Military Comics #6

(January 1942)

They Called Him "Stay-at-Home-Sammy" -- But Now He Leads the Gang ! (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

Schwinn Bicycles / comics-form advertising / 1 page (report information)

The Vial of Death! (Table of Contents: 2)

Blackhawk / comic story / 11 pages (report information)

Script

Dick French

Pencils

Chuck Cuidera (signed as Chas. Cuidera)

Inks

Chuck Cuidera (signed as Chas. Cuidera)

Colors

?

Letters

Sam Rosen (sourced) (see Note #1)

Genre

adventure; war; aviation; military; science fiction; superhero

Characters

The Blackhawks: Blackhawk; Boris (unidentifiable member, see Note #2 about possible candidates); Chop-Chop; Chuck (unidentifiable member, see Note #2 about possible candidates); Hendrickson; Olaf; Stanislaus (unidentifiable member, see Note #2 about possible candidates); Zeg (unidentifiable member, see Note #2 about possible candidates)
Professor Hammel (introduction, death); Elsa Hammel (introduction, death); Pierre (Hammel's assistant); Fritz (Nazi villain); Nazis (villains, many die)

Synopsis

Blackhawk succeeds in getting a diabolical formula back for a destructive killer germ from the Nazis, who plan to use it to wipe out Allied forces, then takes it on the run as the Nazis concentrate their forces to catch him and get it back.

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2
• in The Blackhawk Archives (DC, 2001 series) #1 ([November] 2001)
• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #815 - Blackhawk: Volume 1 ([April] 2017), #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Indexer Notes

(1) Letterer credit per Cuidera and added by Craig Delich January 14, 2012.
(2) The 3 unidentified members are likely Stanislaus, Zeg, and Chuck (or possibly Boris).
(3) Subtitled, "Army" and "Stories of the Military Action on Land Section 1."

[To Kill a Commander] (Table of Contents: 3)

Blue Tracer / comic story / 5.67 pages (report information)

Script

Fred Guardineer (signed)

Pencils

Fred Guardineer (signed)

Inks

Fred Guardineer (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

An unarmed Lockheed P-38 Interceptor plane high above the clouds...

Genre

aviation; war; adventure

Characters

Captain Bill Dunn; Private Boomerang Jones

Synopsis

Bill and Boomerang fight Nazi paratroopers in Iceland.

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #125 - Blue Tracer ([February] 2017), #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Keywords

boomerangs; Nazis; Reykjavik

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

Modern War Weapons / comic story / 0.33 page (report information)

Script

Fred Guardineer

Pencils

Fred Guardineer

Inks

Fred Guardineer

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Although the Blue Tracer's .50 caliber machine guns are used for all-around shooting...

Genre

non-fiction

Characters

Private Boomerang Jones

Synopsis

A brief breakdown of the importance of the .50 caliber machine gun for the United States Army.

Indexer Notes

Appears at the bottom of the late page of the Blue Tracer story.

[The Invasion of Iceland] (Table of Contents: 5)

Loops and Banks / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Bob Powell (credited as Bud Ernest)

Pencils

Bob Powell (credited as Bud Ernest)

Inks

Bob Powell (credited as Bud Ernest)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Am I glad we're staying here in Hawaii!

Genre

aviation; military; adventure

Characters

Banks Barrows; Loops McCann

Synopsis

Loops and Banks fight Nazi paratroopers in Iceland.

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #126 - Loops & Banks ([February] 2017), #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Keywords

Iceland; Nazis; United States Marines

Indexer Notes

Oddly, both this story and the Blue Tracer story in this issue involve a German invasion of Iceland by parachute.

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

Miss America / comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

Tom Hickey (sourced)

Inks

Tom Hickey (sourced)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

When the 'Crime School' goes in for defense studies...

Genre

superhero

Characters

Miss America [Joan Dale]; Tim Healy

Synopsis

Miss America discovers an unscrupulous man who teaches children to steal, and it turns out he is also working with Nazi fifth columnists.

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #79 - Miss America ([February] 2017), #79 - Miss America ([February] 2017) [page 1], #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Keywords

Nazis

Indexer Notes

Joan keeps tinkering with the design of her costume, with the stripes moving from her skirt to her blouse, with stars now appearing on the skirt.

[Clothes Make the Men] (Table of Contents: 7)

Shot and Shell / comic story / 4 pages (report information)

Script

Klaus Nordling

Pencils

Klaus Nordling

Inks

Klaus Nordling

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Golly, Colonel, we been over these clouds so long...

Genre

aviation; adventure; military

Characters

Sam Shot; Slim Shell

Synopsis

Our heroes think they have landed in Scotland but they are thousands of miles away. At least they're able to uncover a Nazi spy ring.

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #132 - The Complete Shot and Shell ([April] 2017), #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

[The Trap for Jerry Noble] (Table of Contents: 8)

Yankee Eagle / comic story / 7.75 pages (report information)

Script

John Stewart (credited)

Pencils

Bill Smith (ghosted for John Stewart) (sourced) (credited)

Inks

Bill Smith (ghosted for John Stewart) (sourced) (credited)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Suddenly two tremendous explosions rock the entire fleet ....

Genre

adventure; military; war

Characters

Jerry Noble; Sam (an eagle); Tami (Japanese clipper ship captain, death); Japanese clipper crew members (deaths); Aki (Japanese agent); Matsiaka (Japanese agent, death); The Master (Japanese spy leader); unnamed Japanese spies; Commander Alcock

Synopsis

Jerry and his animal allies break up a Japanese spy ring.

