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''Blazing Combat'' was an American
war-comics War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II. History American war comics Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began incl ...
magazine published quarterly by
Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include '' After Hours'', '' Creepy'', '' Eerie'', '' F ...
from 1965 to 1966. Written and edited by Archie Goodwin, with artwork by such industry notables as
Gene Colan Eugene Jules Colan (; September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)Eugene Colan
at the
,
Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He i ...
,
John Severin John Powers Severin (; December 26, 1921 – February 12, 2012) was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat''; for Marvel Comics, ...
,
Alex Toth Alexander Toth (June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout ...
, and
Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...
, it featured war stories in both contemporary and period settings, unified by a humanistic theme of the personal costs of war, rather than by traditional
men's-adventure Men's adventure is a literary genre, genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically fea ...
motifs.


Publication history

Following the success of
Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include '' After Hours'', '' Creepy'', '' Eerie'', '' F ...
's black-and-white horror-comics magazine ''
Creepy Creepiness is the state of being wikt:creepy, creepy, or causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or wikt:unease, unease. A person who exhibits creepy behaviour is called a creep. Certain traits or hobbies may make people seem creepy to others. The ...
'' in 1964, publisher James Warren expanded into
war fiction A war novel or military fiction is a novel about war. It is a novel in which the primary action takes place on a battlefield, or in a civilian setting (or home front), where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, suffering the ...
the following year with the short-lived ''Blazing Combat''. The black-and-white, 64-page ''Blazing Combat'' ran four quarterly issues, cover-dated October 1965 to July 1966, and, like ''Creepy'', carried a 35-cent cover price.''Blazing Combat''
at
Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...
 Warren was inspired by the humanistic drama in editor
Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...
's
EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950 ...
titles ''
Frontline Combat ''Frontline Combat'' is an anthology war comic book written and edited by Harvey Kurtzman and published bi-monthly by EC Comics. The first issue was cover dated July/August, 1951. It ran for 15 issues over three years, and ended with the Januar ...
'' (1951-1954) and ''
Two-Fisted Tales ''Two-Fisted Tales'' is an anthology war comic published bi-monthly by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title originated in 1950 when Harvey Kurtzman suggested to William Gaines that they publish an adventure comic. Kurtzman became the editor o ...
'' (1950-1955), saying in 1999, "I thought what Harvey had done for C publisher
Bill Gaines William Maxwell Gaines (; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992), was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically import ...
should have separated in some way from the EC horror comics. Harvey's early work was the inspiration for ''Blazing Combat''. I told Harvey ''Blazing Combat'' editorial was not going to be pro-war or blood and guts. It was going to be anti-war...." Despite that inspiration, Kurtzman, at the time editor of Warren's satirical magazine ''
Help! ''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles " Help!" and " Ticket to Ride", ...
'', was not involved with ''Blazing Combat.'' The magazine's editor, Archie Goodwin, recalled that, Goodwin wrote all but one of the series' 29 stories, co-writing two with each story's respective artist. The generally six- to eight-page tales were illustrated by such EC war-story veterans as
John Severin John Powers Severin (; December 26, 1921 – February 12, 2012) was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat''; for Marvel Comics, ...
,
Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...
— two of the primary ''Frontline Combat'' contributors — George Evans,
Russ Heath Russell Heath Jr. (September 29, 1926 – August 23, 2018), was an American artist best known for his comic book work, particularly his DC Comics war stories and his 1960s art for ''Playboy'' magazine's "Little Annie Fanny" feature. He also prod ...
, and
Alex Toth Alexander Toth (June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout ...
, as well as by EC horror/
sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...
artists Reed Crandall and
Joe Orlando Joseph Orlando (April 4, 1927 – December 23, 1998) was an Italian American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher of '' Mad'' and the vice president of DC Comics, ...
. Other illustrators included
Gene Colan Eugene Jules Colan (; September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)Eugene Colan
at the
,
Al Williamson Alfonso Williamson (March 21, 1931 – June 12, 2010) was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western, science fiction and fantasy. Born in New York City, he spent much of his early childhood in ...
,
Gray Morrow Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow (March 7, 1934 – November 6, 2001).e., the Gilberton Company, publisher of the ''Classics Illustrated'' comic-book series of literary adaptations], and I was given a script. One thing led to another and I was soo ...
, and
Angelo Torres Angelo Torres (born April 14, 1932, in Santurce, Puerto Rico) is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many noteworthy comic books, as well as a long-running regular illustrator for '' Mad''. EC Comics Torres was f ...
. All four covers were paintings by
Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He i ...
. "Give and Take", from issue #4, took artist Russ Heath six weeks to draw, using himself as the model for every member of the squad of soldiers. While most stories took place during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the settings ranged from the
Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the ...
to the present day. Some dealt with historical figures, such as
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
general Benedict Arnold and his pre-traitorous victory at the Battle of Saratoga (issue #2, Jan. 1966), while "Foragers" (issue #3, April 1966) focused on a fictitious soldier in General
William T. Sherman William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
's devastating March to the Sea during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
. "Holding Action" (issue #2), set on the last day of the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, ended with a gung-ho young soldier, unwilling to quit, being escorted over his protests into a medical vehicle. The final panel leaves ambiguous whether the trauma will be temporary or lasting. The most controversial stories were set during the contemporary
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, particularly "Landscape" (issue #2), which follows the thoughts of a Vietnamese peasant rice-farmer devoid of ideology, who nonetheless becomes a civilian casualty. Warren said the story caused key distributors to stop selling the title. Additional .


