Well, an interesting fortnight!
I posted examples of Sam's work because I'm 'a huge fan'. I choose three that are somewhat obscure to bring them to wider attention.
It was circumstantial that 2 of them were from Charlton.
I'm only going to review Sam's work in these books.
Army War Heroes 22 [Introducing The Iron Corporal]https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=72297QQ said,
In fact, the Japanese had already bombed Darwin in Feb 1942.
Most Australians have no idea how close the Japanese came. They sank a Hospital ship off Brisbane and sailed midget submarines into Sydney Harbor and all shipping on the east coast had to be escorted.
Morgus said,
Q.Q. I know you don’t like war comics, but if you have to check them out, Sam’s work is considered some of the best in the genre. He actually served in the war and his experiences made it into his work. In softcover, U.S.S. STEVENS collects his D.C. stuff from OUR ARMY AT WAR.
Couple of things about that.
1/ DC never bothered to collect Sam's U.S.S. Stephen's work. I don't know the full story. Jim Shooter, during his term at Marvel, got Sam to redraw most of it and that work was published by Marvel.
A Sailor's Story / Marvel Graphic Novel #30 (March 1987), a 60-page true account, which he both wrote and drew, of his time on the U.S.S. Stevens during World War II.[16] Unusually for Marvel's graphic novel line, it was released in hardcover rather than as a trade paperback. A trade paperback edition followed, together with a sequel, A Sailor's Story, Book Two: Winds, Dreams, and Dragons, which continued the story up to the end of the war.[9]
He also did other war work for Marvel.
2/ U.S.S. Stephens is up there in my top ten of comic masterpieces. It was only a 2 or 3 page insert in Kanigher's War books. But! There were [to my recollection] few battles or warfare. Instead the stories were portraits of the everyday life of the crew and the ship.
3/. It was one of the few [the only?] regular comic strips that was autobiographcal.
The Iron Corporal - this was brought to my attention because there exists in Australia a black and white collection of all the Iron Corporal strips.
Otherwise I would have missed it, since browsing through Charlton's war books does not appeal.
I might find myself doing that to track down all of Sam's work.
Yes, it goes without saying that the Charlton production values - if that's the right word- detract from Sam's work, as they did for all the creators who worked for Charlton.
And I know his work is very individualistic and not to everybody's taste.
Personally, For this one I can forget the narrative and just look at the illustrations. Unlike some artists he does detailed backgrounds and environments. His anatomy is good and his faces expressive. There is life and energy in his work.
Sam did a lot of work for Charlton's War books. And two books for Dell,
COMBAT [which we have on CB+ and a book on Arial warfare I forget the name of and can't find when searching on CB+]
Same started his career in the golden age doing superheroes with his brother, but after returning from his national service never worked on Superheroes again. I think the war had a huge effect on his psyche. His work never glorifies war. Much of it is documentary - like
Combat - and focuses on the people and the traumas and heroics they went through.
Sam's work has always left a strong impression on me.
The story concerns a platoon whose mission is to find and destroy a nest of big guns firing on soldiers landing on the beach.
In the first four pages we get introduced to the characters and one dies suddenly and senselessly. Then another on page 5., The story has been entirely concerned with the very human protagonists and the real costs of war.
"We have to take some risks. How is this bloody war going to be won if we don't take risks?" The theme of a lot of Sam's War work.
I like the graphic detail of the last three pages. An abrupt ending - no happy wrap-up here.
The story is by Will Franz, not Sam. Anybody know anything about him?
