''The War that Time Forgot'' was a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

feature published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

beginning in 1960 in the title '' Star Spangled War Stories'', created by

Robert Kanigher Robert "Bob" Kanigher (; June 18, 1915 – May 7, 2002)Social Security Death Index, social security #116-07-5117. was an American comic book writer and editor whose career spanned five decades. He was involved with the Wonder Woman franchise for ...

Ross Andru Ross Andru (; born Rostislav Androuchkevitch, June 15, 1927 – November 9, 1993) Part 1: Animation: We Leave the Army", p. 21. In 1948, Andru's first professional work as a comic strip illustrator was drawing layouts for the ''Tarzan (comics), T ...

and Mike Esposito. It ran for eight years, ending in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

and returned as a limited series in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. Featuring a combination of

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

and

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 opposin ...

comic motifs, the stories featured a group of American soldiers, stranded on an uncharted island during the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

which they discover is populated by

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s. This location was later named Dinosaur Island.

Publication history

''The War that Time Forgot'' was created by writer/editor

and artists

and Mike Esposito in ''Star Spangled War Stories'' #90 (May 1960). They continued to compose most of the stories during the comic's run. During its time, it was the main feature of the title. The title and some of the premises might have been influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs's '' The Land That Time Forgot'', in which soldiers and sailors of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

are stranded on a dinosaur-haunted land near

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. The protagonists of the early adventures were not usually recurring, but a few of them appeared more than once. Among them are two soldiers named Larry and Charlie (''Star Spangled War Stories'' #90, 92), the airborne brothers Henry, Steve and Tommy Frank a.k.a. "The Flying Boots" (''Star Spangled War Stories'' #99–100, 104–105), early prototypes of the G.I. Robot (''Star Spangled War Stories'' #101–103, 125) members of the original

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

(''Star Spangled War Stories'' #110–111, 116–121, 125, 127–128), sailors PT and Prof (''Star Spangled War Stories'' #110–111) and the flying ace called "The Brother with No Wings" (''Star Spangled War Stories'' #129, 131). The series ran in ''Star Spangled War Stories'' from issues #90-137 (although issues #91, 93 and 126 did not feature ''The War That Time Forgot'' stories). The final story was in the Feb.-March

issue of ''Star Spangled War Stories''; afterwards, the

Enemy Ace ''Enemy Ace'' (german: Feindliches Ass) is a DC Comics property about the adventures of a skilled but troubled German anti-hero and flying ace in World War I and World War II, Hans von Hammer, known to the world as "The Hammer of Hell". Debutin ...

, a German

pilot, became the focus of the book and the dinosaur storyline was retired. In 1973, some of these stories were reprinted in ''Four Star Battle Tales'' #3 and ''G.I. War Tales'' #1 and 2. ''The War That Time Forgot'' re-appeared in the October

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

issue (#195) of ''

G.I. Combat ''G.I. Combat'' was an American comics anthology featuring war stories. It was published from 1952 until 1956 by Quality Comics, followed by DC Comics until its final issue in 1987. In 2012 it was briefly revived. Publication history The focu ...

'', featuring the

Haunted Tank The Haunted Tank is a comic book feature that appeared in the DC Comics anthology war title ''G.I. Combat'' from 1961 through 1987. Publication history The Haunted Tank was created by writer and editor Robert Kanigher and artist Russ Heath in ...

. In the 1980s, DC briefly revisited ''The War that Time Forgot'' in a run as one of the features in ''

Weird War Tales ''Weird War Tales'' was a war comic book title with supernatural overtones published by DC Comics. It was published from September–October 1971 to June 1983. Publication history The original title ran for 12 years and 124 issues. It was ...

'' (#100). During the series run in ''Weird War Tales'', Dinosaur Island was visited by the

Creature Commandos The Creature Commandos are a fictional DC Comics team of military superhumans originally set in World War II. The original team was introduced in ''Weird War Tales'' #93 (November 1980), created by J. M. DeMatteis and Pat Broderick. The team was c ...

and the G.I. Robot. This was the World War II version of the Commandos. Dinosaur Island was also featured in Tim Truman's 1998 four-issue miniseries, ''Guns of the Dragon''. The 1920s set miniseries provided a sort of origin story for the island. In

Darwyn Cooke Darwyn Cooke (November 16, 1962 – May 14, 2016) was a Canadian comics artist, writer, cartoonist, and animator who worked on the comic books ''Catwoman'', '' DC: The New Frontier'', ''The Spirit'' and '' Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter''. ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

alternate-universe mini-series '' DC: The New Frontier'', Dinosaur Island was revisited yet again as part of its opening prelude. Here, it is visited by the military team known as '' The Losers''. In May

, Bruce Jones launched ''The War that Time Forgot'' as a 12-issue

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

, featuring the

, Firehair, and

Tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Europ ...

on one side and the Golden Gladiator, the

Viking Prince The Viking Prince is a fictional Viking hero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #1 (August 1955), and was created by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Joe Kubert. He was one of thr ...

and the G.I. Robot on the other.

Collections

A DC ''

Showcase Presents ''Showcase Presents'' was a line of black-and-white paperback books published by DC Comics (from 2005 - 2016) at an average rate of two per month. Much like Marvel Comics' '' Essential Marvel'' volumes, each book usually included over 500 pages of ...

'' black and white trade paperback collection, ''The War that Time Forgot'', was published in 2007. It reprints the stories that originally appeared between 1960 and 1966. The 2008 series was collected in two volumes: *''The War That Time Forgot Vol. 1'' (collects ''The War That Time Forgot'' #1-6) *''The War That Time Forgot Vol. 2'' (collects ''The War That Time Forgot'' #7-12)

In other media

Television

* Dinosaur Island is featured in the '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' episode "Terror on Dinosaur Island!".

