Weird War Tale

Some things you don't see much of nowadays; war comics for starters, and even rarer, war comics written and drawn by legendary talents.
Lansdale is an award-winning novelist and short story writer, while Glanzman has as much history illustrating comics as five other artists put together.
Click on their names for more info, but first have a look at this:

By Joe R. Lansdale & Sam Glanzman
from WEIRD WAR TALES #2, July 1997












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Quite an interesting little genre-bender there, I thought. Not just a simple war story at all, it managed to work in a little romance and supernatural horror as well. Too bad that we don't see such well crafted short pieces very often. I seriously believe that most of the current hacks in the industry can't write any story that takes up less than twenty issues. They could learn from this.
Just my opinion, take it or leave it, folks.
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THIS THANKSGIVING

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that we have plenty of comics to read. I'm also thankful that we have brave men and women willing to stand up and fight for our country.

I guess I'm not so thankful that some of our family and friends might die today because of a stupid war. Hussein and Bin Laden are dead, why are we still there?

Political ranting aside, I hope all you internet people have a happy holiday, and if any of you are veterans or have family or friends in the services I love you, even if you're not a veteran or relative of one, may you all be safe and full of cranberry sauce and stuffing.

As you might have guessed, this is a holiday story that involves soldiers.

by Doug Murray and Wayne VanSant
from THE 'NAM #22, September, 1988






And on the other side of the war.....








.....and a happy Thanksgiving for all. Or so it would seem, since the war ain't nowhere near over at that point in 1967, it'd still go on for pointless years......sound familiar?

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WHAT IF...WEDNESDAY WITH JOHN SEVERIN

John Severin, legendary golden age comic artist, most well remembered for his long tenure with the now-defunct CRACKED mazagine, passed away on Sunday February 12th, 2012. He was ninety years old. During his career, he worked in almost every genre and style of comics, including his much-loved 'serious' artwork on the EC line, to his humorous 'caricature' style in the aforementioned CRACKED and other funny books.
Prior to his passing, he was amassing a whole new generation of fans for his work with the publisher DARK HORSE. He will be missed by all.
So....
No particular focus for this week's WHAT IF, just three alternate reality stories done by the legendary Mr. Severin.

What if comic heroes faced mandatory retirement?
What if the Silver Surfer weren't so serious?
What if Peter Porker was a journalist in Vietnam?

scans from:
WHAT THE--?! #2, September 1988
WHAT THE--?! #26, Fall 1993
ULTIMATE CIVIL WAR: SPIDER-HAM, March 2007










Next up is one of Severin's inking jobs. You'll notice that even when the pencils aren't his, he still makes the finished project one of his own. I'm not sure why that was, but I know that if you gave him nothing but sketchy stick figures, he'd still come back with some kind of awesome. Must've been nice for the pencillers, since they more often than not receive full credit for how the art looks once it's printed.
If you've ever seen Kevin Smith's film CHASING AMY, then you know that most people assume that inkers "just trace over other peoples drawing". Not true.









Finally, here's a weird alternate reality featuring (of all characters) Peter Porker aka SpiderHam. It's well known that Mr. Severin could draw anything and everything, but it's somewhat of a rarity to see him working in the funny animal genre. Which is one of the reasons I really like this sequence.
Also of note is that this is like a triple parody (it's a spoof of a movie and two different comics simultaneously).






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Shotgun Harker & Chicken Smith

Most of you have never heard of this pair of soldiers, yet they appeared in the pages of Charlton's Fightin' Marines for nearly two dozen issues, and had most of their stories reprinted at least once throughout the 70s and early 80s.
The setup is fairly simple: Sgt. 'Shotgun' Harker is the gung-ho, no-holds-barred, hardcore tough guy marine, and Pvt. Smith is, well, a little more reserved.

by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache
from FIGHTIN' MARINES #78, January 1968











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