Our Army At War featuring Sgt Rock #220 June 1970

"Soldier or Savage?"  

Joe Kubert's bold cover image for OUR ARMY AT WAR #220 presents the iconic figure of Sgt Rock as equal parts hardened WWII soldier and stone-axe wielding caveman. The modern soldier sports protective helmet, bullet belts, grenade and tommy gun. His prehistoric counterpart wears only an animal skin loin cloth and his hair is distinctly non-standard. The horrors Sgt Rock and his comrades confront are enemy Tiger tanks, the artist employing washes of red, orange and yellow to contrast with the shades of blue used to colour the counterpointing image of spear-wielding cavemen taking on a tyranosaur. Bur the figure's face has a uniformity that binds the images together completely. The hollow, staring eyes tell not only of the strain and weariness both men must feel battling daily against seemingly insuperable opponents, but also the steadfast determination to conquer their fears, defy the odds and come out eventual victors in their battles.

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STONE-AGE WAR opens with Easy Company "wheezin' like an old Model 'T'" as they are pinned down by superior German firepower. The half-page introductory panel structured as a wedge-like right-angled triangle captures perfectly the weight of pressure on these men, their uphill struggle for survival as bullets hit the ground around them. But it's Sgt Rock's outstretched arm with its defiant pointed finger which signals the way forward and which evokes a sense of power, authority and decisiveness. 

Standing head and shoulders above his men, this is the true iconic hero, and his pointing finger is the pointing finger of Napoleon and countless other leaders before him.

Rock's solution is to inspire his men by comparing their plight to that of their prehistoric ancestors. "It's the same thing over and over again!" he asserts, "Only in different costumes!" Immediately the allied forces are being compared with humanity -resourceful, ingenious, seemingly overwhelmed by their "problems" while the Nazi antagonists are linked to huge prehistoric creatures -unthinking brutes, huge and destructive of anything standing in their way. It's an unusual metaphor, but writer/artist Kubert goes with it, comparing to German tanks to mastodons and a Stuka dive-bomber to a pterodactyl.

The German soldiers themselves are drawn by Kubert in a way that suggests they themselves are barely human-- Rock makes the point that these "ain't just ordinary run-of-the-mill infantry", they are SS Troopers, "When it comes to warfare-- they wrote the book!" 

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As well as their grotesque faces, Kubert stresses their malevolence by adding prominent skull and crossbones motifs to the fronts of their helmets.

And so the metaphor is extended to include the tyranosaur, "the Waffen SS of their day". One particularly bleak panel features the Sarge explaining as much to the comic's readers as to his fellow GI's the full evil of Nazism.

So what is the solution to defeating this seemingly undefeatable opponent? The cunning that worked in tricking the Stuka pilot is no weapon against the SS, Rock asserts. Instead he urges his men that they must "make a stand", reminding them that dinosaurs are now extinct as will be the Nazis.

Which leads to another fantastic half-page image, a counterpoint in all ways to the opening panel. Once again Kubert employs a right-angled triangle composition, created by adding an angular twist which also adds dynamism to the frame. This time the wedge is made almost entirely of dead and defeated SS soldiers, while at its apex is Easy Company, standing strong and firm and dishing out the payback. It's a triumphant image with the GI's on top in contrast to their dejectedness and threat of defeat depicted earlier. As for Rock himself, he is of course leading the assault, again his arm is raised but this time it ends in a meaty fist, lashing out against the enemy oppressors. It's another heroic pose, more akin now to Superman.

The story is not without its faults, most egregious being the idea that humans co-existed with dinosaurs in contradiction with scientific evidence. But this is forgivable, I feel, for two reasons: First, the story was published at a time when movies such as A MILLION YEARS BC and WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH were being made, confidently depicting the battles between humans and dinosaurs as accepted fact. 

Secondly, these are not 'facts' the Sarge is relating. He is not a teacher or a scientist. He is a leader under pressure and he uses his story-telling ability to motivate his men, regardless of historical facts. The principle he is teaching is in itself 'true' for him and his men, that the Nazis were deadly, efficient killers just as the tyranosaur was, and could only be defeated through resistance and determination.

The other stories in issue 220 are the somewhat dry caption-based THE IDIOT plus a Sci-Fi quickie penned by Robert Kanisher with art by Andru and Esposito. The latter, entitled THE LAST SOLDIER,  tells of a mechanically proficient future soldier who repairs the robot he'd just been battling then befriends it. At times the art reminded me very much of Dave Gibbons, particularly his work on DAN DARE for 2000AD in the late 70's.

I especially like the frame showing the ruined street, the artist using a dramatic dutch-angle. Look closely and you'll see that on the day of destruction the cinema was showing an 'Adults Only!' film starring someone called 'Anita Coy'...

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