Random Happenstance

I'm getting on in years--this stupid blog is probably older than some comics readers now--and I've been reading random comics for long before that; but it does my bitter heart good that I can still pick up an old war comic outta the quarter bin and not get one I've read before! Unless I read it and forgot, since my mind has started to slip its gears...or if it wasn't that memorable. Oh, let's just do this thing. From 1981, G.I. Combat #233. 52 pages, two Haunted Tank stories, four others, and some shorts; should be something in there.

In "The Crew That Would Not Die," the crew of the Haunted Tank both has to use a different tank--a Pershing--and is haunted by different ghosts, the late crew of said Pershing; who repeatedly warn "get the tiger that murdered us...or we'll never rest...and neither will you!" Brass tasks them with destroying a German missile base, and they encounter several proverbial 'tigers' on their way there. The 'base' is an underground train, launching missiles from camouflaged ports, then moving on to another; which is both clever but also probably super-impractical? I don't watch enough war documentaries--I'm not that old--so I don't know if the Nazis ever really tried that one. (Written by Robert Kanigher, pencils by Sam Glanzman, inks by Dick Ayers.)

"Flower for a Firing Squad" is an OSS spy story, with the daughter of Mata Hari raised to be a spy but turning against the murderous Nazis. (Written by Kanigher, art by E.R. Cruz.) "The Dummy G.I.'s" both features a common war comic trope--characters told they couldn't fight for whatever reason, then rising to the occasion when given the chance--and the punchline's lifted from Bookkeeper in a Whorehouse! (Story by Arnold Drake, art by Gerry Talaoc.) "Homecoming for a Fighting Gurkha" has a similarly benched third-generation soldier: he wants to live up to his predecessors, but his mom would love it if maybe he wasn't killed like the rest of them, so his commanding officer only uses him as a messenger. Of course that doesn't last long, and the end is a grim compromise. (Written by Kanigher, art by Tenny Henson.)

Lastly, in "Between Two Flags," General Stuart warns Jeb the Haunted Tank would be fired on by two flags before the day was over: is that from a fortune cookie? Maybe some useful intel next time...but, first they're shot at by a pretty German nurse defending her wounded charges, then by an American plane after they agree to get the wounded to the German lines before they die! (The American pilot missed, and does apologize!) The nurse thought the German officers would show the same consideration Jeb had; but that's a hard nein. For the moment: one Panzer commander is like, hey, we're not all jerks, sorry about that guy, and lets them go. (Again written by Robert Kanigher, pencils by Sam Glanzman, inks by Dick Ayers.) 

I felt like this was past the war comic's heyday, but G.I. Combat would continue for another 55 issues and about six years from this one. So still plenty of them out there to stumble across!