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[MarkWarner]

I think I can safely say that last week's book was judged a tedious failure by most of us. So let's hope this week's book is better. I have had a couple of messages along the lines of "let's have more silver-age comics". So I plumped for a recent addition. Submarine Attack #40 can be found at https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=57899, and the story we are concentrating on is the first one "Tiger Trask of the Killer Whale".

If anyone has silver-age or indeed any reading book suggestions, please give me a shout!

[Morgus]

I liked it...nice little war comic of it's time...they should have placed the sub story as the first story, it had the best art, though. But holy smoke, that ad... a LIVE delivered monkey in the mail? PLEASE tell me that was a con game and that the little guys weren't really hauled through the postal system...

[crashryan]

They were real monkeys, all right. This article: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18236 includes a first-hand account by a guy who ordered one. I was surprised to see how long these ads ran--well into the 1970s.

Apparently there was another monkey-related ad which WAS a scam, the "free miniature monkey" from Dean Studios. It was a prize which was never won (and never even existed). Story halfway down this page: http://mentalfloss.com/article/30420/11-shameless-comic-book-ads-cost-us-our-allowance-money

[Morgus]

wow, thanks for the articles, crashryan. The whole thing just blew my mind. I was telling a pal at work and they told me it could be worse.
"How?" I asked.
"Jim Jones? People's Temple? Remember the mass suicides? Well, he used to sell them door to door in Ohio. Imagine how you'd feel if you bought one from him."

But getting back to Submarine Attack...anybody else notice how the one guy with the beard looked like Keanu Reeves?
By the way, something I never thought about until just now...I'm guessing WWII stories are the all time champ when it comes the genre. I wonder if USSR vs USA ever caught up during the Cold War. (How could you tell, huh?)

[SuperScrounge]

Tiger Trask of the Killer Whale - Not bad. Although the final panel is depressing.

Rendezvous - A bit better than the first one.

The Poem That Won A Battle - Now this was good. Wonder if there's any truth to it?

The Big Answer... - Interesting.

Overall not bad.

[narfstar]

A very typical Joe Gill Charlton war story. Nothing particulary special but enjoyable non the less.

[crashryan]

I've read hundreds of Charlton war stories and these are par for the course. It's hard to like Charlton war stories. They always read like first drafts. They probably were, given Joe Gill's legendary output. The basic ideas are sometimes okay, but the scripts ramble and suffer from lack of thought. For instance in "Tiger Trask of the Killer Whale" there's no killer whale to be seen, Trask's sub is called the "Gimple" (which isn't any kind of fish I've heard of). Another example is the last story. The Commies roll out their super-duper modern sub to challenge the American super-duper modern sub, but the Americans best them using exactly the same pre-modern trick they used three pages earlier on an un-super-duper sub: they send out frogmen to mess with the propellers.

I'm struck by how belligerent Charlton war stories were compared to their competition. Even before the "Make War No More" era Kanigher's DC stories humanized the characters somewhat, even the enemy. While there were plenty of explosions and buda-buda-buda the overall level of mayhem in DC stories was restrained. Gill wrote 1940's-style stories: interchangeable good guys, caricatured bad guys, and high body counts. Typical is the way that Charlton continued to use the term "Japs" long after other publishers had abandoned it.

"Tiger Trask" reads like the beginning of a series. I wonder if that's the reason for the startling final panel. The editor decided to make the story a one-shot and pasted a one-panel wrap-up over a "Tiger returns next issue!" ending. This might also account for the peculiar penultimate panel. One expects some kind of dialogue here. Maybe the original speech set up the series and the editor just dumped the balloon. It's hard to tell. All this might simply be the result of Gill's inattention to detail.

The story was pencilled by Bill Montes. The anonymous ink job does him no favors, accentuating Montes' shortcomings and covering up his strengths. Bill Montes was no A-list artist,  but I kind of like him. He was usually teamed up with Ernie Bache, whose mannered inks sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. The final product seems to have depended upon how much time each man put into the job. The last story with Bache inks sure looks better than the first.

I don't know who pencilled the second story, but he didn't need Vince Colletta's inks to make his art second-rate. The last two pages offer a laughable demonstration of how to avoid the unpleasant effort of drawing what you're told.

I didn't read the text story. However I did read the ads. Gee, I wish I owned that fine set of luggage for only $2.98!

