics were nonetheless fairly strong throughout. This is one of the earliest issues and the first where Kurtzman's hand in editing becomes apparant.

"War Story" - A sergeant tells a young fellow soldier about a company he was a part of in Japan during World War II. The company had a pair of twins in it, Dave, who loved to play his harmonica and kid around, and Duke, a mean guy obsessed with killing. Heading through the jungle they come across a Japanese battalion that they take out. Duke shoots a Japanese soldier shooting a white flag, then tries to kill the wounded Japanese commander but is stopped by the fellow soldiers. The wounded Japanese commander is brought to a hospital tent where he is given a blood transfusion. Duke becomes obsessed with killing him. Later, when Duke is away, his brother is wounded in an air raid and a stray bullet kills the wounded Japanese commander. Dave is put in the hospital tent where he was held. Duke sneaks in later that night, and thinking it is still the Japanese commander, stabs him with his knife. He is shocked to find his twin brother's harmonica seconds later. This story was the first in a long series of team ups with John Severin (pencils) and Bill Elder (inks) which appeared primarily in EC's war comics, but also had a few appearances in the sci-fi comics as well. The two were a good combination. After a more adventure-themed first issue, this second issue of Two-Fisted Tales starts off with the first true war story of the franchise and is a good one. Kurtzman shows right off the bat that Two-Fisted Tales would be different than the usual war comic. This story was originally intended to be the final story of the issue, but was moved up to the front, one of the few instances where EC went against its typical 8/7/6/7 page story format.

"Jivaro Death" - On a boat in the Amazon, a man named Slick and his assistant Garcia kill a diamond messenger and his bodyguard, then pretend to be them and acquire a half a million dollars in diamonds. Slick and Garcia head to a restaurant to meet Slick's colleague Smitty, who stabs and murders Garcia when he arrives. Slick and Smitty decide that to avoid the cops they'll head up the Amazon on their own boat, through Jivaro country, who are known for shrinking heads. Slick and Smitty are caught by the Jivaros and Smitty is tortured for hours before his death. The Jivaros come for Slick, who tells the Jivaros that he has magic powers that makes his flesh as strong as steel. As a result, he tricks the Jivaros into cutting his head off immediately rather than torturing him. This story was inspired by an anecdote that appeared in Bennet Cerf's book Try and Stop Me. This book was a source for a number of stories written by EC over the years, in particular those done by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines. Jack London's story "Lost Face" was also an inspiration for the ending.

"Flight from Danger" - An elderly professor near Berlin, Professor Franck, and his daughter Lisa are under pursuit by German soldiers. Franck has knowledge about how to create a hydrogen bomb and is hoping to escape and give the information to America. The two are helped by Captain Jim Turner from the U.S. has arrived to rescue them. While under pursuit, Professor Franck is shot and dies of his injuries. Another ally, Herman Gault arrives to assist, and with his help, Jim and Lisa are able to escape. Due to working as her father's assistant, Lisa also knows about how to develop a hydrogen bomb so as to help America. This rather basic adventure story is the weakest of the issue, a rarity for Craig, who usually turned out very strong material.

"Brutal Capt. Bull!" - This story, which takes place during the 1700s, features a British man named Jeremiah Pringle who is brought aboard the ship H.M.S. Confidence against his will to be a crewmember. The ship is captained by the Captain Bull of the title, who beats Pringle and has him whipped when he demands to see him. Pringle swears that Captain Bull will regret this someday. As the months pass, Pringle becomes a strong crewmember. One day when a cannon rolls around the ship unsecured, Pringle is able to grab it and save Captain Bull. A couple of years pass and Pringle is discharged. Knowing that he is no longer bound to follow Captain Bull's rules, he goes to see him and beats him up. EC's revenge-style stories would often end with murder or some other gruesome fate, but in this case its just Captain Bull getting beat up by Pringle. An overall good story that would have fit at home in Piracy years later.