BLAZING COMBAT VOLUME ONE

In the 1940s, the War was fought in the four-color pages of the super-heroes as Tojo, Mussolini and Hitler were pounded on by the likes of Captain America or The Boy Commandoes. As the 1950s hit, so too did the Cold War, and every comic company had a war comic — from Atlas Comic’s Combat Casey to DC’s Our Army at War. EC Comics’ war comics were the first to remove the glamour of war and provide realistic stories, all crafted by the best writers and artists in the industry. Flashing ahead to the late ’60s, James Warren released Blazing Combat, a black-and-white magazine that respected our heroes, but like the EC comics of a decade earlier, explored the cruelties of war.

Fantagraphic Book’s Blazing Combat HC is a deluxe presentation of the Warren Publishing series, written and edited by Archie Goodwin. With stories covering everything from the Crusades to the then current war in Vietnam, it was a different look at what a war comic was expected to be, and featured some of the best artists this industry has ever seen — covers by the legendary Frank Frazetta, interior art by EC legends Wally Wood, Al Williamson, John Severin, Reed Crandall, Joe Orlando, as well as part-time ECers Gene Colan, Alex Toth, Russ Heath and Alden Mc Williams.

See PREVIEWS page 276.