# What was the first war comic book?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 26, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187 "2016-04-26T14:59:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/1 "2016-04-26T14:59:27Z")
What was the first **Sgt. Rock** -type war comic book? By this, I mean one with no sci-fi or fantasy elements, one where the heroes were ordinary men with real world-type ordnance who fought other soldiers, not super-villains. **Spy Smasher** is out, so is **Blackhawk**. I don’t know enough about **Johnny Canuck** to know if he was a contender.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/2 "2016-04-26T15:04:28Z")
Dunno what the first was. Here are ones I recall:
**Star-Spangled War Stories** debuted in 1952
> **[Star Spangled War Stories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Spangled_War_Stories)**
>
> Star Spangled War Stories is the title of a comics anthology published by DC Comics that featured war-themed characters and stories. Among the features published in this series were writer-editor Robert Kanigher and artist Jerry Grandenetti's "Mademoiselle Marie", about a World War II French Resistance fighter, debuting in #84 (Aug. 1959); The War that Time Forgot featuring the Suicide Squad, the "Enemy Ace" and the "Unknown Soldier".
> Initially, Star Spangled War Stories was a retitling of St...
**Our Army at War** also started in 1952. It’s the one that featured Sgt. Rock – but not until 1959.
> **[Our Army at War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Army_at_War)**
>
> Our Army at War is an American comic book anthology published by DC Comics that featured war-themed stories and featured the first appearances of Sgt. Rock and Enemy Ace. The series was published from August 1952 to February 1977, then was renamed Sgt. Rock in March 1977, continuing the numbering sequence of Our Army at War.
> Our Army at War was launched in August 1952 as part of a wave of war comics. The stories were often followed by tag lines such as "Explosive Battle Action". One of the ma...
Added later:
The Wikipedia article on War Comics , after noting ones the OP dismisses like “Blackhawk”, says they started in the early 1950s, giving the two I listed above, and others.
> [@](#):
>
> In the post-World War II era, comic books devoted solely to war stories began appearing, and gained popularity the United States and Canada through the 1950s and even during the Vietnam War. The titles tended to concentrate on US military depictions, generally in World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War. Most publishers produced anthologies; industry giant DC Comics’ war comics included such long-running titles as All-American Men of War, Our Army at War, Our Fighting Forces, and Star Spangled War Stories. Another prolific publisher of war comics was Charlton Comics, which produced a wide variety of titles beginning in the 1950s, such as Battlefield Action, Fightin’ Army, and Fightin’ Marines. Quality also began publishing G.I. Combat during this era. Marvel Comics also produced war titles, notably Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.
> **[War comics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_comics)**
>
> War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II.
> Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre omnibus titles then popular as a format. Even prior to the U.S. involvement in World War II after the attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, comic books such as Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941) depicted superheroes fighting Adol...
By the way, you shouldn’t dismiss **Blackhawk**. Although it got heavily sci-fi in the 1950s and 60s, it wasa a straight airplane war stories comic when it started during WWII. Its schtick was the multinational force that made it up, but they were straightforward pilots, with no fantastic elements
> **[Blackhawk (DC Comics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackhawk_(DC_Comics))**
>
> Blackhawk is the eponymous fictional character of the long-running comic book series Blackhawk first published by Quality Comics and later by DC Comics. Primarily created by Chuck Cuidera with input from both Bob Powell and Will Eisner, the Blackhawk characters first appeared in Military Comics #1 (August 1941).
> Led by a mysterious man known as Blackhawk, the Blackhawks (or more formally, the Blackhawk Squadron) are a small team of World War II-era ace pilots of varied nationalities, each typica...
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/3 "2016-04-26T15:16:35Z")
Really? When did the War Wheel debut?
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/4 "2016-04-26T15:20:21Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> Really? When did the War Wheel debut?
1.
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### Author:  [@Mavis\_Topholese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mavis_Topholese)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/5 "2016-04-26T16:34:22Z")
EC’s Frontline Combat debuted in 1951, a spinoff from the successful war stories featured in their ‘Two Fisted Tales’ (1950). In the Golden Age of comics, most titles were anthologies featuring several short stories, so any one issue of, say, Pep or Crack or what have you might feature a masked adventure story, a spy story, a detective story, and a war story. Some titles like “True Comics” featured a factual and relatively contemporaneous WWII story in every issue.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/6 "2016-04-26T16:48:22Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> 1.
