War Comics.

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by von Poop, Mar 9, 2007.

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  1. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Weened on Battle!, Warlord!, Commando! and Victor! I've recently been going over some of these old comics and loving it. There's the quality end of the market too with Art Spiegelman's 'Maus' and Pat Mills's 'Charley's war', I've even been reading some 'Jane' ;) and bought a facsimile of 'Panzerknacker', a German wartime tank hunting manual presented in cartoon style.

    There's something to be said for them having helped to make the interest in ww2 'stick' and Maus is one of the most evocative accounts of the human detail of the Holocaust I've read, including giving me much more perspective on the effect on survivors and children of survivors decades after the conflict ended.

    Anyone else got fond memories of this stuff or any recommendations on new ones that may have passed me by?

    maus2.gif CharleysWar.jpg jane2.jpg Panzerknacker.jpg

    Cheers,
    Adam.
     
  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I agree, those comics maybe mocked but they were full of educative material.
    After all it was a "World" war so my geography improved.
    I gained a good framework of the war, dates, places etc.
    Used to get Victor delivered every week. Loved the true stories on the cover.
    Did try an American one for awhile, Sgt Rock was it?
    It was the British version where his squad had a aristocratic Brit called "Monty".
     
  3. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Pawing over them again the 'Technical features' are actually rather good, very basic but far from wrong and nicely illustrated. Seems quite a few of the writers for the weeklys and Commando style comics were veterans themselves, though I suppose that's almost universal for blokes of a certain age in the 1970's.
    Victor etc. seem to have fizzled out in the 80's in the face of pillbox-hatted 'plastic guns are bad..' type thinking, got a feeling they could do much better today in the current 'band of brothers' meeja climate.
     
  4. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

    I used to love the 'Battle' comic when I was a kid. And have since started buying the 'Charley's War' books, they bring a new one out every year. The art work is just fantastic.
     
  5. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Charleys War was one of the best comics ever brought out about any war. It was excellent. I used to buy "Battle" every week and my Brother used to get "warlord". I certainly preferred "Battle".
     
  6. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

    Attached Files:

  7. PsyWar.Org

    PsyWar.Org Archive monkey

    This is a Superman cartoon given to children in Bosnia to warn them about the dangers of playing with mine and unexploded ordnance. It's titled "Deadly Legacy" and was issued in both Cyrillic Serbian text and Latin Croatian text.

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Ivan1

    Ivan1 "Take this!!!"

    I used to read the Biggles series of comics a lot.
     
  9. WotNoChad?

    WotNoChad? Senior Member

    My son, the boy Slug, is a collector of old war comics, typically Warlord and Battle annuals, my collection of old Sgt Rock comics, and anything else he can get his hands on.

    VP where did you get a copy of 'Panzerknacker' from then?
     
  10. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    eBay, I think from the states.
    Scanned it in a while back, so if anyone fancies a bit of tank-hunting, here it is:

    Front & rear cover:
    Panzerknackerfront.jpg

    25.jpg
     
  11. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Rest:

    A-1.jpg Page-1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg 6.jpg 7.jpg 8.jpg 9.jpg 10-1.jpg 11.jpg 12.jpg 13.jpg 14-1.jpg 15.jpg 16.jpg 17.jpg 18.jpg 19.jpg 20.jpg 21.jpg 22.jpg 23.jpg 24.jpg
     
    dbf, WotNoChad? and Paul Reed like this.
  12. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Adam - that is absolutely amazing. Thanks for posting that.
     
  13. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    I am told I must "spread some rep arpound again before giving some to von poop" ;)

    Interesting post - there is soon footage on U-Tube showing methods employed to kill tanks - very much a training / propagand approach as can be seen.
    The links I don't have . (sorry).
     
  14. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Adam,

    Nice one, thanks for sharing.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  15. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Last edited: Oct 16, 2016
  16. WotNoChad?

    WotNoChad? Senior Member

    Great stuff Poops.
     
  17. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    In a similar vein to Panzerknacker, the perhaps more familiar 'cartoonised' manuals issued to German tank crews. Thought it maybe worth uploading the pdf's if anyone's not seen them:

    Tigerfibel:
    View attachment Tigerfibel.pdf (4.4mb)
    tiggy2.gif

    & the somewhat less familiar Pantherfibel:
    View attachment Panther fibel.pdf (6.3mb)
    panty.jpg

    I know there are a few other similar German training pamphlets on specific subjects, I had a few on my hard drive but can't find 'em now...
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2017
  18. Django

    Django Treadhead

    Great thread!
    I am afraid my comic book interests as a boy were not as sophisticated.
    I remember waiting for each issue of G.I. Combat ie:The Haunted Tank,just loved that comic.
    The man that owned the corner store would always hold a copy for me which I paid for by collecting pop bottles.
    I also used to buy Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos and if I had extra money I would buy Sgt Rock too!
    Great memories!

    D
     
  19. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  20. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Panzerknacker is mentioned in Guderian's memoirs, if I remember correctly. Great posts Adam, really good.
     

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