The "Don't Worry, There Are No Enemies Here" Covers

These covers became a cliché of the war comics genre, starting in the late 1960s and extending well into the 1970s. Here's a classic example, from Our Army At War #195 (July 1968):

Here we see the classic elements of the DWTANEH cover:

1. Hidden enemies in the foreground.
2. Central "hole" in the cover through which we can see the approaching Americans.
3. Clear statement or belief that the enemies are not there.

Here are a few more examples:



As you can see, the covers pack some dramatic punch. The reader can see something that the approaching GIs can't, that there is about to be a sudden reversal of fortune. A number of these covers feature children, as in the GI Combat issue above, or this one:

The children may give an added sense to the soldiers that everything is okay, that they are not about to be ambushed. You can see the same thing with these covers:


These covers also often feature blinded American soldiers:



This adds a bit to the dramatic tension, as we know that even if the soldiers become aware of the enemy's presence, they will be hard-pressed to do battle.
Similar themes crop up in these covers:



I was unable to find a significant number of these covers prior to about 1968. The Our Army At War #159 cover with the nurse helping Sgt. Rock is from October of 1965, but even that one is arguably atypical, in that Rock is clearly alert and on guard. Similarly, I don't think this February 1960 cover counts:

Here's the exit question. Was the popularity of these covers inversely related to the popularity of the US military among comic-buying kids and teens? As the Vietnam War dragged on, there is little doubt that the image of our armed forces declined, especially after an event like My Lai. Did this give the readers of the time an added perverse enjoyment of covers featuring American soldiers heading into an ambush? Or am I reading too much into this?

Cool Comics Calendars!

I won a trivia quiz over at Golden Age Comics, and as a result, I received two delightful comics calenders that would look great on your office or living room wall. The calendars are published by Asgard Press, where their motto is "Old School is Now in Session". As you can see at that site, they publish an astonishing array of calendars, including just about every college football team, Mad Magazine, and Pulp Sci-Fi.

The two comic calendars are DC Comics and Marvel Comics, with the DC edition spanning from the Golden to the Silver Age, while the Marvel Comics calendar is mostly drawn from the 1960s. Here's the cover of the DC calendar:



As you can see, the colors are bright and sharp, and the black background really makes them pop out at you. The DC Edition contains the following covers:

Superman #9
All-Star Comics #3
Superboy #147
Batman #48
Captain Marvel Adventures #19
Detective #122
Superman #120
Green Lantern (Silver Age) #40
Action Comics #10
Wonder Woman #156
More Fun Comics #101
Superman #14
All-Flash Quarterly #1
Adventure #48
Detective #31 (also on the cover)
World's Fair 1940
Adventure #113

Note that's more than 12 months; this is a 16-month calendar (Sept 2009-Dec 2010), so there's no reason to hold off buying until Christmas.

The Marvel calendar has the following covers:

Amazing Spiderman #1 (Also on the cover)
Amazing Spiderman #33
Fantastic Four #28
Avengers #87
Amazing Spiderman #68
Tales of Suspense #49
Journey into Mystery #89
Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1
The Incredible Hulk #2
Strange Tales #135
Daredevil #10
Silver Surfer #4
Captain America #100
X-Men #35
Fantastic Four #50
Avengers #57
Iron Man #1

The calendars also come with a brief history of each company, with Bill Jourdain himself doing the DC, while the Marvel calendar is introduced by Dr Arnold T. Blumberg. They also contribute a capsule discussion of each cover on the monthly pages.

The colors are beautiful and extremely realistic. The World's Fair Comics cover has some discoloring (looks like dirt on the cover), which I actually appreciate; this is almost a 70-year-old comic. It shows that Asgard Press did not do a lot of photoshop work to make the covers look better than they are; rather they found very nice specimens of each cover and reproduced them exactly.

Update: Peter Shin, the publisher, stops by in the comments section and says that while they did do some restoration to the covers, they tried to maintain the balance between fixing problems and presenting something that wasn't there in the original. I do have to say, they did a wonderful job!

About the only criticism I have is the inclusion of the Captain Marvel Adventures cover as a DC mag; of course that is only true retroactively, after DC acquired the character around 1970. But that quibble aside, these are beautiful calendars that would make a handsome addition to your wall. The individual covers can also be detached from the calendar and framed. If you are interested in buying, Bill Jourdain mentioned a promo code in this podcast that will give you a break on the price. Highly recommended!

Update: Bill has further details (and that promo code) here.