Gorilla Grodd Gorilla Grodd is a supervillain character appearing in American comic books and other media published by DC Comics, primarily as an enemy of The Flash. The character was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, and first appeared in ''Th ...

and his followers used it as the base for their headquarters. Grodd comments that the Bahamas, the West Indies and Florida are within a 500-mile radius of Dinosaur Island. The island is also featured in the team-up with the

Challengers of the Unknown The Challengers of the Unknown is a fictional group of adventurers appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The quartet of adventurers explored paranormal occurrences while facing several fantastic menaces. The characters' provenance is ...

in "Revenge of the Reach!". In "Four Star Spectacular!", Dinosaur Island appeared where the

teamed up with Batman to thwart the

Ultra-Humanite Ultra-Humanite is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared as a recurring adversary of Superman. The Ultra-Humanite is the first supervillain faced by Superman and he is among the first supervillai ...

when he plans to build a mind-controlled dinosaur army. After the Ultra-Humanite was defeated, the Creature Commandos destroy Lt. Matthew Shrieve's footage of Dinosaur Island to keep the island's location a secret. * A variation of Dinosaur Island appears in the ''

Justice League Action ''Justice League Action'' is an American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero team Justice League. The series is produced by Jim Krieg, Butch Lukic, and Alan Burnett. The show debuted on Cartoon Network UK on Nov ...

'' episode "Booster's Gold". After seeing a film where scientists cloned dinosaurs back to life, Booster Gold starts his latest money-making venture where he brings some dinosaurs to an island near the

Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is an urban legend focused on a loosely defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterio ...

and established Dinosaur Island and the vacation village Booster World. When the

Green Arrow Green Arrow is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and designed by George Papp, he first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 in November 1941. His secret identity, real name is Olive ...

arrived and learned of Booster Gold's plan, it did not go well, even with the Green Arrow telling Booster Gold about the plan in the movie not going well as the two of them work to evade the carnivorous dinosaurs. * ''DC Showcase: The Losers'' has the titular team trapped in the equivalent setting on Dinosaur Island.

Film

The Centre is featured as the main antagonist in '' Justice League: The New Frontier'', voiced by

Keith David Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his signature deep voice and commanding screen presence in over 300 roles across film, stage, television, and interactive media. He has starred in such films as '' T ...

. This version is a monstrous creature born from the Earth that has the appearance of a floating island, and developed traits far beyond those of lesser beings. An organic sentient being observed the

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

of dinosaurs, the meteor shower, and the evolution of humans. It saw humans as a threat to the existence of other species and settled in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Over the centuries, it has gained a reputation of an omnipresent spirit with no beginning nor end. Different cultures describe the same legend, the coming of an ominous, all-powerful presence and great suffering. The Centre is a living being the size of an island that can fly by means of energy propulsion, transform its substance to extrude tentacles and spawn giant dinosaur minions, project energy and inhale structures through its ports, and has mental powers like illusion casting, telepathy, and mind control over beings like

Captain Cold Captain Cold (Leonard Snart) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the leader of the Rogues, a loose criminal association, as well as the older brother of Golden Glider. An adversary of the various su ...

. The famous children's author, Theodore Smiesel was overcome by the Centre's telepathy and wrote "The Last Story" describing the Centre. After the book's completion, Smiesel committed suicide by gunshot. After it rose in 1957, there was a steady rise in the number of mass delusions and people hearing voices in their heads and performing violent acts. It came across

Paradise Island Paradise Island is an island in The Bahamas formerly known as Hog Island. The island, with an area of (2.8 km2/1.1 sq mi), is located just off the shore of the city of Nassau, which is itself located on the northern edge of the island of ...

and attacked the

Amazons In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες ''Amazónes'', singular Ἀμαζών ''Amazōn'', via Latin ''Amāzon, -ŏnis'') are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, ...

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

was able to escape and warn

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

before the Centre reaches

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. A collective of government officials and superheroes formed a multi-faceted plan to defeat the Centre off the coast of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. While they distract it with explosive payloads from outside and within, the

Flash (Barry Allen) The Flash (comics), Flash (Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Showcase (comics), Showcase'' #4 (October 1956), created by writer Robert Kani ...

would expose it piece by piece with matter shrinking technology created by

Ray Palmer Ray Palmer may refer to: * Raymond A. Palmer, science-fiction writer and editor * Raymond F. Palmer, medical professor * Ray Palmer (pastor), American pastor and author of hymns * Ray Palmer (Arrowverse), a TV show character based on his comic boo ...

. It sensed its end and attempted to make a suicide run at

Cape Canaveral , image = cape canaveral.jpg , image_size = 300 , caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991 , map = Florida#USA , map_width = 300 , type =Cape , map_caption = Location in Florida , location ...

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

intervened and used his newly discovered powers to encapsulate the Centre and hurl it into space where its body implodes.

References

External links

Review of ''The War that Time Forgot'' #1

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

Sunday Slugfest: ''The War that Time Forgot'' #1

Comics Bulletin Comics Bulletin was a daily website covering the American comic-book industry. History Silver Bullet Comicbooks The site was founded in January 2000 as Silver Bullet Comicbooks by its New Zealand-based publisher/editor Jason Brice. During this ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:War That Time Forgot, The 1960 in comics 2008 comics debuts Defunct American comics Fantasy comics DC Comics set during World War II Dinosaurs in comic books Comics by Robert Kanigher