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WWII Comic Books - Best Covers


Homefrontguy
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Homefrontguy

I dont collect comic books except the ones I come across that compliment my World War II homefront collection. Comic books, like just about everything, saw changes in wartime. Popular heroes such as Batman and Superman had new all too real villians to face off against and new heroes emerged like Captian America, Captain Victory and Spy Smasher to name a few. I have selected ten of the best covers from my collection to represent a good example of the artwork done at the time. Value of the comics did not come into play as those familiar with value would expect to see Daredeveil Battles Hitler or Captain America #1 but these are selected not on value as many are very affordable for comics from 1941-1945. Here are the covers I selected that represented what many Americans and especially the young boys reading these wished to do, I hope you enjoy.

 

Worlds Finest #9 Batman, Robin, Superman and Baseballs. Very American.

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A fun Halloween cover of a lesser known series

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A classic cover from the Marines

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Batman 18

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Joe Palooka battles the Nazi subs off the east coast

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post-1908-1247046666.jpg

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Homefrontguy

Here are the other comics I selected ...

 

A great football cover probably done after the Italian surrender

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A one time comic parody

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The axis as bowling pins was a common theme and seen here is Wonder Woman taking her best shot

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The name Fighting Yank is enough to get on the list but the sand box, childern and snakes image tops it off.

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Spy Smasher at his best in a Classic V for Victory and axis cover.

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Last but not least ... Superman 17

post-1908-1247049056.jpg

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Has anyome got a copy of the comic book featuring the

Crommelin brothers from AL. ? I believe the title was

"The Indestructables". I would VERY much like some

scans of the pages for a display.....

 

Thanks,

Owen

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notinfringed

I love the batman no 18. My uncle was friends with the artist who drew the cover (Dick Sprang). I met him a few times. He passed away a few years ago. This is a short clip from wikipedia:

 

"Continuing to seek comic-book work, Sprang submitted art samples to DC Comics editor Whitney Ellsworth, who assigned him a Batman story in 1941.[7] Anticipating that Batman creator Bob Kane would be drafted to serve in World War II, DC inventoried Sprang's work to safeguard against delays.[7] Sprang's first published Batman work was the Batman and Robin figures on the cover of Batman #18 (Aug.-Sept. 1943), reproduced from the art for page 13 of the later-published Detective Comics #84 (Feb. 1944).[11] Sprang's first original published Batman work, and first interior-story work, appeared in Batman #19 (Oct.-Nov. 1943), for which he penciled and inked the cover and the first three Batman stories, and penciled the fourth Batman story, inked by Norm Fallon.[12] Like all Batman artists of the time, Sprang went uncredited as a ghost artist for Kane."

 

The entire write up can be read here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Sprang

 

That is a great collectible.

Levi

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I've been a fan of comics my whole life, and I've always thought Sub-Mariner covers from WWII were the best.

 

16-1.jpg

 

Sub-MarinerComics10.jpg

 

765656.jpg

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RANDALL 1953

When I was in Jr. High School I had a friend that had boxes of these. We would spend afternoons reading them. That was a long time ago but I do remember some of them were pretty gory with enemy soldiers getting shot and blood squirting everywhere. Remember that there was no comics code back then as that came into being around 1955.

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Yes, those war and crime story comics from the 1950s were very gruesome. If you want to see what kind of thing brought the Comics Code into existence look up the cover for Crime SuspenStories #35. This is probably the most violent WWII era cover that I've seen....

 

exciting35.jpg

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Homefrontguy

Very Interesting Information on the Batrman 18 comic and a fine opportunity to meet Dick Sprang. I think that cover is a great WWII cover.

 

I never really looked at Sub-mariner covers from the WWII era as I associated them with anti-communist covers of the 1950s era but indeed I had missed out but not looking for these. Nicely designed covers.

 

Having been a long time collector of anti-axis propaganda, I was at first shocked at how graphic these comics were in comparison to the comics I had seen growing up in the 1970s that had nothing close to this level of violence. As time passed and Iacquired more items for my collection, as well as a better understanding of the time period (which one must do when looking at any of these anti-axis items) I found many items that go beyond the bounds of good taste to take a shot at the enomy. Understanding the circumstances of the time make it understandable. (read War Without Mercy for a good book on the subject). Some of these collectibles, not comics, are too graphic even to post here where the site is used by those of all ages, but those of you have seen these items understand.

 

Anyway ... back to comics ... that cover on Exciting Comics is a classic example. I once saw a cover on an Air Fighters (I think ) that was a shot to the head. Here is the most graphic comic I have.

 

post-1908-1248184313.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

Thanks for posting more, They are really neat.

 

The art really wasn't that bad for the time, and in some ways better than today.

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Wow, such violence and racism. And we thought we were bad today, hehehehe..... Very interesting!

 

-Ski

 

That's why by the 1950's just about every comic book had to be approved by the Comics Code Authority (CCA). Comics began to rely more on science-fiction elements vs. the old "punch'em up" of the 1930s and '40s.

 

Their seal is noticeably absent from older comics (at least among collectors).

 

 

Here's a link for more info:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority

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El Bibliotecario
That's why by the 1950's just about every comic book had to be approved by the Comics Code Authority (CCA). Comics began to rely more on science-fiction elements vs. the old "punch'em up" of the 1930s and '40s.

 

Their seal is noticeably absent from older comics (at least among collectors).

Here's a link for more info:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority

 

Having been a juvenile affectionado of '50s war comics, it was interesting to contrast them with the more graphic violence in these older editions. 50s comics showed GI's firing their weapons in closeup frames, but the frame usually omitted the bullets striking the enemy. Grenades were a favorite of '50s cartoonists, because a frame could be devoted to a big explosion, with an enemy weapon, or helmet flying out of the fireball. It was clear the folks were getting killed--but not quite as graphically as these great '40s comics, with the enemy being squished by steamrollers, etc. Interestingly, in the '50s it was still perfectly acceptable to shot the good guys beating the snot out of the enemy with their fists.

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My favorite war comics are from a company called EC ( their lone surviving publication is MAD. They also published TALES FROM THE CRYPT ).

 

The two titles are called FRONTLINE COMBAT and TWO FISTED TALES. They published them from 1950-55 prior to comic book censoring.

 

They have some of the best written and illustrated stories of all time.

 

Kurt

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post_105_1276314259.jpg

 

Geez, these TWO FISTED TALES are rough! Definitely not the bland comics of the 1970's. Then again, take a look at what is on the comic book store shelves today. I will warn you now... it's not your father's GI JOE vs. COBRA.

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