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.

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.

Two-Fisted Tales #41

Credits:
Cover dated February/March 1955
Cover by Jack Davis

"Code of Honor!" - Art by John Severin/Story by John Severin
"Mau Mau!" - Art by Bernie Krigstein/Story by ???
"Carl Akeley!" - Art by Wally Wood/Story by Jerry De Fuccio
"Yellow!" - Art by George Evans/Art by George Evans

Today I cover the final issue of Two-Fisted Tales. By this point in the comic's run, it had gone through another stylistic change and featured a variety of war, historical and adventure-type stories. It was a more interesting style than the John Severin/Colin Dawkins heavy presence that dominated the comic for the previous year. Unfortunately sales were not good and it ended up being the final issue.

"Code of Honor!" - A man named Stephen Graves Ashley is a deadly marksman. He is frequently in duels, for which he has never lost. This is largely because he takes offense at the most minor things and forces people to face him on in a duel. When a man named Benton calls Ashley a murderer, he challenges him to a duel. Ashley easily kills him in the duel, as well as another man who tried to convince Ashley to call off the duel and got called into a duel himself. Ashley later travels to Louisiana and encounters a Frenchman at a dance named Jean Le Poer whom he also challenges to a duel after he tries to step in during a dance with a young woman. Being in the New Orleans area, Ashley soon realizes that he will have to duel with swords instead of a gun. Ashley's cousin warns him about dueling Le Poer, which he ignores. Ashley quickly loses his duel to Le Poer and is killed, not knowing that he is the deadliest swordsman in France. A fairly interesting story to start the issue with a lead character who is easy to dislike. It is good to see him get the comeuppance in the end.

"Mau Mau!" - A pair of white men, McBan and Quantock are in Kenya, working on the filming of a movie. They recruit a member of the local Mau Mau tribe, Limuru, who acts as a consultant for them, and immediately pays dividends by killing a Mau Mau terrorist who approaches them. In the camp, they soon meet another Mau Mau tribesman, Hinga, who repairs their power generator for them. Limuru warns McBan and Quantock about Hinga, who he say swill do evil things. When one of the men is killed by a beast, Limuru tells McBan and Quantock that it was actually a Mau Mau ritual murder, and he blames Hinga. Hinga soon escapes. Limuru is used in a scene to play a Mau Mau oath giver, but when he does so, he riles up the Mau Mau tribesman for real, and they attack.  They are saved by the local military, which incidentally is led by Hinga. A so-so art job from Krigstein, and probably the weakest story of the issue, although its not bad.

"Carl Akeley!" - This story is a historical telling of certain events in the life of Carl Akeley. It starts with his childhood, and then moves into his time as a skilled explorer in Africa. During one incident he is charged upon by an elephant and slammed into the ground. He surprisingly survives despite his major injuries. During another expedition he is attacked by a leopard and manages to fight it off with his bare hands. The story ends revealing that his ultimate fate was dying due to a mosquito bite. Two-Fisted Tales featured a number of tales covering particular people from a historical perspective, and this story was similar in vein, but rather than focus on a particular major war figure, it featured an explorer. An interesting take, with some good art from Wood.

"Yellow!" - This story features a pair of plane pilots during World War I, Stone and Curry. Stone is consistently nervous while in flight and becomes a bit obsessed with outdoing Curry. This is particularly the case after Stone makes a call out of someone being yellow after the death of a fellow pilot. Stone becomes obsessed with matching and beating Stone. He soon surpasses Curry in kills, despite how frightened he is and then helps save Curry in battle. Afterwards when Curry thanks him, Stone says that his call out of him caused him to focus so heavily. It is then that Curry reveals that it wasn't Stone he was calling yellow, but himself. One of the better George Evans World War I plane stories, with some characters and a storyline more interesting than the typical historical fare.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Two-Fisted Tales #36