[narfstar]

I think Charlton wanted to give the old fashioned short generic story of the past. I think there were those who did not want the Sgt Fury or Sgt Rock type character driven war stories. I think that type became fewer and fewer and Charlton had to join in with Iron Corporel, Willy Shutz, etc

[Mazzucchelli]

War comics were never my cup of tea to be honest, but when I saw this week

[SuperScrounge]

Mazzucchelli, stay away from Eastern Colors' Heroic Comics nonfiction war stories. They're almost all horrible. A possible exception is IIRC issue 25, but that might have simply seemed better in comparison. I'm not sure if that issue had different writer(s) than the rest or if the usual writer(s) were high on cough syrup.

Quality's Blackhawk stories could be fun, but some might argue that they aren't true war comics, but a hero comic in time of war.

Lightning Comics' Super Green Beret stories are basically Superman/Captain Marvel slumming in the war genre.

I think that's all the war comics I've read on this site.

[bowers]

I read a lot of war comics as a lad and was a bit of a Charlton fan. DC had good characterizations and excellent art, but often the stories were downright ridiculous. Such as the swabbie throwing his broom at an attacking Zero and bringing it down. So help me, I even read one where Sgt. Rock and Easy Co. attacked a Tiger tank with bayonets- and blew it up! The explanation was that the bayonets grinding into the tank slits caused sparks which set off the ammo inside. I never bought another Sgt. Rock.
Charlton usually had  slightly cruder art and writing, but they had a charm of their own. Stories were short and to the point and covered theaters and historic themes no other comics did. Also had a much better quantity and variety of titles.
This issue wasn't the best example of Submarine Attack, but wasn't that bad. The Tiger Trask story was actually pretty good, if just a touch over the top. Looked like a lot of Glanzman swipes, but the art was ok.
And a good ending.
So, we got our Pacific Theater, our Atlantic Theater, and our Sneaky Commie stories. A decent mix which I enjoyed.
War comics are like western comics- you either like them or you don't. I do. Cheers, Bowers

[MarkWarner]

So let's start with the first story. "Tiger Trask of the Killer Whale". Well it's a good start. Bare-chested Trask is throwing a Princess style tissy-fit. I have been told about "those Navy Chaps" before:

"Don't laugh, Sailor! I'm Tiger Trask - the Japs don't think I'm funny any more!"

I am sorry but my juvenile humor has just had a field day. Page 11 top panel shows two rather startled Japanese soldiers in the shower with the caption:

"Tiger Trask, to continue his activities so close to the Jap home islands, had to strike hard and in unexpected places".

Ok that one is finished, complete with a slightly less than realistic piratical approach to commanding a submarine. Also, I am not sure that any of the crew of USS Gimple would think that ending up lying on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean was in anyway a happy ending. I am guessing that they'd say it was the reverse.

I am not sure about the Wildcat Miniature Oil Well advertised on our page 15. It is not a kit, comes fully made (apart from you having to insert a battery). You can "speed up or slow down the pumping action at will thanks to the rheostat located on the pumping platform." Wow, back in the day that would have kept me occupied for quite a few minutes maybe even 5? Now I'd love to have it on my shelf!

The next story, Rendezvous is a little bit more believable, but I couldn't concentrate as my mind was still buzzing over the oil well. The two-page text story is rather a silly, but very readable tale. The jury is still out on this book, but that did the verdict no harm!

O NO!!! "the commies had turned their biggest brains, both home-grown and captured Nazi scientists, to work on this ... ". Um, I think that the Nazi scientists left after Uncle Sam had his pick were fairly average bunsen-burner lighters and test-tube cleaners!

The advertisement for a:

"Darling Live Pet Monkey - $19.95 live delivery guaranteed ... eats same food as you"

is a sharp reminder of mainstream attitudes just a few years ago. As for "easily keeping" sea horses in a goldfish bowl, I think this might be a also be a rather large "porkie pie".

I like the way that the "Commie" commanders are sweaty bullies, whereas the US commanders earn their crews respect in the ring or by being daring! What is it with the "M"s in the last story, they look back to front "N"s or something. The book is now read after the Kings' Knight back page advertisement. Another bit of tat I'd love to see.

Verdict: Just about a hit. I don't think I could read too many of these (maybe one more), before giving a thumbs down. Not being American I have never had problems with Reds living under my bed. To be honest there are a great many scarey things lurking under there, but I am pretty sure there are no Commies.