Aw, man, Death's bookshelves are better organized than mine.

Another batch of shorts today, from 1980, Weird War Tales #91. Cover by Joe Kubert. Intro page by Romeo Tanghal.

"The Fire Down Below" is set a dark period of American history: firebombing Japan towards the end of WW II. (It was arguably excessive: Japan was by and large done by that point, although its leadership might not have thrown in the towel yet.) A gung-ho and unsympathetic pilot butts heads with his pacifist navigator, but both die after they bomb a young Japanese boy, who had survived an earlier firebombing and had developed firestarting powers of his own. (Sunfire?) No one learns anything, and the narrator Death is like, yeah, that'll happen. (Written by J.M. DeMatteis, art by Ernesto Patricio.)

"The Miracle of the Catacombs" is slightly more cheery; as a band of Italian soldiers have about had it with the war and their Nazi "allies." They're about to surrender to the Allies, when the Nazis stop and then turn on them. The Italians escape into the catacombs, with one staying behind to cover their retreat. He looks like a goner, but is saved by the rising Roman skeletons, who slaughter the Nazis, ala Tombs of the Blind Dead, except friendlier and chattier. (Written by Robert Bernstein, art by Dick Ayers and Dan Adkins.)

I had to stick in Wikipedia for this next one, as it's a six-page speedrun of Harold Godwinson, last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England. Spoiler alert: his reign would not be a long one. ("Conquer or Die!" Written by Bob Haney, art by Tom Sutton.)

The issue closes with a future war story, post-nuclear apocalypse; which felt almost like a fair accompli, a done deal then. In this one, radioactive mutants were "2nd Class Citizens," forced to fight by cruel, Roman-centurion looking thugs. But this batch plots against the overseer, through his unborn son...who's born a mutant, you see it coming, yeah. (Written by Paul Kupperberg, art by Dick Ayers and John Celardo.)