Frontline Combat #6

(May-June 1952)

Harvey Kurtzman (Table of Contents: 1)

The EC "Artist of the Issue" / text article / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

? (photo)

Inks

? (photo)

Letters

typeset

Genre

biography

Characters

Harvey Kurtzman

Reprints

• in Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad (EC, 1997 series) #1 (Summer 1997)
• in EC Archives: Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 2008 series) #1 (2008)

Indexer Notes

Biography of Kurtzman, with photo, found on the inside front cover.

A Platoon! (Table of Contents: 2)

comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Harvey Kurtzman

Pencils

John Severin (signed as Severin)

Inks

Bill Elder (signed as Elder)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Ben Oda

Genre

war

Characters

unnamed platoon captain; unnamed lieutenant (death); unnamed platoon sergeant (death); unnamed squad leaders; Corporal Ed Daley; Peewee; North Korean soldiers (villains, many die)

Synopsis

Readers are invited to join in with a platoon during the Korean War. Peewee can't understand why Ed doesn't want his sergeant's rating. But Ed tells him why: He doesn't want the responsibilities associated with the rank and the fact that most sergeants in Korea are getting killed.

Reprints

• in The Complete Frontline Combat (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #2 (1982)
• in Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 1995 series) #6 (November 1996)
• in EC Archives: Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 2008 series) #1 (2008)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #10 - Bomb Run and Other Stories (August 2014) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Keywords

Korean War

War of 1812! (Table of Contents: 3)

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

Genre

non-fiction; historical; war

Characters

American soldiers (many die); British soldiers (villains); Ke-wi-ex-kim (villain, death); Tecumsah (villain, Indian Chief, death); the Indians (villains, many die)

Synopsis

Indian Ki-wi-ex-kim laments on the fact that years ago, the Delawares and the Mohicans welcomed the white man as brothers to this new land, but now the whites now seem to be interested only in taking everything that the red man has away from them. Under the leadership of the great Tecumsah, the Indian decides to fight back, and all seems to go well until Tecumsah falls in battle.

Reprints

• in The Complete Frontline Combat (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #2 (1982)
• in Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 1995 series) #6 (November 1996)
• in EC Archives: Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 2008 series) #1 (2008)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #26 - Atom Bomb and Other Stories (2019) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Keywords

Shemanthe (the Long Knives)

Fate (Table of Contents: 4)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script

Harvey Kurtzman

Pencils

Harvey Kurtzman (masthead)

Inks

Harvey Kurtzman (masthead)

Colors

Marie Severin ?

Letters

typeset

Genre

war

Characters

espionage team [Norman Williams (villain, death); David Bentley; other member unnamed]

Synopsis

A three-man team of espionage agents flew from England towards Berlin, the heart of Germany, seeking an isolated German farmhouse where members of the underground were to be found. They bailed out, with only Williams drifting eastward away from the other two. Seeking him, they finally located him, swinging limply from a tree. His chute had fouled in the limbs of a tree, breaking his neck. When the others prepared to bury him, they discovered papers on his body, indicating that he was an elite operative of the German Secret Services, under the command of S.S. Lt. Colonel Otto Skorzeny!

Reprints

• in The Complete Frontline Combat (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #2 (1982)
• in Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 1995 series) #6 (November 1996)
• in EC Archives: Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 2008 series) #1 (2008)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 5)

Front Lines / letters page / 0.6 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Harvey Kurtzman (spot illustration)

Inks

Harvey Kurtzman (spot illustration)

Colors

Marie Severin ?

Letters

typeset

Reprints

• in The Complete Frontline Combat (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #2 (1982)
• in EC Archives: Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 2008 series) #1 (2008)

Indexer Notes

Letters from Pfc. Ray Pantalena, Ronald Pering, Vic Fera, Jerry Morgan, Dan Walleck, J. Jonborgzinner, Martin L. Burns, John Plaks, John Brown, and Roger Curtis.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 6)

statement of ownership / 0.4 page (report information)

Script

Frank Lee

Letters

typeset

Reprints

• in The Complete Frontline Combat (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #2 (1982)

Indexer Notes

This was replaced by a Harvey Kurtzman illustration in EC Archives: Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 2008 series) #1.

Ace! (Table of Contents: 7)

comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Harvey Kurtzman

Pencils

John Severin (signed as J. Severin)

Inks

John Severin (signed as J. Severin)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Ben Oda

Genre

war

Characters

Lieutenant Harry Chesterfield (American pilot, death); Lieutenant Tram (American pilot); Lieutenant Mambro (American pilot); The Germans (villains, some die)

Synopsis

Confident Lt. Chesterfield, having just downed his 3rd Pfalz of the month, tells his comrades in arms that he is going after a Rumpler next. He succeeds and a day later goes up against his 5th and 6th planes. If he bags one of them, he becomes an ace! What Harry doesn't realize is that the Germans have set a trap for him, a fatal trap.

Reprints

• in EC Portfolio (Russ Cochran, 1971 series) #3 (1973)
• in The Complete Frontline Combat (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #2 (1982)
• in Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 1995 series) #6 (November 1996)
• in EC Archives: Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 2008 series) #1 (2008)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #10 - Bomb Run and Other Stories (August 2014) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Keywords

Albatros; Fokker; French Nieuport; Pfalz; Rumpler (German photo-plane)

Bellyrobber! (Table of Contents: 8)

comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Harvey Kurtzman

Pencils

Jack Davis (signed)

Inks

Jack Davis (signed)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Ben Oda

Genre

war

Characters

Sergeant "Bellyrobber" Boon; U.S. soldiers [Mize; rest unnamed (some die)]; Shnooker (Korean orphan boy, death); North Koreans (villains, many die)

Synopsis

The story of a tough Army cook, Bellyrobber Boon, who finds a young Korean orphan boy in his tent, and who gradually bonds with the child, whom he names Shnooker, changing his whole disposition. Then, one day, a band of North Korean soldiers sneak into the mess tent and kill all of Boon's cooks, as well as little Shnooker for which Boon kills all of the enemy soldiers. But that changes Boon's whole demeanor and he becomes the hard-boiled Sarge the soldiers once knew.

Reprints

• in The Complete Frontline Combat (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #2 (1982)
• in Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 1995 series) #6 (November 1996)
• in EC Archives: Frontline Combat (Gemstone, 2008 series) #1 (2008)
• 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