Early cancellation

The premiere issue of ''Blazing Combat'' reached newsstands in mid-1965, during a troop-escalation period years before American public sentiment would turn against the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. Publisher James Warren said that, from the beginning, wholesale magazine distributors cautioned him that the magazine's anti-war stance presented a sales obstacle. As Warren recalled in a 1999 interview, " re is my distributor, saying, 'Uh oh! Wait until our wholesalers — many of them belonging to the American Legion — see this!' They found out very fast that it was anti-war". Warren said the second issue's Vietnam-set story "Landscape", by writer Goodwin and artist Orlando, solidified wholesalers' stance against the magazine. According to Warren, the American Legion began a campaign to let the magazine sit on distributor shelves rather than be sent to the buying public. The armed forces, which were at the time a major purchaser of B&W comic magazines, began to refuse to sell ''Blazing Combat'' on their bases or PXs, due to its perceived anti-war stance. Warren said in 1999 that In a 1993 interview, Warren said that distributors generally did not communicate with him as to why the series was not selling:
And the story that I got back was that the American Legion, which was very much gung ho for Vietnam or any conflict involving American boys at that time, looked on us and saw us as traitors to our own country And I think that happened with the second issue. The sales were terrible. They were terrible with the third and, of course, they were terrible with the fourth. And no one would tell me the truth. Our national distributor didn't care enough to delve into it. The people who were responsible didn't have the courage to write me a letter, or telephone me, or tell me to my face at the conventions I attended — the distributing conventions or whatever — that I was un-American and that I was doing a shameful thing. It was done ''sub rosa''. That's about the way it happened.


Critical assessment

Critic Jason Sacks, in his review of the book ''The Warren Companion'', refers to ''Blazing Combat'' as "the finest war comics since the EC days", while comic-book historian Richard Arndt assesses ''Blazing Combat'' as, "Probably the best war comic ever published". Writer and critic Steve Stiles, in an overview of writer-editor Archie Goodwin's career, said, "The stories were both gritty and realistic ... showing the true horror of war". Additional .


Reprints

*''Blazing Combat'' (Warren Publishing, 1978) :: Trade paperback reprinting 17 black-and-white stories and all four color covers *Cover of ''
Creepy Creepiness is the state of being wikt:creepy, creepy, or causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or wikt:unease, unease. A person who exhibits creepy behaviour is called a creep. Certain traits or hobbies may make people seem creepy to others. The ...
'' #89 (June 1977) ::Cover of ''Blazing Combat'' #1 (This issue of the horror anthology contained war stories) *''Creepy'' #139 (July 1982) ::"Survival" (''Blazing Combat'' #3): Art by
Alex Toth Alexander Toth (June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout ...
*''Creepy'' #142 (Oct. 1982) ::"Night Drop!" (''Blazing Combat'' #4): Art by
Angelo Torres Angelo Torres (born April 14, 1932, in Santurce, Puerto Rico) is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many noteworthy comic books, as well as a long-running regular illustrator for '' Mad''. EC Comics Torres was f ...
::"Kasserine Pass" (''Blazing Combat'' #2): Art by Angelo Torres & Al Williamson *''Blazing Combat: Vietnam and Korea'' (1993), #1–2 ( Apple Comics) ::Reprints of ''Blazing Combat'' stories set in Vietnam and Korea. *''Blazing Combat: World War I and World War II'' (1994), #1–2 (Apple Comics) ::Reprints of ''Blazing Combat'' stories set during the two World Wars. *''Blazing Combat'' ( Fantagraphics Books, 2009) ::Hardcover reprinting all four issues in their entirety


References


Further reading

*


External links

*{{cite news, last=Dean, first=Michael, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822061154/http://www.tcj.com/253/n_warren.html, archivedate=August 22, 2008, title=The Vampirella Wars: The Untold Story of James Warren's Custody Battle with Harris Comics, publisher=(Excerpt), The Comics Journal, number=253, date=June 2003, url=http://www.tcj.com/253/n_warren.html, url-status=dead Additional . 1965 comics debuts Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1965 Magazines disestablished in 1966