American Sniper and "Sniper G.I. Style"

Ten-Hut!

There's been some controversy about the movie American Sniper...

Especially in regards to filmmaker Michael Moore's comments...

Lots of talk about snipers this weekend (the holiday weekend of a great man [Martin Luther King, Jr], killed by a sniper), so I thought I'd weigh in with what I was raised to believe about snipers,"

My dad was in the First Marine Division in the South Pacific in World War II.

His brother, my uncle, Lawrence Moore, was an Army paratrooper and was killed by a Japanese sniper 70 years ago next month.

He explained that his views were passed down to him by his father.

My dad always said, 'Snipers are cowards.
They don't believe in a fair fight.
Like someone coming up from behind you and coldcocking you.
Just isn't right.
It's cowardly to shoot a person in the back'.
Only a coward will shoot someone who can't shoot back. I don't think most Americans think of snipers as heroes...

Here's a never-reprinted feature from Aviation Press' Contact Comics #7 (1945) with a World War II perspective on both American and enemy snipers...

Note: the portrayal of Japanese soliders may be NSFW.

So, Americans always had a love/hate relationship with the concept of snipers.

When the enemy does it, it's bad.

But, when we do it, it's good.

In Moore's case, a relative was killed by one, his father was understandably bitter about the circumstances, and his dad's bitterness colored Moore's opinion of the subject matter of the movie.

Doesn't make Moore any less patriotic than the next guy.

Personally, I'm more offended by the movie's portrayal of all Arabs on an even more racist level than the Japanese and Germans in this 1940s piece.

At least we had the excuse we were less sophisticated as a society back then.
What's the excuse now?

Until next time...

Dis-smissed!

WORLD WAR STORIES "Glory at Gallipoli"

One hundred years ago this month...

...one of history's costliest mistakes began...

Next:
From bad to worse!

Dell Comics launched this series around the 50th Anniversary of the Great War in 1964, probably hoping to cover the major events of the entire conflict, but the series ended after only three issues.
Their primary military artist, Sam Glanzman illustrated all the stories in the first issue and most of the remaining issues,with Frank Springer filling in when Glanzman was unavailable.
The writers for all three issues are unknown.

Bookmark this blog since we'll be re-presenting the complete HTF World War Stories series as well as other WWI tales from other books.

WORLD WAR STORIES "Victory on the Marne"

Before the year ends, let's look at the battle that ended up...

Art by Vic Prezio

..defining the basic strategy of the next few years of conflict!

To be continued...

at

Gallipoli!

The First Battle of the Marne established the pattern that would define most of the Great War including the introduction of trench warfare with its' costly (in terms of human lives) tactics.
Dell Comics launched this series around the 50th Anniversary of the Great War in 1964, probably hoping to cover the major events of the entire conflict, but the series ended after only three issues.
Their primary military artist, Sam Glanzman illustrated all the stories in the first issue (including this one) and most of the remaining issues,with Frank Springer filling in when Glanzman was unavailable.
The writers for all three issues are unknown.

Bookmark this blog since we'll be re-presenting the complete HTF World War Stories series as well as other WWI tales from other books.

WORLD WAR STORIES "Attack"

Continuing the graphic retelling of World War I...

...from a never-reprinted story originally-published on the 50th Anniversary of the beginning of the "Great War".

To be continued...

at the

Battle of the Marne!

Dell Comics launched this series around the 50th Anniversary of the Great War in 1964, probably hoping to cover the major events of the entire conflict, but the series ended after only three issues.
Their primary military artist, Sam Glanzman illustrated all the stories in the first issue and most of the remaining issues,with Frank Springer filling in when Glanzman was unavailable.
The writers for all three issues are unknown.

Bookmark this blog since we'll be re-presenting the complete HTF World War Stories series as well as other WWI tales from other books.

The 100th Anniversary of the Beginning of World War I "Two Shots Heard 'Round the World"

One hundred years ago today, the globe was plunged into the planet's first world-spanning conflict!

To commemorate the date ("celebrate" seems too tacky), we're re-presenting a never-reprinted tale published on the war's 50th Anniversary that gives a lot of background information that even textbooks tend to leave out!

Dell Comics launched this series around the 50th Anniversary of the Great War in 1964, probably hoping to cover the major events of the entire conflict, but the series ended after only three issues.
Their primary military artist, Sam Glanzman illustrated all the stories in the first issue and most of the remaining issues,with Frank Springer filling in when Glanzman was unavailable.
The writers for all three issues are unknown.

In America, comics dedicated to WWI have a poor track record.

EC published Aces High, which cover-featured WWI dogfights, but also included the occasional WWII aviation story.

By their fifth and final issue, the cover was given to WWII-era aviators, but even that couldn't save the book.

DC Comics had the fairly successful Enemy Ace strip in Showcase and Star Spangled War Stories featuring a German aviator and the not as successful Steve Savage: Balloon Buster series in All-American Men at War with his American counterpart.
They dueled several times...always to a draw.

Bookmark this blog since we'll be re-presenting the complete HTF World War Stories series as well as other WWI tales from other books.