Credits:
Cover dated January 1954
Cover by John Severin

"Gunfire!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Colin Dawkins
"Battle!" - Art by Reed Crandall/Story by Colin Dawkins
"Justice!" - Art by John Severin/Story by John Severin & Colin Dawkins
"Dangerous Man!" - Art by John Severin & Bill Elder/Story by Colin Dawkins

This issue was the first of "The New" Two-Fisted Tales. Following the end of the Korean War, EC made changes to its war comics by cancelling Frontline Combat entirely and changing Two-Fisted Tales back to more of an adventure comic (which was the original intent of the comic before the start of the Korean war). This was also due to Kurtzman's increasing need to focus on Mad. While Kurtzman remained credited as editor, he stopped writing each story as he did in the past (and in fact had no more writing credits the rest of the run). A new writer, Colin Dawkins was brought aboard who wrote the vast majority of the stories for the next year of the comic. John Severin also became the dominant artist, and had a part in the artwork of every story for the next three issues following this one. Severin had become for all intents and purposes the editor of the comic at this point, even though it wasn't credited that way. I didn't particularly like the format change, especially the fact that nearly every story was drawn by John Severin. There just wasn't enough variety and EC must have agreed as there was another stylistic change for the final 2 issues

"Gunfire!" - At a town in the old west, four criminals rob a bank and murder the martial, Ben Slaughter. Ben's son, Jack, witnesses his death, and the man with a scar across his left cheek that killed him. Jack is sent back east by his aunt and uncle. A few years pass and Jack returns. Jack meets back up again with his aunt and uncle after encountering some criminals. Jack's uncle thinks he's in hiding. Jack tells his uncle he's been hired to go after a man named Regan, the toughest gunhand in town. Jack successfully kills Regan's colleagues when they come after him after demanding Regan shave his beard. His men dead. Regan does so, showing the scar across his left cheek. Jack reveals Regan is actually a criminal named Bill Guthrie who has a warrant on him and he was assigned to go after him by a Stockmen's Association. A old west fashioned decent story to kick off the new format in Two-Fisted Tales, albeit being a bit predictable with the ending.

"Battle!" - This story takes place in 55 B.C., and features Emperor Claudius Caesar leading the Roman troops to Britain. Caesar's troops sneak through the swamp at night and battle against the British troops, led by a man named Caractacus. The Romans are very successful due to the Elephants and Nubian tribesmen within their ranks. This story is based on a passage from Claudius the God by Robert Graves.

"Justice!" - A trio of men kill a native american man in order to steal his horse. One of the victim's tribemates spots what has happened. He returns to the tribe which demands war, but he insists that justice be served instead. The tribesmen put the corpse of the victim across the railroad tracks in a white man's clothes, causing the train to stop. Once it does, the native americans force themselves on the train and make it to head into the nearby fort. There they search for the trio of murders, killing those who get in the way. As soon as they kill the three, the attack is stopped and they leave. The native americans in this story don't kill everyone, but they still kill a bunch of people (half of those in the fort per the final panel), including many innocents in their attempts for 'justice', so it was still quite the brutal killing spree.

"Dangerous Man!" - A man comes to see someone named E.J. Coffey, aka "Ruby Ed". telling him he has a picture of Hee-Chin, a member of Red China's Intelligence Corps. Along the way however, he loses the picture and is shot, dying soon after being brought into Ruby Ed's house. Ruby Ed recalls a book in a nearby museum having a picture of Hee-Chin, so he heads there. He meets the curator, who is revealed to be a subordinate of Hee-Chin when Ruby Ed finds the book. The two battle with swords, with Ruby Ed coming out on top. As a result, Hee-Chin is apprehended. This story was the first appearance of Ruby Ed, who would appear in a number of Severin-drawn stories in Two Fisted Tales during the remainder of its run. Ruby Ed was one of the very few non-Ghoulunatic recurring characters that appeared during the New Trend. This is an average story at best, with a rather drawn out sword battle taking up much of the second half of the story.

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.

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.