Two-Fisted Tales #33

(May-June 1953)

Signal Corps! (Table of Contents: 1)

comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Harvey Kurtzman

Pencils

Jack Davis (signed)

Inks

Jack Davis (signed)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Ben Oda

First Line of Dialogue or Text

This story is true... as true as we could make it!

Genre

war

Characters

Signal Corps unit [unnamed Lieutenant; unnamed Sergeant; others also unnamed]; South Korean civilians; North Koreans (villains, many die)

Synopsis

A Signal Corps unit is shocked to see the local civilians pulling out of their homes just as the unit is ready to head for the bivouac area. But one of the young soldiers doesn't see the need of having a rifle in this type of unit and he recklessly just throws it around. Then the enemy snipers at a local schoolhouse make an attack, but are quickly taken care of.

Reprints

• in Two-Fisted Tales (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #3 (1980)
• in Les Meilleures Histoires de... (Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1983 series) #[4] - Guerre - Corée (janvier 1984) [N&B [B&W]]
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #8 [1988] (uke 48 1988)
• in Two-Fisted Tales (Gemstone, 1994 series) #16 (July 1996)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #22 - Death Stand and Other Stories (August 2018) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Keywords

Korean War

Outpost! (Table of Contents: 2)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Jerry De Fuccio

Pencils

John Severin

Inks

Bill Elder

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Ben Oda

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Aghan border... late 1880's!

Genre

war

Reprints

• in Two-Fisted Tales (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #3 (1980)
• in Les Meilleures Histoires de... (Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1983 series) #[6] - Aventures (mai 1985)
• in Two-Fisted Tales (Gemstone, 1994 series) #16 (July 1996)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #32 - Code of Honor and Other Stories (July 2022) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indian Sign (Table of Contents: 3)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Harvey Kurtzman

Inks

Harvey Kurtzman

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

It was Autumn... 1789!

Genre

western-frontier

Reprints

• in Two-Fisted Tales (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #3 (1980)
• in Two-Fisted Tales (Gemstone, 1994 series) #16 (July 1996)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 4)

Combat Correspondence / letters page / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

Reprints

• in Two-Fisted Tales (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #3 (1980)

Indexer Notes

Letters from John White (four of them!), Carl Eberhardt, Phillip O'Daniels, Daniel Arant, John Brown, Johnny Rizzo, Albert Roy Saddler.

Pearl Divers! (Table of Contents: 5)

comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Jerry De Fuccio

Pencils

Harvey Kurtzman (layouts)

Inks

Joe Kubert (signed)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Ben Oda

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Torres Straits... off the Queensland Cape!

Genre

adventure

Characters

Mike Holford (shell picker); Eddie (bartender); Rex Kingdom (oyster diver); Tarsier (Rex's pet animal)

Synopsis

Mike tells Eddie that he is through with shell picking as the grounds are just about cleaned out, when Rex Kingdom enters and announces that his schooner, the Kingdom Come, is going to try his hand in pearl diving. Mike and Rex joins forces and agree to split everything evenly. Rex does the diving and brings up a great pearl, but is attacked by a tiger shark on the second dive. Rex discovers soon after that Mike smeared Rex's ballast with ground salt-beef, which attracted the shark.

Reprints

• in Two Fisted Tales (Calvert, 1953 ? series) #11 ([1954] ?)
• in Two-Fisted Tales (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #3 (1980)
• in Les Meilleures Histoires de... (Les Humanoïdes Associés, 1983 series) #[6] - Aventures (mai 1985)
• in Two-Fisted Tales (Gemstone, 1994 series) #16 (July 1996)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #27 - Man and Superman and Other Stories (April 2020) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Keywords

Australia; Torres Straights

Indexer Notes

Pencil credit revised from Joe Kubert to Kurtzman layouts, per Thommy Burns in Fantagraphics' Man and Superman and Other Stories (2020).

Atom Bomb! (Table of Contents: 6)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Harvey Kurtzman

Pencils

Wally Wood (signed as Wood)

Inks

Wally Wood (signed as Wood)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Ben Oda

First Line of Dialogue or Text

On August 9, 1945... a sunny day...

Genre

war

Characters

Toshio Tagawa (death); Timo Tagawa (Toshio's wife, death); Toshio's mother; Toshio's children [Matsu (death); Kuni]

Synopsis

Toshio is being held by the Russians as a prisoner of war, but is able to write his mother to inform her of his situation. She receives the message on August 5, 1945, in her home town of Nagasaki: the day the atomic bomb is dropped on the city. The news is not good, as Toshio's wife and child have passed away from the effects of the bomb, yet one of Toshio's children survives.

Reprints

• in Two-Fisted Tales (Russ Cochran, 1980 series) #3 (1980)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #8 [1988] (uke 48 1988)
• in Two-Fisted Tales (Gemstone, 1994 series) #16 (July 1996)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #26 - Atom Bomb and Other Stories (2019) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Keywords

Japan; Nagasaki