''Frontline Combat'' is an anthology war comic book written and edited by

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 ...

and published bi-monthly by

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, war novel, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through th ...

. The first issue was

cover date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...

d July/August, 1951. It ran for 15 issues over three years, and ended with the January, 1954 issue. Publication was discontinued following a decline in sales attributed to the end of the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. The title was a companion to Kurtzman's comic book ''

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 ...

''. Both titles depicted the horrors of war realistically and in great detail, exposing what Kurtzman saw as the truth about war without glamorizing or idealizing it.

Artists and writers

Artists who contributed included Kurtzman and EC regulars such 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, ...

, Jack Davis,

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 ...

, George Evans and

Will Elder William Elder (born Wolf William Eisenberg; September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped ...

. Non-EC regulars who contributed included

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 ...

, Ric Estrada,

Joe Kubert Joseph Kubert (; September 18, 1926 – August 12, 2012) was a Polish-born American comic book artist, art teacher, and founder of The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. He is also kno ...

and

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 ...

. Kurtzman wrote the majority of the comic's stories with

Jerry DeFuccio Jerome DeFuccio (July 3, 1925 – August 10, 2001)"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JPZP-729 : accessed March 12, 2013), Jerome Defuccio, August 15, 2001. was an American comic ...

contributing one-page text stories and an occasional regular story. The issues included writing contributions from artists Davis, Wood and Evans.

Stories and themes

In addition to contemporary stories about the Korean War and World War II, ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat'' contained a number of stories taking place in historical settings, including the Civil War, the Revolutionary War and ancient Rome. A series of special issues dedicated to the Civil War included issues 31 and 35 of ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and issue 9 of ''Frontline Combat''. Although originally planned to be seven issues in total, the series was never completed. Other special issues of ''Frontline Combat'' included an issue dedicated to Iwo Jima (issue 7) and an issue dedicated to the Air Force (issue 12).

Development

Kurtzman's editing approach to ''Two Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat'' was a stark contrast to EC editor

Al Feldstein Albert Bernard Feldstein ( ; October 24, 1925 – April 29, 2014) was an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine '' Mad''. After retiring from ''Mad' ...

's style. Whereas Feldstein allowed his artists to draw the story in any manner they desired, Kurtzman developed detailed layouts for each story and required his artists to follow them exactly. Kurtzman's writing tended to have a lot less text in them than Feldstein's, which enabled the two war titles to be hand-lettered rather than machine-lettered like the remainder of EC's titles. Kurtzman was also dedicated to making the stories as historically accurate as possible and, along with assistant DeFuccio, put a lot of research into each story. As a result, where Feldstein took generally about a week to complete each issue he edited, Kurtzman took approximately a month.

Reprints

''Frontline Combat'' has been reprinted several times in the years since its demise. It was fully reprinted in a series of three black-and-white hardbacks by publisher

Russ Cochran Russell Earl Cochran (born October 31, 1958) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions, having previously been a member on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He is one of the few natural left-handed players to win ...

as part of '' The Complete EC Library'' in 1982. Between August 1995 and February 1999, Cochran (in association with

Gemstone Publishing Gemstone Publishing is an American company that publishes comic book price guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Geppi in 1994 when he bought Overstreet. Gemstone published licen ...

) reprinted the full 15 individual issues. This complete run was later rebound, with covers included, in a series of three softcover '' EC Annuals''. In 2008, Cochran and Gemstone began to publish hardcover, re-colored volumes of ''Frontline Combat'' as part of the '' EC Archives'' series. One volume (of a projected three) was published before Gemstone's financial troubles left the project in limbo. GC Press LLC, a boutique imprint established by Russ Cochran and

Grant Geissman Grant Geissman (born April 13, 1953) is an American jazz guitarist and Emmy-nominated composer. He has recorded extensively for several labels since 1976 and played guitar on the theme for ''Monk'' and other TV series. Career Geissman was born i ...

, announced in a press release dated September 1, 2011 that it was continuing the EC Archives series, with the first new releases scheduled for November 2011.Michael Kronenberg posting at MarvelMasterworksFansite.Yuku.com, September 1, 2011
Accessed September 2, 2011

Issue guide

References

Works cited

*Goulart, Ron. ''Great American Comic Books.'' Publications International, Ltd., 2001. . *Overstreet, Robert M.. ''Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.'' House of Collectibles, 2004.

External links

*(audio
Golden Age of Comic Books podcast: ''Frontline Combat''
{{Harvey Kurtzman navbox Comics magazines published in the United States EC Comics publications War comics Anti-war comics 1951 comics debuts 1954 comics endings Magazines established in 1951 Magazines disestablished in 1954 Comics edited by Harvey Kurtzman Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Defunct American comics