Remembrance.

Panels from Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #9 (April 2015), script by Robbie Morrison, pencils and inks by Daniel Indro, colors by Slamet Musjiono, letters by Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt

Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere

Today we salute all veterans of the military forces, from wartime and peacetime. Here's some cartoons by the great Bill Maudlin, vividly portraying World War II Army life.





"Willie and Joe" cartoons, reprinted in Willie and Joe: The WWII Years (Fantagraphics, 2008)
"Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause." — Abraham Lincoln

For once Lois Lane has the right idea...

Please remember and salute your veterans today! And take them to a movie, or out to lunch at a fancy diner, or wherever it is that Lois is taking them.


Cover of Superman #29 (July-August 1944), pencils by Wayne Boring, inks by George Roussos (?)
Also, please try to ignore the looming giant figure of Superman on the horizon.

365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 315: Heroes to remember

House ad for Boy Commandos #1 (Winter 1942-1943); printed in World's Finest Comics #29 (July-August 1947)
Comic cover art: pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Simon
And that "new 'surprise feature' that'll have you cheering for more and more"? Well, your mileage may vary, because it's the debut story of Liberty Belle...


Panel from the Liberty Belle story in Boy Commandos #1 (Winter 1942-1943), script by Don Cameron, pencils and inks by Chuck Winter
...the heroine who keeps lotsa stuff in her pockets!

Please, do keep cheering for more and more!

In the company of heroes

Panels from Mythos: Captain America one-shot (August 2008), script by Paul Jenkins, painted art by Paolo Rivera, letters by Joe Caramagna

365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 318

Scheduled for Veteran's Day last Friday, but postponed until today because of "Tales from Volstagg" Week:


Panels from Journey into Mystery #630 (December 2011 ), script by Kieron Gillen, pencils and inks by Richard Elson, colors by Jessica Kholinne, letters by Clayton Cowles

Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget

Panels from "A Flower for Farmer-Boy" in All Out War #2 (November-December 1979), script by Murray Boltinoff, pencils and inks by Lee Elias

Veteran's Day (A Ben Grimm Bonus)

Salute and thank your veterans...all veterans...today!

Panel from Marvel Two-in-One #77 (July 1981), script by Tom DeFalco, pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Chic Stone, colors by George Roussos, letters by Michael Higgins
(Click picture to American-hero-size)

Friday Night Fights: The Real Fighters

We're comic book fans. We like our heroes strong-hearted, our adventures high-spirited, and our fights big, bold, and bombastic:


And there's nothing wrong with that.

But tonight I want to focus on a different kind of fighter. A different kind of fight. A different breed of hero. The real ones.

Cartoons from Up Front by Bill Mauldin (1945)

Sunday is Veterans Day (observed this year on Monday, November 12). Not just a holiday off or a day the banks and post offices are closed. It's a day to remember, honor, and salute America's fighting men and women who have protected and battled...and many have died...for our rights and lives, in our World Wars and other conflicts.


Much as we'd like to picture it, Captain America and the Invaders didn't win wars. Nor was it muscled-ripped, gung-ho Sergeants Rock or Fury. It was the fighting forces of America and her allies, soldiers like Bill Mauldin's war-weary, unshaven Willie and Joe...the quintessential WWII G. I. Joes. The Real American Heroes.


In the best traditional of editorial cartooning, Mauldin's "tell it like it is" cartoon reporting straight from the frontline infuriated General George Patton for daring to portray the troops as anything but clean-shaven, well-turned-out, battle-professional soldiers. Mauldin had his champion in Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower, however, who overruled Patton. The cartoons—and Mauldin—were great favorites of the military men and women for portraying the battlefield as it happens to be: grim, muddy, unglamorous, and black-humored.


Salute and honor these men and women, veterans not just WWII but of all America's wars, on Monday—and every day. They never fought Darkseid or Doctor Doom. They never teamed up with Captain America or the Justice Society. But they fought the good fight.


Bahlactus's Friday Night Fights.