American war comics Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre omnibus titles then popular as a format. Even prior to the
U.S. involvement in World War II after the
attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, comic books such as
Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941) depicted
superheroes fighting
Adolf Hitler and the
Nazis. Golden Age publisher
Quality Comics debuted its title
Blackhawk in 1944; the title was published more or less continuously until the mid-1980s. In the post-World War II era, comic books devoted solely to war stories began appearing and gained popularity in the United States and Canada through the 1950s, the 1960s, and 1970s, i.e. covering the time periods of the
Korean War and the
Vietnam War. The titles tended to concentrate on US military events, generally in
World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Most publishers produced
anthologies; industry giant
DC Comics' war comics included such long-running titles as
All-American Men of War,
Our Army at War,
Our Fighting Forces, and
Star Spangled War Stories. Another prolific publisher of war comics was
Charlton Comics, which produced a wide variety of titles beginning in the 1950s, such as
Battlefield Action, ''
Fightin' Army, and Fightin' Marines. Quality also began publishing G.I. Combat during this era. Marvel Comics also produced war titles, notably Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos''. In contrast to the typical glamorizing approach of most war titles, the
EC Comics titles
Frontline Combat and
Two-Fisted Tales (produced in the early 1950s) depicted the horrors of war realistically and in great detail, exposing what editor
Harvey Kurtzman saw as the truth about war without idealizing it. (The mid-1960s black-and-white comics magazine
Blazing Combat, produced by
Warren Publishing, was similarly devoted to authentically drawn and researched combat stories with a self-professed
anti-war slant.) Around 1959, several recurring characters began to appear in mainstream comic lines, including
Sgt. Rock and
The Haunted Tank in the DC line. These recurring characters began as regular "guests" of anthology titles such as
Our Army at War and later graduated to their own titles. Initially, the typical tone of the comics was largely simple action stories, but by the 1970s, the tone of the stories was often grim concerning the harsh realities of war and was fatalistic with the heroes more enduring their duty. In fact, the typical ending of the stories of that ere often ended with a message on a dot saying, "Make War No More'
End of the Silver Age By the late 1980s, a great number of venerable war titles (most of which were either anthologies or else World War II-themed titles) from the late 1950s and 1960s "
Silver Age of Comic Books" died out. War comics series that ended long runs in the 1980s, following publication of over 100 issues, include: •
Blackhawk (Quality/DC, 273 issues from 1944 to 1984) • ''
Fightin' Army'' (Charlton, 157 issues from 1956 to 1984) • ''
Fightin' Marines'' (Charlton, 163 issues from 1955 to 1984) •
Unknown Soldier (DC – a retitling of
Star Spangled War Stories that ran from 1952 to 1977, then continued as
The Unknown Soldier from 1977 to 1982, with number 268 the final issue). •
Weird War Tales (DC, 124 issues from 1971 to 1983) New titles were still appearing, however – notable among these being Marvel's ''
the 'Nam'', which debuted in 1987 and was based during the first year on writer
Doug Murray's actual Vietnam experiences (through the eyes of fictional character Ed Marks). Murray was surprised that his proposal for a Vietnam-war themed comic was accepted during this period: "I never expected anything to come of it because war books were already pretty much dead at that point in 1985." Another notable war comic focused on Vietnam was
Don Lomax's
Vietnam Journal, published by
Apple Comics from 1987 to 1991. Also from Marvel in the 1980s was the toy tie-in
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero which focused on a fictional counter-terrorist team in a contemporary setting and was advertised on television to take advantage of an advertising regulation loophole. There was also a limited run of
Tales of the Marine Corps, similar in tone and style to Charlton's ''Fightin' ''line of war anthologies.
British war comics Black and white anthology stories were popular in Britain in the 1960s and early 1970s. Examples include
Commando Comics and weekly comics such as
Battle Picture Weekly,
The Victor, and
Warlord. ==Reprints==