Specifically in Blackhawk #56, Sept 1952
> **[War Wheel](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/War_Wheel)**
>
> The War Wheel was a recurring enemy superweapon, in at least three different versions of Blackhawk history. The War Wheel was invented by Prof. Merson, an American academic who had willingly defected to the Nazis. The machine first saw action in May...
[https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;\_ylt=AwrBTz2kmx9XP04A61ZXNyoA;\_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Blackhawk+War+Wheel&fr=yfp-t-201#id=0&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.wikia.nocookie.net%2F\_\_cb20130326053026%2Fpdsh%2Fimages%2F9%2F90%2FWarwheel.jpg&action=click](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrBTz2kmx9XP04A61ZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Blackhawk+War+Wheel&fr=yfp-t-201#id=0&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20130326053026%2Fpdsh%2Fimages%2F9%2F90%2FWarwheel.jpg&action=click)
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/7 "2016-04-26T17:18:52Z")
Military Comics (where Blackhawk first appeared) started in 1941:
> **[Military Comics Vol 1](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Military_Comics_Vol_1)**
>
> Military Comics was an American comic book series published from August of 1941 to October 1945 by Quality Comics. Following issue #43, the series changed its title to Modern Comics where it continued until cancellation in 1950 with issue #102. The...
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/8 "2016-04-26T19:27:39Z")
Captain America started in March, 1941.
The Shield started in Pep Comics in January, 1940. (Cap was a ripoff.)
Blackhawk (Military Comics) started in August, 1941.
Boy Commandos started in 1942 (month unknown).
But pulp fiction already had given us G-8 and His Battle Aces, starting in 1933 and taking place during WWI.
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### Author:  [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/9 "2016-04-26T22:51:01Z")
Budda budda budda
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2016, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/10 "2016-04-27T00:28:51Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> What was the first **Sgt. Rock** -type war comic book? By this, I mean one with no sci-fi or fantasy elements, one where the heroes were ordinary men with real world-type ordnance who fought other soldiers, not super-villains.
There were no sci-fi or fantasy elements in THE PHANTOM’s comic, where he was an ordinary man with real-world weapons fighting soldiers instead of supervillains during WWII: he just snuck around like an athletic killer out to destroy the occasional ammo depot, because that’s what he _was_; the evidence is [here](http://80pagegiant.blogspot.com/2011/12/phantom-goes-to-war.html?m=1).
(And, yeah, that was the newspaper comic strip instead of a comic book – but it got reprinted in comic-book form during WWII, because _of course it did_; there was a war on, who _wouldn’t_ want to see our hero patiently stalking through the tall grass with his gun at the ready as he prepares to rescue an Allied POW?)
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2016, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/11 "2016-04-27T09:39:24Z")
I guess what I’m looking for is the first comic book to realistically depict uniformed military personnel, weapons, uniforms and procedures. I thought there were some actually during WWII like “Don Winslow of the Navy” and “Johnny Canuck.” (I don’t know how realistic either was.) Strictly speaking, “Two-Fisted Tales” may be the first.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2016, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/12 "2016-04-27T10:06:28Z")
> [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](#):
>
> Budda budda budda
Ack-ack-ack-ack! Die, Fritz!
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### Author:  [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/13 "2016-04-28T06:41:42Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> I guess what I’m looking for is the first comic book to realistically depict uniformed military personnel, weapons, uniforms and procedures. I thought there were some actually during WWII like “Don Winslow of the Navy” and “Johnny Canuck.” (I don’t know how realistic either was.) Strictly speaking, “Two-Fisted Tales” may be the first.
Given that Harvey Kurtzman was a freak for historical accuracy, in a situation where he really didn’t have to be, I think this would be the best candidate.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/14 "2016-04-28T17:34:46Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> Ack-ack-ack-ack! Die, Fritz!
\*Kpow! Kpow!
Krak! Brrrrrrrrrrrp!
Grrrrrrrrrrr, klankety-klank-klank!\*
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### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/15 "2016-04-28T17:42:06Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> Ack-ack-ack-ack! Die, Fritz!
Fritz! Fritz! They’ve killed Fritz! Those horrible atrocity-filled vermin! Take that! And that! They’ve killed Fritz!
What do you mean, wrong geeky reference?
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/16 "2016-04-28T17:52:53Z")
_Amerikanischer Schweinhund!_
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-war-comic-book/753187/17 "2016-04-28T19:13:51Z")
That would be Homer’s little-known graphic novel.