Blazing Combat Ad - Warren

Considering how good Warren was at promotion, its a little surprising that they really didn't run too many full-page ads for their other books, ala Marvel. Blazing Combat was Jim Warren and Archie Goodwin's pet project, so I guess they went all out for it and out together these full-page ads.

Sad--you could order a six-issue subscription, but BC didn't make it past the fourth issue. *sigh*

Blazing Combat #4 - Warren

This is the fourth and final issue of Warren's superb Blazing Combat series; its unconventional approach to war comics cost it being carried in local PXs, sending its margin of profitability into the cellar, forcing Jim Warren to pull the plug.

As usual, BC is graced with a gorgeous cover by Frank Frazetta. Frazetta's covers for this series were striking, iconic, and classic. Jim Warren said in The Warren Companion "They belong in the National Gallery", and he's right.

First up is "Conflict", by Archie Goodwin and Gene Colan. It's a brutal tale of combat in Vietnam where racism still festers, even amid the flying bullets. Tough and unsentimental.

Next is "How It Began!" by Goodwin and George Evans, a two-page historical piece on WWI flying machines. Following that is "The Edge!" by Goodwin and Alex Toth, set in 1952 Korea. From what I understand, if an editor wanted to get Alex Toth for his book, he could do no better than send him a story about aircraft, so I bet editor/writer Goodwin wrote this one to spec. It's an exciting tale of one side trying to overcome the other miles up in the sky.

Fourth is "Give and Take" by Goodwin and Russ Heath, who turns in an exceptionally detailed, photo-realistic art job about a give-and-take battle for a small piece of land in World War II-era Italy.

Next is "ME-262!" by Goodwin and Wally Wood, a tribute to the kind of plane that helped defeat Hitler(who even makes an appearance here!). After that is "The Trench!" by Goodwin and John Severin, about brutal hand-to-hand combat in World War I. Severin, as usual, does an excellent job. His war comics work was cartoony yet grittily real at the same time.

"Thermopylae!" is courtesy Goodwin and Reed Crandall, about a small band of soliders fighting off Hitler's motorized divisions as they overran Greece. There's a flashback sequence in the story set in 480 b.c., and Crandall changes the look of the art for this section--everything is bright and classical-looking, and then the WWII stuff is grey and gritty. Nice touch.

Finally is "Night Drop!" by Goodwin and Angelo Torres, about the nerves-of-steel U.S. paratroopers and what happens when one is taken prisoner and is the victim of a Nazi "only following orders." A far cry from the grim, yet ultimately rah-rah action-adventure war comics that most other companies were putting out at this time.

It's a shame that the PXs dropped the book before they gave it a real chance, since anyone reading it can tell Blazing Combat was patriotic yet honest, and didn't try and put a happy face on the brutal hell of war.

I have not yet been able to find even a cheap reading copy of Blazing Combat #1, so this is it for the title...for now. But I really hope I can soon, since BC was just about the best Warren had to offer--managing to corral Frazetta, Colan, Evans, Toth, Wood, Heath, Severin, Crandall, and Torres all in one single issue? Unreal.

Blazing Combat #3 - Warren

It's been way too long since I last talked about Warren's excellent, short-lived Blazing Combat series, so let's dig into the third issue. Ten-hut!

Behind the majesterial, serious cover by Frank Frazetta(!), is a series of hard-bitten, atypical war comics stories, opening with "Special Forces!" by Archie Goodwin and Joe Orlando, set in Vietnam, which was gutsy alone, considering this issue was published in 1966. Marvel and DC's war heroes were still fighting World War II.

"Foragers", by Goodwin and Reed Crandall, is a bitter tale set right at the beginning of the Civil War. Gene Colan does a superb job at the WWII tale "U-Boat", also written by Goodwin.

Alex Toth draws "Survival!", which does not deal with a specific war but rather about one man's fight for, as the title indicates, survival, as he wanders a war-ravaged countryside. Wally Wood writes and draws the next story "The Battle of Britian!", about the brave men taking on the Nazi war machine over the skies of England.

"Water Hole!" is a brutal story, written by Goodwin and drawn by Gray Morrow, about a cavalry officer lost in the desert. The final story is "Souvenirs!", by Goodwin and John Severin, about a man who lets his inhumanity and greed take over, even on the battlefields.

It's been said before, by better men than me, but Blazing Combat really was about the best material Warren had to offer. Frazetta, Crandall, Orlando, Wood, Toth, Severin, Colan, and Morrow...all in one issue? Amazing.

Blazing Combat #2 - Warren

Ok, it's about time I got to something from Warren Publications!

This is Warren's short-lived war magazine, Blazing Combat. Not too long after Creepy and Eerie were becoming big successes, Jim Warren and his staff were feeling confident and so they started branching out to other genres. War comics, a long-time staple of the industry, seemed like a logical step.

But this was not your typical war comic, since under editor extrordinaire Archie Goodwin, BC tackled the then-just-starting Vietnam War. Pretty bold stuff for a comic published in 1965.

After the gut-wrenching-yet-kinda-gorgeous cover by Frank Frazetta(!), is a Vietnam-set story called "Landscape" by Goodwin and Joe Orlando. This tells a tale of the Vietnam War from the POV of a Vietnamese farmer. According to The Warren Companion, and excellent (and exhaustingly-detailed) book on the history of Warren by TwoMorrows, it was this story that got the magazine banned from Army Post newsstands, a large part of BC's audience. It was this loss of audience that helped spell the end of Blazing Combat a short time later.

Anyway, next was a Revolutionary War-era story, "Saratoga", by Goodwin and Reed Crandall. Then we jump ahead to the Korean War, with "MIG Alley", by Goodwin (again!) and Al McWilliams. The little-covered Spanish-American war is the subject of "Face to Face" by guess who and Joe Orlando, this time with a nice wash effect by Orlando as well.

Gen.Rommell is the subject of "Kasserine Pass!" by Goodwin, Al Williamson, and Angelo Torres. Between the art and the title font used on the opening page (complete with a ! at the end), this story looks nearly identical to an EC war comic, something I'm sure wasn't entirely coincidental. Next is "Lone Hawk", by Goodwin and Alex Toth, turning in a typically Toth-ian gorgeous-looking story. Toth was a big aviation buff, and I believe Goodwin wrote the story with Toth in mind.

After a one-page "Combat Quiz" (I did pretty poorly on that), the issue ends with "Holding Action" by Goodwin and John Severin. Severin can handle nearly any genre, but I think he did best at war comics. His tough, no-frills style meshes perfectly with Goodwin's story of dogfaces out on the battlefield.

I know I say this about almost all of these black and white mags, but look at this line-up: stories by Archie Goodwin (how the hell did he write all of them??), art by Joe Orlando, Al Williamson, John Severin, Alex Toth, with a Frazetta cover. Wow. For a few moments there in the 60s, Jim Warren really did have the greatest roster of comics-art talent ever all working for him at the same time.

Unlike a lot of the Marvel mags, fans have long become hip to how good Blazing Combat was, since all of its four issues are very expensive to find in almost any condition. I've been lucky enough to find copies of this and issues 3 and 4, but even a midly-decent copy of #1 still eludes me...

Over and out!