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #225 - The Complete Yankee Eagle ([October] 2017), #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Indexer Notes

Larry Noble is now called Jerry Noble in this story.

Has a secondary title: "Navy" and "Stories of Military Action at Sea Section 2."

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 9)

Naval Information / comic story / 0.25 page (report information)

Script

? [as Jerry Noble] (credited)

Pencils

Bill Smith

Inks

Bill Smith

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

This statue of Tecumseh is a replica of the figurehead of the 'U.S.S. Delaware.'

Genre

non-fiction; historical

Synopsis

The story of the statue of Tecumseh and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

[The Painted Lady Patrol] (Table of Contents: 10)

Death Patrol / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Dave Berg

Pencils

Dave Berg

Inks

Dave Berg

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Ve must get rid of uff this Death Patrol!

Genre

humor; aviation; war; adventure

Characters

The Death Patrol [Del Van Dyke; Gramps; Butch (appears to die, but returns in #12); Hank; King Hotintot; Boris (introduction)]; Nazis' version of the Death Patrol (villains, all female, all die); Adolf Hitler (villain)

Synopsis

Boris becomes the newest member of the Patrol as it seems Gramps has been killed saving the other members. Boris and the others go up against a female Nazi Death Patrol, whose wiles won't work on the male Patrol, who are all woman haters at heart. In order to escape alive, the male Patrol dons the female uniforms, leaving the ladies to wear the male uniforms, and which results in all of them being shot to death, mistaken for the men!

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #127 - Death Patrol ([February] 2017), #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Indexer Notes

New member Boris is referred to as "The Borsht Eater".

Writer/artist Berg demonstrates a flash of brilliance in this tale, with a stunning one-page illustration depicting the cross-section of a house with a member fighting in each room.

[Potato's Revenge] (Table of Contents: 11)

Diary of a Draftee / comic story / 1 page (report information)

Script

Tex Blaisdell (credited)

Pencils

Tex Blaisdell (credited)

Inks

Tex Blaisdell (credited)

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

All right, Bud! Up!

Genre

humor; military

Synopsis

The potatoes revolt against being peeled but it turns out to be the draftee's bad dream.

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Indexer Notes

The last appearance of this feature.

[The Fiend of the Wilhelmstrasse] (Table of Contents: 12)

The Sniper / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Ted Udall (sourced)

Pencils

Vern Henkel

Inks

Vern Henkel

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Toward a Nazi-held vil-lage shuffled a group of men...

Genre

adventure; war

Characters

The Sniper; Hans Kronitz (villain, chemist, death); Nazi sentries (some die); Kronitz's captives

Synopsis

The Sniper faces a mad Nazi chemist who is able to turn men into monsters.

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #73 - The Sniper ([February] 2017), #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Keywords

Berlin

The Avenger (Table of Contents: 13)

text story / 1.67 pages (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

? (illustrations)

Inks

? (illustrations)

Colors

? (illustrations)

Letters

typeset

Genre

adventure

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Hero Stamp #5 Squadron Leader Roland R. S. Tuck (Table of Contents: 14)

Hero Stamp / activity / 0.33 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

?

First Line of Dialogue or Text

The most daring ace of the R.A.F.

Genre

biography; military

Characters

Roland R. S. Tuck

Synopsis

A brief biography of exploits R.A.F. Squadron Leader Roland R. S. Tuck and his actions against the Luftwaffe.

Indexer Notes

Appears at the bottom of the first page of The Avenger text story. A stamp to clip out and collect, listed as worth "5".

Who Is Monsieur X? (Table of Contents: 15)

Secret War News / comic story / 9 pages (report information)

Script

Al McWilliams (signed as A. McWilliams)

Pencils

Al McWilliams (signed as A. McWilliams)

Inks

Al McWilliams (signed as A. McWilliams)

Colors

Al McWilliams (signed as A. McWilliams); ?

Letters

?

Genre

non-fiction; war

Characters

Monsieur X [un-named French freedom fighter] (introduction); Nazis (villains, some die)

Synopsis

X succeeds in liberating a German ship filled with prisoners at Calais, France, and, with the help of another British ship, takes out a German destroyer. Although a Parisian newspaper reports that X was lost at sea, he, in fact, dove back into the English Channel and swam back to France to further torment the Nazis.

Reprints

• in Gwandanaland Comics (Gwandanaland Comics, 2016 series) #822 - The Complete Military Comics: Volume 2, #3151 - The Complete Military Comics: Giant #1 ([July] 2021)

Keywords

Le Petite Journal

Indexer Notes

Only appearance.

Although this tale is supposed to be a true story, research tells one that the phrase, "Monsieur X", appears throughout French arts and culture, but a search in the Le Petite Journal (archived on-line only through 1940) yields no evidence of this story represented in McWilliam's tale.

Henri Rousseau painted the "Portrait of Monsieur X" (Pierre Loti, a novelist who died in 1923). It was also the name used by an erotic photographer of the 1920's and 1930's. And in 1948, Edith Piaf recorded a song called "Monsieur X", a melancholy song about a beautiful man who wandered in sadness by the Seine.

1000-Shot Cowboy Carbine (Table of Contents: 16) (Expand) /

Daisy Air Rifles / Daisy B-B Guns; Red Ryder / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Big New Electronic Football 1942 Model (Table of Contents: 17) (Expand) /

Electronic Game Company / advertisement / 1 page (report information)