The subject matter means that this volume won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but the art makes it well worth it for fans of war comics who can take a little weirdness in with it.Comic Stories: The Rival Flash!, Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt!, The Man Who Broke the Time Barrier!, The Secret of the Empty Box!, The Coldest Man on Earth!, Around the World in 80 Minutes!, Master of the Elements!, Giants of the Time-World!, The Man Who Changed the Earth!, Conqueror from 8 Million B.C. Only one female soldier is seen, and very briefly at that in a post-atomic war story. (On the other hand, there’s enough violence to make the “Make War No More” buttons that sometimes end the stories seem out of place.) There are some period ethnic slurs in a couple of the stories. The gore is also turned way down, unlike many current horror comics. The Comics Code, while loosened, was still in effect, so while rape and suicide are implied, they are never directly shown. Joe Kubert Out of Stock Fax from Sarajevo (New Edition) Joe Kubert 17.75 Abraham Stone Joe Kubert 17.61 Showcase Presents: Enemy Ace, Vol. The two most often used plots are “Corporal Bob saved your life? But he died last week!” and “Arrogant Nazis disregard local superstitions, die horribly.” A couple of standouts are Issue #11’s “October 30”, which is a series of interconnected stories taking place on that date in different years as Von Krauss seeks glory and promotion in more than one war and “The Warrior and the Witch Doctors!” which has a Roman legionary time traveling, but a unique twist ending changes everything. Joe Kubert (who also got to be an editor on this title), Russ Heath, Irv Novick and others are well-served by the black and white reprint. DC Presents is an omnibus reprint series presenting DC comics from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s in a black and white format. None of the stories in the first twenty-one issues are set in the Vietnam conflict the most recent war covered is the Korean War in one story, and even then not presented by name. For who knows the stories of war better? The majority of the stories are set in World War Two, both because the writers and artists had served in that conflict or were close to those that were, and because the sides were so clearly drawn. This switched around a few times, until the series settled on Death as the host of the book. Like many anthology comics, there was initially a framing device of a narrator telling the stories to a soldier and the reader. So a hybrid title was created that combined the two genres. At the same time, the once best-selling war comics were going into a slump, at least partially due to the real-life Vietnam War becoming increasingly unpopular. Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents: Weird War Tales Volume 1 edited by Joe Kubert & Joe OrlandoĪs I’ve mentioned in other reviews, the relaxation of the Comics Code in the early 1970s created a horror anthology boom at DC Comics.

Showcase Presents by Joe Kubert