ShareThisTo say that I enjoyed the new hardback reprinting of "Blazing Combat" is an understatement. I didn't just read it -- I inhaled it like oxygen.
For those of you who have never heard of it, "Blazing Combat" was a black-and-white, Time-sized comics magazine put out by Warren Publishing in 1965 and 1966. It lasted just four issues, which wasn't due to lack of quality. Its run was truncated because it focused on the human costs and emotional ramifications of war, instead of the simplistic jingoism found in regular comics at the time.
That ticked off the U.S. military (which denied Warren access to military newsstands) and the American Legion (which pressured distributors to deny access to regular newsstands). Starved of distribution, sitting on loading docks with no destination, "Blazing Combat" died a quick death.
But this editorial approach -- and the ensuing commercial punishment -- wasn't new; it had happened before. "Blazing Combat" was following in the tradition of the legendary EC Comics, still described by some as the best comics ever made.
EC published "Frontline Combat" and "Two-Fisted Tales" in the early '50s, anthology war comics that told stories from all of history's wars with both a human face and a fanatical accuracy. But those two famous books -- like most of EC's line -- were wiped out by the draconian Comics Code of 1954. Today all that's left of EC is Mad (which escaped by becoming a magazine) and fond memories.
But those memories have cast a long shadow on American comics -- and on Warren Publishing in particular, which tried to re-create the EC horror line with magazines like "Creepy" (1964-85) and "Eerie" (1965-83). Those sold well enough in the mid-1960s to try to re-create EC's war comics as well, which resulted in "Blazing Combat."
And, for the most part, they did. Publisher James Warren hired many veteran EC artists, including Reed Crandall, George Evans, Russ Heath, Joe Orlando, John Severin, Angelo Torres, Alex Toth, Al Williamson and Wally Wood. Some new names, like Gene Colan and Gray Morrow, fit in well and became legends in their own right.
But another newcomer was probably the most important part of the formula. Archie Goodwin free-lanced for Warren Publishing while an assistant art director at, of all places, Redbook magazine. But his native talent was astonishing. He contributed a story to the first issue of "Creepy," advanced to story editor by issue No. 4, and began running the Warren show creatively in short order. He was the editor of "Blazing Combat" while also writing all but two of the 30 stories in the magazine's run -- and was co-writer on one of those.
In 1965-66, I was too young to buy "Blazing Combat" when it first debuted, assuming any copies made it to the Captain's hometown of Mount Prospect, Ill. So I've been waiting more than 40 years to see it.
And when I did, I felt like a missing part of my hobby had fallen into place. I read the entire hardback at a sitting, including interviews in the back with Warren and Goodwin explaining the distribution problems described above. "Blazing Combat" was like water to a man dying of thirst. In fact, I think I may have absorbed these stories directly through my pores, by osmosis. Yes, these stories are that good.
"Blazing Combat" -- volume one and only -- will be out May 1. Need I add it's highly recommended?
Elsewhere:
Boom editor in chief Mark Waid's new book posits the story of a Superman-type character (The Plutonian) who becomes his world's worst super-villain. The first issue of "Irredeemable," out April 1, is chilling -- or perhaps the opposite, given how many characters are incinerated by heat vision.
It also seems to be the logical extension of a theme Waid, author of "Kingdom Come" and "Empire," has been playing with for some time:
"In superhero comics, pretty much everyone who's called upon to put on a cape is, at heart, emotionally equipped for the job," Waid said. "I reject that premise. 'Irredeemable' is, in a way, my third and most complex chapter on the cost of superheroics -- a pulp adventure tale of horror exploring how the lessons we learn about right and wrong as children can become warped and twisted when challenged by the realities of the adult world."
In the first issue, The Plutonian viciously murders a Batman-like character, who presumably was his best friend. I certainly wouldn't want to be the Jimmy Olsen or Lois Lane of this world!
(Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics(at)aol.com or visit www.captaincomics.us.)
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