Today in Comics History, August 3: Happy birthday, Ernie Pyle!

Born on this day in 1900: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ernie Pyle, one of the greatest American journalist and famed for his reporting from the front of WWII.


cover of Real Heroes #16 (Parents' Magazine Press, October 1946)
Pyle is spotlighted in this biographical comic which tells how he worked alongside America's fighting forces and brought their news and stories back home. Much like cartoonist Bill Mauldin, he was respected for writing from the soldier's point of view.





from "G.I.'s Best Friend" in Real Heroes #16, pencils and inks by Sam Glankoff



He was also an advocate for the fighting forces, writing about their predicaments and influencing change in the policies of the US Army.


Pyle was played by Burgess Meredith in a movie biography, adapted for comics here:





from "Ernie Pyle's Story of G-I Joe" in Picture News #2 (Lafayette Street, February 1946), creators unknown
Ernie Pyle was killed in action in the Pacific a mere couple of weeks before VE Day.

I highly recommend checking out one of the many compilations of his frontline reporting from a day when journalism truly made a difference.


from The Newsboy Legion and the Boy Commandos Special #1 one-shot (DC, October 2017); script, pencils, and inks by Howard Chaykin; colors by Wil Quintana; letters by Ken Bruzenak
Happy birthday, Ernie!