Friday, June 27, 2014

Not what I was expecting, but war rarely is, I suppose.


I was excited to find this issue, since I thought it was the only new Sgt. Rock comic DC put out for over ten years in either direction. Actually, there was another special two years after this one--which I have--and they did a series of reprints around then, too. So, from 1992, Sgt. Rock Special #1, and the Walt Simonson cover proclaims "featuring the talents of P.Craig Russell, George Pratt, Michael Golden, Timothy Truman, Ron Wagner, Rags Morales, and a never-before-seen Rock story by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. There a bit of overhyping there: Russell just brings the title page, Morales a pin-up, and Golden writes his story for Wagner.

Moreover, Truman's story isn't Sgt. Rock, it's Gunner, Sarge, and Pooch of the Losers. Golden and Wagner have a dogfight that's not quite what it seems, and there's also a Sam Glanzman U.S.S. Stevens story that's brutally depressing. George Pratt does a World War I story from the trenches...that's also brutally depressing. Rock's story, then, features a Hollywood actress looking for a G.I. to be the poster boy for war bonds. Yeah, Rock isn't really up for that.

This story does feature the back of Rock's ass, though; and he kills a Nazi soldier while still naked. Maybe that's why this particular story didn't run in 1978.

3 comments:

SallyP said...

This sounds intriguing!

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Yeah this one really does, especially the WWI one and of course Sgt. Rock.
How depressing is the Uss Stevens one and why?

googum said...

Glanzman's story is about a sailor, who I think was on two different boats that went under, may have either been shell-shocked or outright brain damaged, and was later a bum in NYC set fire by a street gang. Not the feel-good hit of the summer, then.